Automation help - only one active transformer in group of many

[LeftyRighty]

I'm trying to figure out the automation necessary to have n transformers on a power line such that only one transformer is active at any given time...

I'm struggling with the transformers pulsing or deactivating because they're the "one" that is on... any pointers would be appreciated

[LeftyRighty]

 

best i've come up with so far... with signal delays it can flick on two transformers for a tick before the one further right overrides the one to the left. Not too much of an issue with a 2k wire and 1k transformers though... 

[Nightinggale]

I don't really get why you would want to make that setup. I suspect you are trying to do something which is way more complex than it needs to be.

 

However here is an approach to how it can be done:

Place a not gate and let the output go to a filter gate. The output on that goes to another filter gate and so on. The last filter gate is then connected to the input on the not gate. This way once the on signal reach the end, the not gate resets all the filter gates and it starts over. It's one way to make a timed event.

Now dedicate one filter gate for each transformer. Take input and output and use those as inputs for an XOR gate. This one is true only if the inputs differs. Since the filter gates will have the same input and output, the output of the XOR gate will be off, except for the single filter gate, which is actually counting a delay. This means you will have a bunch of XOR gates and precisely one (not 0, not 2, just 1) will be on at any time. If all filter gates are set to the same delay, each transformer will get precisely the same amount of time.

If you want to use the output of the battery, you should use the memory toggle. Connect the output of the battery to set input. Set output to the output of the filter gate. The reset input should be NOT the filter input. The result is that it is turned off until the filter input is on. From that point, if the battery turns on, it will make the output green (like the filter gate is done) and it will stay green until the filter input goes red and resets everything. This will effectively make the battery skip the chance it had to charge the battery this round and wait for all filter gates to reset before trying to charge again. It's possible that you need a not gate between the battery and the memory.

One thing to understand in order to use this is that a wire will turn green if at least one output is on. This means if you add multiple outputs to the same wire, then it will not matter if one or all are on. This is why it makes sense to use the output of both filter gate and memory on the same wire.

 

I think something like this might be the more stable setup you can get for providing power to multiple transformers while only using one transformer at a time. Unlike the stuff you made, what I wrote will give equal time to each transformer, providing none of the batteries rejects charging.

 

You might want to consider just breaking the wire with automation and not using transformers. The problem with transformers is that they use full power at all time. If you skip it, then you will reach whatever is consuming power on the other side, which is usually less than 1 kW. The extra power, which goes into the battery will not count towards breaking the wire. If you only consume 500 W on each section, enabling more than one section at a time will most certainly not hurt the wire. This means enabling a battery for a tick or two, before realizing it doesn't need charging will not hurt the wire while it can if you use transformers.

 

You might also consider adding all battery outputs using OR gates. If the output of the last OR gate is green, then at least one battery wants to charge. If the output is red, then you can shut down the power generator to save fuel because no battery will try to charge anyway.