Support Request: Redirecting current when MFE is full

chikitulfo · Jun 9th 2011

Hi everyone!

So here is the situation: I have all my different generators wired to an array of MFEs to store the energy, and then after the array i have all my machines, which are most of the time working.

The thing is, whenever I'm not heavily macerating, compressing and extracting things, the generators fill up really quickly the energy storage array.
Therefore, in order to not have a lot of unused energy, I thought of having a mass generator that would only work whenever I have all my storage array completely filled.

What i want is: Some machines (macerators, furnaces and so on) are able to work whenever there's any energy on the storage array, and some other machines (mass generator) will not work unless the array is completely full (meaning machines are not working).

I thought about a switch cable, that will be turned on by redstone to power the mass generator, but for that some kind of mechanism that automatically powers the redstone would be needed.

Does anyone have any idea about how this could be achieved?

mcnugget_123 · Jun 9th 2011

i dont think theres any way to have it so a switch is flipped when a MFE reaches full charge, only thing i could suggest is have a lever wired to a switch block that fully seperates all your power input from your machines into a mass fabricator, so that whenever ur not using your machines, flip the switch to route all power to a mass fabricator, or leave it so that you charge your MFE storage.
only thing i can think of

Alblaka · Jun 10th 2011

In any case, you will need a lever. My idea for this would be:

Energy runs through a switchcable
SwitchCable-Up leads to MAss-Fabricator, -Down leads to machines
As well you will need a lever, which is connected to the switchcable and your last Storage MFE.

Lever off:
Energy will run through the setup, switchcable will not trigger, all energy goes directly into the machines.

Lever on:
Redstone will block the storage MFE's output. If it's full, it will ignore the input, again sending energy.
This will be redirected upwards by the switchcable, reaching the fabricator.

You can't turn this entirely automated, though

chikitulfo · Jun 11th 2011

Yeah, the idea of it with the use of a lever I have in mind, what I really want is to automate it to "turn the lever down" when the storage array is full...

Not even possible with an energy-o-mat as was suggested on the minecraftforum (when they work properly, that is)?

Xaiier · Jun 11th 2011

It is possible...kinda...

Have the power go to a switch block, up goes to the matter gen, down to a mfe and then to the machines. Rig up an energy o mat between the mfe and the machines, and have the mfe redstoned to not emit power. when the mfe is full, it will release power, triggering the energy o mat, which should then trigger a rs-nor latch to flip the switch block and turn on the mfe. when the power dies from the mfe, the energy o mat will switch off and that signal can flip the rs-nor latch back to the original state, resetting the system.

The only problem with this is that the power to the machines will be intermittent, rather than continuous. A possible solution would be to have an enormous string of repeaters that would reset the rs nor a while after it got turned on, so that it was timed that as it got low (if being used) it would stop power to the matter gen and start to refill the MFE.

I realize thats probably confusing, I think ill make the system and post a pic.

chikitulfo · Jun 11th 2011

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The only problem with this is that the power to the machines will be intermittent, rather than continuous.

Yeah, I already thought that it would be intermittent, no problem with that at all, as far as no current gets lost in completely charged MFEs.

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I realize thats probably confusing, I think ill make the system and post a pic.

Not very confusing, I understood perfectly your idea.

Although for that I need an MFE redstoned, and thus this MFE is not sending its current to the more important machines all the time, because it charges itself first.
It's a grat idea though, I'll think about it and see how can it be done.

The ideal thing would be to have a way of detecting that an MFE is fully charged when it is not redstoned (and therefore forwarding all current), which would mean that there's nothing requesting energy ahead of it. At that moment, there's no need for energy on the main machines, and the storage is full. Then it's the perfect time to switch on the mass generator.

For that some kind of detector block that turns redstone on when an MFE is full or whatever would be really useful...

Because using an energy-o-mat to detect current in a cable wouldn't work unless the MFE is set up to fill up before sending energy. And if it is set up for that is not sending current to the higher priority machines either...

Xaiier · Jun 12th 2011

Yeah, that is a major problem with how the electricity in this works. Rather than going when it's needed it just goes anyways and magically disappears/returns.

I'll think about it and see what I can figure out.

A possible solution would be for machines to emit a redstone current while working.

chikitulfo · Jun 14th 2011

Quote from Xaiier

A possible solution would be for machines to emit a redstone current while working.

Yeah that could be even better.

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