Tutorial - Reactor controller using RP

mijnboogje · Feb 12th 2012

Hello guys,

decided to take some time into explaining how to control an nuclear reactor, in we wil take an look to limiting the reactor.
meaning, how to stop an reactor when the mfsu's or other storage devices are filled.

please note: this is my first tutorial, critism is welcome in how to improve this. if requested, i might even do an video tutorial if there is enough people asking.

wel, lets get started shall we?
needed components are:
1 timer,
1 pulse former (when using an lever to toggle system)
2 toggle latches
1 invert cell
1 EU detector cable.
1 button/lever
1 repeater (rp version)
about 1 stack (depending on size of the circuit you want to create) of red alloy wire.
1 redstone dust
1 redstone torch

wel then, first off you should place the button somewhere you want to control your reactor from,
when you have placed this button, make sure you run red alloy wire on the block you put the button on (after the button)
run the red alloy wire to the pulse former (this is the start of the controlling circuit.
the pulse former we use wil in turn send an pulse to an toggle latch, (this wil trigger it into an second state)
the state the toggle latch should be in is the on position, when this latch is on, the reactor wil be off. when switched off, the reactor can start up. and begin its cycle.
next up, put the repeater at the side of an reactor chamber and run red alloy wire from the toggle latch to the repeater. this wil control the reactors on/off position.

ok, now we have the verry basic of our system. with only this the reactor can run, but isnt controlled with the features we want it to have, for that part we wil have to use the EU detector cable.

as you might now, when eu flows, the cable wil give of an signal. we wil use this signal to control the reactor. sounds easy no?

do it as followed, place the eu detector cable 1 block above the circuit (costs less, yea call me cheap) place 1 block (dirt stone cobble whatever) to collect the redstone signal from the cable. and place 1 redstone torch on the side of this block (this is required to make the crossover from IC2 - RP) this crossover wil go from:
IC2 - Vanilla - RP

from the redstone torch, run red alloy wire throu an invert cell and have the signal be inverted,
next up, place your timer and run the red alloy wire from your invert cell to the timer. set the timer to 5 seconds (this wil give the system time to power up)

now comes an complicated part, we wil need to hook the timer up to the toggle latch we used in the verry beginning of the system, we wil need to do this as followed:
when the toggle latch is on (reactor off) the latch wil also provide an signal to the timer, stoping its function and puts it into an slumbering state.
next part is to let the pulse from the timer be able to switch the toggle latch off (so power down the system)

when you got all of this hooked up, the system should work. (also note, if you want the reactor to be CASUC, you can easily use the toggle latch to hook up an seperate CASUC system. (like ice cooled)

next up, TEST the system. put in an uranium cell which is nearly depleted, let it run. and look if the system powers down when the uranium runs out.
next test, put an BATBOX in the output and fill it up. when it is filled look if the reactor powers down.

if this all works, the system is good and you wil have an functional reactor which is limited to the storage capacity of your system.

in the future i might look at an aditional feature to this system allowing it to automaticly refil the storage when power is drained.

the next tutorial i am working on is the Mark 3 reactor controller. allowing for the reactor to run x seconds and cool down x seconds.
and when the cycle is completely finished, turn off the entire system again. (or when storage is full)

i hope this all makes an little bit sence to you all. and please, critism is more then welcome! i wil need it to improve my tutorial.

attached is the first system in its off an on states.

rdsn597 · Feb 12th 2012

Just want to add that you can also control a reactor using computercraft if you know how to code. I personally use computercraft and I can make the computer actively monitor the reactor and shut it down if necessary. It save me once, when it prevented the reactor from going !

mijnboogje · Feb 12th 2012

Quote from rdsn597

Just want to add that you can also control a reactor using computercraft if you know how to code. I personally use computercraft and I can make the computer actively monitor the reactor and shut it down if necessary. It save me once, when it prevented the reactor from going !

wel, that is one posibility of control that doesnt fit into redpower. personaly, i dont have any clue about how this might work.

yea, gota look into it one time. and maybe, write another tut

TampaPowers · Feb 12th 2012

Quote from rdsn597

Just want to add that you can also control a reactor using computercraft if you know how to code. I personally use computercraft and I can make the computer actively monitor the reactor and shut it down if necessary. It save me once, when it prevented the reactor from going !

You made a program, that monitors the temps of a reactor and shuts it down, when it exceeds a certain temp? Can you post that program, id like to try it

mijnboogje · Feb 12th 2012

please stay on topic of the redpower part, if you wish to use computercraft i can make an seperate tutorial on how it works to control an reactor. it wil take me some time to figure it all out though

-edit-
ok i downloaded it. i wil try to use it to control an reactor. might add it to the tutorial.
redpower - computercraft reactor control. coooool? "sigh" sounds like homework hahahahaaa

rdsn597 · Feb 12th 2012

Just a tip, computercraft computers can output directly to bundled cables and control coloured insulated cables.
Now back to redpower
I think your tutorial can use some more images with the key parts labeled.
Also, I think you should explain the fundamentals of redpower, such as the uses of the various circuits and all that, since that seems to be what is tripping up beginners
Hope that helps!

mijnboogje · Feb 12th 2012

Quote from rdsn597

Just a tip, computercraft computers can output directly to bundled cables and control coloured insulated cables.
Now back to redpower
I think your tutorial can use some more images with the key parts labeled.
Also, I think you should explain the fundamentals of redpower, such as the uses of the various circuits and all that, since that seems to be what is tripping up beginners
Hope that helps!

certainly good feedback! i tried to use as little images as posible. i only provided some key information in to what the parts actualy do.
(some back ground knowlage is now needed) but i might edit that in the feature with an full new and rewriten tut, this thread can be seen as an "test"

after some time i wil write the final tut, and then hopefully new rookies can use it to control their reactors. (might be handy to provide an link to the repower page?)

i dont know, might be usefull to make an video tut i gues?

edit: the computercraft mod looks GOD **** dificult, must learn the lua programming code to even use it properly. darn....

xenoflot · Feb 13th 2012

Don't IC2 storage units now EMIT a redstone signal when they are full? If so, surely a single wire back to the reactor is all that is needed?

edit: Ah, just read the patch notes. It was included in 1.62 but it's disabled by default.

mijnboogje · Feb 13th 2012

Quote from xenoflot

Don't IC2 storage units now EMIT a redstone signal when they are full? If so, surely a single wire back to the reactor is all that is needed?

edit: Ah, just read the patch notes. It was included in 1.62 but it's disabled by default.

red it myself to, but since you might have multiple storage units one full one might mean the entire system shuts down, we want ALL te be filled. dont we?

since it is disabled, is doesnt realy mater

xenoflot · Feb 13th 2012

Quote from mijnboogje

red it myself to, but since you might have multiple storage units one full one might mean the entire system shuts down, we want ALL te be filled. dont we?

since it is disabled, is doesnt realy mater

The way I was going to do it was have my 4 workshop MFSU in parallel then one in serial. If the 4 in the workshop are full, the one next to the reactor will fill. When it goes full, redstone, reactor stop.

I have done this now a different way with the detector cable and an inverter. If there is current, the detector cable gives signal. Inverts to no signal. So when the MFSU are all full, no signal, inverted = reactor damped.

xenoflot · Feb 14th 2012

Of course it doesn't turn back on...

mijnboogje · Feb 14th 2012

Quote from xenoflot

Of course it doesn't turn back on...

that realy doesnt mater, my current tut also does not feature an auto reboot function. (shame isnt it? :P)

Bluehorazon · Feb 14th 2012

Quote from mijnboogje

that realy doesnt mater, my current tut also does not feature an auto reboot function. (shame isnt it? :P)

Well with the new BC-Gates this would be easy. Emit Redstone-Signal if full to switch a toggle latch. Use another gate with a redstone signal if more than half empty to turn it back on. Might try a bit with them, could be fun

mijnboogje · Feb 14th 2012

could be fun indeed, but how would you time the energy consumption that might vary over time? best to use an manual systeem boot (my personal preference)

Bluehorazon · Feb 15th 2012

Quote from mijnboogje

could be fun indeed, but how would you time the energy consumption that might vary over time? best to use an manual systeem boot (my personal preference)

You don't have to.

Just switch the system on if the MFSU is empty and off if not. This could be done quite easy.

Let's say you have an output of about 1.000 EU/t. This means you could charge 2 rows of MFSU seperatly.

So you have two rows of MFSU which 20 MFSU each. Just place a gate on the first and the last. The last emits a redstone-signal if full and the first emits a redstonesignal if empty.

You have 4 options now:

MFSU1 - true, MFSU20 - false (this is whenever the MFSU1 is empty, since in this case the MFSU20 can't be full) -> the reactor should start running if this condition is true
MFSU1 - false, MFSU20 - false (this is the charge state, MFSU is not empty anymore but MFSU20 not yet full) -> the reactor should not start, but he should not deactivate itself
MFSU1 - true, MFSU20 - true (if you manage to get this you did something wrong. MFSU1 can't be empty if MFSU20 is full)
MFSU1 - false, MFSU20 - true (this is the state at which we want to shut down our reactor) -> the reactor should stop

Normally the reactor goes over State 1 -> State 2 -> State 4 -> State 2 -> State 1

Just use a OR-Gate from MFSU-1 and a NOT-Gate from MFSU-20 (maybe another gate works too).

Since only every second time state true should produce a signal you need a T-FlipFlop (I guess you could use the toggle latch, I'm quite sure it does just this).

So MFSU1 goes over OR directly into the output
And MFSU20 goes over the first Output of the Flipflop (it does alternate it's output everytime the input turns on) to the NOT and than into the OR,or you could save the NOT if you use the other output of the FlipFlop.

You should use this as a negative overwrite for your cooldown-timer. Since you don't want the reactor to run if it needs cooldown just because you need energy, but it should stop running even if it does not need cooldown if you don't need the energy. And make sure to shut down the timers as well, since it would screw some things and the reactor would shut down before necessary. You could also use an MFSU in between (lets say Number 10) to activate the Mass-Fab, this should make it impossible to ever reach a full MFSU20 (could be some kind of overwrite again, triggerable by a second lever, so only if you pull the lever the massfab starts if the 10th MFSU is full).

But you could do funny things indeed

mijnboogje · Feb 18th 2012

sounds like ALOT of work haha, i prefer to ceep it simple and to the point..

xenoflot · Feb 22nd 2012

I haven't upgraded to 1.70 yet but if the MFSU act as advertised, that is they can emit a redstone signal when full, it will be simple to have a self monitoring reactor.

An XOR tile takes input from the MFSU and a slow (like, 5 minute) timer. A repeater then works as a pulse lengthener.
The MFSU will signal when full. The XOR will pass that signal on to the reactor, shutting it down.
The timer will send a pulse every 5 mins or whatever you set. That pulse will set both inputs high on the XOR so the output will go low.
The pulse is too short for the reactor to restart so the lengthener is needed. Only needs a 1/2 second or so though.
The reactor then fires up and starts making power.
If the MFSU is still full, the signal is still high and now the timer is in it's long wait, the reactor is shut down again.
If however the MFSU is needing a top up, the signal is low, the reactor keeps running until it's full.

This method needs only a couple of RP2 parts and wastes only a couple of seconds of uranium every 5 mins or whatever you set the timer to. You can probably safely set it to hourly if you have several MFSU supplying your workshop.

Bluehorazon · Feb 23rd 2012

Quote from xenoflot

I haven't upgraded to 1.70 yet but if the MFSU act as advertised, that is they can emit a redstone signal when full, it will be simple to have a self monitoring reactor.

An XOR tile takes input from the MFSU and a slow (like, 5 minute) timer. A repeater then works as a pulse lengthener.
The MFSU will signal when full. The XOR will pass that signal on to the reactor, shutting it down.
The timer will send a pulse every 5 mins or whatever you set. That pulse will set both inputs high on the XOR so the output will go low.
The pulse is too short for the reactor to restart so the lengthener is needed. Only needs a 1/2 second or so though.
The reactor then fires up and starts making power.
If the MFSU is still full, the signal is still high and now the timer is in it's long wait, the reactor is shut down again.
If however the MFSU is needing a top up, the signal is low, the reactor keeps running until it's full.

This method needs only a couple of RP2 parts and wastes only a couple of seconds of uranium every 5 mins or whatever you set the timer to. You can probably safely set it to hourly if you have several MFSU supplying your workshop.

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Well... I use a Toggle Latch (or RS Latch... can't remember), a Not-Gate and an OR Gate and I could even get rid of the Not-Gate.

The only thing you need is a row of MFSU (at least two), more are better (well 3 are normally more than enough, but since you start production after one is full and stop after the other one is full a third buffer-MFSU would make sense (wenn since your Workshop might be a bit away from your reactor there is probably a Storage-Unit in between anyway).

A row of MFSU should fill from the last to the first. And it should empty from the first to the last. So I guess my post above is just the wrong way around, but it should not be hard to switch it. If the first MFSU is full it should stop production and if the last is empty it should start again.

And it is actually fun to create such things. The more complex such things are the more fun it is. If you have a running system it's somehow boring, normally improving your systems is much more fun than having a working solution

mijnboogje · Feb 23rd 2012

agreed, upgrading is more fun then having an running system.

i like to play and see what i can do with it. right now i use an wind farm to give me an steady 50 EU/Tick fabrication, i like to try to use an reactor for mass fabrication like followed:

reactor fills up storage of 100 mil eu
storage full - reactor off.
reactor off - mass fabr on
out of eu, system reboot.

xenoflot · Feb 23rd 2012

Agreed. This is a building game; building is good!

Toggle latch is probably a better way. My brain hurts trying to figure out logic gates. No idea how I passed that subject at university.

As to the Mass Fabricator idea... to ensure your mass fab doesn't consume any power until your workshop batteries are full, you could put a splitter cable inline with the cable that feeds the massfab and use the MFSU full signal (and an inverter probably) to allow excess current to flow to the massfab.

As to building complex things, definitely a lot of fun. Problem I've found though is that playing on SMP, even though I host the server on my LAN, things break more than I suspect they do in SSP. E.g. I made a bucket CARUC with rp2 deployers and filters. It worked just fine for an hour or two when I was online but I logged, slept and logged back in to a crater So sometimes complexity can be a bad thing

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