Redundant Power Stations with logic UPDATED

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benczech212
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Redundant Power Stations with logic UPDATED

Postby benczech212 » Sat Feb 28, 2015 5:55 pm

Hi guys,
This is my first of many ideas that I've actually posted to the forums so I hope you like!

I've always thought it would be neat to use logic circuits to create a redundant power fail safe to keep your prison running safely in case of an unintended expansion caused blackout preventing the need to frantically remove electrical cables to reduce some of the load on the power station that tripped.

I drew out the logic for my idea and I've got something that seems to work except for the fact that it’s missing one crucial feature - being able to detect when the power is on or off in an electrical cable. Being totally automatic is more or less the idea here so an object is needed that that if powered sends out a 1 and if not powered sends out a 0. To my knowledge, there is no current way to achieve this. In my experimenting, no wired objects seem to effect their output regardless of if they have power or not.

UPDATE: I found out how to make an electrical detector object! It’s as simple as creating a door control and setting all of its time slots to OPEN. When the door control has power it will send out a 1 and if it does not, it will send out a 0.


Image


Version 1 uses 2 redundant stations for every 1 main station. Initially I figured this would be needed because if you’re like me, every single power station built is maxed out with capacitors meaning if you trip the main breaker, the same load that’s differed to the backup would immediately trip the backup. In version 1 this is avoided by having the leads from the main power station separate into 2 primary electrical cables that feed 2 separate locations in the prison. When the backups switch on, the 2 primary electrical cables are separated by a power switch to avoid the 2 backup stations from crossing and tripping each other.

Image

Version 2 is a little more cost effective because you won’t need 2 power stations for every 1. Instead of splitting the load between 2 backups, v2 has a pre-set area that you've chosen to be non-critical in the event of a blackout. This way when the load is diverted to the backup, it’s slightly less than what caused the main station to trip – keeping everything but the non-crucial stuff running while you fix the problem or build more stations.

Image
Image

Version 3 is where it really starts making sense for a large prison. I made this one using 9 main generators and 1 backup. The wiring is laid in a way that allows the backup station to connect to any of the main lines at any time as needed. I figured this was a much more efficient use of the redundancy. With v3 instead of having the load split between 2 or having a non-critical area go dark to reduce the load, I instead limited each of the main stations to 11 capacitors with the backup having all 12. This works to prevent the backup from immediately tripping once switched over assuming you don’t increase the load too substantially all of a sudden.
The layout for v3 works really well and fits neatly in a room 18 meters wide with room for walking in between the generators.
I decided to throw a water pump in here too (as I usually do with a utility room) and connected it to 3 separate power stations using switches giving it triple redundancy. I’d like to come up with a way of switching to #1 if #1 is on, if not then to #2 if it’s on and if not to #3. Any suggestions on the logic for that?

Here’s a video of V3 in action
http://youtu.be/8eBcUldr3go

Here’s a more detailed look at the wiring…
Image

So when the door control loses power, it signals to our circuit to switch to the backup generator. You may think this looks more complicated than necessary, and maybe it is, but I found in my experimenting PA is not always consistent with the speed at which is calculates the logic circuits. Sometimes circuits process very quickly and other times not. Processing takes even longer when you have more circuits. This can be a problem because if both switches are toggled at the same time. Not always, but frequently both switches will be green for a second causing the backup and the main to connect and shut off. To solve this I introduced a delay by connecting our logic circuit to a power switch and then back to another logic circuit. In some instances I used two copies of this delay configuration, in others I only used one. Sometimes it even seems to work fine with no delay but it’s very inconsistent so find out for yourself how yours handles this.

Here’s a more simplified version of this setup that’s easier to see the wiring.
Image.

The easiest way to wire up this setup is like so starting from the top going down (or down going up, it’s the same forwards and backwards!):

Logic Bridge + Status Light
Logic Circuit - Not
Logic Bridge + Status Light
Power Switch
Logic Bridge + Status Light
Logic Circuit - Not
Logic Bridge + Status Light

Duplicate this again to the side except for the first logic circuit in the series switch to an =.
Logic Bridge + Status Light
Logic Circuit - =
Logic Bridge + Status Light
Power Switch
Logic Bridge + Status Light
Logic Circuit - Not
Logic Bridge + Status Light


PS I just realized you can place status lights on top of logic bridges (you’d think they would just have a light already like everything else) Note: if you do this it can be annoying wiring to the correct object. Before connecting a wire to a logic bridge in the same square as a status light, mouse over the bridge and make sure the “Logic Bridge” tooltext appears. If the status light tooltext appears, press tab to switch to the next object on the same square.
Also PPS technically you can drop the first logic bridge for the second row because it does the same thing as the one next to it, but I left it in for this example to make it easier to see how the circuit works. If you see how you can save 1 logic bridge by not including this redundant one, go right ahead.

Now connect the Door control to the first logic bridge. Then proceed to wire everything to the thing below it. Keep in mind wires can go either direction so a connection starting with A going to B is different a connection starting with B connecting to A. So connect bridge to circuit to bridge to switch to bridge to circuit to bridge. Do the same for the second row. Once done, the final status light on one should be green and the other should be off. If you switch off the main power station you should see both status lights turn off and then the one that was previously off now turns on. If not repeat try repeating the steps above and make sure your logic circuits are in the correct state. Finally connect the last logic bridge that is green to the power switch that should be in the ON in position 1 (normal operating mode) as shown in the diagram above. Connect the other non-lit logic bridge to the power switch that should be in the OFF in position 1.

That’s all there is to it. The wiring for the logic is the exact same for v2 and v3. Feel free to rearrange any of the elements to fit the rooms space requirements.

Here’s the diagram for v2
Image
The only difference to v1 in this circuit being which switches are turned on and off.


Here’s the diagram for v3
Image

Minimally with no delay you need 5 logic bridges, 4 logic circuits and 1 door control. For the one I made using 2 delays you need 7 Logic Bridges, 4 Logic Circuits, 2 power switches, 1 door control and however many status lights you prefer for every main power station. I find it fits nicely if you place it like this.
Image
Just make sure not to place the power switches on a square adjacent to 2 different power lines because it will cause them to connect!


So that’s what I've got so far, I hope you guys like it. If anyone has any ideas for the logic to decide which power station to power the water pump with, let me know too!

Cheers and happy prison building!
Last edited by benczech212 on Sat Mar 07, 2015 9:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Threehorns
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Re: Redundant Power Stations with logic

Postby Threehorns » Sun Mar 01, 2015 7:11 am

try doing that with a super max security prisoner so that no one can enter the room the prisoner is in. with meals, bed, shower etc.
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Re: Redundant Power Stations with logic

Postby benczech212 » Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:28 pm

Threehorns wrote:try doing that with a super max security prisoner so that no one can enter the room the prisoner is in. with meals, bed, shower etc.


Thanks for the reply Threehorns, but I'm not sure how that has anything to do with my post. Are you talking about an airlock-type logic circuit? Here's a thread on that: http://forums.introversion.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=49991&hilit=airlock

Does anyone have any idea on how to make an electrical detector object?
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Re: Redundant Power Stations with logic

Postby beanjo55 » Sat Mar 07, 2015 4:27 pm

wow. This must have taken days to do. Not including the time to think of how to do it.
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Electrical Detector Object Problem Solved!

Postby benczech212 » Sat Mar 07, 2015 8:26 pm

Thanks to Sumurai8, I found that there is a way to make an electrical detector object. By creating a door control and setting all of its statuses to open, when the door control is powered it will send out a 1 and when not powered it will not send anything. Here's a video i took of the system working totally automatically using the door control. Once an area is draws too much current, the original line shuts off and the backup switches on. It works like a charm! Check it out here:

http://youtu.be/8eBcUldr3go

I'll update my post in a little to reflect the new design.
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Re: Redundant Power Stations with logic UPDATED

Postby azairvine » Sun Mar 15, 2015 11:01 am

My brain just exploded..... :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
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Re: Redundant Power Stations with logic UPDATED

Postby deaf_shooter » Sat Aug 29, 2015 5:02 pm

who know that come to be useful for new Event that Alpha 36 introduce :D

I use 4 logic bridge, and find it work fine.
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Re: Redundant Power Stations with logic UPDATED

Postby Axios » Wed Sep 30, 2015 8:37 am

Really impressive post! Very useful and detailed. Thanks OP.
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Re: Redundant Power Stations with logic UPDATED

Postby aubergine18 » Sun Oct 04, 2015 12:46 pm

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Re: Redundant Power Stations with logic UPDATED

Postby SteddyNX01 » Sun Oct 25, 2015 5:52 pm

Can you please post a screenshot of v3 of this setup in normal view mode so that I can see where all the power switches, logic circuits, logic bridges and the door controller go... I am finding it very hard to see with all the logic wires overlaid on the image.
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Re: Redundant Power Stations with logic UPDATED

Postby Trixi » Sun Oct 25, 2015 11:27 pm

maybe you want to use this instead, if you dont want to use mods:

Image

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =528576985
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Re: Redundant Power Stations with logic UPDATED

Postby Robeleahy » Wed Sep 13, 2017 12:06 am

For the last day or so I have been going through Youtube videos and playing with the logic circuits very thoroughly, I think I have mastered and perfected what Trixi and Benczech212 had accomplished. The Best of both worlds and I tried to simplify it a bit.

I use the Power generator mod that makes the generator a 6X6 and can have 28 capacitors however that doesnt change anything as far as layout. I also have the circuit Isolator mod. I have many other mods saved but disabled most of them and this design is only dependent on those two, and the power generator mod is simply a personal preference.


I have it set so you can use Trixi's method to build as many generators as you need, I have made 3 backups however you can have more, but in my version the final backup basically stays on, normal game there would be no reason to turn it off. From Benzech I have managed to get the redundancy and status lights to work properly.

Each Power Line relay output has 3 wire line. 2 on the primary Line, and 1 for the backups. You should connect one from the primary to the back ups and that line would go to essential power locations. The remaining line goes to non essential in case the main generator for that line fails, the backups would then only restore power to essential areas.

Each main line has 6 shared switches, 4 independent switches, 1 door timer, 4 logic bridges(1 primary and 1 for each backup), 3 logic circuit (just to aid status lights on the 3 output lines). Each of the backups has a door timer

I wanted to limit the clutter. but anyone interested in taking a look please send me a message.

The only thing I am still trying to do is completely Isolate a backup line from all other main lines when it is in active use.

Downside is I dont have the diagrams like they have shown but I think I have perfected the design here, how do I make a Mod out of it?

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