i'm using industrial steam engines on thermal expansion power conduits connected to a redstone energy cell, the engines are getting steam from a boiler and the steam gauge is full, but after running for several min they seem to be stuck running at the green phase and wont advance to yellow. is that related to connecting them to conduits and not directly to the cell?
question about engines and conduits
- Thread starter Escanor
- Start date
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They are not advancing stages because they don't need to.
You need to understand what the color stages represent, because it depends on the engine type. It is either:
A.) The current engine temperature (combustion, biogas, magmatic engines), or
B.) The amount of MJ in the internal buffer (almost all others)
Note that some engines (blulectric engine for example) don't bother with heat stages at all.
Type B is the standard Buildcraft implementation, and only the combustion engine differs from it because of its (at the time of its introduction) unique heat mechanic.
In a type B engine, the engine will usually generate MJ faster than it can output it in the blue stage, because the piston speed is too slow (output only happens at the peak of the stroke and only dumps a certain amount, depending on the engine). So an internal energy storage starts filling up. At 25% full, the engine advances to green and the piston accelerates, thereby dumping energy faster. If the engine still generates more energy than the piston can dump, this process will repeat at 50% (advancing to yellow) and 75% (advancing to red), with the piston pumping faster and faster in a bid to output more power. This is why the redstone engine will eventually end up flashing red-yellow-red-yellow: because in the yellow stage, the engine generates more power than the piston can output, but in the red stage, the piston dumps energy faster than the engine can produce it. Therefore it finds its equilibrium at exactly 75%, on the borderline between two stages.
The stirling engine is a type B engine where the piston can dump more energy per stroke than the engine can produce even in the blue stage; a stirling engine will never advance into green by itself unless something is wrong (nowhere to put the energy).
The Railcraft steam engines find their equilibrium in the green phase. You can observe that their internal energy meter climbs until a certain point and then keeps hovering there. Again, unless something is wrong, the engine will never advance beyond that stage by itself because it doesn't need to.
A type A engine generally outputs all internal power on each piston stroke, regardless of stage or piston speed (again, unless something is wrong). They instead use the color stages as an indicator of current temperature. If a magmatic engine is yellow, it is fully heated up and delivers its advertised 4 MJ/t. If a combustion engine is yellow or red, it has run out of coolant and needs to be shut down ASAP. If a switched-off biogas engine is green or yellow, it retains enough temperature to start up again without consuming lava.
You need to understand what the color stages represent, because it depends on the engine type. It is either:
A.) The current engine temperature (combustion, biogas, magmatic engines), or
B.) The amount of MJ in the internal buffer (almost all others)
Note that some engines (blulectric engine for example) don't bother with heat stages at all.
Type B is the standard Buildcraft implementation, and only the combustion engine differs from it because of its (at the time of its introduction) unique heat mechanic.
In a type B engine, the engine will usually generate MJ faster than it can output it in the blue stage, because the piston speed is too slow (output only happens at the peak of the stroke and only dumps a certain amount, depending on the engine). So an internal energy storage starts filling up. At 25% full, the engine advances to green and the piston accelerates, thereby dumping energy faster. If the engine still generates more energy than the piston can dump, this process will repeat at 50% (advancing to yellow) and 75% (advancing to red), with the piston pumping faster and faster in a bid to output more power. This is why the redstone engine will eventually end up flashing red-yellow-red-yellow: because in the yellow stage, the engine generates more power than the piston can output, but in the red stage, the piston dumps energy faster than the engine can produce it. Therefore it finds its equilibrium at exactly 75%, on the borderline between two stages.
The stirling engine is a type B engine where the piston can dump more energy per stroke than the engine can produce even in the blue stage; a stirling engine will never advance into green by itself unless something is wrong (nowhere to put the energy).
The Railcraft steam engines find their equilibrium in the green phase. You can observe that their internal energy meter climbs until a certain point and then keeps hovering there. Again, unless something is wrong, the engine will never advance beyond that stage by itself because it doesn't need to.
A type A engine generally outputs all internal power on each piston stroke, regardless of stage or piston speed (again, unless something is wrong). They instead use the color stages as an indicator of current temperature. If a magmatic engine is yellow, it is fully heated up and delivers its advertised 4 MJ/t. If a combustion engine is yellow or red, it has run out of coolant and needs to be shut down ASAP. If a switched-off biogas engine is green or yellow, it retains enough temperature to start up again without consuming lava.
Because if an engine goes yellow that shouldn't go yellow, something's wrong. And if it's a type B engine, chances are it is not outputting 8 MJ/t, because if it did, it wouldn't change color.
Escanor, the reason that happens is because the redstone energy cell can't accept all the energy the engine tries to output, and therefore, some remains in the engine. Remember, Buildcraft compatible engines output only once per piston stroke, in a single burst. I don't know what the stroke time for an industrial steam engine in the green stage is, but let's make up a random number... say, 30.
If one stroke took 30 ticks (1.5 seconds), then the engine would attempt to dump 8 MJ/t * 30 t = 240 MJ in one single burst, every piston stroke. Now, a redstone energy cell can only accept 100 MJ per tick, and thus, 140 out of 240 MJ cannot be output by the engine. It stays in the internal buffer and accumulates there, eventually raising the engine to the next stage, where the piston moves faster. Let's say that in yellow stage, it now strokes once per 25 ticks (another made-up number since I don't know the real figures). Now it outputs 8 MJ/t * 25 t = 200 MJ every stroke. Still not fast enough, of course, but the point is, you can see the difference a shorter stroke time has.
Just interpret Omicron's post.
Most probably the energy buildup between pumps is bigger than the max input for the cells, so they will be triggered into the next speed stage (yellow).
Edit: Ninja'd
Most probably the energy buildup between pumps is bigger than the max input for the cells, so they will be triggered into the next speed stage (yellow).
Edit: Ninja'd
conduits buffer energy in case you didnt know so the more conduits in use the more power that they will soak up, this is a handy feature that I use often as a mini network buffer, as to yellow/green w/e, the engines in a lot of mods are far more intelligent now & will throttle to the power usage, this I find a boon as it makes automated systems more stable most of the time, & in so means often you dont need to gate & wire "Has Work" it may use a tad more power over all but uses less lava so balances out in the long run, well allmost.
yes I use biomas as my main power supply, just becouse I love SC tree farm & find this system renewable & stable.
yes I use biomas as my main power supply, just becouse I love SC tree farm & find this system renewable & stable.