Coal generator fuel request threshold Question

[BeNNyBooZe]

I don't know if this is common knowledge or of there is some other reason i couldn't find an answer to why coal generators don't get the refill errand before they are almost empty.

I thought that "fuel request threshold" was the limit where they request more coal but they seem to always request coal when they have about 100kg left, no matter the threshold. So my question is:

What does the Fuel request threshold do?

[cswiger]

If the Coal Gen is disabled via automation-- ie, the Smart Battery has fully charged-- the refuel request is also disabled. The correct solution is to deliver coal nearby via conveyor rails and use an Auto-Sweeper to refill the generators on a more timely basis.

[redhongkong]

always throw an auto sweeper into a room of 3-5 coal generators, deliver to a storage bin in the room early game, set coal generator to priority 1 , just so dupe wont interfere auto sweeper.

mid game u can deliver via shipping line from hatch ranch directly into coal gen room.

coal generator request coal when its running, smart battery recharge too frequently its automation wire disable request frequently, so dupe wont be able to deliver in short time (they tends to deliver when the coal gen runs out).

let auto sweeper do its job. it will always deliver coal in seconds without interruption

[redhongkong]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2964798258
heres my setup for coal gen room, use 2-3 pipe length of water for carbon skimmer to balance the co2 in the room.

[redhongkong]

the decor is really bad in coal gen room with all the heavy watt wire, i dont think tunning coal gen is a good idea to get 300w more power output. u can ignore tuning/room bonus for coal gen.

[redhongkong]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2964803758
heres a smaller 3 coal gen room , due to the ladder placement, i didnt get space to put storage bin in there, but i can always place it temporally at the bottom left next to carbon skimmer since auto sweeper able to reach 3 tiles left and 4 tiles down

and later switch to hatch ranch delivery

[AlexanderB]

the request treshold relates to the battery state of charge, it will ask for more coal as long as the batteries on the electrical network are below <whatever percentage you set it to>

It works the same as the manual generator, and it's meant to sort of automate not wasting coal. You could build 1 coal generator, 5 jumbo batteries, and set the treshold to something like 5%, and it won't waste coal trying to overfill the batteries, and that way before you have refined metals and the smart battery.

[some moron]

This mod allows the use of coal plants even with smart batteries
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2655410109

[Myriad]

Not quite what the OP was asking, but many people have a related issue that I'll address. Coal generators can seem a bit confusing at first, since they're one of the only two generators that require manual loading.

Generators only request fuel if there's a need. (Correct me if I'm wrong but it's something like that.) It's not obvious with piped generators because the flow is constant, but you'll notice some Coal generators seem like they're not being filled, that's because there's no demand.

I ran into this issue years ago when I had 4 Coal generators on one circuit, to bring the power output to at least 2KWs to take advantage of Conductive wire. But only 3 of them were being filled. So naturally I thought it was a bug. After asking on the forums, which at the time only resulted in others saying it worked fine for them, and doing further research, which didn't really give me many answers either, I finally came to the understanding after experience, that there wasn't enough power drain to cause the 4th generator to request fuel, so it stayed dormant.