Logistics Hopper/Smelter/Storage/Ore problems

[Punnilingus]

So the start of my game, there were two blue outlines for logistics hoppers next to my smelter (one on either side).

One of them collects bars, which is then fed into a storage hopper - this part works as intended.

But, I'm trying to 'automate' my smelter somewhat because it only allows the input of 32 ore at a time and by the time I crawl out of my mine, the temp is already next to 0.

So I've tried inserting ore into the logistics hopper (which is right next to the smelter) - that doesn't work.

I've added a storage hopper + conveyor + logistics(smelter) and that doesn't work. The log hopper takes the ore from storage, but only holds (2) of any kind of ore, but it WILL NOT add the ore into the smelter.

??

What's up. . . can someone PLEASE help. Thanks!

[Punnilingus]

To add - I've messed with permissions in all ways. Add/remove, remove, etc. Nothing works.

[Punnilingus]

Okay, so I figured out how to get it to work -- I can't use the logistics hopper to insert into the smelter. . . . . When I changed it to the storage hopper, it started working just fine.

Then what in the heck purpose does the logistics hopper serve???

Why will it pull FROM the smelter but won't place items INTO the smelter?

[🅶ila]

The logistics hopper is useful when you're not wanting to store, but still route stuff.

Personally, I've got a logistics hopper fed into the smelter storage hopper (separated by a conveyor - not sure if that's important or not.) to work as a valve for each line-in for incoming ore. If I want to mass produce a specific bar from one of my incoming ore conveyors, then I'll lock the logistics hopper on the line that I don't need any incoming ore from.

When first starting out, the different ones aren't that important, but they fall into uses later on when you start automating and building large lines of stuff.

[TeeBee30]

The smelter looks for the ore needed to smelt 1 bar at a time (so, depending on your difficulty setting you need at least 4 ore of the same kind in the hopper before the smelter accepts it). Be advised that on rush mode/rapid resources you only need 2 ore for 1 bar so the logistics hopper would work, but it's not advised if you have multiple types of ore on the conveyor (for instance, you could end up with 1 tin and 1 copper in the hopper and it would be full) and then your whole production line would freeze. It's best if you use 2 hoppers next to the smelter... the ore input hopper set to remove only and the ingot output set to add only (or add/remove if you plan on using a heist on it).
P.S. I'm not really sure if on rapid resources the smelter needs 2 ore for 1 bar, but that's how i remember it to be

[Punnilingus]

Thank you, but at this stage (being so new and all), I still don't QUITE understand it, but I think I do a little bit. Sounds like inserters in factorio a little bit - but in this case, not a "smart inserter," but instead something you have to physically prevent the wrong thing from getting in and it having such a small cargohold makes that less likely?

[tsengar]

Actually, all of the info you were give was useful information, but it didn't explicetly state the problem you were running into. Smelters look for at least 4 of the same type of ore in a connected hopper, and with the logistics one you can only have 2 in any give hopper so it thinks there isn't enough even if you have the same ore in multiple logistics hoppers.

By the way, with larger hoppers and multiple types of ore, the smelter takes whichever type there is the most of first. This can mean that if there are 8 blocks of ore A and 4 blocks of ore B in the hopper and ore A is arriving at the same speed it is being smelted, ore B will just sit there untouched.

[DirtyCamper]

The smelter pulls the right amount of ore from the hopper. Depending on your settings.
On my settings it needs to see 4 of the same kind of ore in the hopper. A logistics hopper can only contain 2.
On the bright side: a normal storage hopper (trust me, you will spam build these at some moment in the future), can hold 100 ore. And it really doesn't matter what kind of ore, the smelter looks for any ore of at least 4 (or 16 with FF and arc smelter). So all the ore you can gather, just feed them to a *storage* hopper with a conveyer in remove mode, and pull the bars from the storage hopper on the other side in add mode.

[DjArcas]

Originally posted by Fortified Nonsense:

Okay, so I figured out how to get it to work -- I can't use the logistics hopper to insert into the smelter. . . . . When I changed it to the storage hopper, it started working just fine.

Then what in the heck purpose does the logistics hopper serve???

Why will it pull FROM the smelter but won't place items INTO the smelter?

Because it only holds 2 items, and you're on a difficulty where you need more than 2 ore per bar.

[Punnilingus]

Originally posted by DjArcas:

Originally posted by Fortified Nonsense:

Okay, so I figured out how to get it to work -- I can't use the logistics hopper to insert into the smelter. . . . . When I changed it to the storage hopper, it started working just fine.

Then what in the heck purpose does the logistics hopper serve???

Why will it pull FROM the smelter but won't place items INTO the smelter?

Because it only holds 2 items, and you're on a difficulty where you need more than 2 ore per bar.

AHHH!

Then is there a way the "blueprint" of what is suggested to be placed there isn't of a log hopper given that rush mode isn't available until after you've beat the other mode? (I assume rush mode changed # of bars needed to less).

The outline of what is supposed to be there is of a log hopper.

[DirtyCamper]

logistics, mini and storage hopper have around the same outline... Except for color and size I think, the all look alike...
You can also use a mini-hopper (that you can create from a logic with self-craft, I think that's 'C' on the keyboard). But a mini-hopper can not fit a bit of all possible ores, although in the beginning it can.