help with auto-loader please

[Halifax789]

So I tried setting up an auto-loader next to my coal generators, with a storage within easy reach with coal in it. But my auto-loader doesnt seem to be taking the coal from the storage. If I dump the coal, the auto-loader just puts it all back into storage without loading the coal generators. I have the generators set to higher priority than the storage.
and everything is within easy reach of the auto-loader.

Do you have any idea what I am missing? how do I get the loader to take coal from storage and put it in the generators?

[cswiger]

Adjust the slider on the Coal Generators controlling refills to be greater than the lower setting on your Smart Battery. (You can put it at 100%, if you like.)

[Antigone]

The priority for your coal generators must be higher than for the storage bin.

[AlexMBrennan]

One possibility is that the coal generator priority is too high - in that case dupes will steal jobs from the autosweeper.

[ewpayne]

Also set Coal Generator to priority 1 in addition to cswiger's recommendation of putting refill to 100%. I would do something like 80%. Just so I can quickly see it's being filled up.

[celerypie]

using smart batteries? coal generators will never be supplied while disabled by automation, even if they have less coal than specified. what can happen is your smart battery recharge faster than your autosweeper moves the coal, so the generator gets disabled again and the autosweeper moves coal back to the storage bin. setting smart battery thresholds far appart can alleviate the problem.

[Halifax789]

I was not using a smat battey. still tying to undestand those

[Strygald]

set coal generator fill to 100%, set the coal generator to priority 9, set coal storage to priority 8 or lower, make sure autosweeper is fully in range of both coal generator and coal storage container, use conveyor loader/receptacle/conveyor so you can lock dupes out of the coal generator room.

[Halifax789]

does it have to be Smart storage, or can it be a regular storage?

Oh and I presume you set the smart battery to trigger "green" when battery gets to like 30% and green goes to the coal generator and the auto-loader right?

[Halifax789]

OK I am confused and missing something. My auto-sweeper is in range of the storage and coal furnace. I hooked it up to a automation switch so it is always green. I have a storage right next to it full of coal priority 7, and I set my coal furnaces to priority 8, and 100% fill, the the auto sweeper still doesnt load the furnaces.
If I dump all the coal out of the storage so it is sitting on the ground, the auto-loader puts all the coal back into storage, and doesnt put any of it into the coal plants.

It cant be this hard, I am just not understanding how this auto loader works. what am I missing here?

[Bokonon]

Your sweeper will only consume power when it's sweeping. In a case like this it's only going to be sweeping (and consuming power) for very short periods of time, does it need any automation at all?

[celerypie]

Originally posted by Halifax789:

does it have to be Smart storage, or can it be a regular storage?

it can be regular storage, smart storage only puts out an automation signal if it's full to a specified level.

Originally posted by Halifax789:

Oh and I presume you set the smart battery to trigger "green" when battery gets to like 30% and green goes to the coal generator and the auto-loader right?

jep, trigger green (lower thresholt) at a low percentage and red at say 90% (coal generator always finishes his animation cycle, so you might waste a little coal if it's set to 100%). The autosweeper doesn't need automation at all, it will only activate if there's supplying/storing to be done in it's range. it needs access to the bottom center tile of the coal generators though iirc. My setup usually looks something like this (i just drop coal on the floow and have not designated storage):
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2360206181