Electricity tutorial (2024)

I would like to gather all info on electricity in 1 place, as this might help new people to understand how power grids work. Explaining the mechanics of power elements also feels important - specifically Power Transformer (PT), Smart Battery (SB) and Power Shutoff (PS).

POWER GRID THEORY:

• Electricity - It is like a liquid in ONI - flows through wires of different capacity(maximum safe wattage)
  • Unlike liquids, it travels instantly across the power grid
  • Unlike liquids, it flows in all directions
  • Unlike liquids, it can surpass the wire's maximum safe wattage temporarily
    • However, you cause damage to wires in that way, so you should avoid it.
  • Unlike liquids, it does not generate or exchange heat with the surroundings when flowing.
    • However, the wires themselves do exchange heat simply because they're a physical object.
    • Generators, consumers and batteries across circuits also generate heat when active.
• Circuit - a set(group) of wires that have a direct connection with each other.
  • If you enter Power overlay(PO - press F2) and click on a wire you can see info about the circuit to which the wire belongs, as well as which other wires belong to that circuit(they are slowly pulsing).
  • Each circuit has 1 simple overload condition, a set of generators and a set of consumers. Batteries are not counted to either set so they are special in this sense and can be exploited(shown below)
  • Note: PT* below - belongs to 2 circuits - "high end" and "low end"
• Overloading - depends on 2 things:
  1. Maximum safe Wattage - depends on the weakest wire that belongs to that network, regardless if it connects generators/consumers or not.
     • beware of loose normal wires, as they will decrease the Max safe wattage to their respective limit(e.g. 1kW instead of 2kW or 20kW)
  2. Power consumed - how much power consumers are currently drawing from the network(regardless if it's from batteries or straight from generators).
     • You can see a list of consumers for each circuit through the PO
  • If "2 > 1", that is, power consumed more than the maximum safe wattage, then the circuit is counted as overloaded and starts taking damage in random places.
  • The batteries/consumers/generators distribution across the circuit does not matter.
  • The number of active generators or connected batteries does not matter.
  • Note PT* below - counted as consumer on the "high end" circuit with potential 5kW/sec Power usage!
• Power transformer (PT)
  • PT belongs to 2 different circuits
    1. The "high end" where typically the power generators are.
    2. The "low end" where the consumers are.
    • Do not connect those two ends in any case, as that will cause an overload since the PT is counted as a 5kW consumer(4kW in latest version).
  • PT distributes power from generators and batteries on the "high end" to batteries and consumers on the "low end";
    • It is 1 directional, so it DOES NOT provide power to consumers or batteries on the high end.
      • That means even if there is a consumer on the high end and a charged battery on the low end, the consumer will not use that charge or the PT's charge, since the PT is counted as a consumer on the high end and everything on the low end is "hidden" and unreachable.
  • PT can hold 1kW charge, but can discharge 4-5 "ticks" per second.(should be 1kJ, as W=J/s, but I'll just use W everywhere for simplicity)
    • That means PT distribute a maximum of 4-5kW per second
    • On the high end PT is counted as consumer with 0-4-5kW usage;
    • On the low end PT is counted as generator with 1kW power, which, however, provides up to 5kW per second;
      • This means PT can provide 1kW(or more if it's split between different consumers) of power to consumers and simultaneously charge 4kW worth of batteries on the low end
      • This means 1 PT can't power machines that use more than 1kW(e.g. Metal refinery).
      • However, if you connect 2 PTs to the same circuit on the low end, they each are viewed as a 1kW generator, so then you can power consumers with more than 1kW usage(e.g. again that Metal refinery).

        Spoiler

        

        Here is the basic setup - you have your generators, but 2 PT-s connect to the metal refinery. That should work, as long as you have 1.2kW of power available on the high end.

        Note: you need at least conductive wires on the low end, as normal wires will overload from >1kW that the refinery is using.

        See example below with switching batteries on how to decrease conductive wire usage + keep PT count at 1

• Smart battery (SB)
  • No charging/discharging limits per second - same as other batteries
  • Costs 200 Refined metal vs 400 Raw metal for 40kJ batteries - so both require 1kg/100J material
  • Holds up to 20kJ of energy
    • vs 40kJ battery, SB requires x2 the space/J compared to 40kJ batteries.
  • Loses 400J/cycle(2%)
    • vs 40kJ battery with 2kJ loss(5%), the SB is more efficient in power storage
  • Generates 2.5W of heat.
    • vs 40kJ battery with 6.25W, the SB is more efficient at heat generation at W heat/J stored basis
  • Has 2 sliders X and Y that control logic output
    1. Standby(logic gate is disabled and red) if charge is more than X.
    2. Active(logic gate is enabled and green) if charge is less than Y.
    • Initially when built it should go into Active(green) mode, since it is at 0% charge. After this it should alternate between 1 and 2 when it reaches the set amount.
    • Borderline exploit usage - you can slow down Power production by ½

      • Spoiler

        I would consider using this as an exploit - a SB-inhibitor to decrease Power production of various generators by 50% with no loss in materials(tested for Hydrogen and Coal). Keep both sliders at 0 and hook it only logically to the generator. That way it constantly turns itself on and off, having an effective slowdown of 50%. However, material usage stays the same, so no losses, only 50% slower power production. You can increase the top value slider at any time, turning the generator constantly on and resuming normal Power production.

        

• Power Shutoff (PS)
  • Used by automation to disable/enable one square of wire, effectively splitting a circuit into 2 or more.
    1. Enabled/Green/Active/ wire is working / circuits are connected
    2. Disabled/Red/Inactive/ wire is not working / circuits are disconnected
  • It needs a free tile to be built on, so you can't build it on top of other buildings or tiles
  • It doesn't work in the middle of bridges, but can disconnect a wire on one end of the bridge
  • Borderline exploit usage - you can instantly connect/disconnect a circuit manually if you add an atmo sensor

  • Spoiler

    

    Atmo-switch connected to the Power shutoff on the right, then I set pressure threshold to 0 and by clicking below/above I instantly connect/disconnect that wire. In my case this can be used in a emergency to cut off power to non-crucial consumers.

    The idea is that you can use this in any place instead of a switch, making switches basically useless(if not only for the building costs), getting the benefit of an instant result. Of course, you need to be in a non-vacuum environment, so that the atmo sensor doesn't toggle by itself. Even in that case you can set it to a very high value(e.g. 20kg).

• Switch
  • Similar to PS, but controlled manually by a duplicant
  • Has no logic port, but might possibly be used in logic circuits by detecting if power is on/off
  • I am not using it in my examples, since you have faster alternatives(look at the Spoiler above)

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Here is an example by KittensIsAGeek of how you typically use transformers and smart batteries, ruthlessly copied from the PT thread(look below for a link)

On 6/19/2018 at 7:49 AM, KittenIsAGeek said:

Note: Smart batteries set to 50% so the transformers will kick on before there's a brownout.

See Also

Guide/Power CircuitsPower in Oxygen Not Included - Oxygen Not Included Game GuideWhat's a nice power source?

Generally I set up a circuit for either an application or a load. Example: The top transformer provides power to two transit tube access points for a combined draw of 1920 watts. The bottom transformer runs the plumbing for my base's sanitary needs. I have another transformer further down my power trunk that runs misc. stuff around my base, like research stations and lights, and another one that powers my oxygen supply.

On another of my bases, I have two smart batteries on the oxygen supplycircuit -- the second battery switches on a dedicated hydrogen generator so that I will never have a power failure on that circuit.

OK. Generators --> Heavi watt wire --> Transformer --> Conductive wire --> Smart battery and Aquatuner. The smart battery buffers the power from the transformer so that the aquatuner can operate. Normal wire will burn out, but conductive wire can handle up to 2kw, so it'll be fine. The smart battery can disconnect the transformer once it is charged. Your generators should each be connected to their own smart battery on the Generator's heavi-watt wire grid. These smart batteries will turn off the generators and conserve fuel.

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IMPLEMENTATION OF A SWITCHING BATTERY: (disclaimer: some might consider this an exploit. You are free not to use it).

OK, now that we got the theory out of the way and we saw the typical use of PT and SB, let's see what are the limits that we can achieve with those elements. Here is a more advanced example of what I managed to do: smart battery switching mechanism that is useful to transfer power without overloading even normal wires. This can be used in a huge base to prevent overloading and decrease the use of Heavy Watt wires to a minimum:

On the first picture I'm showing you the basic setup

• 2 rooms(or 20, doesn't matter) with generators(labeled (1)).
  • Heavy-Watt because PT can draw up to 5kW. Here even conductive wire doesn't work. That's the only place where you need Heavy-Watt.
  • You need batteries on the high end to store the potential power that will be transferred fast to consumers via the PT.
• For each generator-room you should have 1 PT that links to the main circuit(that is labeled (2)).
  • More than 1PT is useless in my eyes, since even 1 PT transfers 5kW, which should recharge batteries fast enough, especially with more generator rooms.
• Finally there are the consumer rooms, 4 of them in this picture, you could have 40 in your base, again it doesn't matter(that is labeled (3))..
  • The important thing here is that you have a group of 2 batteries, at least 1 of which is SB to control the switching(they can be both SB).
  • The idea is to have 1 battery always connected to (3) to supply consumers with energy, while the 2nd battery is connected to (2) and charging fast via the PT.
  • For that purpose you need 4 PS per circuit, 2 for each battery, that will control whether the battery is linked to (2) or (3)

Here is the Logic Overlay(Shift+F2). A few technical things to note:

• There are 5 conditions for the Power Shutoff(PS). To start, you need a green - red pair in 4 places
  1. around battery 1(SB)
  2. around battery 2(normal Battery)
  3. facing circuit (3) - consumer side
  4. facing circuit (2) - PT side
  5. Finally, the PS that is between the SB and the PT MUST be connected directly to the SB (that is, without a NOT gate). This PS controls the recharging of the SB and needs to be green when SB is drained. Otherwise the circuit will fail when the SB is empty.
  • This means the Power shutoffs should be red(through not gate)-green(directly)-red-green with 1 of the green being between the SB and the PT.
• SB is set to 100% Standby(X) and 5% Active(Y). that 5% is important to keep your circuit running all the time. If it is less than 5%(e.g. default 0), that circuit will become unpowered for a second when the SB is fully discharged but hasn't switched yet. The Standby can be set to almost any value, as long as X > 10%, it shouldn't matter, as the 40kJ battery is almost always charging and will have enough power to maintain the circuit running while the SB is recharging
• I am using 1 SB and 1 normal battery in all circuits. You can use 2 SB instead. however, note that the 2nd SB will have 1 extra logic port which might interfere with your logic grid if you decide to switch later and have the logic circuit already built. Therefore you might consider building the logic circuits in a way that doesn't pass through the potential 2nd logic port. In my setup I made sure those places are logic-free.

Some general remarks:

• You need 1 PT for every 5 circuits(given that circuits are 1kW each, otherwise more PTs) to keep up with the power drain.
• If 1 of your circuits runs out of power that means
  • that you are not generating enough power
  • that you need to add more batteries(i.e. bigger buffer) to the generator side(3), in order to store sufficient amount of energy.
• You could add more batteries to the non-smart section to increase the reliability of only selected circuits. That way when power fails they'll keep running longer than others.
  • However, when there's sufficient power, they'll be wasting more power from those batteries and also generating more heat.
• You could use a SB on the high-end side(3) to turn off the generator and the PT off if you don't need that power + to save heat. That can be used for non-renewable resources, such as coal, that can be used only in an emergency.
  • However, note that you need to make sure the PT has 0 charge itself.
    • Cutting the power ONLY before the PT on the high end works - the PT will slowly use its 1kW charge and then stop generating heat.

• Turning off the PT directly using automation does work.
  • However, you lose the 1kW charge inside the PT, so you shouldn't do this very often(once/5sec means 120kW lost power/cycle, that's a dupe running the wheel 1/2 of the time).

• Cutting the power on both sides DOES NOT WORK
  • PT holds that 1kJ of charge and heats up
  • Note that the charge is not decreasing and the PT's °C rises => you're generating heat for free(anyone feeling cold today?)
  • Cutting the power only on the low-side(consumers) logically does not work - PT will stay charged and continue to generate heat.

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TL ; DR ; How to build a switching battery in 4 "easy" steps

1. Start with wires - make a (non-intersecting) loop that goes around through both batteries and all 4 shutoffs, so that there are 2 shutoffs between Battery1 and Battery 2 on each wire that connects them. Your setup should be --- B1 - PS1 - PS2 - B2 - PS3 - PS4 ---(connects to B1)

   • Spoiler

     

2. Build 2 wires , one between the 2 shutoffs on each side. Those 2 wires shouldn't pass through the shutoffs. They connect the battery system to consumers and to the PT. Your loop should look like --- B1 - PS1 - W1 - PS2 - B2 - PS3 - W2 - PS4 ---(connects to B1)

   • Spoiler

     

3. Build logic circuits.

   Spoiler

   

   Careful if you want a 2nd SB, you will have to change the logic to leave that red square free, or design it properly from the start. However, If you don't plan on using a 2nd SB it doesn't matter so you can leave it like that.

   1. link the PS between the SB and the PT directly to the SB, this is labeled "green"

      Spoiler

      

      Here, first connect the bottom left PS with the SB, then look at the wiring to see which should be red and which should be green.

      

      As you can see, bottom left is connected directly to the battery, because that's where the SB connects to the PT for charging.

   2. then following the wire loop in one direction, make other SP-s Red, Green, Red. You'll need 1 "Not" gate for the "Red"-s

4. Setup the SB - make the Active slider at least 5%(10% if your consumer circuit is using conductive wire and 2kW limit)

And that should be all. Now link the "battery pack" to the consumers and the main grid and wait until the SB charges. From then on you should have stable power.

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Smart battery pack in action:

Example 1 - Metal Refinery on steroids

Here is the metal refinery with 2 PTs from earlier, but this time equipped with a smart battery pack.

• Notice something strange about the PT-s? We only need 1 PT, since it can charge a battery with 5kJ/sec, whereas the metal refinery uses only 1.2.
  • That means SB effectively allowed us to deconstruct 1 Power transformer without any loss in power or production.
• Look at the info box on the right - 2kW max safe Wattage on the right circuit. The only required conductive wires are those up to the outer PS-s
  • I can build the metal refinery somewhere far away in another galaxy, as long as there is a switching smart battery pack next to it.
  • Practically no conductive or heavi-Watt wires on long distances

Example 2 - Fridge heaven

• Normal wires (max 1kW) everywhere except for the high-end side
• No overloads
• everything is powered

Of course, this is in sandbox mode and 2 coal generators can't keep up with the almost 4kW fridge demand, so this test system is powered only ~ 30% of the time. but hey, who uses fridges anyways But if you have enough power behind the PTs, even 1 PT is enough to power all these fridges.

Currently the smart batteries are serving consumers everywhere, while the normal batteries are charging (with 1.2kW, which is not enough of course). However, those batteries were charged in the beginning when I connected the system. That shows that it works as it is supposed to. The problem now is providing enough juice for all consumers.

If you want to see it in actual action, here it is, much uglier, in my base. Those are 2 sets of switched batteries, one controlling 4 air pumps on my SPOM tank, the other controlling electrolyzers, water pump and sieve. I'm also thinking of adding 1 more circuit, since those generators need to work 100% and use that power somewhere. Of course, because of space constraints, I had to place the switches further away or to the sides and this made the circuits a pain to build. I even made a mistake of not connecting the proper PS directly to the SB, so my air pumps were idle while 1 of the batteries was fully charged (facepalm). I'm just trying to show that this design can fit many different setups depending on the space constraints. Note the Heavi-Watt usage - only 9 tiles. I should have another 2-3 batteries on the high end between the generators and the PT, but there's no space for that. Those batteries would provide an extra buffer in case all other batteries along the consumer circuits are full.

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Here is a post where I show off my base that uses that setup and several smart battery packs, as well as generator management tricks:

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I understand that others have discovered this setup before me and after some digging I found links to other threads. They were useful when understanding the PT mechanic, so I'll post them here as well, as some of them contain even more complicated examples.

A very useful discussion of PT:

A more complicated example with optimization of a large bank of SB-s:

Battery charging speed question:

A large base - exactly where the battery design can be used to prevent the 20kW overload problem. I plan to post a link to this thread there:

I'm open to comments and suggestions.