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Long Distance Wires For Solar Power?


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I finally got to the surface in my latest playthrough (I get distracted and restart a lot) and started messing with solar panels.  As many pointed out, battery banks are needed to store all the excess power coming from them.

 

The main issue I see with them is that I have no way of moving this power without using some heavy wires down my transit path to get it to my base/outposts.  Obviously I can use a transformer at the battery bank and run a conductive wire down my transit path to save on decor, but then there is no way to plug that wire into my base since connecting that wire to a transformer at the base will overload it

 

Currently, I pipe around hydrogen/coal to places that need power and generate the power on the spot, so no need for a dedicated trunk line and can hide the heavy watt where dupes don't go, however, I don't see a way to do that with solar  One thought was running a conductive wire and power shutoff at each circuit but I fear multiple circuits might need charging and overload the wire.  Didn't want to fight with automation right now to test that set up so that only one can be connected at a time, but even then it seems kinda exploitive.  Alternative I can build a wall along my transit path to hide the heavy wires, but I was curious if there was a better way.

 

I've seen the smart battery shutoff trick that uses automation and shut offs to disconnect from generators when full and then connect to consumers pictured in this older thread, but again seems kinda exploitive so I was wondering what the rest of you do.

 

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You have legit way to do it, One in the middle is use small transformers to streamline your power to your base Other two is just block negative decor and use heavy watt wire.

The left and the right are same idea the right is just add ladder and some door (one at base and one at solar power room to prevent unnecessary walk or you could use permission instead) to make it act like maintenance path.

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Spoiler

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4 hours ago, SackMaggie said:

You have legit way to do it, One in the middle is use small transformers to streamline your power to your base Other two is just block negative decor and use heavy watt wire.

The left and the right are same idea the right is just add ladder and some door (one at base and one at solar power room to prevent unnecessary walk or you could use permission instead) to make it act like maintenance path.

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So @SackMaggie, can you correct my understanding of the center part.

I was trying something similar to that at one point, had 2 small transformer at a hydrogen generator outpost (controlled by a smart battery) running a 2kw wire to my base.  Only had 2 small transformers at my base at the time but each was connected directly into my circuits (2kw wire as high line, 1kw wire as low line with a battery on the low line).  I was getting something like 5kw pull on the 2kw transfer wire, which kept breaking it over and over until I just moved everything.

That's the reason I assumed I couldn't use the conductive wires to run power from solar to my base without some strange shut off setup.  It sounds like it was just my design that was wrong, not the concept.  It seems like because it went directly into my base circuits, I assume at one point they were recharging batteries and pulling into my consumers at the same time, hence the breaking.

In your image, would I instead add another line of small transformers underneath the batteries (high line with heavy wire) at my base before connecting to the circuits to avoid breaking the conductive wires bringing power in?

 

3 hours ago, KittenIsAGeek said:

If only I could rotate a solar panel up-side down...

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as a side note... one tame shinebug left in an open room becomes a swarm.

Literally just got done culling the herd of shine bugs that I accidentally spawned due to an open door in my hatch farm.  Had something like 300 at one point that was starting to lag my computer.

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14 hours ago, DemainaNyx said:

Alternative I can build a wall along my transit path to hide the heavy wires, but I was curious if there was a better way.

Build wall of gold tiles, no alternative of this. Your decor will be ok bro.

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I typically string the wires along my "main" ladder and write off the decor bonus.  By the time I have dupes who need it, I'm able to make a secondary base and better access routes for the elite snobs to use without mingling with the unwashed masses.

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8 hours ago, DemainaNyx said:

Only had 2 small transformers at my base at the time but each was connected directly into my circuits (2kw wire as high line, 1kw wire as low line with a battery on the low line).  I was getting something like 5kw pull on the 2kw transfer wire, which kept breaking it over and over until I just moved everything.

You can use 2 small transformers directly from generator to consumer and it will never break your wire because 2 transformers will only put in 2kw never more than that you can use this method to limit over pull easily but I don't recommend it since you can have a sets of Transformer+Smart battery (use automation wire from battery to transformer to shut it down to reduce heat production) in every circuit instead and it will satisfy your building.

So just have separate circuits in your base and all of them connected to central power generator that use heavy watt wire somewhere dupe didn't go.

9 hours ago, DemainaNyx said:

In your image, would I instead add another line of small transformers underneath the batteries (high line with heavy wire) at my base before connecting to the circuits to avoid breaking the conductive wires bringing power in?

At the printing pod ? Then yes but use combination of normal transformer+smart battery instead, It will save you one more tile and capable of fast battery charge and will result in less heat generation, If the heat is not your problem then do the way you want, It yours colony after all.

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15 hours ago, DemainaNyx said:

I've seen the smart battery shutoff trick that uses automation and shut offs to disconnect from generators when full and then connect to consumers pictured in this older thread, but again seems kinda exploitive so I was wondering what the rest of you do.

So how exactly is using real world engineering an exploit? Switch mode power supplies is literally in every computer or mobile device today.

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20 minutes ago, KittenIsAGeek said:

If it wasn't for switch-mode power supplies, cell-phones would still be the size and weight of a brick. :)

HAHA :D that reminds me of my first flip phone I got back in the 90s

it came will a tiny battery that I thought was sleek and cool, until I realized if couldn't hold a charge for more than 30 min so I had to buy extra large battery "upgrades" that turned my small light flip phone into a heavy brick

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3 hours ago, KittenIsAGeek said:

If it wasn't for switch-mode power supplies, cell-phones would still be the size and weight of a brick. :)

maybe then the world would still be a safer place for one does not need firearms to protect oneself, just a very blunt weapon... not that I could know, in a safe country like mine, where one can work from home, get ingredients and everything delivered to your house while at most having to go outside (but still inside the premise) to get rid of garbage~

 

Seriously thou', I have yet to try but am fairly certain that power production does not tax wires nor affect transformers in ONI so that one does not need to have heavy watt wires for solar panels. I could very well be mistaken so I will test a bit, later (someday).

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36 minutes ago, SakuraKoi said:

Seriously thou', I have yet to try but am fairly certain that power production does not tax wires nor affect transformers in ONI so that one does not need to have heavy watt wires for solar panels. I could very well be mistaken so I will test a bit, later (someday).

from my understanding there are 2 ways to stress wires, power pull and push

pull comes from the power consumers

push comes from the generators or transformers

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47 minutes ago, Neotuck said:

from my understanding there are 2 ways to stress wires, power pull and push

pull comes from the power consumers

push comes from the generators or transformers

so, I tested a bit and there is no push from generators and it is transformers which actually pull. Batteries do not count as pulling either.

Ultimately, I will just run a heavy watt wire down, to where also my natural gas generators are, rather than 1000 wires. 4 do not only mean the same amount of resources used but 4 times the space wasted. Isolating it in gold just sounds fair. Sure, for 3 panels one only needs one wire (while wasting (140 W midday, probably a battery or three needed to catch that) but 1000 extra watt is not that much, it saves gas of course but one might as well power the surface base with it (after one has the batteries behind closed walls, lest they overheat).

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7 minutes ago, SakuraKoi said:

so, I tested a bit and there is no push from generators and it is transformers which actually pull. Batteries do not count as pulling either.

Ultimately, I will just run a heavy watt wire down, to where also my natural gas generators are, rather than 1000 wires. 4 do not only mean the same amount of resources used but 4 times the space wasted. Isolating it in gold just sounds fair. Sure, for 3 panels one only needs one wire (while wasting (140 W midday, probably a battery or three needed to catch that) but 1000 extra watt is not that much, it saves gas of course but one might as well power the surface base with it (after one has the batteries behind closed walls, lest they overheat).

I tested too and am amazed that heavy watt wires are not necessary for generators

in my test I have 16 hydrogen generators running non stop with no batteries with only 1 transformer to power 4 gas pumps

everything is connected with copper wire and no overloading happened despite 12800W being generated on a 1000W wire

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5 hours ago, Neotuck said:

I tested too and am amazed that heavy watt wires are not necessary for generators

in my test I have 16 hydrogen generators running non stop with no batteries with only 1 transformer to power 4 gas pumps

everything is connected with copper wire and no overloading happened despite 12800W being generated on a 1000W wire

 

Yeah, but that's because the small transformer has a limit of 1000w that it will send down the 'small' line.  So while you're producing a whole lot of power, only a small amount is actually moving through your lines.

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5 hours ago, Neotuck said:

I tested too and am amazed that heavy watt wires are not necessary for generators

in my test I have 16 hydrogen generators running non stop with no batteries with only 1 transformer to power 4 gas pumps

everything is connected with copper wire and no overloading happened despite 12800W being generated on a 1000W wire

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multiple transforms with a high-volt line output, with more than 1k consumer. is that still alright?

 

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1 minute ago, dallion said:

multiple transforms with a high-volt line output, with more than 1k consumer. is that still alright?

no, this can only support 1 transformer

as soon as I built a second transformer, the wires connecting the generators began to overload 

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I find that it gets way too awkward unless you pretty much have a wire from your heavy watt network within 30 tiles of all your buildings.  If you use Fire polls for downward travel and Transit tubes for upward travel, you can put heavy -watt under your ladder and your dupes won't spend much time exposed to the nasty wires.  Just put doors on your transit corridor so the ugly doesn't spread to the horizontal passages.

 

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