Solar panel production line (automated)

  • Hi guys


    This is my first post in this forum, so here goes. :pinch:


    here is a production line for solar panels I have put together using IC2 and BC.


    this is an overall view, if you see the automatic crafting bench on the left, that is where the solar panels are finally put together.


    they are then outputted into the chest next to it.


    here is an example of the start of one production line


    notice the sign says Coal 18? this is how it really works.


    I have gone round to each chest where i deposit the raw materials and put a sign up telling what goes where, including how much. if you go round you can make 6 solar panels as this is the smallest number you can make for ALL the inputs to be integers. (I cheated a bit!, for the batteries for the generator you just put in copper wire, rather than copper ore and rubber)


    then all that is needed is to set my redstone clock running in the basement


    And the resources will flow through to produce my fantastic solar panels. 8)


    This was all created without TMI, or anything else to give me free materials. (If you think this is too many mats to have in one map, i have also made a couple of nuclear plants, among other things :P )


    questions? comments? I would love to hear from you.

    Hell, prove me wrong, Happy to be so 99% of the time, then I can learn stuff :)

  • i feel like i should make a factory for EVERY machine in IC2. it's hard to remember the recipe for all the parts and them even with recipe book. though now i use the shelf mod (show 9 items in 3x3 grid, exactly the same as a crafting grid) and just place the mats in there with a sign above that says what it'll make. that way i have a very fast way to tell how to make something.

    • Official Post

    Awesome work Zudguard! :) I was just thinking today that I should create some factories like this for some of the more annoying-to-make IC machines like solar generators :D.


    If you want some suggestions for additions -- I'd look into Diamond pipes. You can use them to filter different items in different directions. So that way you can put all your 'materials' in one big chest, and then as they get pumped out, they'll be filtered appropriately.


    If you want some ideas, check out these 2 videos of some of my factories (also totally legit, no TMI involved, though I am using Equivalent exchange):


    Diamond Factory (no teleport pipes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80T7PrsTrzs


    Automatic Sorting System (with teleport pipes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP_ehFuzOUY

  • Yeah, I like the sound of diamond pipes, I use them to sort my materials from BC quarries, sending my cobblestone to the recycler then to the matter transformer. I am slightly surprised, why I didn't think of them for this myself. lol, I am not going to change it now, too much reworking for a benefit hardly worth it. it is so simple currently despite having multiple chests.


    I have been looking at Equivalent exchange and am sorely tempted, however it seems like a delayed TMI, you can get anything and as much as you want, it just takes a little while. Still on the fence for that.

    Hell, prove me wrong, Happy to be so 99% of the time, then I can learn stuff :)

  • its not too much like cheating unless you just go for Inf cobble generators or exploiting material loops
    and you get to fly and shape terrain and so on

  • Could someone show me how to make a Automated Plant like this i am really needing to get my BC up and running. I have it installed but i don't really use it.
    Thanks for the idea with the Chests, connected to the machines. That is very efficient. so is Macerating ores rather than smelting them then you smelt them. to get double ore. For Example 32 Iron into the Macerator. what comes out 64 Iron Dust. Then Smelt it 64 Iron ingots!


    Good Work! :thumbup:

  • i feel like i should make a factory for EVERY machine in IC2. it's hard to remember the recipe for all the parts and them even with recipe book. though now i use the shelf mod (show 9 items in 3x3 grid, exactly the same as a crafting grid) and just place the mats in there with a sign above that says what it'll make. that way i have a very fast way to tell how to make something.


    I like the idea and I think a world that all those factories would make an awesome server. That along with trade o mats to sell the machines. :Solar Panel:

  • The only problem with this system is the speed of namely the macerators. it causes bottlenecks with ores if the ores are not slowly fed into the system. I think you could make around (evenly) 12 solar panels at any one time. then you would have to let the iron filter through before adding any more.


    (you could in theory ad 64 iron ore instead of 48, however this gives a number of solar pannels that isn't an integer giving you a headache trying to keep everything else even)


    Solutions would involve adding more macerators, but would involve heaps more space and pipe headaches, i had plenty with this system, despite my forward planning on how the pipes would be placed not to clash.


    I guess you could get the addon that gives you rotary macerators, but for now i am sticking to the original due to I will have to download and install everything again when the next MC update comes out. I don't want to get attached to too many mods.

    Hell, prove me wrong, Happy to be so 99% of the time, then I can learn stuff :)

  • Quick update to my system. I have stopped using redstone clocks to power all the pipes and quarries For this plant. Using them excessively makes minecraft complain and slow down on me. I reccently discovered you could change one of the buildcraft config settings so that wooden pipes and quarries and the like would accept a constant redstone pulse, so now i use a lever! no redstone required!


    One other upside to this is that rsources are always extracted at the fastest rate possible. I.E. once every 25 ticks, or 1 1/4 seconds. makes for better efficency, especially when dealing with aggregators in EE.

    Hell, prove me wrong, Happy to be so 99% of the time, then I can learn stuff :)

  • Solutions would involve adding more macerators, but would involve heaps more space and pipe headaches, i had plenty with this system, despite my forward planning on how the pipes would be placed not to clash.


    I guess you could get the addon that gives you rotary macerators, but for now i am sticking to the original due to I will have to download and install everything again when the next MC update comes out. I don't want to get attached to too many mods.

    Actually, as far as ore is concerned, I can't think of a reason not to pre-macerate it all as it comes in the door. Iron can even be pre-smelted (copper, tin, and gold have uses for the dust, so that would have to wait)


    It would take double the storage space as opposed to the ore, but on the other hand, you only have to store just ingots (for iron) or dust and ingots, instead of three different items for each resource.