Help with electricity

[Torres]

Are the battery banks working? I've been checking mine and is not charging, it's turned on but it won't charge... is there a way to connect to generators to a battery bank? cause it's annoying me the "this source cannot have a parent connection".

[gigastephan]

You can charge it with generator OR solar (not both at the same time). When you connect it,
you have to click the generator (or solar) first then the batterybank. And for the output you click
the battery first then the destination (and you can connect more then one destination).

[Torres]

The generator is connected to the battery bank and then the battery bank to a switch so I can control when the power passes... still won't charge...

[Akatosh]

The battery bank need to be ON to allow the genrator bank to charge the batteries.

[Torres]

it's ON, both the fueled generator and the battery bank with nice quality batteries inside but nope, no recharging -_-

[SMScannonfodder]

You mentioned a switch, the generator needs to connected directly to the battery bank and nothing else.

[Jack Cheddar]

from the 7DTD Wiki

A battery bank is best when paired with a Solar Bank, which can recharge the batteries during the day.

To charge a Battery Bank attach it to an alternate power source (e.g. a Solar Bank) by right clicking the source with a wiring tool then right clicking the battery bank. Note the battery bank must be turned on for it to charge as while it is off it is considered bypassed so only acts as a relay.[1]
While charging it will consume 5w from the alternate power source (so to charge a battery bank you need system_power_cost+5w). While powered, it will regenerate durability in the battery inside, independent of quality, at a rate of 6 points per second. A 600 quality battery has 6000 durability so it would take about 16 minutes and 40 seconds to charge making the maximum time taken to fully recharge a battery bank 100 minutes.

[CellNav]

Originally posted by Torres:

The generator is connected to the battery bank and then the battery bank to a switch so I can control when the power passes... still won't charge...

If the battery bank has MORE OUTPUT than the generator, then the game thinks you don't need to charge the batteries .... Remove your batteries to lower the banks output to less than the generators output.

A better setup is :

Generator -> Timer Relay -> Battery Bank -> Load

Just as long as the generator exceeds the output of the bank, you'll be fine. You need to figure out how long it takes to discharge the battery (read it's durability after an hour use), check the clock and set the timer relay clock to switch over about 1 hour before the battery discharges.

Also, the LOAD needs to never exceed the generator output, the load has to be equal or less than the power output of the battery. (the same is true for solar/battery setup).

Enjoy.

[vgifford]

As other have already stated, in A16 you needed to have the generator or solar bank on, connect that to the battery bank. The battery bank must be on for the batteries to charge. If anything is drawing power from the battery bank it will not charge, hence the reason people are saying connect the battery bank to a switch so you can turn the switch off. I have not tried it in A17 yet, but that it how it worked in A16.

[Vyrex]

Just connect the solar panel or generator to the battery bank. Turn both on tada. It works like a charm for me no problem, how it should be. Im sure you are doing something wrong.

[Poposhka]

if anyone has the same problem and come looking here, the issue is that batteries use their durability (the colored bar) to indicate their charge, so usually you find batteries that are full.

when you run a generator to a bank, it will "repair" the battery, i.e. refill their durability.

the "power 0w" you see on a bank connected to any appliances to draw power and its bar indicates the power DRAW from the bank, not the charge.

so

1. place generator
2. put engines into generator
3. refuel generator
4. place battery bank
5. place batteries into bank
6. turn bank on
7. connect generator to bank with electric tool
8. if durability of batteries in bank isn't 100%, turn on generator to refill them
9. connect appliances that need power from battery bank