power issues

[failsafe.db]

Hi all.

I have small problem with connecting power buildings. As usually, at first I had my coal generator scattered all over the place, but eventually I've moved all of them into secluded spot. And then I've reworked all the power lines, and placed some new. My general idea was to build four could generators, connected together with four smart batteries (but eventually this setup was to be upgraded in near future by some additional buildings, also other power generators). Then I've placed a hi-watt cable to the set of four transformers. Out of these transformers I've dragged particular power lines - most in conductor cable, one in standard power cable. One of the lines was supposed to power my metal rafinery.

Something went wrong - whenever a dupe came to a metal rafinery it showed "no power". After dupe left, the icon has dissapeared, so dupe showed up again, only to toggle "no power" icon again. And again and again. I've checked the connections, everything was okay. Most of the machines worked fine. The very same line joned also water siewers and some low-energy-cost things, nothing special. The rafinery was the main customer on this line. All smart batteries were full or kind of full.

I thought that maybe the general setup of the line is wrong, so I've changed it completely. Now I have every coal generator connected only to single smart battery, and each smart battery is connected to single transformer - everything on high watt cable and later, after transformers, on conductive cable or power cable, depeneding on the location.

The only effect is... that almost nothing works now. I have power in several machines, but most of my base is out of power. I can't even use brute force raffinery, so I'm kind of stuck with no copper ;-P. Anyway, I must have done something terribly wrong. But this is not my first play with power, I did these things before, but never in a planed manner, I always did very chaotic lines with additional generators built whenever needed, never caring about the layout. In other words, I didnt do things randomly, I think I understand part of mechanics in the game... but suddenly, I just stopped understanding anything about power distribution ;-P.

So... I have power in batteries but no power in buildings. Strange. Or not?

 

[Meltdown]

First of all, could you please post some screenshots of your setup? Screenshots are the most reliable way to tell about the situation without missing any details.

From the description, the initial setup seemed to be valid - although it isn't clear what kind of transformers did you use. If you connect small transformer to metal refinery, you would get the exact behavior you described, because small transformer produces 1kW of power, while refinery requires 1.2kW. You need to use large transformer, or connect refinery directly to heavi-watt cable.

[Other Micah]

Try adding a second smart battery.  One isn't able to store enough power for the refinery.

 

[Occam Blazer]

Make sure you have enough generation capacity to meet the demand. A refinery draws 1,200 joules (watts / second) so you need two coal generators just for that if it runs for an extended period.

Check back through your cycle reports to see how much power you draw and you can get a rough idea if you're producing enough power.

A refinery needs to be connected to a circuit capable of delivering 1,200 watts. That means the circuit can't be on a single transformer, which only provides 1,000 watts. This would explain the dupe behavior. (Yes, they have a 1,000j reserve - less than a second of refinery operation.)

[KittenIsAGeek]

On 2/9/2021 at 2:31 AM, failsafe.db said:

Something went wrong - whenever a dupe came to a metal rafinery it showed "no power". After dupe left, the icon has dissapeared, so dupe showed up again, only to toggle "no power" icon again.

If you're using a small transformer, that only provides 1kw to the machine.  A refinery draws 1200 watts, well over 1kw.  You need either two small transformers, or a large battery on the refinery side.