[solved] Problem with electrical engines & advanced solar panels

[unknown zombie]

I just set up a bee breeding station outside and I've hooked up two electrical engines with iron electron tube upgrades (-1 eu/t input) to some advanced solar panels in order to run a couple of machines related to apiculture.

Now, with the iron electron tube upgrades the engines should only be drawing 5 eu/t, so I hooked up two advanced solar panels which should have provided more than enough power in daylight (they produce 8 eu/t each). However, the two engines were still drawing from the solar panels' reserves, even though the panels were both generating more than enough power. I was confused, but added a third panel anyway, so the total power generation each tick is up to 24 eu/t, but the electrical engines are still outpacing the panels.. What gives?

 

[Whovian]

Let's start with basic troubleshooting.

Are the Engines the only things the Solars are hooked up to? Do the Solars have a clear path to the sky? Is it daytime?

 

[Rednpd]

Are you using cabling between the solars and engines?

 

[Whovian]

Are you using cabling between the solars and engines?

Oh, didn't think about that. I assume you're referring to the fact that a good amount of cabling (probably 10-20 blocks in this case?) gives you energy loss.

 

[Dafuq?]

Oh, didn't think about that. I assume you're referring to the fact that a good amount of cabling (probably 10-20 blocks in this case?) gives you energy loss.

Depends on the cable. If you use glass fiber cabling it should work fine, IIRC there is no loss for 40 blocks.

 

[unknown zombie]

I'm using glass fibre cable, and the engines are all that is hooked up. The solars do have a clear view of the sky, and the interface on them report that they are producing 8 eu/t each.



Edit: Added another shot of what is hooked up to the engines to show that there are no loops.

 

[zwahlm14]

have you tried turning the engines off and letting the internal buffer fill up and then turn the engines back on and see how much more energy they are drawing than they are supposed to?

 

[unknown zombie]

It's hard to say exactly how much extra they are pulling, but they are definitely pulling out of the buffer faster than the panels are producing. That's how I noticed the problem from the start, because by the time I had everything hooked up the panels' buffers were full, and once I turned on the engines they were draining the buffers faster than the panels could regenerate.

 

[zwahlm14]

have you tried with the iron tubes out? they might be glitched or something and with 3 solars you should still be able to power them fine.

 

[Saice]

I dislike hooking generators directly to engines so not sure what is dong it. But hey try dropping a battery box in line. the buffer might help.

Also am I the only one that had there OCD trigger looking at painted cables that well did not need to be painted?

 

[unknown zombie]

I haven't tried to take out the iron tubes yet, but I built an EU reader and took a few measurements...

There is only about 10 eu/t travelling through the cable to the engines, which is what is expected. The problem seems to be that they are only drawing from one of the solar panels at at time, even though they are all hooked up.

And about the painted cable, they are still painted from having had a batbox up there before adding the third panel.

I attached some screenshots:



The above shows that there is only about 10 eu/t travelling through the line to the engines, so they are pulling the correct amount of energy.



These shots show that only the right-most panel is outputting power, the other two are not being utilized.



Some shots of the panels' GUIs.

 

[Sara Dr In te House]

Connect a Batbox as a buffer. Then the engines pull directly from Batbox and solars pump to Batbox. This should fix the unequal power pull.

 

[unknown zombie]

I generally use batboxes / mfe as buffers between power generation and engines, but I didn't think it would be necessary since the panels have internal buffers.

I did hook up a batbox again at your suggestion, though; I even put it far enough away to make sure it wasn't touching any one panel in specific. For some reason, the problem still exists, the batbox is only drawing from one panel (this time the one in the middle).

This is after letting the batbox fill up, then letting the panel buffers also fill back up before turning the engines on.



Edit: After letting it run for a long time, once one panel drains it begins to draw from the next panel, and then the next. It never utilizes more than one panel at a time.. Is there a bug? That can't be intended mechanics..

 

[Someone Else 37]

Ask yourself this: Is it a problem that one solar panel is getting drained before the others, other than for your OCD?
Try allowing the engines to completely drain on of the solar panels, and if they start draining a different one, I don't see a problem.
Sure, what you're seeing does seem strange, but I think it's mainly due to the way cables work, there's likely no way to "fix" it, and I'd be surprised if it actually causes any trouble in the long run.

 

[Saice]

time to call an Exorcist.

Or test by isolating your panels. Feed each panel into the bat box while not letting it touch another panel. That way there is zero chance it is trying to do something silly like pass power to its neighbor.

 

[unknown zombie]

Ask yourself this: Is it a problem that one solar panel is getting drained before the others, other than for your OCD?
Try allowing the engines to completely drain on of the solar panels, and if they start draining a different one, I don't see a problem.
Sure, what you're seeing does seem strange, but I think it's mainly due to the way cables work, there's likely no way to "fix" it, and I'd be surprised if it actually causes any trouble in the long run.

The problem is that the panels should be able to run the machinery indefinitely. If the panels are being drained during the day, when there is no reason for it, then they will never last throughout the night.

 

[Saice]

The problem is that the panels should be able to run the machinery indefinitely. If the panels are being drained during the day, when there is no reason for it, then they will never last throughout the night.

What you need is to over build then.

Time to get that nuke reactor up for your bee farm.

 

[unknown zombie]

What you need is to over build then.

Time to get that nuke reactor up for your bee farm.

I thought three advanced solar panels was over-building.. =/

I also did what you suggested, and hooked up each solar panel to the batbox individually, and the batbox is still only drawing from one panel at a time (this time, the panel floating to the left of the batbox). This is baffling..

 

[Someone Else 37]

The problem is that the panels should be able to run the machinery indefinitely. If the panels are being drained during the day, when there is no reason for it, then they will never last throughout the night.

Edit: After letting it run for a long time, once one panel drains it begins to draw from the next panel, and then the next. It never utilizes more than one panel at a time.. Is there a bug? That can't be intended mechanics..

But the engines will never completely drain two panels at once, at least during the day, will they? So just throw in a batbox or MFE to make up for power not stored in the panels, and you should be good to go around the clock.

As for intended behavior, all I can say is that redstone energy conduits do almost the same thing. If anything better was possible, I'd think King Lemming would've done it.

 

[unknown zombie]

I ended up "solving" the problem by wiring each panel individually to an engine. Kind of irritating way to end up solving the problem, but at least it works. The panels are now outproducing the draw of the engines.