Best way to prevent explosive battery discharge?

Thom Blair III · August 07, 2018, 08:34:54 PM

I used to have a big bank of batteries, but very often they would get a short and suddenly discharge all their energy at once, causing an explosive fire somewhere.

It was causing such a mess I just got rid of them, but now I'm wondering if there's a way to prevent this from happening.

thesuperbender · August 07, 2018, 08:40:37 PM

I put the batteries on the other side of a switch, let them charge, then flick the switch. It takes the batteries off your grid, but when a ZZZZT happens you flick the switch and still have the batteries that were off the grid.

Thom Blair III · August 07, 2018, 08:43:18 PM

Oh ok, thank you! Awesome idea. I'll do that right now. Cheers!

bbqftw · August 07, 2018, 09:16:25 PM

Mechanically, zzt is a punishment event for using unreliable power sources (solar is generally the cause), and secondarily for (over)using batteries.

If you use primarily reliable power sources (e.g. chemfuel/geo) for powering things that need to be on 24/7, and run things like sunlamps off solars in their own disconnected network, then you can carefully modulate your power use, even turning off generators as needed to avoid excessive power supply.

I have a ~400k wealth colony, and all my zzt events are one tile as a result.

Thom Blair III · August 07, 2018, 10:15:29 PM

Having a big bank of battery backups is bad practice in Rimworld? I'm surprised...I thought it was their intended purpose. How are batteries supposed to be used? Is there some reference material for how power should be generated/used? I don't want to get Zzzt punished for misuse.

dearmad · August 08, 2018, 12:28:03 AM

I take my back up batteries offline and store them uninstalled... that way the component problem is also avoided... they are more a nuisance than they should be imo, and the events around batteries are just annoying imo.

5thHorseman · August 08, 2018, 12:37:21 AM

I just avoid solar and wind if I can. I go right for water or geothermal, burning wood if I must and can. I'll frequently start out with one or two solar panels and a windmill with no batteries, and try to rush the better stuff.

The best way to keep your batteries from being drained is to not have any batteries.

Awe · August 08, 2018, 01:34:40 AM

Quote from: Thom Blair III on August 07, 2018, 10:15:29 PM
Having a big bank of battery backups is bad practice in Rimworld? I'm surprised...I thought it was their intended purpose. How are batteries supposed to be used? Is there some reference material for how power should be generated/used? I don't want to get Zzzt punished for misuse.

If you build balanced power supply you just dont need a big battery bank. Some solars to power sunlamps. Geothermals/watermills to power other stuff. With proper setup you can live with 1-2 battery. But having more not that scary. Im mostly stick to 2x8 battery banks(one online and one behind turned switch). Zzzzt not very destructive - just a few tiles of fire, and allow base to work some time even if external geothermals are cutted from main power grid by raids.

Bolgfred · August 08, 2018, 05:11:56 AM

Firstly, yes permant energy is kind, meaning reactor, geothermal and generator, as they don't have spikes and furthermore don't need energy.

Nethertheless I am a big friend of solar power as you are able to calculate very good how many batteries are required. The trick is not to have them all connected together, instead, place them where they are needed. If you build smart, you won't need any wire, which will deny any Zzz-events at all.

Examples:

Freezer 10x10
-1 solar 1 battery 4 coolers

5 Bedrooms connected with vents in a row
-1 solar 1 battery 4 coolers (12°C), 4 heaters(30°C)
=> The room in the middle will have more extrem temperature, but within normal range whilst the more outside are normal

2 Sunlamps and 4 heaters
-Here does solar shine, as sunlamps have the same life circle than solar power.
you roughly need 2 solar per sunlamp to run. 4 heaters are also equivalent to one solar and one battery is enough to keep the heaters running in the night and give a starting boost at 6 am when the sunlamp need full power but the light level is still busy increasing.
If you place the batteries diagonally you can reach the lamp though the wall without a cable.

Thom Blair III · August 08, 2018, 05:41:45 AM

Thank you, that's very interesting. I never thought of having a battery for each location. So it's the power conduit that is the culprit in the short circuiting zzzt thing? That is very good to know. Thanks!

Greep · August 08, 2018, 06:15:27 AM

It's any circuit having battery power attached to it.

A less hardcore approach than bolgfreds is simply splitting your circuit into several large circuits. Zzzts scale with power in the batteries, so if you cut it in half it cuts down on the explosions. At 20 batteries, you will see whole rooms getting vaporized, but at 10 it's manageable, and at 5 you can probably just hit triple speed and ignore it.

Thom Blair III · August 08, 2018, 06:17:09 AM

Oh ok, that's good to know. Thanks!

5thHorseman · August 08, 2018, 06:53:15 AM

Quote from: Bolgfred on August 08, 2018, 05:11:56 AM
I am a big friend of solar power as you are able to calculate very good how many batteries are required. The trick is not to have them all connected together, instead, place them where they are needed. If you build smart, you won't need any wire, which will deny any Zzz-events at all.

I've always heard of this but never tried it. I may copy your examples and use them in a game to see how the feel. However...

Quote
5 Bedrooms connected with vents in a row
-1 solar 1 battery 4 coolers (12°C), 4 heaters(30°C)
=> The room in the middle will have more extrem temperature, but within normal range whilst the more outside are normal

Do you mean the coolers are at 30 and the heaters at 12?

Quote from: Greep on August 08, 2018, 06:15:27 AM
It's any circuit having battery power attached to it.

I'll need to double check but I swear I've gotten this on a batteryless circuit that just had way too much power being pumped into it. Like, 2 geothermals added to 5-6 water wheels when the water wheels were enough power. Mabye then the geothermal vents hit at the same time.

Greep · August 08, 2018, 06:54:09 AM

You might be right, I didn't really look into it, just going by experience. Most likely, since the power was reliable, I just never had extreme excess because why would you outside of the first year right?

Raxbit · August 08, 2018, 07:17:36 AM

For dealing with the zzzt events, I sub divide my base into many sub circuits that are all connected to each other via switches, switches are defaulted to off, if one circuit explodes, i flip the switch and exchange power between 2 sub circuits, then flip switch again when its safe to do so, each sub circuit i generally use 4 batteries and at least 2 power sources.

A tip for dealing with the fires, try run your cables through stone walls and avoid routing cables through storage rooms where there are lots of things to catch on fire. They will still explode but you will have more time to put the flames out and less to repair and replace.