Multifarm throttling

[Martok]

Is there any way to adjust the speed at which a multifarm operates (other then shutting it down entirely)?

I have 32 multifarms set up, but there is obviously no way I can keep up with the resource demand. I would like to be able to have adjust the rate at which they preform operations so that I can have a few of the important ones running at higher speeds, while others run slower or not at all.

Edit: Using Mindcrack pack

 

[namiasdf]

Redstone energy cells have the ability to regulate their input/out MJ/t.

Otherwise you can add the MJ/t of the machines you are using to power each multi-farm individually.

 

[Martok]

Redstone energy cells have the ability to regulate their input/out MJ/t.

Otherwise you can add the MJ/t of the machines you are using to power each multi-farm individually.

Don't multifarms use 5MJ/operation? An energy cell's minimum output is 5MJ/t so it wouldn't be able to slow anything down.

I suppose I could hook several farms up to one cell and control them as groups. Not exactly what I had in mind, but it would be interesting.

Along that train of thought, is there any way to remotely adjust the output of a Redstone cell?

 

[namiasdf]

I don't know the limitations of computercraft, or if it can read the state of the energy cell. That might be worth looking into.

Otherwise you can just undercut the 5 MJ/t with one electrical engine running at 2 MJ/t. I am not sure if you'll get an "inefficient energy line" or whatever you get from GT machines when you don't have enough EU/t. (i.e. Nothing gets done)

 

[gattsuru]

With how gearboxes work, throttling energy can be a tricky proposition.

The Farm Control block will deactivate the farm completely if a redstone signal comes from above, or only deactivate one side if the redstone signal comes from the side. A ComputerCraft machine set to toggle on and off redstone at a specific ratio can change state for certain minutes of an hour.

 

[Bigglesworth]

Don't multifarms use 5MJ/operation? An energy cell's minimum output is 5MJ/t so it wouldn't be able to slow anything down.

I suppose I could hook several farms up to one cell and control them as groups. Not exactly what I had in mind, but it would be interesting.

Along that train of thought, is there any way to remotely adjust the output of a Redstone cell?

Right-click when selecting up/down MJ for 1+/- changes. Cells can output as low as 1.

 

[namiasdf]

That's also an idea. Though he's looking to regulate individual multi-farms, since he has 32 or whatever. I think just undercutting the rated EU/t is a more simple solution. The loss will be minimal.

If you want to spend the time to figure out all the timings, power to you. The best way would be to loop it when the majority of the crop will be grown, tick it on for the time it takes to harvest the WHOLE crop. There will still be loss, but there isn't much you can do about the probabilities involved with how things grow in MC.

 

[Martok]

With how gearboxes work, throttling energy can be a tricky proposition.

The Farm Control block will deactivate the farm completely if a redstone signal comes from above, or only deactivate one side if the redstone signal comes from the side. A ComputerCraft machine set to toggle on and off redstone at a specific ratio can change state for certain minutes of an hour.

I think namiasdf is right, timing would be tedious. But it did get me thinking that I don't need to throttle the energy to throttle the farms. If I set up a series of diamond and iron pipes, i might be able to set a 'weight' for each farm, effectively changing the ratio of fertilizer sent to each farm.

I suppose this would also be a bit tedious, but if I've thought it through correctly, each farm would operate at the same relative speed, regardless of the amount of fertilizer supplied (assuming fertilizer is the limiting resource), and redstone signals could change the configuration of the iron pipes.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[PoisonWolf]

Most basic solar panel (1eu/t?) to an Electrical engine? Not sure if that works.

Another crude way...pipe in the ingredients (I'm assuming that this would be your fertilizer) to your multifarm using a dispenser, on a timer. Each farm would have its own timer. Or if you set up groups of farms, you could have fewer timers.

 

[casilleroatr]

I think namiasdf is right, timing would be tedious. But it did get me thinking that I don't need to throttle the energy to throttle the farms. If I set up a series of diamond and iron pipes, i might be able to set a 'weight' for each farm, effectively changing the ratio of fertilizer sent to each farm.

I suppose this would also be a bit tedious, but if I've thought it through correctly, each farm would operate at the same relative speed, regardless of the amount of fertilizer supplied (assuming fertilizer is the limiting resource), and redstone signals could change the configuration of the iron pipes.

Any thoughts on this?

It sounds like regulating your resource inputs might be a better way to go, but I did find a way to remotely change the output of a redstone energy cell using computercraft. There is an addon called openperipherals which allows a computer or turtle to interact with loads of vanilla and mod blocks as if if they were peripherals. You can do this for a redstone energy cell which exposes the command setEnergySend(). I have never used it so I don't know exactly how it works but it will surely have a wide range of uses not just for throttling multifarms.

Here is a link to Mikeymoo's CC forum page where there is a link to his mods

http://www.computercraft.info/forums2/index.php?/topic/13063-mc-152-cc-153-openperipheral/

 

[Omicron]

As Bigglesworth said, redstone energy cells go as low as 1 MJ/t. Which is still enough to drive the slower farm types (rubber plantation/orchard etc) at maximum speed, admittedly... but not when you have 32 of them.

Just hook all 32 of your farms up to a single output on a single redstone energy cell, and set that one to 1 MJ/t. That will massively throttle the farms.