Hydrogen Generator

[Laef]

The generator doesn't seem to be refilling, still on the starting space pod. I assumed that it would refill as the O2/H2 generator runs, but it doesn't seem to be the case.

[krzosu18]

by title "Hydrogen generator" - i assume you mean hydrogen engine ? - if so then it will fill up but ive found out you might to turn it off first then on again - otherwise it might not fill up.

Ofc assuming its properly connected to either hydrogen tank or 02/h2 generator via app tubing.

and if there is source of H2 - either its in the tanks or Ice in h2/o2 gens.

[mid endian]

Try changing the status of the battery from Auto to recharge and back. Sometimes that gets the engine to start

[Laef]

The engine is connected to an h2/02 gen. Gen has Ice, its making oxygen and the oxygen is going into the tank, but no hydrogen is going into the hydrogen engine.

[Bannor]

It has an adequate supply of ice?

[SunStormer]

Tried turning off/cycling power to the whole grid? I've heard that's a work around

[RoofCat]

Not the grid, just turn engine off and back on. It is made this way so it doesn't instantly burn all your fuel right after building. As it can do that quite fast. Unfortunately the control menu still states on, which is kind of wrong for this situation.

[Smokey]

is the hydrogen generator in an on state, if in an off state it won't generate power nor pull / fill hydrogen into its storage.

Cycling the grid power on and off can help in some situations but i think this is mostly a conveyor update issue as i had to do this on one of my structures to get not only my hydrogen tank to start filling but also the generator to recognise the connection to the tank itself.

I advise using a hydrogen tank for stockpiling ( don't turn it to stockpile, just leave its settings standard ) as with a direct connection to a O2/H2 generator and having said generator in an ON state means that it will just burn what fuel it pulls ( so the generators hydrogen storage never actually fills unless it pulls from a hydrogen tank that has sufficient hydrogen stored to fill the generator ).

does the generator actually function ?

If so then it's working just there is no stored hydrogen to "fill" the generators tank and hydrogen is being pulled in an "as needed" manner.

[Pembroke]

If the hydrogen engine is on then the most likely explanation is that the engine is consuming all the hydrogen right away that your O2/H2 generators are producing. Note, that a single O2/H2 generator can't keep up with a hydrogen engine. To get the full 5MW out of it you need at least two O2/H2 generators and even then you've nothing left to fill the tanks with, either in the hydrogen engine or in an external H2 tank.

You can check whether this is the reason very easily. Just turn the hydrogen engine off and run the O2/H2 generator with batteries. Then check the H2 tank in your control panel and you should see it filling up. Also note that the hydrogen does not show in the H2 tank inventory. That shows possible bottles you have there. The H2 amount in your tank can be seen in the control panel.

[Laef]

I've cycled power to the grid numerous times, it has plenty of ice. I've toggled the O2/H2 gen off and on, I've toggled the H2 Engine off and on. I've torn down and rebuilt all the components. The o2h2 generator feeds my oxygen tank, through the h2 engine. So, its allowing items to pass through, just no hydrogen is stored.

I considered constructing a tank for the hydrogen, but the only option was massive, much too large for the ship.

The engine produced power when it had fuel, but now that I drained it, it will not fill. Although, it wouldn't fill before either.

I was hoping that the tanks on the H2 engine would slowly fill while the o2/h2 gen runs, and the ship sits idle.

[Pembroke]

The hydrogen engine won't fill its tank if it's turned off. However, you don't need to fill it for it to run. It's just an extra tank that will fill if you're producing more H2 than the engine can use right away.

1 O2/H2 generator --> H2 engine consumes it all, and is not even enough --> only 2.5 MW of power

2 O2/H2 generators -> H2 engine consumes it all as it goes -> full 5 MW of power

3 and more O2/H2 generators -> H2 engine consumes as much as it can and stores the rest until tank full -> full 5 MW of power and tank fills up

[Laef]

Thanks, that answers it.

If I leave the engine on, while my ship is idle, will it charge the batteries since nothing else is running?

[Pembroke]

Yes, the H2 engine is good for recharging batteries as it has a high power output. At least until you get enough solar panels. Toggle the batteries to "recharge" mode while the H2 engine runs and the batteries will take in as much as they can. One easy way to do this is to group all your batteries and then have a button panel switch that flips between "recharge" and "auto".

[Laef]

right on, thanks. Yeah, I grouped the batteries up already.

I'll start just leaving the engine on while it idles and have the batteries get some juice from it. Thanks everyone, for the assistance with troubleshooting.

[Laef]

So, when I put the battery bank on recharge it seems that the engine stops running. Just leaving the battery bank on auto, with the shop not connected to other grids, allows the h2 engine to charge the bank.

[Kindar]

Hi, i messed around a LOT with this damn engine before finally making it work. Just wanted to leave a how-to for my steps.

1) turn off and on the ship from cockpit, otherwise H2 wont flow.
2) You need starter batteries for H2-generator and conveyors, otherwise H2 wont flow.
3) Now it works but the engine wont fill because its recharching your batteries, thus emptying itself.

It was very confusing to not see the ice melt or the tank empty despite ice melting in the tank. This is just a gathering of points from the thread. Credit to all people helping newbs like me.