Generators and Low Battery Sensor issue.

[Agent707]

Uhg.. Surely this isn't how this is supposed to work... but...
So, not a big base right now. In year 1.
Have 3 batteries, 5 generators and my sensor. Other generators are wind and solar, naturally.

Mostly during the night, the wind dies and of couse no solar, so my batteries drain down to 50%.
As expected (and I do have them hooked up correctly), my generators kicks on at 50% battery.

Well, 5 seconds later the generators have charged my batteries back up to above 50% and the generators cut off.
5 seconds later, they restart... 5 seconds later, they cut off.... this NEVER ends until I have daylight and wind power.

There has to be a better way to set this up?..

[leonie214]

Ye, unfortunately it does not have an upper charge limit. so it charges to >50%, the generator switches off, discharges to 50%, the generator kicks in. It would have been better if the battery charged to at least 80% before the generator kicks out.

I use Power Cell generators, with 1 battery and backup Power Cell generators in the event of excess power draw or Power cell generator failure.

If the usage and generator production is close to equal, a wind turbine comes in handy to keep the battery charged.

[Boothy]

I gave up using generators with the battery sensor for this reason, I just found it annoying.

For this to work better, you'd either need:
A hysteresis system (turn on at x%, turn off at y%).
A simple timed system (turn on at x%, and run for y seconds).
Or alternately generators that run based on the load. i.e. turn on at x%, and only produce enough power to keep up with demand. i.e. the batteries don't recharge, so you only start charging again when your wind and/or solar is running okay.

My usual method is just make sure I have enough batteries to get through the night (i.e. if <20% left by morning, build another battery), and a mix of wind and solar, with an aim to be back at 100% battery level by mid day or early afternoon (and if not, build more solar).

If I have a power issue, I just switch all power consumers off, other than my walk in freezer, and have a single power cell generator as a just-in-case that I switch on manually. (Later on I use a power switch to kill everything, and sometimes add an extra power cell generator).

All turrets on motion sensors of course.

[seven]

It bugs me too. What I do is have a power sensor that turns off non-essential things at 50% battery. And a power sensor for the generator bank at 20% for emergencies. If it gets that low I'll put up with the on-off-on.

[Agent707]

Good comments. Thanks for the feedback.

I've since built a building for batteries (20 thus far).
I'm not at power cell generators yet, those crystals grow really.... really.... slow. Be interested to see how they are.
The CF turbines do well to keep the batteries charged.

Yea, going to replace the sensor switch for a normal switch for the generators.

I think it's probably best to just use the sensor to turn off everything except a few lights and the walk in cooler when the batteries get low.

And thinking on this... motion sensors + generators + turrets for defense. Win!

Thanks!!!!!

[Urza]

I don't know if fuel generators and the battery sensor are intended to do that. Having been through the tutorial, the game makes it pretty clear that fuel is a last resort backup. And if you are recharging your entire battery banks off of fuel then you aren't using them as "backup" generators. Fuel just ends up being a major generator in that equation, and therefore you shouldn't need a sensor.

And large battery reservoirs is the answer to this issue (sounds like you found that out). Or build a base around not using a lot of energy. I have 35 batteries on a 18 year colony. I have backup generators, but they don't refill my batteries to 100% when I use them.

All my fuel generators are meant to do is kick in at 30%, 20%, 10% when I am in a Solar Eclipse or prolonged sunless and windless period to hold me over till Solar and/or Wind kicks back in. They are staged so I don't eat through fuel and they do not supply a tremendous amount of energy relative to my total energy consumption. They merely slow the loss or get close enough to even.

[bmnoble981]

I set the battery sensor to kick in at 20% instead of 50%, ideally your battery storage should eventually get to the point where it will never set the battery sensor off from normal night time battery drain, you should have enough solar/wind power to fully charge them back up during the day.

I usually have it set up so that it only kicks in when the base is under attack, with all the turrets going, even then I make a point to have enough back up generators hooked up so they can completely cover the power grids needs, you never want to be 100% reliant on your batteries storage alone it can come back to bite you in the butt.

[Emelio Lizardo]

Ditto