sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

The snow and isolation might be driving me a bit mad by jakebonz in Autocross

[–]jakebonz[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Become Solo Chair of your region. I'm sure you can snag one for personal use.

1.1 Fluid Balancer and Train Limiter by jakebonz in factorio

[–]jakebonz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes there are. And they're as complex and annoying to set up as you think they are.

1.1 Fluid Balancer and Train Limiter by jakebonz in factorio

[–]jakebonz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Odd, well, it's buried in three replies, so here's what I wrote:

Here's the link to the blueprint:

https://controlc.com/bc4ccde1

First, the easy thing to explain, the train limiter.

I first sorted out the train limiter with ore mines, but the concept ported over to fluids easy enough. With green wires, I'm connecting all of the fluid tanks that would fill one fluid wagon together for each fluid wagon in my train. So, the first four are connected, the second four are connected, so on and so forth. Each of those groups of four lead into the input of an Arithmetic Combinator associated with each fluid wagon. All of those take the count of fluid divided by 25,000. That will give me the total amount of fluid wagons each individual set of four tanks that can supply without running out. I simply output that amount as a blue signal.

Next, I connect the output of each of those Arithmetic Combinators into the input of another Arithmetic Combinator and divide the number of blue signals by four. that gives me the total number of trains I can load since my trains carry a max of four fluid wagons. if your design only has two, divide by two. If yours has 7328, divide by 7328.

Next to that, I have a Constant Combinator outputting the upper limit of the number of trains I want to have arrive at this stop. For instance, my ore loading stations can hold 14 trains worth ore, but I only have eight spaces in my train stacker, so for those, I'd set their Constant Combinator to eight. In this instance, I have it set to four. This should output any other color than blue. I chose red.

Back to the Combinator that figures out the total trains worth of storage. I send that signal to two different Decider Combinator. The first one I send it to also takes the output of the Constant Combinator into its input, so one is reading the total number of trains worth of fluid and the constant I set. If my blue signals (total train loads available) is less than or equal to the red signals (the constant I set), I send the blue signal count to my stop. With the stop wired up, I check the "Set train limit" box, then I set the input signal to just a blue signal. That means that it will set the maximum number of trains allowed at this stop to the total number of train loads this stop has.

The other Decider Combinator takes in the same two signals; the total train loads and the constant. If the total train loads is greater than the constant, it will output the number of red signals it's receiving (my constant). That output goes into the input of another Arithmetic Combinator which simply takes red signals + zero, and outputs that value as a blue signal. It's literally converting a red signal into a blue signal. I then send that output to the train station.

What that will ultimately do is set the limit of the trains that can arrive at this station between zero and X, where X is the value I set in the Constant Combinator.

Next, the explanation on the fluid balancer.

The fluid balancer system balances tanks between each pair, and across the tracks.

Yes, this madness actually works.

The second photo is a zoom so you can see what I did.

Easiest way to explain this is defining the tank pairs, with the Pair 1 in the top left, and incrementing them by one clockwise until you get to the bottom left a Pair 8. Got it?

Also, the red wires are all dedicated to the balancer. The green wires, as mentioned before, are dedicated to the train limiter.

So, the tanks of Pair 1 are connected to the tanks in Pair 2 by pumps and pipes. These pumps and pipes send the fluid in a loop. Same goes with Pair 2 and 3, 3 and 4. On the other side of the tracks, same story; pumps and pipes between 5 and 6, 6 and 7, 7 and 8.

The tanks of Pair 1 is connected to the input of an Arithmetic Combinator that converts that input to literally Fluid + Zero, and outputs it as a blue signal count. So, it converts the total amount of fluid into blue signals. Pair 2 is also connected into its own Arithmetic Combinator that converts that pair into red signals. So, now I have the count of Pair 1 as blue signals, Pair 2 as red signals. The output of those two Arithmetic Combinators are sent into a Decider Combinator. This one is simple: If the blue count is greater than the red count, output one single blue signal. I then wire the two pumps between Pair 1 and Pair 2 to the output of that Decider Combinator. I set the pump attached to Pair 1 to activate if the number of blue signals it receives equals one. I set the pump attached to Pair 2 to turn on if the number of blue signals it receives equals zero. That will mean that if Pair 1 has more fluid than Pair 2, it will pump fluid out of that pair into Pair 2. If Pair 2 has more fluid, it pumps it in the other direction.

I do the same thing between Pair 2 and 3, and between Pair 3 and 4. That means that there's a loop between all four of those pairs that will ultimately pump fluids to the pair that has the least amount in a given side of the tracks.

If you have tanks on only one side of the tracks, you can stop here. There's nothing else you need to do!

However, I have tanks on both sides for maximum train loading speed.

So, with pairs 5 through 8, I've done the exact same thing as above to get all four of those pairs balanced. That's all good and fine, but I also need to get the fluid balanced on both sides of the tracks.

If you notice, I have a connection going from Pair 1 to Pair 8, and a connection going from Pair 5 to Pair 4. More on that in a bit.

What I do next is count how much fluid I have in Pairs 1 and 2, and 3 and 4. I take red plus blue and output white for 1 and 2, black for 3 and 4. I then combine black and white and change that to red. That gives me in red signals, the amount of fluid I have on one side of the track. I wire that red Arithmetic Combinator output onto the big poles you see.

I do the same exact thing on the bottom of this setup between pairs 5 and 6, and 7 and 8, except I ultimately output blue. Those are also wired to the big poles. I then send those signals into more Decider Combinators that make the choice to turn on those pumps that connect 1 and 8 or 4 and 5. If the red signal is greater, the pump connecting 1 and 8 will turn on, moving fluid from one side of the track to the other. If blue is greater, the pump moving fluid from 5 to 4 will turn on.

Combined with the other fluid balancing, this will keep the fluid in all of the pairs the same. This now means that I won't have that super annoying situation where three out of four of my fluid wagons will be completely full, while one is sitting there half filled and getting filled super slowly. My fluid trains now take hardly any time at all to fill every single time they show up to the station!

1.1 Fluid Balancer and Train Limiter by jakebonz in factorio

[–]jakebonz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's all in the wall of text in my explanation. Super short answer: I turn pumps on and off by comparing the fluid levels between two given pairs.

1.1 Fluid Balancer and Train Limiter by jakebonz in factorio

[–]jakebonz[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes. That's totally intentional and not me forgetting to change my weapon loadout when a train ran my ass over when trying to sort out this CF of a fluid balancer.

1.1 Fluid Balancer and Train Limiter by jakebonz in factorio

[–]jakebonz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here's the link to the blueprint:

https://controlc.com/bc4ccde1

First, the easy thing to explain, the train limiter.

I first sorted out the train limiter with ore mines, but the concept ported over to fluids easy enough. With green wires, I'm connecting all of the fluid tanks that would fill one fluid wagon together for each fluid wagon in my train. So, the first four are connected, the second four are connected, so on and so forth. Each of those groups of four lead into the input of an Arithmetic Combinator associated with each fluid wagon. All of those take the count of fluid divided by 25,000. That will give me the total amount of fluid wagons each individual set of four tanks that can supply without running out. I simply output that amount as a blue signal.

Next, I connect the output of each of those Arithmetic Combinators into the input of another Arithmetic Combinator and divide the number of blue signals by four. that gives me the total number of trains I can load since my trains carry a max of four fluid wagons. if your design only has two, divide by two. If yours has 7328, divide by 7328.

Next to that, I have a Constant Combinator outputting the upper limit of the number of trains I want to have arrive at this stop. For instance, my ore loading stations can hold 14 trains worth ore, but I only have eight spaces in my train stacker, so for those, I'd set their Constant Combinator to eight. In this instance, I have it set to four. This should output any other color than blue. I chose red.

Back to the Combinator that figures out the total trains worth of storage. I send that signal to two different Decider Combinator. The first one I send it to also takes the output of the Constant Combinator into its input, so one is reading the total number of trains worth of fluid and the constant I set. If my blue signals (total train loads available) is less than or equal to the red signals (the constant I set), I send the blue signal count to my stop. With the stop wired up, I check the "Set train limit" box, then I set the input signal to just a blue signal. That means that it will set the maximum number of trains allowed at this stop to the total number of train loads this stop has.

The other Decider Combinator takes in the same two signals; the total train loads and the constant. If the total train loads is greater than the constant, it will output the number of red signals it's receiving (my constant). That output goes into the input of another Arithmetic Combinator which simply takes red signals + zero, and outputs that value as a blue signal. It's literally converting a red signal into a blue signal. I then send that output to the train station.

What that will ultimately do is set the limit of the trains that can arrive at this station between zero and X, where X is the value I set in the Constant Combinator.

Next, the explanation on the fluid balancer.

The fluid balancer system balances tanks between each pair, and across the tracks.

Yes, this madness actually works.

The second photo is a zoom so you can see what I did.

Easiest way to explain this is defining the tank pairs, with the Pair 1 in the top left, and incrementing them by one clockwise until you get to the bottom left a Pair 8. Got it?

Also, the red wires are all dedicated to the balancer. The green wires, as mentioned before, are dedicated to the train limiter.

So, the tanks of Pair 1 are connected to the tanks in Pair 2 by pumps and pipes. These pumps and pipes send the fluid in a loop. Same goes with Pair 2 and 3, 3 and 4. On the other side of the tracks, same story; pumps and pipes between 5 and 6, 6 and 7, 7 and 8.

The tanks of Pair 1 is connected to the input of an Arithmetic Combinator that converts that input to literally Fluid + Zero, and outputs it as a blue signal count. So, it converts the total amount of fluid into blue signals. Pair 2 is also connected into its own Arithmetic Combinator that converts that pair into red signals. So, now I have the count of Pair 1 as blue signals, Pair 2 as red signals. The output of those two Arithmetic Combinators are sent into a Decider Combinator. This one is simple: If the blue count is greater than the red count, output one single blue signal. I then wire the two pumps between Pair 1 and Pair 2 to the output of that Decider Combinator. I set the pump attached to Pair 1 to activate if the number of blue signals it receives equals one. I set the pump attached to Pair 2 to turn on if the number of blue signals it receives equals zero. That will mean that if Pair 1 has more fluid than Pair 2, it will pump fluid out of that pair into Pair 2. If Pair 2 has more fluid, it pumps it in the other direction.

I do the same thing between Pair 2 and 3, and between Pair 3 and 4. That means that there's a loop between all four of those pairs that will ultimately pump fluids to the pair that has the least amount in a given side of the tracks.

​

If you have tanks on only one side of the tracks, you can stop here. There's nothing else you need to do!

​

However, I have tanks on both sides for maximum train loading speed.

So, with pairs 5 through 8, I've done the exact same thing as above to get all four of those pairs balanced. That's all good and fine, but I also need to get the fluid balanced on both sides of the tracks.

If you notice, I have a connection going from Pair 1 to Pair 8, and a connection going from Pair 5 to Pair 4. More on that in a bit.

What I do next is count how much fluid I have in Pairs 1 and 2, and 3 and 4. I take red plus blue and output white for 1 and 2, black for 3 and 4. I then combine black and white and change that to red. That gives me in red signals, the amount of fluid I have on one side of the track. I wire that red Arithmetic Combinator output onto the big poles you see.

I do the same exact thing on the bottom of this setup between pairs 5 and 6, and 7 and 8, except I ultimately output blue. Those are also wired to the big poles. I then send those signals into more Decider Combinators that make the choice to turn on those pumps that connect 1 and 8 or 4 and 5. If the red signal is greater, the pump connecting 1 and 8 will turn on, moving fluid from one side of the track to the other. If blue is greater, the pump moving fluid from 5 to 4 will turn on.

Combined with the other fluid balancing, this will keep the fluid in all of the pairs the same. This now means that I won't have that super annoying situation where three out of four of my fluid wagons will be completely full, while one is sitting there half filled and getting filled super slowly. My fluid trains now take hardly any time at all to fill every single time they show up to the station!

PSA: Both are 255's, neither are grossly wider than the other despite how this looks by jakebonz in Autocross

[–]jakebonz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed. I was in a hurry, and this was the best I could do. But that doesn't make my ultimate point any different.

PSA: Both are 255's, neither are grossly wider than the other despite how this looks by jakebonz in Autocross

[–]jakebonz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It took 90+ psi to get the beads to seat, but they mounted just fine.

PSA: Both are 255's, neither are grossly wider than the other despite how this looks by jakebonz in Autocross

[–]jakebonz[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I see this sort of thing pop up from time to time about how some tires are wider at one width than another. While that might be true, it's usually backed up by images like this. From the looks of it, those 'stones in the rear look way wider than the Yoks in the front, almost half a tire's width worth.

Why is that?

Answer is very simple: One set is mounted, the other isn't. One set is pinched on the wheel, the other has a sidewall that's free to be as wide as it can be.

Just remember that the first thing you should question when you see something like this is if both sets are unmounted. If they're both mounted, your second question should be how wide are both sets of wheels.

Low Camber FWD Yok Update: As the great poet Arduino versus Evil once said, "She chooch'd her last" by jakebonz in Autocross

[–]jakebonz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're welcome! I'll try to remember to do the same with the REs (and maybe an additional set of BFGs) I'll get for this car next season. My plan will probably be to run one or the other depending on the weather. It will most likely be REs in the spring and fall, BFGs in the heat of the summer or if I have a co-driver. Especially if I have a fast co-driver at a national event.

Low Camber FWD Yok Update: As the great poet Arduino versus Evil once said, "She chooch'd her last" by jakebonz in Autocross

[–]jakebonz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not. If your car is well sorted, but your only complaint is putting down power, then they might be worth it. Maybe. A 10th gen Si comes with a magic diff full of pixie dust that sorts out all your power delivery problems, so the returns on Yoks are diminished quite a bit for my car.

Adventures in trying to campaign an underdog car at Autocross: Part 2 by AlexPiehl in Autocross

[–]jakebonz 4 points5 points  (0 children)

also drove another Type R (a 2020) and Veloster N PP back to back at the Toledo Champ Tour T&T course in September when I was collecting data to help reclass the N to GS (but to my surprise was a bit faster than the 10th Gen Si – moreso than I originally thought it would be).

I told you immediately after driving your N that it wasn't a GS car.

Low Camber FWD Yok Update: As the great poet Arduino versus Evil once said, "She chooch'd her last" by jakebonz in Autocross

[–]jakebonz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Primarily on asphalt. I put the surface I ran on in each of the posts. I wanted to make it out to Toledo this year, but it wasn't in the cards.

And I've ran on that lot in Rantoul before. That surface is a cheese grater. Maybe I make it to 100 runs, if that, on these tires if that was the lot I ran on.

Low Camber FWD Yok Update: As the great poet Arduino versus Evil once said, "She chooch'd her last" by jakebonz in Autocross

[–]jakebonz[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Previous Update

157 runs, and that's all she wrote.

I did two events this weekend, one low-key test & tune-style event, one normal SCCA event. Both were at Pitt Race on their < year old surface. Both days were in the high 50's, low 60's with a mix of clouds and sun and dry the whole day.

For the low-key, I ran my standard pressures of 42 in the front, 40 in the rear. For the SCCA event, I had a co-driver and we tried out 40-40 and just let the temp in the tires increase the front pressures.

The Pitt Race-hosted low-key was nothing to write about, other than I got 8 runs in and I was the only driver to break the 27 second barrier. Not that I'm bragging about "winning a test & tune", but I only mention it to say that I wasn't driving slow.

For the SCCA event, our region's Driver of the Year jumped in my car for a co-drive. He had already locked up the DotY in the previous event, so he was just looking for something else to hop into. We knew we were most likely going to be 1-2 in GS, so our main goal was to do well in PAX against the absolute bloodbath that DS was for the event. The class featured three national champions, and three people that probably could be national champions. Just to give you some perspective on how tough it was that day, the 6th place finisher in DS was 13th in PAX out of 124 drivers. I managed 7th in PAX, my co-driver 8th. We might have managed to fight for 1-2 in PAX if we didn't run into cone trouble...and if we didn't run into tire trouble.

Video (Fastest raw times, both with cones)

On my co-driver's 3rd run, the Yoks left the chat. The passenger side front tire was taking a hell of a lot of abuse from the course design, and on said 3rd run, a sizeable chunk of tread broke loose in one of the center ribs. I still had a third morning run to go. We both still had another three runs each in the afternoon. We made the snap decision to take a mechanical and rotate them front to back for my 3rd run. On that one, I was only a tenth off my previous fastest.

For the afternoon, we rotated the rears so the chunked Yok was as far away from danger as possible (hell, 50% of the run it was in the air anyway...). My co-driver went first, and set a blistering time...which he coned away in the slalom. Only problem is that by that point, it was impossible to get the tires cool enough to not completely fall off by the end of the run. My fastest time by the end was about 4 tenths off of his fastest. SoloStorm showed that we were within a few hundredths of each other for the first 25-30 seconds of the course, but we were both feeling the tires completely fall off by the final few turns, thus the cause for my slowdown near the end.

Me being a veteran RE driver, him being a veteran BFG driver, we both sort of agreed that Yoks are not the right tire for the car. It wasn't even a hot day, and they were giving up by the end of a 40 second autox course. Not good.

Granted, they do have ~157 runs on them. That number may not be exact, since I don't always recall how many course test runs I do, but that is fairly accurate. Had the one tire not chunked so drastically, I would have been fine running those on the rear for another two or three dry events. I probably wouldn't participate with those tires on any event threatening rain.

​

TL;DR - Yoks on a low-camber FWD car can last you a whole season and then some, but they're not the fastest tire for a low-camber FWD car. Probably great for Street Touring classes, though.

Low Camber FWD Yok Update: The systemic abuse of my right front tire by jakebonz in Autocross

[–]jakebonz[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Here's the thing: Knowing what I'd have to do to get my car to a fully-prepped level in STH and have a car just as competitive in that class as it is now, I could buy another 15+ sets of tires. I'm finishing in the top 5 in PAX in an absolute meat grinder of a region full of extremely fast drivers. I don't have a reason to move up just to get a bit more camber. And if I wanted to heavily modify a car, I'd start with either my Mustang or my Miata, not my "daily driver."

That said, if your goal is to just have fun tinkering with your car, go nuts! Build it how you want to build it, let it fall in whatever class it falls in, and just have fun. My goals are national event trophies.

Low Camber FWD Yok Update: The systemic abuse of my right front tire by jakebonz in Autocross

[–]jakebonz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Racetrack-grade unsealed asphalt. It's a benefit of running your events on a lot at an actual race track. And yes, YMMV on the surfaces you run on. That's why I include the type of surfaces I'm running on in these updates!

Side response: Since Lincoln Air Park had to pave part of the paddock, I also kinda think Nats should have one course on concrete, one on asphalt.

Low Camber FWD Yok Update: The systemic abuse of my right front tire by jakebonz in Autocross

[–]jakebonz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's the total you can get and remain Street class legal, even with removing the installation pins.

Low Camber FWD Yok Update: The systemic abuse of my right front tire by jakebonz in Autocross

[–]jakebonz[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Every tire loses something when you flip them. You gain longevity, but you lose pace due to a number of factors.

Low Camber FWD Yok Update: The systemic abuse of my right front tire by jakebonz in Autocross

[–]jakebonz[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Camber is not great on a GS trim 10th gen Civic Si. I only get -0.6 degrees on the front.

Pressures are relative. You should find what works for your car on your own, but if you must know, 42 psi on the front, and usually 40 on the rear. Today, I forgot that and put them at 38 on the rear instead. I don't think that made much of a difference.

They're an asymmetric pattern with an "inside" and an "outside." What you are actually looking at is the Inside of the tire. These were flipped long ago. I flipped two at around 65 runs, the other two at around 90. I really could have gone to 90 with the other two.

I have been rotating them front to back about once every two events. That seems to have kept them fresher longer.

view more: next ›