Split power grids causing power loss?

[Panda-Bishop]

My main colony site is fully powered, has plenty of energy production and batteries (12 atomic accumulators) for 2 sols worth of power, and it's stable enough that I haven't had a power outage in 76 days.

On the other side of the map is a cluster of research nodes, I decided to plunk down some domes there in preparation to create a research-specialized colony, and the moment I started wiring them up I got the "split grid" warning, so not only am I not connected to the main colony in any way, the new domes aren't even drawing power; yet my stored power drops from 2 sols worth to 11 hours worth, my main colony shuts down halfway through the night due to power shortages after the batteries hit 7 hours worth remaining, and stuffing the new site full of solar panels doesn't seem to help at all.

Is it actually the developer's intention that we expand through a daisy chain of power cables everywhere or a bug in how the game calculates power draw when multiple grids are present?

[FiatLux]

Hmmm , I dunno , I think that I have had split grids with no problems , but at this point I am not sure (too long since I played the game + I am not motivated to play any more before they have fixed more bugs)

I do not use MODs but I tried to see if I could find anything that could be of use for you. I didn't have any real luck with that but I did find an info MOD that might be (?) of use in this situation , possibly ! :
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1775006723

P.S.
I don't know if ti works with present version of the game !

[NotThatHarkness]

Split power grids shouldn't be a problem as long as each grid has enough power to meet that grid's demand. The info bar at the top of the screen doesn't handle reporting of split grids well, so keep that in mind.

I haven't run across any bugs with how the game handles separate power grids, and my last game had at least 7 disconnected power grids. Sounds like something else is going on with your main colony. Click on the power icon in the info bar and cycle through all your grids and confirm you only have 2 (or however many you expect to have).

[pkk]

You should only get the split grid warning when an existing grid is plit into two.
Maybe one of the power cables in the main colony got hit by a meteor causing the split and your problems?

[☃]

Having separated power grids work fine for me all the time. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2612341362

[SkiRich]

Originally posted by pkk:

You should only get the split grid warning when an existing grid is plit into two.
Maybe one of the power cables in the main colony got hit by a meteor causing the split and your problems?

Correct, You only get this warning when an existing grid is cut and on both sides of the cut there are power producers.
Those far off domes have nothing to do with the problem.
To verify, delete all of assets in that far away area.

[chic.aeon]

Had to smile at this. As someone told me months ago -- "pay attention to what SkiRich says" LOL. This is such a huge program with so many options and details it is VERY easy to get confused and I certainly was at the beginning OH so many times.

You might post a screenshot of your main grid and someone might spot the issue.


I have collections of power grids in one area frequently with no problem. Something is very likely wrong with your main area and it could be a very difficult thing tracking it down.

I had a power issue yesterday in one area that was turning off things and it turned out it was simply that the waste rock area was full (damn that waste rock :D). Maybe looking to see what isn't working will give you a hint as to the issue, but I agree (700 hours in now) that it has nothing to do with you other builds. I have satellite areas all over this current map (WONDER challenge) and they are all working fine until there is a problem at THEIR END :D. The only thing a satellite area could do to "hurt" your main grid would be to take needed supplies away from it. At least I can't think of anything else at the moment.

Good luck. Not a bug.

It's nice to be able to say that these days.

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by Panda-Bishop:

My main colony site is fully powered, has plenty of energy production and batteries (12 atomic accumulators) for 2 sols worth of power, and it's stable enough that I haven't had a power outage in 76 days.

While the amount may be enough the output may not be. Batteries only supply so much power at a time.

You have probably outgrown the original power output.

Combine that with you may not be producing enough excess during 1st and 2nd shift to fill them completely with the growth you have since originally building them.

Originally posted by chic.aeon:

You might post a screenshot of your main grid and someone might spot the issue.

That always helps because we can gather information from a screenshot instead of playing twenty questions and guessing.

One other thing that may help is shut down some of your stuff at night. Like if you are half full of concrete then shut down your concrete extractor for just the 3rd shift. The same can apply to fuel production as well.

[Panda-Bishop]

This is what the main colony looks like in the save after losing power for most of the night:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2612585686
Tooltip says there are four hours of stored power left, I have 36 power accumulators (all drained) and 12 atomic accumulators (only partially drained), so output shouldn't be a problem, should it?
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2612587616

Frustratingly enough I can't recreate the bug right now, but it happened to me twice yesterday.

First time I had colonists on day 100, started building the second site, lost power, and thought it was the colonists' fault for increasing demand; reloaded to an earlier save to add more power production (the solar panels around the landing pads and the 3 unused fusion reactors) and storage (the 12 atomic accumulators), kept going for another 76 days with no problems, and decided to pre-build the second site before calling for the colonists. First night the second grid was up, my main colony lost power.

I'm just letting the colony run now and it's not shutting down on the second and third nights even as it passes the "7 hours remaining" mark, so I have no idea what's going on here.

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by Panda-Bishop:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2612587616

Your power demands are too high to charge the batteries for the night for solar power.

Think about this. in order to charge the batter to run for 8 hours you need to produce nearly double the power while solar panels are out.

Solar panels are only used during 1st and 2nd shift. Meaning you have 16 hours of them running and 8 hours without. Which means for a consumption of 800 power for 1st and 2nd shifts you need to be producing 1200 power to charge the batteries for the shift there is no solar power.

Of course none of that example above gives any leeway for at all for am broken cables during storms.

[Panda-Bishop]

Originally posted by Bored Peon:

Originally posted by Panda-Bishop:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2612587616

Your power demands are too high to charge the batteries for the night for solar power.

Think about this. in order to charge the batter to run for 8 hours you need to produce nearly double the power while solar panels are out.

Solar panels are only used during 1st and 2nd shift. Meaning you have 16 hours of them running and 8 hours without. Which means for a consumption of 800 power for 1st and 2nd shifts you need to be producing 1200 power to charge the batteries for the shift there is no solar power.

Of course none of that example above gives any leeway for at all for am broken cables during storms.

To be fair, that consumption number is artificially high because I do have some buildings in the second site, I thought turning off the domes would also deduct those buildings' power consumption from the tooltip, but apparently it doesn't (turning off everything there drops my power consumption to 537.7).

I'm still puzzled at why my colony had the outage when it had 7 hours of stored power left (which in reality was actually higher since that estimate included the buildings that weren't connected to the grid), why it continued to drain another 3 hours of power in that state before morning, or why it's not doing that again the the subsequent nights.

Very confusing.

[NotThatHarkness]

I concur. According to the screenshot, you are only producing 148 excess power. That's enough to fully recharge 7 power accumulators over 16 hrs. You have 36 (and the atomic accumulators). To fully charge 36 power accumulators in a single day, you need 450 excess power during the day (and then there's the atomic accumulators). You can click on a power producer on the main colony grid to get grid specific numbers. Hover your mouse over the power usage section on the pop up for the power producer you selected.

Each power accumulator needs ~3 large solar panels to fully recharge over the day time. (12.5 power x 16 hrs = 200 power stored). Then on top of that you need solar panels to actually power your colony during the day (4 large solar panels produce 20 power which equals the amount of power output a power accumulator can provide). So for 36 power accumulators, you need roughly 234 large solar panels. Less if you are just storing power for emergencies (90 just to recharge them during the day, assuming your colony is running on other power sources during the day).

Atomic accumulators recharge at 50 an hour max, but discharge at 100. You'll need excess power at night to ever get them fully charged.

Click on a power accumulator during the day. What is its recharge rate? The max it can recharge is 20, and the minimum you need to fully charge it during the day is 12.5. If the recharge rate is lower than 12.5 and you are draining it at night, you run the risk of eventually draining the entire thing. What is its discharge rate at night? Is it larger than its recharge rate during the day? Same question with the atomic accumulators. Use those numbers as a guide as to how much excess power you need to produce to fully charge them.

[chic.aeon]

Along with the power accumulation it is also important to look at the MAXIMUM power each collector will give out. I didn't realize this for a long while. When you are having disasters that last a day and a half or so you pretty much need a few full (and I do mean FULL) collectors to get you through those bad times (cold waves, dust storms etc).

I am just having to back up and add a ton more moisture collectors besides a very productive and augmented well I already had as I didn't have enough. Just having a bunch of COLLECTORS doesn't help at all. You really need that EXCESS POWER (or water or air) for things to maintain as needed.

And, there may be some things you can shut off. I typically turn of concrete not long after I start as it is very easy to get way more concrete than you will ever use. Same with some of the other resources like fuel, metal etc. So turning off the things you don't need helps keep your power (and water) needs down.

Sure you will get it eventually. Good luck.

[Bored Peon]

What I do not understand is if you have a Mohole then you have to be buried in metals and machine parts. Why are you not using wind turbines?

[FiatLux]

Though I understand the three shifts and that solar panels closes down in one shift then I have a hard time following the whole discussion about the power use and how long time power lasts because for me one of the essential things about power management in Surviving Mars is to turn off what do not need to run when solar panels production are closed down. The other equally essential thing (at least for me) has been to try to distribute power production over more types of power producers so that I would not have to relay solely on the solar power grid.
All the above in turn (for me at least) then also is depending heavily on what you can turn off for one shift while at the same time never get any deficit !

P.S.
You really have built one of the most 'symmetrically' built colonies I have ever seen

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by FiatLux:

Though I understand the three shifts and that solar panels closes down in one shift then I have a hard time following the whole discussion about the power use and how long time power lasts because for me one of the essential things about power management in Surviving Mars is to turn off what do not need to run when solar panels production are closed down.

Here is an example:
1st Shift
Produces 800 power
Consumes 600 power
Charges 200 power
Stored power = 200

2nd shift
Produces 800 power
Consumes 600 power
Charges 200 power
Stored power = 400

3rd shift
Produced power 0
Consumes 800 power (takes all 400 from batteries)
Charges - 0
Stored power 0 (after taking away form 400 positive)

So in order to make power last through the third shift you would need to increase the charging number by 200 for each shift and that will bring you to a zero balance. Personally I would recommend increasing it by 300-400 for disasters and breakdowns.