Station Battery
More actions
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| Recipe | |
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| Created With | Electronics Printer |
| Cost | 20g Gold, 20g Copper, 20g Steel |
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| Operation | |
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| Construction | |
| Placed with | Kit (Battery) |
| Placed on | Small Grid |
| Stage 1 | |
| Next Stage Construction | |
| Constructed with tool | Welding Torch |
| Constructed with item | 2 x Steel Sheets |
| Deconstruction | |
| Deconstructed with | Wrench |
| Item received | Kit (Battery) |
| Stage 2 | |
| Next Stage Construction | |
| Constructed with tool | Screwdriver |
| Deconstruction | |
| Deconstructed with | Angle Grinder |
| Item received | 2 x Steel Sheets |
| Stage 3 | |
| Deconstruction | |
| Deconstructed with | Hand Drill |
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| Recipe | |
|---|---|
| Created With | Electronics Printer, Autolathe |
| Cost | 20g Gold, 20g Copper, 20g Steel, 4g Iron Ingot |
Description
Kit (Battery) is used to create stationary battery cells, which can provide big and stable energy storage or energy buffer for your power needs. Its energy storage is 3.6MJ or 1kWh.
Power Leakage
All stationary batteries slowly loses stored energy. Batteries in an environment at or below the Armstrong Limit (6.3 kPa), including a vacuum, drain at 50W regardless of temperature. Batteries above Armstrong Limit drain at a temperature at least 0°C drain at 10W. Batteries above the Armstrong Limit and below 0°C suffer increased drain, depending on temperature and pressure, up to a maximum of 50W. The drain factor is computed as:
MAX(10W, 50W * [1 - ( T / 273.15 ) ] * MIN( P / 101.325 , 1 ) )
Where P is the ambient pressure in kPa, and T is the ambient temperature in Kelvin. Note that since the calculations use a MAX function, rather than multiplying against the extra 40W, the total multiplier only needs to reach 0.8 rather than 1.0 to minimize drain. For example, a battery at 1 atmosphere of pressure actually requires a temperature of only -54°C to minimize drain, rather than 0°C.
Because of a misplaced parenthesis in the formula, lower pressure actually decreases the required temperature to minimize drain, rather than increasing it, so long as the battery is kept above the Armstrong limit. For example, at 0.5 atmospheres (~51 kPa), the required temperature to minimize drain is -109°C, rather than the -54°C required at 1 atmosphere for pressure. At pressures between the Armstrong Limit (6.3 kPa) and 0.2 atmospheres (~20 kPa), batteries will always have the minimum 10W drain, regardless of temperature. In addition, because decreasing pressure decreases the required temperature, and pressures over 1 atmosphere are treated as equal to 1 atmosphere, batteries above the Armstrong Limit never require more than -54°C to minimize drain.
The power drained this way is converted 1:1 into ambient heat in the surrounding environment, provided the surrounding environment is above the Armstrong Limit. In a sealed room, this requires some form of cooling over time to avoid the environment getting too hot, unless the batteries are simply left exposed to external atmosphere.
On warmer worlds (including extremely hot ones like Vulcan and Venus), rather than isolating and cooling the batteries or keeping them in a vacuum, it is usually more efficient to store batteries in the exterior atmosphere, as this removes the heat leakage concern, and as long as the minimum ambient temperature is at least -54°C, will also minimize battery drain (batteries fortunately do not take damage from storms). On especially cold worlds, placing the batteries in a room between 6.3 and 20 kPa will minimize the power drain regardless of temperature. Alternatively, if the temperature and pressure limits permit it, they can simply be left open to the external atmosphere. Even if the drain isn't perfectly minimized on such worlds, it is typically fairly close to the 10W minimum. For example, Europa typically has a pressure around 45 kPa and a temperature around -145°C, which results in a drain of ~12W. Worlds with extremely low temperatures that also have high atmospheric pressure may require an enclosed lower-pressure room, however.
Usage
A battery's power throughput is only limited by the power demanded and supplied, meaning it will draw all available on its input, and supply as much power is demanded on its output. As such, batteries can easily exceed the ratings of even super-heavy cables. Due to their unlimited throughput, connecting a battery's output to a battery's input (its own, or another) will act like a short circuit, immediately burning out the cable network.
It's also worth noting that battery draw will take priority over all other device types on the input network except Transformers. This notably includes APCs, regardless of whether they have a battery inserted, potentially starving them of required power.
When designing networks with batteries, it is advised to follow these rules:
- NEVER connect the output of one battery to the input of another battery without a Transformer in between! This will immediately blow the cable line, regardless of cable type used.
- Never connect the input and output networks of a battery together, for the same reason.
- To build batteries on downstream networks, ensure Transformers are used to limit the power transferred between the batteries.
- Also note that Transformers apply a 10W drain to their input network in addition to the maximum draw they are set to, so the transformer may need to be set slightly lower than its maximum to avoid burning out the network. For example, two Large Transformers in parallel set to 50 kW will apply a maximum draw on their input of 100.02 kW, which will burn out the input network if it is heavy cable.
- Rather than chaining battery-containing networks one after another, a safer configuration is using a branching setup, where all downstream networks draw in parallel from the output of all of the batteries. Placing transformers between the batteries and the downstream networks can also help prevent circuit overload.
- Always separate electrical networks with power generation (solid generators, solar panels, etc.) from networks with power consumers. A common layout has all generators on the input network for the batteries, and all consumers, possibly in separate downstream networks, attached to the output from the batteries. No generators should be attached to the battery output, and no consumers (except for possibly some logic devices) should be present on the battery input network.
- Never connect a fueled generator (Solid, Gas, Stirling, or otherwise) or a Wind Turbine to a battery using standard cables - only use heavy or super-heavy cables. A battery will consume as much power as the generator can produce, and all fueled generators (except the Portable Generator) can generate more than 5 kW of power. Wind Turbines naturally generate much lower power than a standard cable can support, but during storms, this output can increase far beyond the capacity of a standard cable.
- When making major changes to a power network (especially a very sprawling one), it is recommended to de-power the network by turning off batteries, transformers, and APCs (or simply cut the associated cables) to avoid accidental network interconnects and the resulting cable burnouts.
Data Network Properties
These are all Data Network properties of this device.
Mode Values
This shows the values of the "Mode" property, mapped to what the display will show.
| Value | Display |
|---|---|
| 0 | no blocks |
| 1 | 1 block, red, blinking |
| 2 | 1 block, red |
| 3 | 2 blocks, orange |
| 4 | 3 blocks, yellow |
| 5 | 4 blocks, green |
| 6 | 5 blocks, blue |
Data Parameters
These are all parameters that can be written with a Logic Writer, Batch Writer, or Integrated Circuit (IC10).
| Parameter Name | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Mode | Integer | Expects values 0-6. Setting this, will let the charge display of the Battery show the according charge value for about a second. Afterwards it will switch back to showing the actual charge value. This influences the "Mode" output as well. (See Mode Values.) |
| Lock | Boolean | Locks the Battery, when set to 1. Unlocks it, when set to 0. |
| On | Boolean | Turns the Battery on, when set to 1. Turns it off, when set to 0. |
Data Outputs
These are all parameters, that can be read with a Logic Reader or a Slot Reader. The outputs are listed in the order a Logic Reader's "VAR" setting cycles through them.
| Output Name | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Mode | Integer | Returns the current charge display value as a value in the range 0-6. (See Mode Values.) |
| Error | Boolean | Returns whether the Battery is flashing an error. (0 for no, 1 for yes) |
| Lock | Boolean | Returns whether the Battery is locked. (0 for no, 1 for yes) |
| Charge | Integer | Returns the current charge of the Battery in watt*tic. |
| Maximum | Integer | Returns the maximum charge of the Battery in watt*tic. |
| Ratio | Float | Returns a range from 0.0 to 1.0. Returns the current charge percentage of the battery. |
| PowerPotential | Integer | Returns the current power potential at the input of the Battery in watts. |
| PowerActual | Integer | Returns the amount of power, currently being output by the Battery in watts. |
| On | Boolean | Returns whether the Battery is currently on. (0 for no, 1 for yes) |
Bugs
- The Data Network properties are accessible from all cable connectors.