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Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:04 pm
by BONERMASTER
200 KW input - 200 KW output

get this out of your head.

You put solars up as energy backup. But if you set the output to the input, then you don't have a back up. That's hotwiring the solars, and it's a simple consequence. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that.

Set the output to 60 KW - and don't be stupid. Peace.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:11 pm
by Kel
but i WANT to overcharge the grid.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:51 pm
by Jack7D1
Input to the max output of the solars and no more i'd recommend. Since if some dope decides to hot wire you don't powersink yourself.
I find that the average output of the solar arrrays is usually around 55 kW, so I'd reccomend 50 kW output.
So for most stations:
90kW in
50 kW out

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 5:24 pm
by Vekter
Kel wrote:but i WANT to overcharge the grid.
Then hook the SM straight into the grid.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 5:42 pm
by Dr. Aura
Is there any disadvantage to setting the input to max assuming that it may not always reach there? I find solars to vary anywhere from 40kW to 60kW, so would it fuck anything over if I were to set it's input to 60kW even if that particular grid was only charging ~45kW?

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:12 pm
by Tlaltecuhtli
Dr. Aura wrote:Is there any disadvantage to setting the input to max assuming that it may not always reach there? I find solars to vary anywhere from 40kW to 60kW, so would it fuck anything over if I were to set it's input to 60kW even if that particular grid was only charging ~45kW?
found the first person that doesnt know how to solars who is the second?

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 11:07 pm
by BONERMASTER
Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.

Before your engineering contract is terminated, I'll reveal you the answer: Input is the limit on how much energy you are allowing the SMES to take. This only plays a role with multiple connected SMES units, so you can adjust how much each of them is getting. For the single ones at solars, always crank it to maximum.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 12:40 am
by Mothblocks
I've always done input 200, output 170. Never really put any thought into it.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 12:47 am
by Armhulen
Jaredfogle wrote:I've always done input 200, output 170. Never really put any thought into it.
I never think it's too important on what you're outputting, as long as it's not as much as your input. Leave something for the backup battery, the rest to the station.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:07 am
by PKPenguin321
I like to just bypass the SMES and wire the solars right into the grid.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:27 am
by Bytube
just replace the entire station with solars for maximum power

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:42 am
by Screemonster
Bytube wrote:just replace the entire station with solars for maximum power
the sun is fusion right

so to get the most out of the solars we should fill the entire station with fusion and point the solar panels inwards

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:25 am
by Tlaltecuhtli
if you delete the station except the solar panels, you get improved power generation

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 12:18 pm
by CSPAN
I always set the output to 0 for the first 20 or so minutes of the round to allow the solar SMES to charge. At that point I either forget they exist or something happened to the main power system and I'll go through and crank up the output to 50kw on each of them.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 2:59 pm
by BONERMASTER
Lot's of wrong answers in this thread. This concerns me.

The maximum power of solars averages at 90 KW. If you jank the output up to and above that, it's hotwired.

I have prepared an educational video for you to take in and reflect on everything you have learned in this thread.
Spoiler:
[youtube]xra6KylsqEE[/youtube]

Feedback is appreciated.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:23 pm
by trollbreeder
Please set up the SM, you're the only engineer here that hasn't fucked off to tide yet

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 7:41 pm
by Armhulen
BONERMASTER wrote:Lot's of wrong answers in this thread. This concerns me.

The maximum power of solars averages at 90 KW. If you jank the output up to and above that, it's hotwired.

I have prepared an educational video for you to take in and reflect on everything you have learned in this thread.
Spoiler:
[youtube]xra6KylsqEE[/youtube]

Feedback is appreciated.
I don't give a shit about hotwiring, I give a shit about saving battery, and that's the only thing you should give a shit about too frankly

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 7:44 pm
by Ivuchnu
Hello. 200 kW / 200 kW gang here.

From code/modules/power/smes.dm
var/output_used = 0 // amount of power actually outputted. may be less than output_level if the powernet returns excess power
You still allow SMES to charge to full as long as there's no power demand currently. 4 solars with maxed output and inputs on their SMES will charge and keep 800 kW "available" in grid. Actual power is lower because solars, but you definitely can run 800 kW load for a while because SMES charge. That's why SMES is better than SMES-less hotwire.

Why do I like 200 kW output per SMES - if wires become damaged on station, it takes much more time to see red discharging APCs as happens when you limit SMES to something "reasonable".

Downside is obvious, you fry people with shocks harder, but it's pretty negligible, I regularly mend wires in maint without insuls, just latex gloves, outhealing all the shocks with TissHy virus.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:10 pm
by MrStonedOne
This thread is making think we should put back in the check that would cause it to not charge if power available on the input net was below the input rate.

edit: https://github.com/tgstation/tgstation/pull/27237

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:12 pm
by Jack7D1
ACH, that was awful to deal with, since you have so much wasted energy from solars. If that's how it's going to be then I'd rather just code it so that it doesn't charge is the SMESs input and output are on the same grid.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:18 pm
by Ivuchnu
It's not about looped SMES. It's about SMES that is limited by it's parts tier only. 200 kW / 200 kW, full throttle. What I personally would like to see is some device to automatically adjust SMES power output according to demand. Boost output for power shortages or keep small oversupply. Right now you either make generous excess of power or fine-tune output to avoid strong shocks while suffering from mice.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2020 1:49 am
by BONERMASTER
MrStonedOne wrote:This thread is making think we should put back in the check that would cause it to not charge if power available on the input net was below the input rate.

edit: https://github.com/tgstation/tgstation/pull/27237
No man, that shit ain't bueno. The system right now, you just get it. Input is how much energy can go in it.

This crap we had back then, you're punching in a number and you don't even know if it's good or not. If I set up a power system, I don't want to fiddle half an hour with the SMES to find out that small sweetspot that makes the thing work. If you want complicated, you have the entire power system. Just don't make the damn battery complicated, man.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 4:07 am
by cacogen
I thought in times of olde you just set it slightly less than the max output of the solar and it was fine. It would stop charging when the sun went behind the clouds and the output dipped beneath that number but after it re-emerged it'd continue charging. I don't remember. As it is now it feels like there's no point to input other than to have it be less than the output so the SMES charges. I do remember a round earlier this year I think where the input was set too high on the four SMES and they were draining power from the power net but I don't remember if the wiring had been altered for that to happen or not.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 3:07 pm
by CSPAN
cacogen wrote:I thought in times of olde you just set it slightly less than the max output of the solar and it was fine. It would stop charging when the sun went behind the clouds and the output dipped beneath that number but after it re-emerged it'd continue charging. I don't remember. As it is now it feels like there's no point to input other than to have it be less than the output so the SMES charges. I do remember a round earlier this year I think where the input was set too high on the four SMES and they were draining power from the power net but I don't remember if the wiring had been altered for that to happen or not.
Solars will not charge off the station power net unless the SMES terminal is hot wired to it.
Image
This is a default setup solar control room. The solar array itself is only wired into its control computer and the SMES terminal. The wire coming from the SMES itself that leads into the wider power net is what feeds power from the SMES. A single click with wire alters this setup to charge the SMES off the station power net, but this isn't advised unless your main engines power output is very very high (and you haven't upgraded the main SMES in engineering for higher I/O)

As I said before, usually I'll set the solar SMES input to max (any input above 90kw makes no real difference) and output to 0 for at least a few solar cycles. At that point you can crank output up to desired levels. If you want to be an autist about it set the output to 45kw on each since that's the average input over time.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 4:22 pm
by Agux909
I always do 200/190 is that wrong?

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:05 pm
by Ivuchnu
picture without minecraft wiring
hmmmmm...
200/190
If output is already this high, might as well do 200/200. Changes to how SMES works now will make solars reliably power station without SM.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2020 10:48 pm
by Gigapuddi420
Just wire the solars directly into the grid, fuck assistants, fuck SMES

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2020 11:10 pm
by oranges
cacogen wrote:sun went behind the clouds
what do you know that you're not telling us

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2020 11:12 pm
by Sheodir
oranges wrote:
cacogen wrote:sun went behind the clouds
what do you know that you're not telling us
where does the sun go at night, oranges

you coded it, so answer me

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2020 11:26 am
by cacogen
if you look up it's a sunny day in space

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2020 6:11 pm
by cocothegogo
people use solars?

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 10:36 am
by XivilaiAnaxes
Ivuchnu wrote:Downside is obvious, you fry people with shocks harder
Downside?

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 4:48 am
by MrStonedOne
cacogen wrote:if you look up it's a sunny day in space
look what?

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2020 12:07 pm
by Iatots
It's been years since SMES not charging because the set input was more than the power in the cable.
You can safely set it to max output since it will just end up safely stored in engineering SMES, which nobody ever sabotages and once those are full, since nobody ever upgrades them, the solars will charge their SMESes. Yes this will waste engine power once SMES are full, but solars only matter when the engine is off so moot point.

Re: Open letter to the two people in this forum that know nothing about setting up solars

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2020 5:04 am
by cacogen
MrStonedOne wrote:
cacogen wrote:if you look up it's a sunny day in space
look what?
there's a neckbeard staring down at you