Accumulator issue?

[nukewasted2000]

I think I'm about mid-game, using some online blueprints, (I must admit I'm a newb on my second playthrough)), but it seems to me that the accumulators are not adding to available power at any time, even at night (no charging during day). I'm looking at my power pole graphs, and the many accumulators I've managed to install are having no observable affect. Is there something I'm nor including?

[Fel]

A screenshot of your power window would probably help, but it is either that you don't have enough power generation, not leaving enough spare power to charge the accumulators or that you forgot a pole somewhere and as a result the accumulators are not part of the same electric network.

A good rule of thumb is 24 solar panels and 20 accumulator provide your base with 1 MW through both day and night.
You can't use the power graph in the same way as with nuclear or steam where you only look at the second bar and build more when that bar is starting to become close to full so it takes a while getting used to it.

[astrosha]

If your Accumulators are not charging during the day, they are likely not connected to your electrical network. Alternatively, your power supply is just enough to meet your demand, and there is not enough left over to charge the Accumulators.

If your Accumulators are charged by day, and stay charged by night, then you are producing power elsewhere and that power is meeting the demand.

Accumulators need to be connected to your electrical network just as any other structure - ensure they have at least one of their squares within that blue connection radius around a power pole type structure. They draw a lot of power - but they are dead last in things that get powered. If your power plant can produce X power, your demand is Y, they only get the difference between X and Y, and then only if X is bigger than Y.

If X is smaller than Y, they discharge their power to keep X and Y equal, until they run out of power and can no longer act as a power supply.

[THE kilroy]

There is a map view mode that will show your electrical network connections. You may have a break in the line. Also if.you are producing power elsewhere (example steam) it will charge the batteries to full at all times which will not give the accumulator time to run low.

[Fishy]

Accumulators will only discharge power if all other power sources are exhausted. So if you still have some steam power set up and connected., the game will draw power from your steam turbines/engines before it uses accumulator power.

If they are not charging at all, it is likely they are not connected to the power grid anywhere.

So can force accumulators to discharge before using steam power using the circuit network, but thats another question.

[impetus_maximus]

Originally posted by Fel:

A screenshot of your power window would probably help, but...

+1

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by Fishy:

Accumulators will only discharge power if all other power sources are exhausted. So if you still have some steam power set up and connected., the game will draw power from your steam turbines/engines before it uses accumulator power.

If they are not charging at all, it is likely they are not connected to the power grid anywhere.

So can force accumulators to discharge before using steam power using the circuit network, but thats another question.

I'm not sure that's correct. The game I'm playing right now I have a large field of solar panels and accumulators and 20 boilers with 40 steam turbines. During the day the boilers are never on. At night the only time my boilers come on is if the accumulators run dry. I keep the boilers as a back up power source even when I get nuclear power. Once I have all 3 types of power I set my solar panels and accumulators to power my laser turrets and outposts. Nuclear power is for the main base and the boilers are a back up power source if one of the other 2 fail.

[nukewasted2000]

Originally posted by Fishy:

Accumulators will only discharge power if all other power sources are exhausted. So if you still have some steam power set up and connected., the game will draw power from your steam turbines/engines before it uses accumulator power.

If they are not charging at all, it is likely they are not connected to the power grid anywhere.

So can force accumulators to discharge before using steam power using the circuit network, but thats another question.

Looks like this was the case, thank you! Once I cut off the steam gennies, the accumulators started providing at night. Thanks everybody for your help!

[THE kilroy]

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

Originally posted by Fishy:

Accumulators will only discharge power if all other power sources are exhausted. So if you still have some steam power set up and connected., the game will draw power from your steam turbines/engines before it uses accumulator power.

If they are not charging at all, it is likely they are not connected to the power grid anywhere.

So can force accumulators to discharge before using steam power using the circuit network, but thats another question.

I'm not sure that's correct. The game I'm playing right now I have a large field of solar panels and accumulators and 20 boilers with 40 steam turbines. During the day the boilers are never on. At night the only time my boilers come on is if the accumulators run dry. I keep the boilers as a back up power source even when I get nuclear power. Once I have all 3 types of power I set my solar panels and accumulators to power my laser turrets and outposts. Nuclear power is for the main base and the boilers are a back up power source if one of the other 2 fail.

You are confusing accumulator usage with network usage. What you are seeing is that during the day your accumulators are charged fully with solar and steam, and so then the power consumption less than the panel production, so the steam turns off, because solar is producing.

Then at night the solar isnt producing, and steam turns on to charge the accumulators which are at 99.99 percent. However if you are seeing accumulator discharge it means that the power consumption at night is higher than the steam can output.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by THE kilroy:

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

I'm not sure that's correct. The game I'm playing right now I have a large field of solar panels and accumulators and 20 boilers with 40 steam turbines. During the day the boilers are never on. At night the only time my boilers come on is if the accumulators run dry. I keep the boilers as a back up power source even when I get nuclear power. Once I have all 3 types of power I set my solar panels and accumulators to power my laser turrets and outposts. Nuclear power is for the main base and the boilers are a back up power source if one of the other 2 fail.

You are confusing accumulator usage with network usage. What you are seeing is that during the day your accumulators are charged fully with solar and steam, and so then the power consumption less than the panel production, so the steam turns off, because solar is producing.

Then at night the solar isnt producing, and steam turns on to charge the accumulators which are at 99.99 percent. However if you are seeing accumulator discharge it means that the power consumption at night is higher than the steam can output.

After I laid out a few more panels and accumulators steam isn't coming on at all. Even at night after rather constant biter attacks.

[impetus_maximus]

steam has priority over accumulators. when solar stops producing, steam should kick in. if steam can't handle it, accumulators will start.

are you sure they are on the same power network?

[nukewasted2000]

I ended up using a method KathrineofSky put in one of her videos. Put an accumulator by the water pump for the boilers, set a circuit to turn on the water if accumulator charge gets to 20%. The steam gennies would come on occasionally until I added more accumulators.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by impetus maximus:

steam has priority over accumulators. when solar stops producing, steam should kick in. if steam can't handle it, accumulators will start.

are you sure they are on the same power network?

Absolutely sure. I don't separate out solar until after nuclear is up and running. I went about 10 night/day cycles without the boilers starting up at the end of the last play session. I have the boilers buffered with chests of fuel and I thought it was odd that the boilers weren't firing up so I deleted the inserters that move fuel from the belts to the chests. I went out and eliminated about 6 groups of spawners in ~10 night day cycles and came back and not a single lump was missing from any of the chests.

I know that the factory was producing and not idle because I have machines going right now producing 4 different science packs (I buffer those as well), rockets and explosive rockets, AP ammo, and I'm setting up to expand the base so I'm making electric furnaces, rails, train engines, cargo wagons, walls, more accumulators and solar panels, and additional turrets of all types. My pollution cloud had even started to diminish around the boilers.

I logged on to the game just now and was going to take screen shots but as soon as it started the first night cycle the boilers started up. Perhaps a bug?

[Fel]

Like for OP, take a screenshot (or a set of screenshots at different key points in the day/night cycle like day, night and morning) of your power graph, and not as necessary but that would give a better idea a screenshot showing your steam setup, one for the accumulators and one with the map view showing the electric network lines.

[cfteague2]

I am seeing the same problem as the OP

EDIT - my original post mistakenly claimed the accumulators turned on at night, but after checking, I was mistaken.


It seems like steam power has higher priority than accumulators discharging. so that accumulators only act as a last backup. which is great, I guess, if thats what you want,
but it means you cannot have both a solar + accumulator system, AND a steam backup, without headaches.


(ps. You CAN get the accumulators to turn on, IF you either dont have steam power, or you dont have enough steam power. but if you have more than enough steam power, then your accumulators are doing nothing but looking pretty)


it would be nice if there was a way to override the priority, so that my accumulators would discharge BEFORE my steam power.




Evidence:
Phase 1: "daytime" - solar power covers 100%, nothing else runs. accumulators full charged.

screen1: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2321252181



Phase 2: "evening" - solar power declines, covering partial demand. steam rising. accumulators full, but Do Not Discharge
screen2: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2321252196



Phase 3: "night" - solar power zero. steam meets full demain. accumulators full, but Do Not Discharge.
screen3: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2321252206



Phase 4: "morning" - solar power rises, steam declines. accumulators still full, still Do Not Discharge.
screen4: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2321252224



Phase 5 - daytime again, solar back to 100% - accumulators never discharged.


accumulators seem to be only useful if you have ONLY solar + accumulators. Or if you have a complex power net where you manage the system manually.

I guess I'll watch some videos on setting up the nuclear power so that it only activates if the accumulators get low

[astrosha]

1 : Nice necropost.

2 : There are circuit ways by which you can use steam as a backup power source. You generally put a single Accumulator by your original power plant. Connect that by wire to either the Offshore Pumps (ideal) or a section of Belt bearing the fuel (tends to lag, but may be desired if you want to use the power plant to burn off excess Wood). Either way, set whatever you've wired to only operate when A < some number of your choice.

Look up (because I don't remember how to use them, I don't generally bother) how to make a SR Latch if you don't want the power plant cycling on and off repeatedly.

A can be lower if you are controlling the Offshore Pumps. A needs to be higher if you are controlling the fuel by belt; this is because of the lag time for the fuel to then pass that belt section and make its way to the Boilers.

Nuclear Power, on the other hand, is not a "backup" for Solar. Instead, it is an alternative to Solar. Nuclear Power is best used as the sole power plant (because, frankly, its power density is amazing compared to Solar or Boilers).

If you insist, then I'd imagine the best way to get that set up would be the usual "Fuel Inserter only operates when Spent Fuel Remover removes a cell" setup; only this time instead of tying the fuel cell remover to a storage tank of steam, tie it to an accumulator.

You would have to play around with the lag between inserting a new fuel cell and the generation of power to see what A amount you would need to trigger the entire thing.