Large power transformers

[Walkman Rew]

Ok so I have obviously been searching for answers to my following question and I have found ppl discussing it. What I take from it is that Im either dumb or everything touching transformers is actually wierd design.

I get the point of small transformers and I have been using them for my normal wire circuits. <1000W transformers into 1000W wires.

What about large transformers? Whats the point? Im about to upgrade to Conductive wire which can handle 2000W before breaking but the large transformers push out max 4000W which means my conductive wire would burn out anyway.

So, Im assuming that Im missing something cause I dont see the point of not just run a power-->battery-->consumer. I mean if I will have to balance my circuits around 2000W manually anyway...

What am I missing?

[pixie.o.moone]

Well, I do use large transformers and circuits limited to 2k with conductive wires; therefore I only use half of what could be delivered by the transformers. It would be better to have 2k transformers, or 4k wires indeed. But maybe I'm also missing something so I'll read the following comments from other people.

[Walkman Rew]

Yeah but in that case its just better to skip a transformer completely and draw your power from a battery. In that case the transformer does nothing. This is why I assume that I must be missing something :P

[pixie.o.moone]

No because I have one place for all my power generators, connected to many smart batteries, and on that circuit there's a lot of power - the transformers are used to dispatch safely this power by breaking it into smaller amounts that are safe for each circuit. If you connect each circuit to an isolated battery and its generators, you have a risk of going out of power as some generators may be temporarily idle (lack of coal, of petroleum, of natural gas and so on). Having one big circuit for generators and battery ensures that is one source of power goes missing, it does not cause anything to stop as the other ones will be working. I had three power rooms with different generators powering different circuits in my first base, and I had many issues because of this. One central power plant works much better.

Screenshot :
https://imgur.com/C2nyPGM

(Sorry for my not-so-good English, hope it was clear enough).

[AlexMBrennan]

Yeah but in that case its just better to skip a transformer completely and draw your power from a battery

How do you plan to recharge that battery if it's not connected to any generator? Do you have a live-in electrician rewiring your house 500 times per day?

[Walkman Rew]

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

Yeah but in that case its just better to skip a transformer completely and draw your power from a battery

How do you plan to recharge that battery if it's not connected to any generator? Do you have a live-in electrician rewiring your house 500 times per day?

Do you mean to say that batteries dont create power?

[Walkman Rew]

Originally posted by pixie.o.moone:

No because I have one place for all my power generators, connected to many smart batteries, and on that circuit there's a lot of power - the transformers are used to dispatch safely this power by breaking it into smaller amounts that are safe for each circuit. If you connect each circuit to an isolated battery and its generators, you have a risk of going out of power as some generators may be temporarily idle (lack of coal, of petroleum, of natural gas and so on). Having one big circuit for generators and battery ensures that is one source of power goes missing, it does not cause anything to stop as the other ones will be working. I had three power rooms with different generators powering different circuits in my first base, and I had many issues because of this. One central power plant works much better.

Screenshot :
https://imgur.com/C2nyPGM

(Sorry for my not-so-good English, hope it was clear enough).

Yes I do try to gather all my power generation into one buffer but why not just use smart-batteries instead of a 4k transformer --> 2k wire?

So what happens if you switch out your transformers for more smar-batteries? Would that even make a difference in practice? Having 4k out instead of no limits shouldnt mean anything if the out wire can only handle 2k max anyway.

[pixie.o.moone]

It's useful because in practice you can put more than 2k on your circuits, as most systems won't be active all at the same time ; many power-consuming systems do not work continuously ; doors, for examples, or valves. So, you estimate how much is usually consumed, and if there is a peak your circuit is protected by your transformers. Otherwise, you will have to make many more circuits if you limit them to the max possible power.

[Bravo]

you could use heavi-watt wire -> 2x large transformers -> conductive wire -> 2x large transformers -> heavi-watt wire if you wanted to avoid using a 'bridge' tile, this would allow you to avoid using non-insulating tiles, but it would probably be easier to use water-locks and vacuum to maintain insulation.

[pixie.o.moone]

Originally posted by Bravo:

you could use heavi-watt wire -> 2x large transformers -> conductive wire -> 2x large transformers -> heavi-watt wire if you wanted to avoid using a 'bridge' tile, this would allow you to avoid using non-insulating tiles, but it would probably be easier to use water-locks and vacuum to maintain insulation.

Wouldn't you use insulated tiles only around your power room? Thus you can use power bridge tiles and regular tiles inside between your levels / transformers.

[Walkman Rew]

Ah right I get it now. I actually had to test it in sandbox to understand. In my head I could separate circuits with batteries the same way I do with transformers xD

I thought that since the battery is just a powerbank a circuit could just draw the power it needed from it.

I see your point now Pixie and your english is great. Im just being a smoothbrain. Thank you.

[pixie.o.moone]

Originally posted by Rorqual:

Ah right I get it now. I actually had to test it in sandbox to understand. In my head I could separate circuits with batteries the same way I do with transformers xD

I thought that since the battery is just a powerbank a circuit could just draw the power it needed from it.

I see your point now Pixie and your english is great. Im just being a smoothbrain. Thank you.

Haha no worries^^ It took me some time too to get it, and it is still a work in progress as you can see in my screenshot, so exchanging on the subject is always useful.

[gimmethegepgun]

It's weird and kind of annoying but it pushes you in the right direction by not conforming to the 2kW limit of conductive wires: it gets you to actually balance your loads. You don't WANT the transformer intervening to protect you. If it does, that means you get a brownout, and things stop working when they're supposed to, and dupes that are supposed to be working on machines that are browned out will leave and do something else (otherwise known as wasting their time)

In any case, the large transformer uses less space than 2 regular transformers connected in parallel to serve a conductive wire circuit.

[Walkman Rew]

Yeah I see what you are saying. My plan was to sprinkle in some shipping into my circuits and were just gonna take for granted that the only thing that would even experience lack of power was the shipping.

Dunno, maybe you vets already do that but for some reason I cant let go of that control :P

[Angpaur]

Originally posted by Rorqual:

Yeah but in that case its just better to skip a transformer completely and draw your power from a battery. In that case the transformer does nothing. This is why I assume that I must be missing something :P

You are on a right track. You can indeed skip transofmers completely, but you are missing second battery. You need 2 of them, so while one is being charged by a generator, the second one provides power to a circuit. When next one is discharged, then you switch circuit to the first one. You need a bit of automation to achive this and power shutoffs. This way you can not only get rid of transfomers, but also heavy wat wires, as batteries cannot overload a wire while being charged.

[twoxsp]

I also was recently looking for the answer to this as well. I know the large power transformers used to be the only ones and used to be 2kW which worked perfectly, and it just seems to be an inconvenience. Using them now they still allow conductive wire to inevitably overload.

Could use 2 small transformers both powering a conductive wire line which is probably the right thing to do in order to avoid overloading.