- Official Post
OUTDATED. IC² EXPERIMENTAL WINDMILLS REPLACES THE OLD ONES, THUS THIS TUTORIAL IS NOT EFFECTIVE IN ANY WAY.
Windmill Engineering by SpwnX! [Math included]
If you don't want to read about mechanics and other blabling, go to spoiler "For lazy people". [Normal Setup]
For compact one read "For the ones who want an even more compact setup..."
Also, tower cable size shown is 16 blocks tall (64 windmills per tower), you can make it taller by adding 16 more ULV wires to the tower (128 Windmills per tower).
Snyke's Math!
Display MoreWindmill mechanics:
There's a random value from 0-30 which represents the windstrength.
If this gets above 20 or below 10 the chance of decreasing or rising more will decrease.
There is a weather value aswell, if it's raining this is 1.2, if it's storming its 1.5, other wise just 1.
EU/t output = (windStrength * (height - 64 - blocks around windmill(itself not included)) / 750 * weatherValue).
If the output is larger than 5, there is a chance equal to (this value - 5) / 5000 of the windmill breaking, which is checked once every 128 ticks.
We dont want any chance of it breaking so:
5 = windStrength * (height - 64 - blocks around windmill) / 750 * weatherValue.
5 = 30 * (height - 64 - 2(the cables beneath it)) / 750 * 1.5
5 = 45 * (height - 66) / 750
3750 = 45 * (height - 66)
83,333 = height - 66
height = 149,33
Optimum height is thus 149.
You can calculate average output by taking windstrength = 15 (which is the average windstrength).
So average output of a windmill at 149 = 15 * (149 - 66) / 750 = 1,66 EU/t - all day, all night.
Average output of a solar panel = (12 * 1 + 8 * 0 ) / 20 = 0,6 EU/t - meaning windmills are 1,66/0,6 = 2,766, almost 3 times as good.
My math for tower design
Math for Unbreakable tower design using Snyke's formula (from sourcecode):
Considering MAX wind strength [30] + Thunderstorm [x1.5 multiplier] . And my design [pictures near the end of the post]
5 = WindStrength * (height - 64 - obstructing blocks) / 750 * weather value
5 = 30 (h - 64 - 34) / 750 * 1.5
5 = 45 (h - 98 ) / 750
3750 = 45 (h - 98 )
83,33... = h - 98
h = 181,33...
h = 181
h = Height of highest wind mill on tower.
Highest wind mills needs extra obstructions above it to make whole tower have exactly 34 obstructions.
This one below is legit, built by me SMP (Timmiecraft)
Wind mill Costs
Wind mill recipe: 1 generator + 4 Iron
Generator recipe: 1 Furnace + 1 Machine block [8 iron] + RE - Battery
RE - Battery recipe : 4 tin + 2 redstone + 1 insulated copper cable
Insulated copper cable recipe: Uninsulated copper wire + rubber
Uninsulated copper cable recipe: 3 copper = 6 cables , 1 copper = 2 cables
Total: 12 iron [8 refined], 4 tin , 2 redstone , 1 rubber, 1/2 copper , 8 cobblestone
64 Wind mills costs [One Wind tower] : 768 Iron , 256 tin , 128 redstone , 64 rubber , 32 copper , 512 cobblestone.
Weather Info
Rain/thunderstorms are global, so even if you place your windmill at desert it will still get 1,2x or 1,5x multiplier (weather value)
Weather Frequency/Duration:
Rain duration in seconds : 180 to 600
Pause between rain in seconds : 600 to 8400
Thunderstorm duration in seconds :
180 to 600
Pause between thunderstorms in seconds :
600 to 8400
Wind Strength
Wind Strength may vary alot while you play, so DO expect low outputs and high outputs.
Minimum strength is 0, Maximum is 30.
Modified every 128 ticks (About 6.4 seconds)
Chance to increase or decrease by 1.
10% chance to increase if current strength is 0 to 20.
10% chance to decrease if current strength is 10 to 30.
Current strength of 0 to 9 have (current strength)% chance to decrease in strength. (E.g. 0 current strength has 0% chance to decrease, 1 = 1% to decrease, ..., 9 = 9%)
Current strength of 21 to 30 have (30 - current strength)% chance to increase in strength. (E.g. 21 current strength has 9% chance to increase, 22 = 8% to increase, ..., 30 = 0%)
For lazy people... (Normal Setup)
If you are reading this, you might be too lazy to read the whole post. I gave enough information to build wind towers without the need of this.
Anyway, here are 10 screenshots that explains everything (kinda).
Step ZERO is VERY important
For the ones who want an even more compact setup (and don't care about height and resources), here is a map explaining almost everything : WindTestMap - Fixed
Safe height is Y 237
Pictures of an even compactier setup (Block distance between towers is 2)
Area required formula
Normal : 7N + 4
Compact: 5N + 6
N = Number of towers in Any direction
Square setups (N x N) are recommended, only use different ones if you have limited space that is not a square.
For example a 5x5 setup (25 towers) will use:
Normal design: 7*5 + 4 x 7*5 + 4 Area = 39x39
Compact design: 5*5 + 6 x 5*5 + 6 Area = 31x31
If you have any questions, ask it in this post , i will reply as soon as i can.
Special Thanks for Snyke for Wind mill formula 
