Discharge or auto on batteries?

[Iskaka]

So I had this argument with a friend, he wanted to leave our batteries on "recharge" when the sun was shining to reacharge them faster

I wanted to leave them on auto figuring any excess power would be stored anyways, this argument continued but then as it turns out the recharge time on our batteries was lower on "recharge" vs "auto", where does that excess energy come from? whaat?

[Dan2D3D]

Hi, the "auto mode" will provide electricity and keep recharging in same time, I use the discharge mode as booster to recharge faster but I set my ship Batteries on Recharge mode first and enable Discharge on the station Batteries after to use as Booster/Quick recharge.

+
The best is to create Recharging stations here and there where it is needed and keep the batteries on auto mode.
-> It's not a good move to recharge ship Batteries on a station having a lot of blocks already using the power = they will drain the ship Batteries if needed.

Recharging station have only Wind Turbines and connector to have only one Job to do that is to recharge the connected ship, so we can keep the Batteries on Auto mode and they will not losse any power because there are no other blocks on that station that will drain the power.

One of my Recharging station got 5 Large Batteries especially made to discharge when needed so for a Quick charge :
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2966939345

[Dan2D3D]

Recharging stations examples :

Wind turbines only
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2782864540

Wind Turbines + Solar Panels + Batteries (those are OFF once full charged) :
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3006414714

[herrschaftg35]

"Recharge" is good if you want to charge something like a ship or rover quickly. Batteries set to "recharge" will pull power from all other batteries

[Jeff]

I'm not sure the exact answer but something to consider is that charging a battery from a battery is inefficient and loses something like 20% of the power sent to the battery being recharged. When batteries are on auto, they provide power to everything on the grid as well as receiving power from everything on the grid. I believe they try to balance themselves so that all batteries end up with the same amount of power stored. If there are multiple batteries on a grid set to auto, they will be trying to recharge each other and losing power as a result so you need more power to fill those batteries.

[CynicDragon]

Recharge mode, is always better than auto mode when trying to recharge, as simple as that brother, in recharge mode, the grid or vehicle is not using any power for its casual, idling functions, like lites, survival kits, guns, or any other block that draws passive power to stay functioning

[Alshain]

Batteries have an 80% charge efficiency. This is regardless of their mode. They lose 20% of what your power generators or other batteries give them. So, if you charge a battery and then transfer that power to another battery, you have effectively lost 40% from your power generation (assuming the same capacity).

This is less important if you are using renewable energy (i.e. wind and solar) but when using Hydrogen and Nuclear, they do not consume fuel when not outputting power, so it's a good idea to not use storage/transfer batteries at all. If you need a ln emergency backup battery, charge it and turn it off so power can't cycle through it losing you that precious 20%.

[Jack Schitt]

There is no unused power for the batteries in this game. It all gets used eventually. They can run completely out of power if they're left on auto and the batteries are the only thing powering the grid. Auto doesn't keep them fully charged it only causes them to charge when nothing is drawing power.

A grid a ship is connected to will draw power from the connected ships. Because of this it's a common practice to set up a G-menu button on ships that turns recharge on so all they're doing when parked is charging.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_5Ez0O3C_Y

It's very wise to apply some battery management:
----Option 1----
Use 2 timer blocks to split the batteries I have into 2 battery banks, so one bank is always charging and one is always Auto or discharging. Set Timer Block 1 up to swap each battery bank group's recharge/auto or discharge on/off and 'Start' timer 2. Set Timer 2 to 'Trigger' Timer 1 after a reasonable delay. The amount of delay depends on how fast the batteries are draining.

----Option 2----
Use Event Controller(s). How? I don't know I don't use them. I personally use option 1 most of the time and option 3 below when I want it to be super efficient.

----Option 3----
Use a script to manage the batteries. I use Easy Automation V2 since I don't have a clue how to write C# scripts. This is the most efficient way of doing it. Figuring out the scripting so it works perfectly was a challenge. Option 1 is the easiest way of doing it.

[Pembroke]

Note: If *some* batteries are set to "recharge" while *other* batteries are set to "auto" then those recharging batteries will draw power from the batteries set to auto.

This is the usual explanation for the low recharge time. This is also what you *want* to happen when, for example, you dock a ship/rover to a base and set the ship/rover battery to "recharge". The base batteries will give power to the ship/rover batteries as much as they can take it in and thus recharging it faster.

It also means that there's no point in setting some batteries of the base to recharge while other base batteries are on auto. You will just move power from one battery to the other. Well, unless you specifically want that to happen e.g. want to move a battery block and suck out its power before grinding it.

So, if you want a true test of the recharge time then set *all* your batteries (including connected grids) to "recharge" and note the recharge time. Then you are drawing power entirely from your power generating blocks and see the true figure. In that case your base will use whatever power it needs to run its devices and any excess power gets stored to the batteries.

[Jack Schitt]

It's been so long I used batteries only I forgot why I always use multiple power sources. I've made a habit of farming ice and run hydrogen engines when a battery bank needs charged.

It's redundant to charge a battery with a battery, as Pembroke explained. We don't gain or replenish power that way. We should always have at least 2 power sources producing enough power to charge the batteries and power the grid if we don't want to be stranded somewhere.

[Iskaka]

Originally posted by Yung Pro#9868:

Recharge mode, is always better than auto mode when trying to recharge, as simple as that brother, in recharge mode, the grid or vehicle is not using any power for its casual, idling functions, like lites, survival kits, guns, or any other block that draws passive power to stay functioning

For context, we only had a basic assembler and refinery connected to the grid, both of those were processing anyways

[α¯\_(ツ)_/¯Ω]

alltime Auto on Battery, by Torch server its the best one Rotor, and one small battery with Beacon and Antenna and the Battery on Charge. ;)

[EightSeven6]

Don't set them to recharge unless you need them charged as soon as possible. Setting them to recharge will be faster because the one battery set to recharge drains all the rest of the batteries, whereas on auto they would only take excess power from generators (like hydrogen engines, solar panels, reactors etc)

[Ronin Planetary Industries]

A lot of problems come from mixed-use. People will use batteries in conjunction with atmospheric and ion thrusters. You can store 3MWH x 12MW max output in 1 cube space (large grid). You can slow charge the ship while not using it and basically get your power for free from wind and solar. However if you charge from reactor, hydrogen engine, or other batteries, it's expensive in terms of the fuel to charge them.

The worst set-up is charging batteries from hydrogen engines. In doing so, you will consume a lot of hydrogen fuel. That fuel has to be mined as ice, refined into hydrogen and stored into big and often many tanks.

The bottom-line is you should only recharge batteries via hydrogen engines and reactors when it's a must. It could be that you need a longer run-time while flying or having those batteries charged sooner than later is a strategic must. That's fine.

But it's better to build a big array of batteries in your base (more batteries than what's on your ships) and recharge battery to battery. It's inefficient. But if you're getting your batteries ultimately charged from solar and wind, then you can eat the inefficiency since your fuel is free.

[MrBishop077]

Originally posted by Iskaka:

.. where does that excess energy come from? whaat?

Did you have a rover or ship attached to the base at the same time? Recharge on the base batteries will drain the other batteries if they are left on Auto.

[MrBishop077]

Originally posted by Jack Schitt:

Event Controller(s). How?

They really can be cool to use for so many things.
for power as an example you could have them set to turn on backup generators when your battery banks drop to a certain percent (say 25%), and turn them back off when the system is charged up to a pre set level (say 95%).
for mining or cargo you can set them to flash lights or some other action when your cargo containers are almost full (95-98%) .. or even when pistons are in this position X action happens (turn off the piston, move the hinge by this much .. then next controller and action..)
you can also use it to monitor fuel or low ice, low O2 and just so many things..
I used to use huge sets of timer banks to delay and trigger things over hours and days .. but now i can use (still large banks of) Event controllers to give me an almost scripted level of 'smart' control .. and I know i am still a noob with them and their potential uses.

I hope this gives you a little interest to check them out. You never know .. It could be Game Changing!! =)

**edit: I do miss the large walls of blinking and beeping timer blocks .. gave the place a kind of atmosphere .