By
noisulli
Hello all,
HV solar panels produce a hefty 512 EU/t, and when combined with a good method for storing their power, are generally considered the best power source in Tekkit. Their primary disadvantage is how long they take to craft. Which is why I have created a relatively lag-free method for automatically producing HV solar panels, and this is the tutorial for how to make it. I doubt that I am the first to come up with this type of design, but I haven't found any good guides out there that don't take up an unnecessary amount of space (but I'm not claiming that this design is optimized).
HV Solar Panel Factory
Solar panels are great when they work, but they are unreliable with bad weather or if you don't sleep through the long minecraft nights, which is why I would recommend making some MFSUs to go along with the HV solar panels you will get from this factory. I might put out a tutorial for automatically manufacturing MFSUs later on as well.
If you are planning on building one of these then you probably should be aware that HV solar panels are not cheap. Each one is 2,646,593 emc worth of raw materials, and it will cost this much per panel regardless of whether you use the factory or craft it by hand.
If you are unfamiliar with logistics pipes then do not fear, the guide goes through some simple steps on what to do with them.
The resources you will need for the factory are:
11 energy condenser (this is one of the few cases where having MK2 condensers isn't a good thing)
16 automatic crafting table MKII
1 auto workbench
1 chest
27 supplier logistics pipe
15 provider logistics pipe
16 basic logistics pipe
3 redstone block
3 redstone engine
2 item teleport pipe
3 wooden transport pipe
2 closed transport pipe
1 LV solar panel
1 logistics power junction
If you already have an emc generator and would like to use it to power your factory, then you will also need:
2 item teleport pipe
1 clay transport pipe
The total emc cost for the factory is 855,368. This is less than a third the cost of a single HV solar panel. You will need significantly more emc to get the machine running and you will also need at least one of each of the following materials to set as targets for your energy condensers:
rubber
copper ingot
redstone dust
refined iron
tin ingot
furnace
wood planks
coal dust
glass
gold ingot
diamond
Placing down the blocks for this contraption is fairly simple and giving inputs to the pipes/tables is easy, but it can get a little bit tedious because there are so many recipes that go into a HV solar panel. You will also need a wrench to do this.
As with most machines, make sure that you have enough room (this machine is 10x2x3) and that you place it in a spawn chunk or somewhere near a world anchor.
Step 1
Start by placing down the six blocks shown in the picture below. This is the arrangement for most of the factory. Note that it is important that your automatic crafting table MkII is facing upward (it does this automatically when you place it down).
Block Placement for Step 1
Step 2
You will need to make 10 more of these "slices" and set them up next to each other. However, for the slice on the very end place a cobblestone block instead of an energy condenser.
Block Placement for Step 2
Step 3
Now add 3 more automatic crafting tables MkII to the front of it. Right click the 3rd one with your wrench to rotate it so that it is facing away from the others.
Block Placement for Step 3
Step 4
Throw some supplier logistics pipes on the side, and some provider logistics pipes on top of the first two. The rotated automatic crafting table MkII gets a basic logistics pipe on top of it.
Block Placement for Step 4
Step 5
One block away from your closest energy condenser, add a chest. Then add 3 basic logistics pipes out from the chest. Put a provider logistics pipe on the end, and finally an energy condenser underneath the provider logistics pipe.
Block Placement for Step 5
Step 6
Place a wooden transport pipe coming out of the rotated automatic crafting table MkII and set a redstone engine above it. Add a redstone block next to the redstone engine and add an item teleport pipe to the end of the wooden transport pipe.
Block Placement for Step 6
Step 7
For Step 7, you get to decide where the new chest and item teleport pipe will go. This will be where your HV solar panels will be brought to once they are made, so put it somewhere that is convenient for you. Before the item teleport pipes will work however, you must set up their information. Right click on the item teleport pipe in the black circle and put it in "send only" mode and choose a frequency. If you already had some other item teleport pipes on your world then pick a frequency that is not already being used. If these are your first item teleport pipes then pick whatever value you want. For the item teleport pipe in the red circle, put it in "receive only" mode and give it the same frequency you chose for your other pipe.
If you realllly don't want to deal with item teleport pipes then you can forget about Step 7 and instead just put a chest next to the wooden transport pipe, but you will have to run all the way out to your factory whenever you want solar panels.
Before moving to Step 8, you should have an emc generator. There are several types to choose from, but if you want one that can keep up with this factory then I would recommend a design I created called Project 71. Another option is to just add high emc items into the energy condenser manually (the one next to the redstone block), but that requires upkeep. If you do choose to put in emc by hand, then you don't need to do Step 8 so go straight to Step 9.
Output from Factory to Personal Chest
Step 8
Add in a clay transport pipe coming out of the energy condenser and item teleport pipes on the right and bottom of the clay transport pipe. For your emc generator, you must send the items that it generates over to the item teleport pipe in the picture below (red circle). In order to send them you will need to attach an item teleport pipe to your emc generator. The pipe attached to your generator should be in "send only" mode at a frequency that is not being used. The item teleport pipe in the red circle should be in "receive only" mode and have the same frequency as the one attached to your emc generator. For the item teleport pipe in the black circle it must be in "send only" mode. You should do something similar to Step 7, and have it connect to a convenient chest where you want any extra emc to go (probably next to a transmutation table). Note that the item teleport pipe that goes to your emc deposit chest (not shown) should be in "receive only" mode.
EMC Supply using Item Teleport Pipes
Step 9
For the next step, head over to the other side of your factory. Place blocks in the orientation shown below. Use the wrench to make sure the redstone engine is facing upward and that the automatic crafting table MkII is facing toward the wooden transport pipe.
Block Placement for Step 9
Step 10
Next add the blocks shown below directly in front of the blocks from Step 9. Note that the automatic crafting table MkII must be facing downward and that the wooden transport pipe on the top row (behind the auto workbench, not visible) should have the solid side going into the auto workbench.
Block Placement for Step 10
Step 11
Now all of your blocks for the factory are placed down! However, now you must add some targets for your pipes and condensers to get it working. Lets begin with the energy condensers. When you open up a condenser, the top left box is the target box. To add targets to a condenser, you drag an item into the target box (the item is not consumed). The photo below labels all the energy condensers so that you know what targets to set for them.
Energy Condenser Labels
Targets:
tin ingot
copper
rubber
redstone dust
furnace
refined iron ingot
coal dust
glass
wood
gold ingot
diamond
Step 12
Next up is the automatic crafting table MkIIs and also the lone auto workbench. For these you need to put in recipes. But before you do, you must go through each of the automatic crafting table MkIIs and set the middle button (on the right hand side) from "1" to "64". The photo below labels all of the automatic crafters on each side so that you know which recipes to add in. In order to make all of the recipes, you will need to craft at least one of each of the following items:
copper cable
RE-battery
machine block
circuit
generator\
LV-transformer
solar panel
gold cable
2xIns. gold cable
MV-transformer
low voltage solar panel
HV cable
4xIns. HV cable
energy crystal
HV-transformer
medium voltage solar panel
Automatic crafting table MkII Labels
Recipes for Each Label
Step 13
For the basic logistics pipe directly next to your chest (circled in red) then right click it with a wrench and change its default route from "No" to "Yes".
Setting up "Default" Route
Step 14
You will also need to change some things on your supplier logistics pipes, but luckily you don't have to worry about the provider logistics pipes. There are 10 supplier logistics pipes connected to your energy condensers. On one of these pipes right click it with a wrench. You must change the setting from "Bulk 50" to "Partial" on all 10. The supplier logistics pipes must also be told which items to let in. For the 10 pipes that are connected to the energy condensers place a single diamond in their "items to keep stocked" window with the exception of the one connected to energy condenser #6 (the one with refined iron ingots). For energy condenser #6, put in 3 diamonds instead of 1. Note that you aren't actually placing your diamonds inside the pipe so you don't loose them. Instead you are just informing the pipe of what to let in.
If your energy condenser #11 has a source of emc, then you will see the logistics pipes starting to work. You aren't done quite yet, but you are close!
Now there are 17 supplier logistics pipes you have not configured yet: One on the top row, one on the second row, and 15 on the bottom row. Set all of the remaining supplier logistics pipes to "Partial" mode with the exception of the one connected to the auto workbench. For the one connected to the auto workbench then set it to "Full" mode. Depending on which crafting table these 17 are connected to, you must tell it the type and amount of items to let in. A general rule of thumb is that you use a full stack of each item that is being used in the recipe. For example:
The supplier logistics pipe connected to automatic crafting table MkII #1 would look like this:
Automatic crafting table MkII #1, GUI
You don't HAVE to put a full stack inside, but usually it is the more the merrier. Also in the example shown above you would have to put a minimum of 1 copper cable, 2 redstone dust, and 4 tin ingots. This way there is at least enough crafting ingredients to make ONE RE-battery. The more you request, the faster they can be crafted. After about 2-3 stacks of each item type, it becomes a bit redundant to add more. If you don't have a full stack of an item you are trying to add in, then you can always just keep clicking until you have 64+ placed inside.
One exception is the supplier logistics pipe attached to the auto workbench, you should only have 1 diamond and 8 redstone dust in that one. Automatic crafting table MkII #2 and automatic crafting table MkII #16 are also a little different than the rest. For automatic crafting table MkII #2, you do not need to add in a stack of RE-batteries. For automatic crafting table MkII #16, you do not need to add in a stack of energy crystals.
Be sure to add input items for ALL of the supplier logistics pipes because if you don't, then the device wont be able to manufacture all of the items that it needs!
As you continue to give items to the supplier logistics pipes, the factory will start sending and manufacturing items. Once all of them are done, it can begin creating high voltage solar panels. If your factory has a healthy supply of emc in the energy condenser #11, then items should be moving around constantly. This GIF should give you an idea of how it will look. Even with items zipping around quickly, it still takes a couple minutes for a high voltage solar panel to be created. High voltage solar panels are an amazing source of energy and you will be able to use them for all sorts of applications (I would recommend making one of these).
If you have a very high supply of emc, but you still aren't getting any high voltage solar panels, then looks through your automatic crafting table MkIIs and see which items are not being supplied, that should help you narrow down where the problem is.
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