[2_1.112.170] Getting less power than I should in survival using Solar Panels and Water Strainers

So basically, I am playing on a server that uses similar mods to Tekkit [Redpower, Buildcraft, Industrial Craft, and Power Converters (all for Minecraft 1.4.7)]
I am attempting to power 2 Macerators, 2 Electric Furnaces, 1 Extractor, and 1 Compressor (total EU/t required is 14).
To power this, I am using 5 Water Strainers (from Power converters, a Windmill that accepts piped water and can output 2 EU/t), and 8 Solar panels.
So essentially, I would think that I have a power supply of approximately 13-28 EU/t. In reality, the Strainers appear to only be putting out 3.5 or so EU/t, So I actually only have like 11.5 EU/t I guess.
That's really annoying, but I suppose I'll ask about that on the power converters forums (unless anyone here can help with that as well).
Still, I can't even power 3 machines, and my solar panels should be able to power those constantly alone.
On the same server, I have 11 Water strainers powering a Quarry, and they seem to be the equivalent of only 2-3 Stirling Engines.

I have some screen shots of a recreation of my set up that I made on a creative world. Unfortunately, the power seems to be working fine here...
I also have some pics of using an EU reader, though I don't think they were necessary. If you want to see something else, or the original wiring in my survival house, I'll post it ASAP.

Quote from SpwnX

Water strainers output up to 2 EU/t, given enough water (ALOT).
You will require something that produces alot of water, like Thermal expansion Aqueous Accumulator.
Also i'd suggest you to get more mods to produce energy, like adv generators, compact/advanced solars, GregTech Intergalactical (Tier IV Tech) [These are on addon section]

Appreciate the response, but the Tekkit wiki says, "Using a Pump powered by 4 Redstone Engines, you can fuel 14 Water Strainers at once."
I assume that was referring to creating maximum power output? Otherwise it would be quite worthless information... But other people are reporting 15 or even 16 strainers with one pump. I realize that those results are with a gold pipe, but from what I understand, that only carries 60% more, So I should be able to run 5 with stone, no?
Maybe you're right and the wiki is just dead wrong... I don't know.

But regardless, I'm fine with the amount of power I'm getting (and thanks for the suggestions, but I'd rather stick to just these mods for now). The real problem is that on my survival server, I don't even seem to be getting the 8 EU/t from my solar panels (running a Macerator and 2 Electric furnaces causes them to flicker off and on). Even with just 2 furnaces sometimes.

And earlier I had 6 water strainers running 2-3 machines fine. I was more hoping that you would see a wiring problem.

Quote from SegFaulter

Maybe there is distance-related loss in the copper cables? I think the loss is 1 EU per 4 blocks. Also, the redstone engines powering the pump are not operating at their maximum (flashing orange/red) so there may not be as much power coming out of the water strainers.

That's true, but the only thing is that I'm using Tin cables to connect my generators, which will go 40 blocks before losing one. The longest copper cable I have is 3.

Well in my survival, I've left them to run indefinitely, so they are probably pumping at max capacity.

Quote from Vyrebird

The 8 EU/t from the solar panels would power any 3 of your machines, but they're only ouputting EU half of the time (unless you're using something to make it eternal day). Any buffered energy would run out overnight, and in my experience, if production exactly matches consumption without a buffer, the machines will usually flicker and work at less than max speed (I assume it's something about how the energy is packetted and distributed).

Redstone engines are much, much slower before they fully warm up (full speed is ~8x the start speed), so that probably explains at least part of your pump issue - in the pictures, the RS engines are still green which yields 1/4th their max output. Gold pipe carries 4x more liquid, rather than just 60% more (40mb/t for gold/emerald, versus 10mb/t for wooden/cobble/smooth). That said, in your pictures at least, the pipes look nowhere near saturated, so you're not being choked by the pipes yet. In any case, getting some kind of numbers for your version of Power Converters would help figure out if the system would work once the engines have gotten up to speed.
(TE Aqueous Accumulators would be a more reliable water source, if you're willing to add an extra mod.)

Yes, I realize that they should be able to power 3 machines, and the packetting does make sense to cause the flickering. The only problem with that is that my batboxes start full and end up empty, the panels aren't supply power as fast as the machines are using it, plus I have a nonzero amount of energy coming from my strainers. Also, the server is only a couple of people, so we started a pretty strict sleeping schedule once we built solar panels.

When I measured the EU, I'm pretty sure the redstone engines were orange (maybe yellow, don't think so though). Regardless, that isn't a solution for the problem that I'm experiencing that I can't run 8-10 EU/t worth of machines without depleting 2 bat boxes. Thanks for the correction on Gold pipes though, it does seem that most people experience 3-4 times the water.

I'm not quite sure of the exact version of Power Converters. It's simply called Power Converters_1.4.6

I appreciate all the responses, but I'm less concerned with the fact that my water strainers are only producing what appears to be 3.5 EU/t, and more concerned that those water strainers with 8 solar panels can't run 3 basic machines. But I will add gold pipes and see if it somehow fixes my power situation.

Okay, thanks a lot for all of the help here. I finally made a trip to the nether and made an EU reader, and concluded that the correct answer ended up being that I simply needed golden pipes. My Strainers are now producing double what they were, making over 6 EU/t from 5. My quarry's pump is running 11 strainers at a fluctuating 8-16 EU/t.

What I find odd is that my solar panels are only producing about .5 EU/t... I thought they always produced 1 in the sunlight, but apparently not.