Need help understanding the automatic technology.

[ColBBQ]

What's confusing me at this time is the sensors, gas, pressure, etc, where I cannot figure out how to use them with the power shutoff switch.   Are they just warning beacons or can I somehow use them to pump out some nefarious gases with a gas sensor connected to a power switch or the gas pump.

[SamuraiJones]

There's a "power switch" component, but that's not the best way to use it most of the time. I almost always hook automation lines exactly to the components themselves. Most (maybe all) machines shut off if they're hooked to a "standby" input. A machine hooked to an automation wire will only run if it's got an "active" line on it.

The easiest way to use automation is to have a sensor to enable a machine. So for example, to save power, I only run my gas pump on the NG geyser when pressures are high. When the geyser goes dormant, pressure drops, and the gas pump shuts off.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1542116415

You can certainly hook up a pump to a gas sensor to pump out unwanted gases, although you'll probably have to filter them. I often have a "pump if not oxygen" setup at the bottom of my base to capture NG, chlorine and CO2.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1542121295

Just note that the sensors trigger on what they see, not on what the machine sees. So if you put a gas element sensor set to CO2 right next (or far away) from your machine, you'll still get plenty of stuff that's not CO2 in the pipes. If a single little puff of CO2 will drift by the sensor, and the pump will flip on for a few seconds, and grab that puff but probably lots of other gases that are around.

Anyway, hope that helps. I'm sure there's lots of youtube tutorials as well if you've got more questions or are trying to do something more fancy.