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Solar panel output reported incorrectly in console (and to scripts)

Johnathan Lea shared this bug ago

Reported

I reported this around a month ago but couldn't respond to your request for a video due to my dad dying. I'm done dealing with that and found that you closed the original thread, so here it is again but with the requested video.

Turning on a power-consuming block causes solar panel output reported in the console to be incorrect. The reported value is lower than expected, with the difference equal to the amount of power consumed by the block that was turned on. The correct value is shown when any power-consuming block is turned off or the grid's total generated power changes by turning on another power generation block or the sun moves.

Steps to reproduce:

Create a world with sun rotation disabled (so sun motion doesn't cause the solar panel output to change)
Place a solar panel and wait for output to stabilize
Place a battery
Place a beacon (or other power-consuming block)
Turn the beacon off and back on. Note power consumption rate reported in the console
Look at power output reported in the solar panel console details. It is different by the rate observed in the previous step.
Change the beacon range so power consumption changes.
Repeat steps 5 and 6 and note that the solar panel output is incorrect by the new consumption rate of the beacon.
Look at the battery input value and note that it is correct (showing the 'Max Output' value of the solar panel rather than the incorrect 'Current Output'.)
Turn off the beacon, or toggle solar panel off/on, or toggle entire grid off/on (slowly) and note that the Current Output of the solar panel is now reported correctly. If sun rotation is turned back on, the movement of the sun will also update the solar panel's Current Output value to report correctly.

The output reported to scripts is the same as what's reported in the console. A script that displayed my power production on an LCD is how I first discovered this bug during normal play in a world with sun rotation disabled.

Files:

I have the same bug

Replies (2)

Ondrej Borz ●

Hello, Johnathan,

thanks for your report and for showing it perfectly on the video.

Issue was successfully reproduced and put into our internal system.

Kind Regards

Keen Software House: QA Department

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Stuart Alleyne ●

If I may Add an addendum to this. I've notice that the Solar panels are reporting power in a non-intuitive way. In sunlight it shows max output as a changing value and current output as 0, which is not the same as all the other power blocks. The max output should say what the maximum potential output of the block is, which I believe is 160Kw. The current output should be the energy currently being generated by the panel.

Ex:

Type: Solar Panel

Max Output: 160Kw

Current Output: 34kw

This would give much clearer information to a player in troubleshooting a power situation. If you need a metric to show power draw from equipment that should be it's own category "Current Usage". To which the draw cannot exceed the max potential output of a panel. This would look like:

Type: Solar Panel

Max Output: 160Kw

Current Output: 34kw

Current Usage: 5Kw

Any chance this could be implemented?

Thanks and best.

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Johnathan Lea ●

The theoretical maximum production of solar panels is not as useful as the max output of fueled power sources since it's rarely going to be reached. Max Output is a realistic value based on its current exposure to the sun. This is a more useful value for figuring out how many solar panels one needs for a given position and I think is pretty intuitive.

I wouldn't mind having the theoretical maximum value being shown alongside the realistic maximum, though. Same for wind turbines. The green lights on the face of solar panels and the clearance status in the console for turbines don't have much precision for determining effectiveness.

The BuildInfo mod includes the theoretical max output of solar panels. I don't know if it provides the same for wind turbines.

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