Are power transformers useless right now?

[Daikataro]

So, from in-game description, power transformers are meant to "protect circuits from overloading, by increasing or decreasing power flow". They were conceived as a response to the old way of building a separate circuit every 1kW of consumption, and I would understand they are meant to buffer consumption spikes above 1kW so the circuit doesn't get overloaded.

 

Right now however, I see no use on them, other than having a main bank of batteries, as opposed to three, but the very second the load goes over 1kW, even by 20W, the circuit immediately starts taking overload damage, even if the spike didn't last over a few seconds, so they are essentially very small batteries that split power and nothing else? Am I using them wrong? Opinions?

[Risu]

Their purpose is to centralize your power production which can then be distributed up to 20 sub-circuits
instead of having power generation on each circuit.
 

[FR4NK]

Transformers act like diodes(power only travels one way). So having batteries after the transformer can keep vital systems powered during "brown outs" where total demand exceeds production.

[Saturnus]

10 minutes ago, FR4NK said:

Transformers act like diodes(power only travels one way). So having batteries after the transformer can keep vital systems powered during "brown outs" where total demand exceeds production.

You can also achieve staged shutdown sequence where one system shuts down before another in case of overall power failure by calculating battery sizes after transformers differently on each circuit.

[Daikataro]

Thanks a lot guys, seems like I was expecting something different than intended. The vital systems and sequential shutdown are a bit too rich for my blood, as I honestly have never had something in my base I can't do without for a few cycles before realizing batteries were dead and I needed to turn on more generators.

[LeadfootSlim]

Transformers also cap out at 1000 watts - the limit over which your wires start to burn out and require repair. Unless you want to lose all your metal to the repair tax, transformers and carefully managed circuit distribution is key.

That said, it's super frustrating that so many things are either 120 or 240 watts... you can do four 240-watt devices (920 watts) or eight 120-watt devices (also 920 watts) or mixtures thereof, and I guess you can fill the remaining space with lightbulbs or something. I guess it's a good challenge to have though.

[Saturnus]

14 minutes ago, LeadfootSlim said:

Transformers also cap out at 1000 watts - the limit over which your wires start to burn out and require repair. Unless you want to lose all your metal to the repair tax, transformers and carefully managed circuit distribution is key.

That said, it's super frustrating that so many things are either 120 or 240 watts... you can do four 240-watt devices (920 watts) or eight 120-watt devices (also 920 watts) or mixtures thereof, and I guess you can fill the remaining space with lightbulbs or something. I guess it's a good challenge to have though.

Transformer don't cap at 1000W. There's literally no cap on them. However, if you do have more consumption on the circuit than 1KW, everything on that circuit needs to be connected with heavi-watt wire. And you need a battery, big or small, on the circuit as well.

Surely, 4 times 240 and 8 times 120 is 960. 960 to 1000 is only 4% safety margin. Now I know in the game these numbers are completely fixed by if I designed PCBs with those kinds of safety margins, I'd be out of business in no time at all.

[LeadfootSlim]

2 minutes ago, Saturnus said:

Transformer don't cap at 1000W. There's literally no cap on them. However, if you do have more consumption on the circuit than 1KW, everything on that circuit needs to be connected with heavi-watt wire. And you need a battery, big or small, on the circuit as well.

Surely, 4 times 240 and 8 times 120 is 960. 960 to 1000 is only 4% safety margin. Now I know in the game these numbers are completely fixed by if I designed PCBs with those kinds of safety margins, I'd be out of business in no time at all.

Derp, I screwed up my math.

Regardless, for the use of basic wire, transformers are a good way to play it safe and avoid overloads.

[eggsvbacon]

5 hours ago, Saturnus said:

...And you need a battery, big or small, on the circuit as well...

Before or after the transformer? Pretend I'm a talking pigeon and assume my capacity for learning is rudimentary. I followed everything you said, but directions are unclear. 

Yes, I could test this with w/out, but that would be too complicated because my brain cells scream when I get near transformers.

Thanks.

[Risu]

3 minutes ago, eggsvbacon said:

Before or after the transformer?

Batteries on the heavy wire before the transformer are for all the consumers on that network.
Batteries after the transformer are for only that circuit. Think of it as an exclusive emergency battery.
 

[Saturnus]

26 minutes ago, eggsvbacon said:

Before or after the transformer? Pretend I'm a talking pigeon and assume my capacity for learning is rudimentary. I followed everything you said, but directions are unclear. 

Yes, I could test this with w/out, but that would be too complicated because my brain cells scream when I get near transformers.

Thanks.

As a starving consumer, you don't care how many tins of bird seeds you have in the cupboard. You only care about those tins that are open. A transformer is a tin opener.

[Kermack]

The transformer acts like a substation.  The ultimate idea is that you have a centralized network of batteries connected to various generators.  This creates a an energy dump so you don't waste energy from generators on full batteries and also create unwanted heat.  For instance, if your batteries are full and your coal generator(s) are still burning coal, you are wasting energy and producing excess heat and you need to add more batteries and lower the coal generator battery threshold.  The batteries and generators should all be relatively close and connected by heavy watt wires.

Now this is where you bring in the transformer.  You connect a transformer's heavy end to the heavy watt wire from your battery/generator network.  On the light end of the transformer you connect various machines using regular wires.  Depending on what you're connecting, whether it's machinery that needs to run constantly or only a few times a cycle, you can determine if you should connect more than 1Kw worth of equipment to that transformer.

For instance if I have a refrigerator and grow lights.  These need to run constantly so I will make sure they are connected to a transformer that will never reach it's max wattage.  Reaching a transformer's max wattage results in a blackout on that circuit.  Which protects the small wires from burning out.

Now let's say I have an array of various liquid pumps for moving waste water and fresh water.  Thing's like your bathrooms and sinks, or your cooking water pool and showers will fill with water until they are needed.  You can connect the pumps for these things to a single transformer and exceed the max 1Kw and not have to worry about overloading wires and free up some wire space to the network, simplifying your design further and allowing for more complexity in the future.  Also you could connect your loom and exosuit forge and/or your micro musher and stove to this same circuit/transformer since you only use those sparingly, depending on how many dupes you're feeding.