Riddle Me This - RP2 PR6

[SemiPr0]

RP2 has always brought some awesome things to the table as far as block addtions with great functionality.

But overnight tonight I decided I was going to do an RP2 Engine based quarry, just because I was dying to see what I could do with RP2's power output. Suffice it to say, I cannot figure out an RP2 energy production method which can meet the demands of a single quarry, using just one RP2 Blulectric Engine.

Using 12 RP2 solar panels and a wind turbine (Which are GREAT except wind conditions are horribly undependable in MC), I was able to fill an RP2 Battery Box fairly quickly, I wired it up to the engine on the Quarry, applied a redstone signal to the engines and wow did that thing FLY....for about 6 minutes, until the battery box was completely tapped and then the quarry was just operating on the slow trickle of energy coming in and dropped to a block every few seconds.

Effectively, while I love the introduction of the RP2 engine, it doesn't seem like its own power sources can meet its MJ demands when interfacing with BC machinery.

Effectively you'd need a huge bank of wind turbines (huge I mean super huge), a gigantic thermopile array or somewhere around 16x16 solar panels connected to each side of the batbox, to meet the voracious energy consumption of the Blutricity Engine when interfacing with BC machines.

Seems like RP2's capabilities are outgrowing its ability to power itself least in the area of the new engine addition.

And given that RP2's components are so much more intricate and expensive in their crafting requirements, seems somewhat unfortunate to have such great potentials for alternate energy, but not have them even be able to meet their own power requirements.

If anyone has any insights on this in the vein of YER DOIN IT WRONG, I'd love to hear some practical examples.

Only thing I can logically think of is the engine is a way to convert RP2 energy to BC energy which can the be stored in IC2 storage units. But thats just me throwing a dart at the wall.

[SemiPr0]

Hrrm I suppose no ones delved into this as yet.

I'm going to take another approach with this and build a gigantic thermopile array and see if I can use phased pipes to transport the power to remote locations.

[EarthApocalypto]

Question: How do you set up a wind turbine? I've seen the parts but I don't really understand how.

[SemiPr0]

Its pretty simple, once you've made the kinetic generator, and the wind turbine sails, just access the kinetic generator, and insert the turbine sails into the inventory slot for the block and it then spawns the sails on the generator.

Pay attention to the wind meter on the left side though after placing the generator block, if you don't have fairly constant wind in the high green to mid yellow area, the energy generation is extremely slow without multiple turbines in play.

[EarthApocalypto]

Wow huge thanks, I like how it looks. Also a pretty cheap power source.

I love the new features with the updates.

[danidas]

The main issue is the manor in which redpower's engine works, It will auto scale its output/energy draw based off what it is connected to. So it is not the best for things that can take a lot of buildcraft energy like quarries as it will try to fulfill its max energy needs.Try putting a redstone energy cell from thermal expansion between it and the quarry, that way you can adjust the input and output numbers. As well as allow you to store extra buildcraft energy for when your power generation is reduced by low wind and night time.

Also note that Elo is working on a lot of additional items for red power including a whole new tier of machines as well as hand tools as hinted at by the charging bench. Unless you only thought the charging bench was only for the sonic screwdriver as she rarely adds anything to her mod with out a reason, other then tungsten that is.

[Portablejim]

Please note that the buildcraft quarry has been changed so it can accept up to 50MJ/t. So it takes about 10 combustion engines to get to max speed (or 50 sterling engines). Basically everything else uses less than 5MJ/t. The ratio is also poor due to it converting power to another mod's power system. Maybe try with a less hungry block.

[Teraku]

Please note that the buildcraft quarry has been changed so it can accept up to 50MJ/t. So it takes about 10 combustion engines to get to max speed (or 50 sterling engines). Basically everything else uses less than 5MJ/t. The ratio is also poor due to it converting power to another mod's power system. Maybe try with a less hungry block.

Ah, that explains why my quarry was going so ungodly fast with adjustable electric engines.

[SemiPr0]

Well main concern here is I even though the RP2 Engine is adaptive, unless its being applied to something extremely low power, the core issue is that its own power generation systems do not seem to be able to support its demands. RP2 Solars, Thermopiles and Turbines do not seem to be able to generate MJ fast enough to deal with the engines demands. I'm going to do a bunch more experimentation with this tonight to get a better handle on it. Main issue is I don't think huge 16x16 solar arrays are space efficient. I love thermopiles but their MJ generation is pretty minor though constant and dependable. And turbines just aren't going to be a fast energy solution at any point it seems because wind is unreliable even with gigantic sail turbines.

So, TLDR is, I think Blutricity is outgrowing its power systems.

[LazDude2012]

SemiPr0: indeed. It does get a bit ridiculous. However, this is only with high power draw. The rates were worked out somewhere (can't remember where), and for typical, low-power-usage stuff, it's fine. Most BC stuff is low power. Quarries are really the only one to be concerned about. (and if you have RedPower, why not build a frame quarry instead! )

[Portablejim]

I don't think eloraam wants it to be easy to power the most expensive item in buildcraft easily with redpower. Please get a buildcraft system (using only buildcraft engines, no engines from converters/transformers mods) to fully power the quarry.

Turbines, mv cable and transformers were added as well as the engine. Try using the turbine higher up and having nothing near the turbine (e.g. trees) and using transformers and MV cable to transport the power. Also note that turbines take a while to ramp up, so leave them running for a while.

[SemiPr0]

Well its not really about being easy to power the most expensive item, lets say I wanted to use RP2 by itself as my primary source of energy generation. Ostensibly with the RP2 engine I can do this and forgo using BC or IC2 sources entirely. Problem is the total energy output from RP2 requires gigantic arrays of turbines, solars or thermopiles to create large enough amounts of power to be sustainable under heavy draw from IC2 machines.

Just pointing out that if you wanted to use RP2 as a primary energy source mod, you'd be having to invest about 3 times the materials and 10 times the block space you'd use to create the same level of energy using standard BC or IC2 options.

@PortableJim, I had the turbine set up at y: 108, there were no obstructions and no geography to block the wind at all, there just wasn't enough wind to get much out of it at all.