Electricity Tutorial
This is currently a work in progress. Please leave feedback. You may ask "SimpleGuy, why do you start with Power Transport of all things!?" Answer: It's probably the most difficult concept to understand within IC2power generation, so if you can understand it you can look up recipes of machines yourself and figure everything else out (of course reading the rest of the guide is highly recommended). Plus if you don't know about Power Transport, it can really mess you up badly ("messy" being from "nothing working" to BOOM!). Just a note that all pictures used are my own.
Please let me know if you wish to reproduce parts of this guide elsewhere. Without my stamp of approval (which I'll give generously), I have to assume you're stealing my words and trying to pass off this work as your own.
2. Power Transport (IndustrialCraft 2) I connected everything but my electricity won't flow!
In IndustrialCraft 2, you'll have power generators and places/things you want to power. How that power gets itself from the generation point to where you want to use it is the focus of this Section, and it is probably one of the most important. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of pictures for where we are starting, so be prepared for a long read. So let's get on with it already.
The EU An "energy unit" or EU is the default energy system for IndustrialCraft 2 items, and is necessary to run machines, charge items or armor, or electrocute people. It is often useful to measure the rate at which EU flows, and in Minecraft the unit of game time is called a "tick". If a game is running at full speed there are about 20 game ticks in a real-life second. Thus, when talking about rates of EU moving, being used, or being generated, it is always referred to as "EU/t" or "energy unit per tick".
However, that's not all there is to EU. Machines, whether generating the EU or using the EU, and cables (when transporting EU) utilize EU in packets. That is, let's take a hypothetical generator that generates 32 EU every tick. That EU is assigned one packet of 32 EU. Packets are hardly mentioned elsewhere, but are really the main "core" of IC2 electricity.
The reason packets are so important has to do with the way machines accept packets of energy. Lots of machines are listed on various sites as accepting of 32 EU/t energy when in use. What they don't tell you is that these machines really can accept only up to 32 EU-sized packets. That means, you can give that machine two packets of 20 EU, and it will be able to accept both of them to gain 40 EU. It can only use 32 EU per tick, so within one tick: The machine gains two 20 EU packets for 40 EU The machine uses 32 EU, with 8 EU left over The tick ends, and the remaining EU left over disappears (unless it is capable of storage) So using packets makes life a lot more complicated. To help clarify, in the future I will use the following notation: [number] pEU by definition is "[number]-sized packets of EU". So 2 pEU is one packet of 2 EU [number] EU by definition is "[number] of EU". So packet size is not specified. In IC2, machines are capable of accepting an infinite number of packets. However, if even one of those packets exceeds their limit then there will be violent consequences.
Here are the general rules about packets, when looking at wikis: A generator, when producing X EU/t, produces one packet with size X EU. Any machine that accepts EU/t accepts any number of packets per tick, but all packets must be smaller or equal to in size what a machine accepts in EU/t. If even one is greater, the machine explodes. This machine could store EU or use EU to accomplish a task. When I give you problems, I will use the notation of EU/t when describing generators. It is up to you to realize this means only one packet of that amount of EU in one Minecraft tick. However, in appendices and data tables I will correctly reference input and output size as pEU.
So when building a EU distribution network, we have to keep both our overall energy movement in mind and how we deliver them. We don't want our overall energy (EU) to go to waste, as it is a waste of perfectly good energy! We also don't want to deliver incorrect packets (pEU), as the consequences can either be EU waste or destruction of materials!
Sample Problem #1: You have a hypothetical generator that produces 64 EU/t, according to a wiki page. Magically, that electricity is transferred to a place where it can be stored with no loss in EU/t. The particular storage unit says it only accepts 32 EU/t on a wiki page. Will the generator blow up the storage unit, or will the storage unit accept the EU peacefully? Would the storage unit accept the EU if we instead replaced the one generator with two generators that produce 32 EU/t?
Sample Problem #2: Convert the following into total EU: a) two 64 pEU b) 128 pEU c) 32 EU Convert the following into pEU: d) 32 EU e) 64 EU in eight packets f) 256 EU in one packet Find the number of packets: g) 128 EU in 32 pEU h) 64 pEU i) 32 EU
Cables Surprise, cables are how we transfer power between machines in IC2! Through a thorough understanding of their use, you should be able to distribute your power in an incredibly efficient manner possible. With your newfound knowledge of the pEU, EU and their "per tick" variants you should be OK. And there are even pictures! Let me be clear and say that when measuring distances, I may say "1 meter" or "1 block" or "1 block length", but all of these are equivalent to the dimension of the side of exactly 1 block in minecraft. So please don't get confused.
First, the most important thing to remember in Minecraft is, that like in the real world, cables are not perfect and not created equally! Different cables will lose energy per packet at different, but set, rates. This 1 EU loss in a distance is known as energy dissipation, and it happens in discrete amounts. That is, if you fall short of the distance that an EU would dissipate, none dissipate! The following picture shows the length of the wire needed to lose at least 1 EU/t within each packet travelling along the wire. Also, notice how cables are able to be insulated, and even doubly insulated. Note that not all wires can be insulated, and not all can be insulated to the same degree. (Note: Like real life, if you try to touch an uninsulated wire you may get shocked... possibly to death)
