Solar Panels, Tin Engines and BC pumps...question

[Cisco78]

Greetings folks!

First post here! I've just recently discovered Tekkit and man this friggen rocks! A few friends and myself have a small server going. It's been an absolute blast.

I've been working primarily on our power infrastructure and am running into a few problems with BC Combustion Engines. I've got two smaller solar flowers (about 16 panels each), 4-5 BatBoxs and an MFE powering 8 Tin Engines. These engines are connected via a powered teleport pipe to 5 BC pumps, which are in turn connected to 5 Combustion Engines via a waterproof teleport pipe.

Just this morning I had the pumps and combustion engines running for about 30 mins or so. The solar array still had plenty of energy, but for some reason the combustion engines were losing water rather quickly. I've noticed that the blue energy bar within the gold power pipes is a bit intermittent coming from the tin engines. Do I not have enough Tin Engines? I'm a bit confused on how to make absolutely sure our combustion engines are always adequately cooled. I just assumed 5 pumps was plenty for 5 combustion engines.

In addition, my understanding is that excess power from combustion engines can cause excess heat. Is this accurate? As of right now the 5 combustion engines are powering a Forestry Wheat Farm, Quarry and a Refinery. I plan on adding a regular tree farm and rubber tree farm soon.

Thanks for the advice and help!

[Arkandos]

Cisco

;D

* Grabs popcorn *

[Docxx]

* Grabs popcorn *

*Steals Popcorn*

[Synthetica]

*Steals Popcorn*

*Steals popcorn back, and shares with Arkandos*

*omnomonomonnom* you can't get any ;D

[Cisco78]

I hope you burn that popcorn

So, stupid question or....

[Synthetica]

No. Read the rules and find out.

[Cisco78]

No. Read the rules and find out.

Hmmm, well, it seemed as though it was a valid question. The only other similiar thread I found concerned Nukes and Tin Engines. This seemed different.

If it's a duplicate, simply delete and I'll keep searching for an answer.

And this is the thread I got the "Tin Engine" idea from - http://forums.technicpack.net/index.php/topic,2555.msg15929.html#msg15929.

My problem is using them to operate pumps and cool combustion engines. It just seems funky and I'm not sure why.

[Synthetica]

Hmmm, well, it seemed as though it was a valid question. The only other similiar thread I found concerned Nukes and Tin Engines. This seemed different.

If it's a duplicate, simply delete and I'll keep searching for an answer.

Another tip: it isn't about the question itself, it's about what you do next.

[Cisco78]

Another tip: it isn't about the question itself, it's about what you do next.

Gotcha! and Ty.

I'll just step aside and hope for a discussion.

[Jay?]

Gotcha! and Ty.

I'll just step aside and hope for a discussion.

Wrong answer. Try reading the overall forum rules.

[Synthetica]

Wrong answer. Try reading the overall forum rules.

This, indeed helps. You might want to read the quote in the first reply

[Cisco78]

Wrong answer. Try reading the overall forum rules.

Yeah, my brain is zombified atm. I did it twice didn't I?

Rules read, I think I have a better understanding now. If my question hasn’t been brought up before, then hopefully this will be a fruitful thread.

Prior to using the tin engines, I was using an Energy Link, which I discovered causes massive energy drain.

[Synthetica]

But there is something very simple you still forgot, and where everyone is posting about... It freaks out my OCD!

[Jay?]

Yeah, my brain is zombified atm. I did it twice didn't I?

Rules read, I think I have a better understanding now. If my question hasn’t been brought up before, then hopefully this will be a fruitful thread.

Prior to using the tin engines, I was using an Energy Link, which I discovered causes massive energy drain.

Okay, im going to give in and actually tell you what you did. I normally don't do this, because i think people should figure things out on their own.

Don't sign your posts. It's dumb, and against the rules. From a more practical standpoint, it tells the community that you didn't read the rules, or really care enough to follow them, and as long as you sign posts, noone will be willing to help you.

[Synthetica]

Okay, im going to give in and actually tell you what you did. I normally don't do this, because i think people should figure things out on their own.

Don't sign your posts. It's dumb, and against the rules. From a more practical standpoint, it tells the community that you didn't read the rules, or really care enough to follow them, and as long as you sign posts, noone will be willing to help you.

Aaaw, why did you do that? ???

_{Just kidding, I know}

[Cisco78]

Got it, understood and Ty.

[DemonCrusher36]

Hmm.. I dont seem to understand your written explanation (friday and knackered)

I understand its a dumb idea asking for the IP and for me to come help, so some pics might help.

I dont think you can even get tin engines? and i dont think i understand the problem.

But ill take a shot in the dark here, i think the problem your having is that your combustions arnt cooled properly?

I believe for every 3 combustion engines you should have a 3x3 pool of water (stay out of a artic zone, or it might freeze!)

To set it up, what i do is have the 3x3 pool (1 block deep, 3 blocks either direction) and a space, then a buildcraft pump powered by 4 redstone engines, and on top of the pump golden waterproof piping leading to the combustions (3 combustions, for 1 pump)

I dont know if it matters, but i have my pump in the center of the 3x3 pool.

[KakerMix]

Just this morning I had the pumps and combustion engines running for about 30 mins or so. The solar array still had plenty of energy, but for some reason the combustion engines were losing water rather quickly.

Combustion engines heat up the longer they are on. If you run them dry, they will go from blue, to green, to yellow, to red, then explode. Each level they move up means they move quicker. If they are adequately cooled, they should never go beyond yellow.

There are two issues you could be having, one being you might not be pumping enough water. Generally, and this isn't a hard rule, I find I like to have 4 redstone engines on a pump for each full-run combustion engine. Not exactly sure where tin engines fall in relation to redstone engines as far as power.

The other issue is you might not have enough room in your pipes. If you are using stone/cobblestone waterproof pipes, you might not have enough actual liquid in those lines to reach all of the engines. If you were using gold waterproof you'd have a lot more space for liquid in a single pipe, but then again, I don't know what a waterproof teleport pipe has for space in it either, or if it simply just jumps it to the next pipe without taking on the properties of a pipe itself.

Make sense? Probably not, that shit was terribly written.

[Cisco78]

@Demon

By "tin engines" I mean the forestry mod electric engines. I saw this used once and it stuck.

Our pumps started in our quarry, which was filled with water. This eventually completely dried up, it was pretty whacky. The pumps are sitting over a pretty deep river nearby now, powered by the 8 Forestry electric engines, which are in turn powered by the 2 solar flowers.

I've never actually tried a 3x3 square. Is this just one block deep of water or deeper? This could solve our "running out of water" issue.

@KakerMix

Thanks for the explanation. One thing I know I certainly wasn't taking into consideration was the pipes. Yes, we're using all stone waterproof pipes. I'll have to get to crafting some better pipes, gold sounds like a very good idea.

So 4 redstone engines per pump? This would certainly be a lot more energy efficient than our current setup. It would also free up the solar flowers. We've got 5 pumps now and 5 working combustion engines, so it could certainly work. I'll have to research a bit more concerning the Forestry electric engines.

I too have no idea what the waterproof teleport properties are. I just know it works.

And yes this make perfect sense, thanks.

I'll give this all a shot once I get home. If possible, I'll post a few pics. I think I've got a better understanding now.

I think I can enjoy some popcorn now, I feel like a moron haha.

[Yuriy]

@Kaker

I'm not 100% positive this is accurate but from the research I've done:

A Tin/Electric Engine is claimed to produce 2MJ/t at the cost of 6EU/t.

I believe a combustion engine on fuel produces 5MJ/t. If the aforementioned is reasonably accurate, 1 tin engine per pump should outperform 4 redstone engines (I've heard 0.05 Mj/t per redstone engine but idk) so 2.5 should perform on par with a combustion engine. I may have to test that to confirm.

@OP

I think not having the gold waterproof pipes is what's doing you in. Even with the pumps running full force, the pipes won't allow enough water to move to keep up with demand.

Also, are you using 5 different water teleport pipes or trying to jam all that water into 1?

[Cisco78]

@Kaker

I'm not 100% positive this is accurate but from the research I've done:

A Tin/Electric Engine is claimed to produce 2MJ/t at the cost of 6EU/t.

I believe a combustion engine on fuel produces 5MJ/t. If the aforementioned is reasonably accurate, 1 tin engine per pump should outperform 4 redstone engines (I've heard 0.05 Mj/t per redstone engine but idk) so 2.5 should perform on par with a combustion engine. I may have to test that to confirm.

@OP

I think not having the gold waterproof pipes is what's doing you in. Even with the pumps running full force, the pipes won't allow enough water to move to keep up with demand.

Also, are you using 5 different water teleport pipes or trying to jam all that water into 1?

I have a feeling this is a bad answer...

I'm cramming them all into one teleport pipe. The receiving waterproof teleport pipe then branches out to each of the combustion engines. I'm going to assume this is a bad idea? lol

Should I be using five different waterproof teleport pipes, each on a different frequency?

[Jay?]

Should I be using five different waterproof teleport pipes, each on a different frequency?

Yes, yes you should.

[Yuriy]

...

Should I be using five different waterproof teleport pipes, each on a different frequency?

5000% YES!

Think about it like this, (with gold pipes) you have 5 highways worth of cars funneling into a tiny tunnel and then splitting into 5 highways again...

Each major pathway of water should have it's own transmitter and receiver. You may be able to have them all funnel through 1 if you have a large water reserve between the receiver and the engine and that water reserve is not depleted during normal operations.

Without testing I can't tell you 100% that it's a bad idea to have only 1 teleport pipe for 5 engines but considering you have to split a large quantity of water and keep it flowing, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

[DragnHntr]

This thread solves my problems I was having with my power setup as well. I tried adding more pumps, more engines, more output teleport pipes, but for some reason it never occured to me that funneling all that water through a single teleport pipe frequency was bottlenecking it. Thanks guys!

If I may throw in another question, how do conductive pipes decide where to send the power? My setup had 7 fuel powered combustion engines sending power to two refineries, with plans to add some forestry equipment on the network later. While messing with the water cooling I decided to try running the pumps from the power system as well, and when I connected a single pump, two green refineries turned into one blue and one red and stuttering. Why did one pump consume so much of the power? my conclusion based off the little information I recalled was that buildcraft machines are capable of consuming far more energy then is required for optimal operation, and the pump was therefore consuming a third of the energy or something. That still doesnt explain why the refineries were running at different speeds, I guess the power is not split evenly between all outputs?

Also, are forestry machines also capable of consuming far more power then needed for optimal operation as well, or are they more efficient? I was planning on running several small groups of combustion engines on different power frequencies next time I set it up, with the water coming in on multiple frequencies as well of course

Or perhaps I am completely on the wrong track and there are other mechanics I need to be aware of. Either way, my apologies if I am derailing the thread.

[Cisco78]

Ok, here's a quick update:

I gave up on the Forestry Electric Engines for now and moved to a 4 x redstone engine setup per pump. I've also added a "single" waterproof teleport pipe to each pump and each combustion engine. All pipes have been changed to gold waterproof. I let the system run for about 30 mins with zero issues.

How's this look so far? Its a bit messy, but seems functional. I am still bummed about the "tin engines". I'll have to test a few things on my own. One good thing is that this now frees up my 2 solar flowers.

Ty so much for the help!