Wiring using tin cables and solars

  • Hey hey


    I have a solar array currently wired up to a MFSU and am wanting to split the current so that a nearby batbox gets some power also.


    No matter how I try to wire it, all the power seems to go to the MFSU, even if I use a splitter cable. just adding the tin to each storage (currently next to each other) same thing happens. batbox doesn't charge, and MFSU does.


    obvious answers to this. Have you used the splitter cable? Yes, I have, see above.


    Is this a case of the 1EU packets not being able to split at all due to the mechanics of this mod? one solution would be to make another MFSU above the two and split a 512 current I guess, but that is really expensive. Or just using a transformers perhaps?


    love to hear some thoughts on this.

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

  • It's as you say. You cannot split 1 EU packets.
    Add the bat box after the MFSU using a MV and LV transformer.

    Well, now that begs a question I haven't seen answered anywhere... Do cable junctions split packets, evenly distribute whole packets, base it on cable length...?


    Question for the OP: You say they're right next to each other... Is the output face of the batbox touching the mfsu? (you'd probably actually see the power in the batbox jumping around between 0-32 EU if this was the case)

  • Well, now that begs a question I haven't seen answered anywhere... Do cable junctions split packets, evenly distribute whole packets, base it on cable length...?


    Question for the OP: You say they're right next to each other... Is the output face of the batbox touching the mfsu? (you'd probably actually see the power in the batbox jumping around between 0-32 EU if this was the case)

    Yes, cable junction splits packets. They don't merge them but they do split them.
    Say you wanted to only supply 1 EU/t to a machine (like Power Crystals BC<->IC2 conversion mod's energy link) you can place a bat box, 2 cables from the output side and then 4 bat boxes on the outside of this cable feeding the split power back to the first bat box. Place one extra cable after the splitter and then the machine.


    First split: 32 / 5 = 6 EU
    Second split: 6 / 5 = 1 EU


    The remaining "missing" EU's (32 / 5 = 6.4 and 6 / 5 = 1.2) will go into ONE of the splitting bat boxes. The reason it does this is because machines CLOSER to the split that happens get the extra EU. Hence why you add one extra cable after the splitter to make the target machine be the farthest from the second split.


    Obviously you don't have to use bat boxes. You can probably use LV transformers (I haven't tested those though) or any other power hungry machines. Just remember that the Larger packet after a split gets sent to the CLOSEST receiver.
    You can also build a straight line. It's easier to see what is going on by doing so.


    Here is a demonstration video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkHIHtHnPjk

  • Well, now that begs a question I haven't seen answered anywhere... Do cable junctions split packets, evenly distribute whole packets, base it on cable length...?


    Question for the OP: You say they're right next to each other... Is the output face of the batbox touching the mfsu? (you'd probably actually see the power in the batbox jumping around between 0-32 EU if this was the case)

    heh, i am not THAT bad at wiring. the batbox is definitively not just feeding back into the MFSU. I changed the wiring so that it only goes into the batbox and it holds its charge, it just doesn't want to split when both are wired, even if the batbox is the closer target, still seems to favor the MFSU.


    AS far as I know, without a splitter cable, cable junctions split based on proximity, with the closer targets for energy recieving more energy


    Thanks for the input everyone. My aim is to have 192 solar panels so I will have to boost it straight to MV (from 128 to 4 packets of 128 ) so I don't have any energy loss. better do some testing first to make sure it works 8)

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

  • This doesn't seem to be working quite as you say. I did some testing, and cable length seems to affect the split ratio (it's not just packet size / num outputs). It also seems to lose a lot of power somewhere.


    First was two MFSU through glass cable to two others. Didn't do much actual testing, just noticed that unless the path to both destinations was exactly the same length, they got uneven amounts of power. Don't have the numbers, but I still haven't managed to come up with math that gets anywhere close.


    Second was a line of batbox splits, same as you're using in your video (but without any transformers, which is why your min EU/t was 4).
    If the splits were even, it should take 5 splits to get from 32 to 1 EU/t., instead:


    Output of the "input" batbox (the one the splitters feed back to): 27 (not 32?? No idea how that's even possible. I don't have a spam macro, but was able to click fast enough to get an "avg over 1 tick" and it was still a solid 27.)
    after 1st split: 22
    2: 17
    3: 12
    4: 8
    5: 5
    6: 2


    Furthermore, out of 20kEU put into the input batbox, only 16kEU was left 5 minutes later after I'd written those numbers down, so the system has 20% loss (using glass cables). I notice that if you take the 5EU missing from the first output, plus one for each odd EU/t split, you get about 20% of 32EU/t...

  • The missing EU's are possibly stored in the other storage units. They have to reach their output level before they send power. So if you where using MFSU's then up to 512 EU would be "lost" in each and every one of them (simply sitting there on hold)


    As for cable length. If two machines are equally close and the incoming EU is an odd number then one of the two machines will get the extra EU based on which order they are checked. (F.E Up/down/north/west/south/east)

  • The missing EU's are possibly stored in the other storage units. They have to reach their output level before they send power. So if you where using MFSU's then up to 512 EU would be "lost" in each and every one of them (simply sitting there on hold)


    As for cable length. If two machines are equally close and the incoming EU is an odd number then one of the two machines will get the extra EU based on which order they are checked. (F.E Up/down/north/west/south/east)

    I was using batboxes, and the six on the splits did have 0-32 EU in them, but that doesn't explain the other 4k that were missing... I arrived at the 20% loss figure by adding up the leftovers in all of the batboxen. I can post a pic of the setup if you want to peer review my experiment. :)


    It also seems to adjust split ratio for cable length even when the EU packet size is evenly divisible by the number of junction output paths. I just haven't figured out how it calculates that.

  • There might be some truth in that, i haven't tested all possible combinations to come to an absolute conclusion on this yet. As for missing EU, that simply should not happen in a closed loop uneless you have cable loss. (which i doubt since you tested with fibre?)


    I have kept a closed loop bat box running for over 30 minutes and when i stop it the two boxes together match the EU i started with. I had them running by mistake, forgot about them but remembered i had fed 10k EU into them using a battery. When i returned the 10K was still there.

  • The more batboxen I added to the chain, the more the output of the "input" batbox went down... So with two, it might have been fine - I'll have to play with it some more.