Need help with wiring

[GMDApple]

I am having trouble with this save because all of my wires keep breaking. I would appreciate if someone could tell me how to fix this, why this is happening, and how to prevent stuff like this from happening in the future. Also if you could give me any ideas on what to improve on my base that would also be great.

Save File: The True Spacestation.sav

[0xFADE]

You've got up to 2100 watts being consumed on a single wire.  The wire max is 1k.  You do have a transformer and are building another so what you need to do is split the wire.

I see that metal refinery, it uses 1200 watts.  Which will instantly overload everything.  You probably started having wires break when you built that.

Nice close natural gas geyser by the way.

You'll also want suits before you get in to that oil area.  It is too hot.

Oh you've got 2 and water.  I guess it is an older small map.

The ranching update is actually pretty nice.  All the hidden geysers too.  Very game changing.

[PhailRaptor]

Based on 0xFADE's comment, I can tell what the problem is.

Wire overloads when the total Wattage of consuming devices exceeds the maximum Wattage rating of that type of Wire.  For basic Wire, this is 1 kW (1,000 W) of devices.  To prevent an overload on basic Wire, you need to ensure that all devices connected to that segment of Wire do not exceed 1 kW.  For example, a typical early game situation would be 2 Deoxodizers (120 W each), a Microbemusher (240 W), a Massage Table (240 W), and maybe a Granulator already (240 W).  That's 960 W of power being consumed.  You can only add another 40 W before basic Wire will start overloading.  For example, adding a single Gas Pump would be 240 W, which pushes you over by 200 W -- each second that all your devices were running would lead to overload damage.

There are 2 ways to prevent this.  One way is to use different types of Wire.  Basic Wire can handle 1 kW, Conductive Wire can take 2 kW, and both Heavy-Watt and Conductive Heavy-Watt (don't use it, waste of resources...) can support 20 kW.  However, Heavy-Watt is problematic to use anywhere your Dupes will be traveling frequently due to it's severe Decor penalties and inability to cross through Tiles without a Joint Plate.  Overall Conductive Wire is the best option, despite requiring Refined Metal, one of the more limited resources in the game.  But we're still constrained by that 2 kW limit that Conductive Wire is constrained by.

The second prevention method is to use Transformers to separate your overall power grid into individual circuits.  The idea is that you have a more industrial main line of Heavy-Watt providing power to your base, and you connect the upper terminal on the Transformer to that, while the lower terminal connects to a circuit of devices on a lesser strength Wire.  The idea is to organize your devices based on either their proximity or their function (or both) into groups, and connect those groups as a circuit to a Transformer.  This allows you to separate the draw from your various devices into smaller chunks that are less than the Wattage limitations of the Wire you are using.  So in the above example, instead of adding that Gas Pump to our existing circuit, we should start a new one behind a Transformer.

There are, however, a couple of quirks to be aware of when using Transformers.  First and foremost, they output Heat.  Not a huge amount, but a relevant one.  You can't just plop them anywhere, particularly if you are doing anything temperature sensitive.  Like growing your Mealwood and Bristle Berries.  Placement is an important consideration.  The second thing is an oddity of how they are coded to function.  Each second, the game has 5 "ticks" during which various calculations are processed.  Each of those "ticks", the Transformer is able to step-down 1,000 J of power (1 W = 1 J per second, so 1 kW per "tick").  If any single device on a given circuit draws more than 1 kW of power (Aquatuner and Refinery, currently) you will get brown-outs on the line, where some or all of the devices will show "no power", since the Transformer can't supply enough in a single "tick" to run the device.  This is prevented by including any type of Battery on the circuit.  When the Transformer fails to supply enough to run the device, it can go looking at the Battery to make up the shortfall.  This effectively means that a Transformer with a Battery is able to support a total of 5 kW of devices, rather than the expected 1 kW.

[Gurgel]

You can also use two transformers in parallel to supply 2kW to a Conductive Wire, if you prefer not to use batteries.

And do not be afraid to clean up and reroute your power circuits, it is a normal part of the game. I usually start with 3 transformers and and up with more than 10, just because that makes things easier and, once you have a cooling aggregate, managing the heat is not really an issue anymore.

[Neotuck]

3 minutes ago, Gurgel said:

You can also use two transformers in parallel to supply 2kW to a Conductive Wire, if you prefer not to use batteries.

ya but that generates a lot of excess heat, better to use just one transformer with a smart battery

[Gurgel]

Sure, if you need less than 1kW sustained, use a battery. But if you need more, use 2 transformers.

[PhailRaptor]

6 minutes ago, Gurgel said:

Sure, if you need less than 1kW sustained, use a battery. But if you need more, use 2 transformers.

For what reason?  1 Transformer can supply up to 5 kW of power if there is a Battery on the low side.

[Neotuck]

 

1 hour ago, Gurgel said:

Sure, if you need less than 1kW sustained, use a battery. But if you need more, use 2 transformers.

No I do 2kW circuits all the time.  Using 2 transformers is a total waste and generate too much heat.  A single transformer automated to a smart battery on a conductive wire circuit can handle 2kW just fine

[Lilalaunekuh]

4 hours ago, Neotuck said:

5 hours ago, Gurgel said:

Sure, if you need less than 1kW sustained, use a battery. But if you need more, use 2 transformers.

No I do 2kW circuits all the time.  Using 2 transformers is a total waste and generate too much heat.  A single transformer automated to a smart battery on a conductive wire circuit can handle 2kW just fine

If your like me and "cool" your power plant with electrolyzer hydrogen (or other infinite sutainable cooling systems) and insulate your plant you don´t have to worry about heat (each additional smart battery is a bit more wasted energy ^^)

[Neotuck]

5 minutes ago, Lilalaunekuh said:

each additional smart battery is a bit more wasted energy ^^

depends on how it's used, the amount of power wasted on a smart battery is less than the amount saved while the transformer is shut off from automation 

[WanderingKid]

48 minutes ago, Lilalaunekuh said:

If your like me and "cool" your power plant with electrolyzer hydrogen (or other infinite sutainable cooling systems) and insulate your plant you don´t have to worry about heat (each additional smart battery is a bit more wasted energy ^^)

I personally do use hydrogen cooling in my main power center, but I run main trunk power all over the place. I used to use double transformers as well.  Still do, if I haven't gotten a lot of refined metals up yet.  However, heat wise, the single transformer + smart battery + logic circuit is the least in heat costs.  Dual transformers are 10W of heat continuously.  A single transformer is occasionally 5W of heat + 2.5 on a charged smart battery, and the transformer is in use typically at most 1/3 of the time.  It costs one less horizontal space (3 for the transformer, 2 for the Smart Battery) so it's more compact as well.

400J runoff is half of a single second on a hydrogen generator, and even regular batteries are ridiculously low at 2kJ, or 2.2? seconds of a Hydrogen Generator pre cycle.  The heat is a lot more concerning.  By rights, even a normal raw metal wire design would be better off on smart battery, but I can't bring myself to use up that much space and refined metals.

[Gurgel]

Ok, that means the tool-tip on the transformer is fundamentally broken. Depends on your stance whether you call this bug-using or a legitimate mechanism.

[Lilalaunekuh]

Think here should be a good place to ask this:

If I use automation to turn off a power transformer, am I right that this deletes the stored energy ?

(So 1KJ lost each time I turn off a power transformer)

[Neotuck]

3 hours ago, Lilalaunekuh said:

Think here should be a good place to ask this:

If I use automation to turn off a power transformer, am I right that this deletes the stored energy ?

(So 1KJ lost each time I turn off a power transformer)

you can always bypass it by using the smart battery to shut off the heavy watt wire leading into the transformer (I did this before automation was added to the transformer)