Coal Generator Maximum Production

[Moogs]

I have three coal generators set up with 455.3 MW maximum capacity and the machines are working to about 300 MW but for some reason the generator will dip down to 151.8 MW and break the fuse. What am I missing?

[Suzaku]

You're not supplying them with enough resources, so they shut down occasionally.

[sybernetic]

It's likely a problem with your water supply. Also, at times, portions of your factory may be turning on, throwing production into the red.

[Moogs]

thanks!

[Ashenator]

Each coal plant requires 45 m3 of water (not overclocked) @150% that is something like 61 m3 of water each. And a water pump does 120 m3 at normal speed, with a pipe restriction of 300 m3 at full capacity.

Chances are your not supplying enough water to keep the steam engines running for the coal generators.

[Suzaku]

Originally posted by Ashenator:

Each coal plant requires 45 m3 of water (not overclocked) @150% that is something like 61 m3 of water each. And a water pump does 120 m3 at normal speed, with a pipe restriction of 300 m3 at full capacity.

Chances are your not supplying enough water to keep the steam engines running for the coal generators.

Based on the numbers he mentioned, he's running all 3 gens at 250%, resulting in 91 water/min each. It can be handled with a single pipe, but I agree, it's most likely a water issue. It usually is, anyway.

If not the water, then it will take roughly 91 coal/min to supply the 3 gens.

[n00B]

Question:
What did bookshelves do to you?!?

[Bobucles]

It's clearly a reference to the anime where a girl was killed by a bookshelf.

It is a bit weird that 250% power overclock doesn't actually give 250% power. This is likely a relic of the many changes in power generators over the patches. With the current energy mechanics, 250% = 250% would make the most sense.

[IPWIW]

Originally posted by Bobucles:

This is likely a relic of the many changes in power generators over the patches

if i remember,it's like that since the epic release

[Timi]

Originally posted by Bobucles:

It is a bit weird that 250% power overclock doesn't actually give 250% power. This is likely a relic of the many changes in power generators over the patches. With the current energy mechanics, 250% = 250% would make the most sense.

That follows the logic overclocks overall have.

Miners mine 2.5x faster, but consume more power.
Constructors and such build 2.5x faster, but consume more power.

It always comes with a downside. Generators can't really have that, since they themselves produce power. Overclocking makes them produce more power, but it comes with a small power "cost".

General rule that applies to everything is that it's more efficient to build more, rather than overclock stuff, thus it's "only" beneficial to overclock miners only, since there's always more space to build generators and constructors, but no more nodes to build on.

[Bobucles]

No, that still doesn't make sense. What dose make sense is that fuel used to always be burned at full rate. Overclocking was a twofold way to save fuel, by eliminating overhead waste and by giving literal changes in fuel efficiency. But then the thermodynamics patch happened, and the power system got put on the back burner to deal with more important stuff. That makes sense.

Just try overclocking a generator. The actual overclock display gives a 1:1 ratio, the value that a player reads out and expects to get, but the true value is not equal to that. It's very clearly a design oversight and not a stage for mental gymnastics.

[Evilsod]

The scaling behind power generators when overclocked does seem very nonsensical.
It such a strange multiplier. You overclock by 250%, it states the 'target' generation as exactly what you'd expect, but the actual overclock is something like 202%

[maeharaprojekt]

Originally posted by Evilsod:

The scaling behind power generators when overclocked does seem very nonsensical.
It such a strange multiplier. You overclock by 250%, it states the 'target' generation as exactly what you'd expect, but the actual overclock is something like 202%

If I were a game designer, I'd would want to introduce a "feature" that causes the player's power grid to suffer from hysteresis losses. Perhaps even include such losses as a sort-of variable in each new generator so that operating one past its nominal 100% results in very slight differences that don't become noticeable until the player has started adding coal gens and/or fuel gens.

[Moogs]

Originally posted by KCchoice:

Question:
What did bookshelves do to you?!?

Killed my parents

[jhughes]

I have spent a bunch of time researching Coal Generators on the Internet and YouTube .. here is what I found.

Based on the Satisfactory Wiki [satisfactory.gamepedia.com]:

Firstly, Coal Power Generator works differently than some things, in that you only use the amount of resources needed based on load generated. So, you need to provide enough resources to generate 100% power for each Generator. If using regular coal, then that is 15 coal per min. For Water, that is 45m3/min.

If you are not careful, you can initially have a good setup, that will EVENTUALLY run out of resources .. for example, if you put 30 coal into 3 generators .. and one water extractor into those 3 generators, it will likely initially work (so long as you don't use too much power). If you have 30 coal coming in, so long as you stay less than 30/45 power .. or 66.7% .. you will get enough coal. Go over 66.7% and coal starts going down and eventually will run out.

So, your power shuts down and you come back and say .. well, heck .. I needed 45 coal for this thing, not 30 .. so you fix it. You now have 45 total coal coming in and one water extractor with 3 generators .. so you are fixed, right? Not exactly. Three coal generators need 45x3 water .. that is 135 m3/min water .. one extractor provides a maximum of 120 m3/min of water .. so .. if you go above 88.9% power (120/135) .. well, you will start running out of water. If you stay above 88.9% water, your power generators will shut down again.

So, you need to design your Coal Generator plant to use the proper amount of coal and water.

There is a handy dandy chart in the wiki to tell you the max amount .. which for a MK 1 Miner and a 'pure' Coal node (120 coal per minute) is:

8 Generators, 120 Coal (type 2 conveyor reqd for greater than 60/min), 3 water extractors (360 m3/min). You also need to be careful with greater than 300 m3 water .. that is the max flow in a pipe. What you can do to prevent issues here is put one extractor hooked up to s 4 way junction on maybe generator four (of 5) .. one extractor hooked up to generator 2 and a 4 way junction, one extractor hooked up to generator 7 and a 4 way junction. Then tie all the pipes together. This should allow loads of water from the generators to use enough water to prevent getting more than 300 m3/min in individual segments.

For a MK1 Miner and 'Normal' coal node (60 Coal per min) .. it would be 4 Generators, 1.5 extractors (or 2 set at 75%).

See the 'Generators per Coal node' section on the Satisfactory Wiki [satisfactory.gamepedia.com] for more details.

Coal power is 100% stable .. but only if you provide enough water and coal to run at 100% or limit the generation rate to the Minimum percentage of either coal or water than you can put in.