Electricity Generators

[-RanZ-]

Will 1.0 have generator parts? I mean electricity generators other than solar panels and the RTG. If resource drills will take a lot of electricity it would be nice to have a generator that can run off of fuel/oxygen or fuel/oxidizer system and generate more power without spamming lots of RTG or solar panels. I know Karbonite has them and they are basing the resource system on that.

[Daze]

It would be awesome some kind of reactor ingame... (and better Ion Propulsion, please Squad?)

[Musil]

Nothing like that has been mentioned. So, probably not.

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

Just use a RTG and a engine with it's thrust limiter set to as low as possible, that will behave exactly like a power generator and if you use the 0-25 monoprop engine it will hardly weigh anything!

[Xaver]

You can stick an engine with electricity output on the top of your vessel and firing you downwards when you stay on the ground:sticktongue:

Edited March 24, 2015 by Xaver

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

You can just do this:

[Xaver]

Mad rocket scientist's solution will work, too.

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

That does actually lift off; it just only has a burn time of 3 seconds.

[Tex]

That is something that would be quite interesting: Toggleable fuel cells, that slowly drain LiquidFuel and Oxidizer when activated, but you can turn it off when extra electricity isn't needed.

[-RanZ-]

That is something that would be quite interesting: Toggleable fuel cells, that slowly drain LiquidFuel and Oxidizer when activated, but you can turn it off when extra electricity isn't needed.

something like that. I would rather not have to spam RTGs and solar panels which will up part counts and lag

[worir4]

How about a kerbal powered reactor core. It chews up kerbals and spits out power.

[Tanner Rawlings]

How about a kerbal powered reactor core. It chews up kerbals and spits out power.

NO! STOP! you'll make danny go nuts!

[RainDreamer]

How about a milder version then? just space bicycles. Get the kerbal on that and pedal away, generating power. I imagine suddenly a lot of scientists will be on those thing a lot since they barely do much in game now.

[Van Disaster]

Any ISRU mod around has the builtin ability to turn things into electric charge, it's how they work in the first place - convert one resource to another one. Whether the stock version of Regolith in 1.0 is going to lock that down hard we can't tell yet, but I would rather doubt it.

[Overland]

GENERATORS!!

I was wondering if anyone had the same idea I did a while back.. this indirectly through a year of experimentation and spur of the moment thoughts that lead to personal happyness.. is very much a subject I know alot about

See, I drive generators.. that train in my signature made from stock and sam hall mod parts.. modded by myself.. is nothing more than a self propelled generator..

atleast until I can 3d model my own.. the technical ideal behind it all is sound also

See a year ago I was driving trains.. and I was using the batteries to drive the rover wheels stock... then using the jet turbines to charge the batteries..

it was a good idea and a good workable design.. but a tad too slow.. I actually didnt need thrust on some locomotives but rather electricity and I didnt like the idea of coating something in them ugly spikey radioactive things or solar panels

so I went into the config files to edit.. most jet and or rocket engines have a line that says

Alternator

the figure around that is the amount of power they they generate while running.. its suprisingly weak I found I think something like .5 or 500w as I understand it

I changed that and over the course of much experimentation built myself viable diesel electric generators out of sam hall's micro turbine parts.. painted black and inverted they look just like an exhaust pipe on my 44 class

you can alter the thrust in the configuration file so they dont produce any but instead dedicate everythng to electricity.. adjust the thermal limit so overstressing them will lead to explosions and all them fun things

its the simplest thing to do.. make a backup of any engine your fiddling with or make a copy and just rename it at the top of the configuration file and fiddle with the info bit.. then you'll have 2 of them

ive ventured deep into this electrcity generation stuff.. I no longer use batteries for any reason other than to keep headlights lit while stationary..

KSP has a very interesting electricity resource simulation.. as lights will dim.. wheels will go slower etc if your low on charge..

as a bit of inspiration.. ive been able to build a crude yet effective diesel electric system this way, the rovers wheels are mostly stock but modded to require 12 units of power vs 0.5 originally each.. the alternators on the jet turbines output 150 units of power.. and a typical locomotive has 10 wheels currently with the train being unpowered..

with the rover wheels modded to be 1.2 ton each.. and requiring so much power.. I increased the torque.. and use my joystick throttle as rover wheel control.. simply jamming it all the way forward or back

the rover wheels wont do anything without power.. so once I start up the engines.. any throttle control relates to the power generation.. slow RPM makes the train creep away slowly. high RPM and she'll have full power

it is a bit odd though.. sometimes she wont have power to the front wheels randomly causing drift in one direction.. even under full throttle warcry..

it shows the underpowered tag in the dialog box..

at this point I simply ignite the secondary engine giving the loco around 300 units of power.. she tracks straight. lights burn bright etc

but please be aware that there also seems to be some kind of amp simulation thats crude.. but there somehow..

despite having so much power at the ready.. ive had lights dim and go dark on steep hills.. despite having both generators screaming

as if somehow they do use more power if climbing a hill.. its a very interesting thing..

but certainly nothing to wait for 1.0 for.. try to make your own by modding stock things.. it wont be long until your happily modding things for your own needs which leads to bigger things

I wish you luck

EDIT - I did make this for another thread but since im too busy to make a dedicate video.. this shows what I mean I hope

Start at 0:50 or so

Edited March 25, 2015 by Overland

[Xaver]

I would like to see some sort of generators, seriously.

because the night on the mun is 3 days long. So you can not count for solar panels.

[magnemoe]

Any ISRU mod around has the builtin ability to turn things into electric charge, it's how they work in the first place - convert one resource to another one. Whether the stock version of Regolith in 1.0 is going to lock that down hard we can't tell yet, but I would rather doubt it.

The problem is that making both fuel and oxidizer from an single resource is possible: water to hydrogen and oxygen is the easiest example however this will always use more energy than you later get by burning it. Karbonite has two generators an small and an large, this is nice however they should use fuel and oxidizer.

Else nuclear reactors would make most sense, downside is that they are heavy so you would prefer not to have them on ships, for bases and stations they would make a lot of sense.

[mythic_fci]

Hmmm... Usually I use a few LV-909s with something attached to the exhaust. That way they actually use resources and give you some nice electric output without excess thrust!

[michaelsteele3]

I mean, we still have solar panels. But I get what you are getting at.

[Van Disaster]

The problem is that making both fuel and oxidizer from an single resource is possible: water to hydrogen and oxygen is the easiest example however this will always use more energy than you later get by burning it. Karbonite has two generators an small and an large, this is nice however they should use fuel and oxidizer.

Else nuclear reactors would make most sense, downside is that they are heavy so you would prefer not to have them on ships, for bases and stations they would make a lot of sense.

You can already set up a LF+O -> electric charge conversion with Regolith - I added one to my large plane cockpits to use as an APU ( closed cycle combustion engines are not a new thing, it doesn't have to be done with a fuel cell ), so unless it's specifically locked out of stock then it should be fine.

Example:

	MODULE 
	{	
		name = REGO_ModuleResourceConverter
		ConverterName = LF/O Generator
		StartActionName = Start LF/O Generator
		StopActionName = Shutdown LF/O Generator
		RecipeInputs = Oxidizer, 0.0018, LiquidFuel, 0.009
		RecipeOutputs = ElectricCharge,3,False		
	}

Whether there'll be a stock item that does it, *shrug*.

( I should probably work out ratios of LF<->O one day, I basically just scaled down another engine... )

[QuantumInc]

There are a variety of mods that introduce various ways to get electricity. It seems like almost every major mod pack includes a part for electricity. Though if all you want is a generator the "On Demand Fuel Cells" mod seems like the best, or at least most straight forward one.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/110694-Plugin-ODFC-On-Demand-Fuel-Cells-%28v1-0-KSP-0-90%29

I plan to get into mod making, I think the first thing I want to make is a internal combustion engine. Essentially a modified RAPIER with a tiny bit of thrust but a very high alternator, and a very different model.

[J.Random]

Hmmm... Usually I use a few LV-909s with something attached to the exhaust. That way they actually use resources and give you some nice electric output without excess thrust!

LV-909 doesn't produce EC.

[rkman]

something like that. I would rather not have to spam RTGs and solar panels which will up part counts and lag

Larger/more powerful RTGs and solar panels would solve the part count problem.

[Tex]

Hmmm... Usually I use a few LV-909s with something attached to the exhaust. That way they actually use resources and give you some nice electric output without excess thrust!

Yeah... The 909 doesn't produce a charge.

[Apature rocket science]

You can stick an engine with electricity output on the top of your vessel and firing you downwards when you stay on the ground:sticktongue:

That's what I do for carrer mode, when you start it's the only way to make power, this method is a massive waist of reasorces