Water Strainer Problems

[Crimsonkingz]

Hey guys, I'm running a Tekkit server and everything seems fine except that the water strainers aren't producing any energy. I've tried singular strainers and an array of them but they all produce 0 EU/t despite having the green light to show they are producing. I've tried the same arrangement in creative mode and they do produce energy. Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong?

I have a pump powered by 4 redstone engines with 2 switches to keep them on, a stone waterproof pipe from the top of the pump leading to the strainers. Water can be seen flowing along and the strainers switch from red lights to green.

Thanks

[Beer]

I am so confused. What water strainers are you talking about?

Ok, nevermind, I was a little confused by the post itself.

Can you post a picture of the setup so we can get a better idea of how things are piped?

[joe5]

ah, water strainers possibly the most usefull and glitch block in tekkit.

could you please post pictures?

can you see a water build up?

can you post pictures of the creative one as well?

is this on your server or somone elses?

is the red-stone touching the strainers?

[Crimsonkingz]

The upgrade to the water mills?

Though I seem to have found the problem, I think it couldn't transmit the power over the distances I had despite using glass cables, I've put an intermediary batbox which seems to solve the problem. Though is there a way to force the water to evenly distribute itself to all of the strainers? The water all seems to flow to 1 which produces the max 2 EU/t but the others are all less than 1 EU/t as they seem to receive less water. The pipe with the water seems to be blocking up as it's full of water. Would gold pipes sort this? Or is there another type I can use?

[Crimsonkingz]

joe5,

I'll upload some pictures tomorrow to help show the problem. The pipes are having a water build up and the first strainer in the chain receives the majority of the water.

I'm running this as a LAN server with only me and a friend. I have no redstone near to them.

[Beer]

The upgrade to the water mills?

Though I seem to have found the problem, I think it couldn't transmit the power over the distances I had despite using glass cables, I've put an intermediary batbox which seems to solve the problem. Though is there a way to force the water to evenly distribute itself to all of the strainers? The water all seems to flow to 1 which produces the max 2 EU/t but the others are all less than 1 EU/t as they seem to receive less water. The pipe with the water seems to be blocking up as it's full of water. Would gold pipes sort this? Or is there another type I can use?

You shouldn't need to use glass fibre cables if you're only producing a 1-2eu current. Tin cables should be able to handle that easily and they've got the same rate of loss as glass fibre cabling, which is 40 blocks. So, about every 40, place down a batbox to avoid loss of current.

[joe5]

Please post pictures of the water build up, without those it is almost imposible to make a dignosis.

that is true. however, you should never transmit low voltages long distances anyway. it generates excessive lag

[Crimsonkingz]

This is the set-up I have. I tried the tin cables but I think the current is too high considering how many I have. The batbox in the corner is linked to a MFE further along and now receives energy from the batbox correctly. The production is good but some of them aren't outputting at a constant 2 EU/t. Is this just part of how they work?

On a related note I've used geothermal generators with lava but the lava source is used up extremely quickly, and the pumps tend to pump out more than the generator requires so I think there are some losses, is there a way to restrict them to only pump when the tanks are less than full?

[joe5]

okay, we realy need to see the other side of this to be sure but it looks like you need to replace the piping with gold pipes. i would also advise adding a second pump as water strainers eat fuel at an unbelievable rate. on that note i would also advise changing the config setting for eu produced per water unit from one to one to one to 50. that will not increase the rate at which it uses water but will make its consumption more manageable.

cable: in mine craft cabling is rated by voltage and not by current. thus, my server is running about 564 though a single tin cable because all of it is coming from water strainers and all of it is in 2eu packets. that is not a good idea as it causes lag but if you are in survival it can be a functional stop gap.

note: the above is effectively reversed in real life where the in most standard applications the wiring size and type is determined by the currents involved and not the voltages.

hope this helps, if not please post the other side so we can get a better look

[Crimsonkingz]

ok so I can use tin cables for linking all of the water strainers to the batbox right? I'm using the glass fibres as copper seems to have large losses. Would adding double insulation to the copper be worth it so as to replace the glass fibres or are the gains barely noticeable?

I'll try gold pipes and if that doesn't work I'll upload another pic of the other side.

What files would I need to edit to alter the water, and would I be able to do this for lava as well? I got into this water strainer mess due to the high consumption of lava with the pump and generator >_< .

[joe5]

just use the tin it is by far far the best option if you dont want to use the glass fiber.

you need to eddit the power converters config.

yes

[Crimsonkingz]

ok I've now attached the gold pipes and I'll edit the files and add an extra pump. Though do the gold waterproof pipes need redstone? I tried putting a wood block and a lever underneath but they didn't change colour like the ordinary gold transport pipes.

[joe5]

ah, clearly we are experiencing a failer of communication. gold pipes do not make the water go faster, they just allow more water to flow. using only a couple of gold pipes is pointless as the water only flows as fast as the slowest element (in this case the stone) you need to replace the entire system with gold pipes.

out of curiosity are you building in creative or survival?

[Crimsonkingz]

ah sorry, I thought gold waterproof pipes worked the same as gold transport pipes and gold rails etc. Thanks for the help.

This is in survival, I just test a build now and again in creative mode to test whether they work or not.

[Crimsonkingz]

on a liquid transport note will the lava distribute across each of these? As in, once the first is full will it stop trying to fill it and leave the rest to the other two? Or should I have a different arrangement?

Just for clarification, lava comes in through the top teleport pipe into the tanks, the second once is for pumping to the geothermal generator. Also will the pump shut itself down if the tanks are full? Or will I have to do that manually? Similar issue with the generator itself with it being full and lava continuing to be pumped.

[joe5]

as a general rule, build craft is a dumb system. everything will continue to work regardless of if it has any affect. it will not waist lava but it will continue to use power to pump it. i would say that with a buildcraft system you should not need to regulate your pumps as they will simply stop being effective if they run out of places to put the lava.

that system should work just fine, though i would make sure each of the tanks has an output as each of them will be filled up at the same time (though not the same rate)

in short: if you are using redstone leave it on. if you are not i would start on that system

[Crimsonkingz]

is there a more effective way to run a geothermal generator?

[noMercy]

this is pretty much what i've made but i've expanded it to its max capacity. On mine I've expanded the water strainers to the maximum 64 per pump and using a MFE instead of a batbox. Given the strainers run off the sides and back, you can make it a very long setup or a large letter T depending on how much space u have.

[efflandt]

It looks from your pictures like you have glass cable connected to only 2 of the water strainers, which would give you a grand total of 4 EU/t maximum (unless you have cabling for the others hidden underground). You need output cable connected to each and every strainer. I had a cluster of 25 water strainers, 3 of them to an Energy Link to power the pump, and the other 22 producing 44 EU/t (actually 2 clusters producing 88 EU/t).