Cable

2011-10-23T17:56:55Z

Charriu: /* Voltage Efficiency */ 320 - 4 =/= 326

The '''Cables''' are the primary means of transferring [[EU]] from one device to another. There are several different tiers of cables, depending on how much [[EU#EU-Packet / Voltage|Voltage]] they can tolerate. If too much Voltage is applied to a cable, it will instantly melt but it can take unlimited amounts of "current" ([[EU|EU/t]]) in the right Voltage-Range ([[EU#EU-Packet / Voltage|EU-Packet]]). Different tiers are made out of different metals. Furthermore, all cables suffer from distance-related energy losses - long cables will inevitably lose energy in the process of transferring it. There are several ways to offset it - Transformers and insulation. For higher-tier cables, the insulation also reduces the amount of shock damage the player and NPC's receive from touching the cable under high voltage.

Cables can also be painted using the [[Painter]]. This separates them, preventing cables of different colors from interacting with each other. This also greatly reduces the strain on CPU, as large cable meshes with many intersections require the game to perform many CPU-heavy calculations.

== Insulation ==

Insulation reduces the amount of EU lost as it travels through a cable, it can be added simply by placing the cable in a crafting grid with some rubber.

A cable placed in the world can have insulation added or removed with a pair of [[Cutter|Insulation Cutters]].

Uninsulated cables (except glass fibre) cannot be coloured with the [[Painter]].

== Cable Efficiency ==

All cables suffer distance-related energy losses, and depending on the tier and insulation of the given cable, the losses can vary greatly. The general unit for cable efficiency is EU/block. It shows how much [[EU]] every [[EU#EU-Packet / Voltage|EU Packet]] looses per block. The number is accumulated along the whole length of the cable, and then rounded down to the nearest integer. Therefore, if a distance is short enough, there EU loss will remain zero. For example, since Copper Cable loses 1 EU every 5 blocks, a 4 block long Insulated Copper Cable won't lose any EU.

{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | Tin Cable
! colspan="2" | Copper Cable
! colspan="2" | Gold Cable
! colspan="2" | HV Cable
! colspan="2" | Glass Fibre Cable
|-
! EU/b
! EU loss
! EU/b
! EU loss
! EU/b
! EU loss
! EU/b
! EU loss
! EU/b
! EU loss
|-
! Uninsulated
| 0.025
|1 EU every 40 blocks
|0.3
|1 EU every 3.33 blocks
|0.5
|1 EU every 2 blocks
|1.0
|1 EU every block
|0.05
|1 EU every 20 blocks
|-
! Insulated (1")
| colspan="2" align="center" | ---
|0.2
|1 EU every 5 blocks
|0.45
|1 EU every 2.22 blocks
|0.95
|1 EU every 1.05 blocks
| colspan="2" align="center" | ---
|-
! Insulated (2")
| colspan="2" align="center" | ---
| colspan="2" align="center" | ---
|0.4
|1 EU every 2.5 blocks
|0.9
|1 EU every 1.11 blocks
| colspan="2" align="center" | ---
|-
! Insulated (3")
| colspan="2" align="center" | ---
| colspan="2" align="center" | ---
| colspan="2" align="center" | ---
|0.8
|1 EU every 1.25 blocks
| colspan="2" align="center" | ---
|}

== Voltage Efficiency ==
Depending on the [[EU#EU/t|EU/t]] traveling trough a cable it may be more efficient to use higher voltage cables and packets. This is because EU/b isn't applied on the total [[EU#EU/t|EU/t]] that travels the cable but on every single [[EU#EU-Packet|EU-Packet]].
So a copper cable carrying 320 EU/t over 10 Blocks of insulated copper cable is really carrying 10*32 EU-Packets and instead of: 320EU-2EU=318EU you get: 32EU*10-2*10=300EU. But when using 512 EU-Packets and 2x insulated gold cables you get: 320EU-4EU=316EU. In this example this is a difference of 16 EU over 10 Blocks.

The formula for overall EU/b is: Combined EU/t divided by Desired packet size multiplied by Cable's EU/b per Packet equals '''Combined EU/b'''

Below is an example of different EU/t packed into different EU-Packets and carried with different cables, cables are full insulated, EU-P equals [[EU#EU-Packet / Voltage|EU-Packet]], results are in '''Overall / Combined EU/b ''' (not EU/b per Packet), results can't be rounded down to nearest integer.:
{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" | Example EU/t
! colspan="1" | Tin Cable
! colspan="2" | Copper Cable 1"
! colspan="3" | Gold Cable 2"
! colspan="5" | HV Cable 3"
! colspan="4" | Glass Fibre Cable
|- width="100" |
! width="80pt" | 2 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 2 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 32 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 2 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 32 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 128 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 2 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 32 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 128 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 512 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 2048 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 2 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 32 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 128 EU-P
! width="80pt" | 512 EU-P
|- align="center"
! 2 EU/t
|0.025
|0.2
|0.2
|0.4
|0.4
|0.4
|0.8
|0.8
|0.8
|0.8
|0.8
|0.05
|0.05
|0.05
|0.05
|- align="center"
! 10 EU/t
|0.125
|1.0
|0.2
|2.0
|0.4
|0.4
|4.0
|0.8
|0.8
|0.8
|0.8
|0.25
|0.05
|0.05
|0.05
|- align="center"
! 100 EU/t
|1.25
|10.0
|0.625
|20.0
|1.25
|0.4
|40.0
|2.5
|0.8
|0.8
|0.8
|2.5
|0.156
|0.05
|0.05
|- align="center"
! 500 EU/t
|6.25
|50.0
|3.125
|100.0
|6.25
|1.56
|200.0
|12.5
|3.125
|0.8
|0.8
|12.5
|0.78
|0.195
|0.05
|- align="center"
! 2000 EU/t
|25
|200
|12.5
|400
|25
|6.25
|800
|50
|12.5
|3.125
|0.8
|50
|3.125
|0.78
|0.195
|}

* Blue color indicates that EU-Packets under 32 EU can't be obtained by transforming. They can only be generated with generators as they always emit EU-Packages the size of their output EU.
* Green color indicates the optimal EU-Package for that EU/t example. Blue fields are ignored.
* Orange color and red color indicates sub-optimal EU-Packages.

== Cable Splitting ==
Up to 6 cables can connect to one other cable. Current will only flow through a cable when requested by a consumer if the loss from the cable length will allow some energy to get to the consumer. i.e. a [[Batbox]] (32EU) will send across insulated copper to a furnace up to 155 blocks away (5x31). No energy will be sent to a furnace 156 blocks away.

Keep in mind, however, that an excessive number of cable intersections will increase strain on your CPU (and more importantly, the server, when playing on a multi-player server). Don't do things like having rows of adjacent cables with every block connected to every other block. Also, separate cables connected to an energy storage device ([[BatBox]], etc.) or transformer do not count as a cable intersection, so take advantage of that when possible.

== Cable types ==

More detailed information and a larger recipe list is available by looking at the page for each cable type.

=== Tin Cable ===
{{Grid/Crafting Table
|A2=Tin|B2=Tin|C2=Tin
|Output=Tin Cable|OA=9
|Output-link=Tin Cable
}}

Tin cables can only tolerate '''Micro Voltage''' (up to 3 [[EU|EU-Packets]]) but they're very cheap to make and have extremely low energy loss.

=== Copper Cable ===

{|
|{{Grid/Crafting Table
|A2=Copper|B2=Copper|C2=Copper
|Output=Copper Cable|OA=6
|Output-link=Copper Cable
}}
|{{Grid/Crafting Table
|A1=Rubber|B1=Rubber|C1=Rubber
|A2=Copper|B2=Copper|C2=Copper
|A3=Rubber|B3=Rubber|C3=Rubber
|Output=Insulated Copper Cable|OA=6
|Output-link=Insulated Copper Cable
}}
|}

Copper cables are the most common cable tier. They are only capable of handling '''Low Voltage''' (up to 32 [[EU|EU-Packets]]), however, they suffer the smallest distance-related energy losses out of all the conventional cables, with insulated copper cables having even less energy losses.

=== Gold Cable ===

{|
|{{Grid/Crafting Table
|A2=Gold|B2=Gold|C2=Gold
|Output=Gold_Cable|OA=12
|Output-link=Gold Cable
}}
|{{Grid/Crafting Table
|B1=Rubber
|A2=Rubber|B2=Gold|C2=Rubber
|B3=Rubber
|Output=Insulated_Gold_Cable|OA=4
|Output-link=Insulated Gold Cable
}}
|{{Grid/Crafting Table
|A2=Rubber|B2=Insulated_Gold_Cable
|Output=2xIns._Gold_Cable
|Output-link=2xIns. Gold Cable
}}
|}

Gold cables can transport '''Medium Voltage''' (up to 128 [[EU|EU-Packets]]) but has higher energy loss than copper. The loss can be remedied to some extent by giving the cable up to two layers of insulation.

=== HV (Iron) Cable ===

{|
|{{Grid/Crafting Table
|A2=Refined Iron|B2=Refined Iron|C2=Refined Iron
|Output=HV_Cable|OA=12
|Output-link=HV Cable
}}
|{{Grid/Crafting Table
|B1=Rubber
|A2=Rubber|B2=Refined Iron|C2=Rubber
|B3=Rubber
|Output=Insulated_HV_Cable|OA=4
|Output-link=Insulated HV Cable
}}
|{{Grid/Crafting Table
|A2=Rubber|B2=Insulated_HV_Cable
|Output=2xIns._HV_Cable
|Output-link=2xIns. HV Cable
}}
|{{Grid/Crafting Table
|A2=Rubber|B2=2xIns._HV_Cable
|Output=4xIns._HV_Cable
|Output-link=3xIns. HV Cable
}}
|}

HV Cables can handle the highest amount of current possible at '''Extreme Voltage''' (up to 2048 [[EU|EU-Packets]]) however it loses energy very quickly and should only be used when there's no other choice. HV cables can have up to three layers of insulation to help deal with the energy loss.

=== Glass Fibre Cable ===

{{Grid/Crafting Table
|A1=Glass|B1=Glass|C1=Glass
|A2=Redstone|B2=Diamond|C2=Redstone
|A3=Glass|B3=Glass|C3=Glass
|Output=Glass_Fibre_Cable|OA=6
|Output-link=Glass Fibre Cable
}}

Glass Fibre cable is a special type of cable capable of transporting '''High Voltage''' (up to 512 [[EU|EU-Packets]]). It does not shock anything standing too close and has only a tiny amount energy, however it is very expensive to make.

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Cable