(Mod) AMPS Development Thread

[Whte_rbt 1,431]

On seeing the grid overlay, corp HQ is gonna be a 3x5 lot.

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

My version of a HQ stated 5x5, then went to 5x6, than I tried 6x6 but that was not right either. I finally settled for 5x7. So, if someone asked me to change it, I would scream and polity type "No way Jose!". LOL (No joke on the lots size's I tried.)

Anyways, I was here to ask @RobertaME what you thought about a training center as a posable future addon somehow. Just an idea that I just came up with. Other than that I don't have any thoughts on how. Something for down the road, maybe?

[Simmer2 23,785]

SM2 Advanced Solar Array will be part of our grids soon. Far more efficient and durable.

This one folds and retracts underground when winds above a certain strength are sensed. They could also be made to retract at night and off course they will automatically follow the sun as well.

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

1 hour ago, Simmer2 said:

SM2 Advanced Solar Array will be part of our grids soon. Far more efficient and durable.

This one folds and retracts underground when winds above a certain strength are sensed. They could also be made to retract at night and off course they will automatically follow the sun as well.

Did you here that loud noise? That was my jaw hitting the floor. Holly cow those are a cool idea. Love them!

[Simizen 1,088]

19 hours ago, Simmer2 said:

SM2 Advanced Solar Array will be part of our grids soon. Far more efficient and durable.

This one folds and retracts underground when winds above a certain strength are sensed. They could also be made to retract at night and off course they will automatically follow the sun as well.

lol, you made sunflowers

Which is awesome mind you. I'm pretty sure if we can pull that off in real life, we'd probably be better off with all of that, than the more simplistic setups we've got with the panels nearly flat on the ground.

And, to be honest, I've had thoughts of how we should have something similar irl. Sunflowers already open up and follow the sun, so, why not do the same thing with solar panels?

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

On 4/4/2021 at 3:10 PM, Ryuu Tenno said:

lol, you made sunflowers

Which is awesome mind you. I'm pretty sure if we can pull that off in real life, we'd probably be better off with all of that, than the more simplistic setups we've got with the panels nearly flat on the ground.

And, to be honest, I've had thoughts of how we should have something similar irl. Sunflowers already open up and follow the sun, so, why not do the same thing with solar panels?

Like these? They are state of the art. https://archive.curbed.com/2018/9/11/17845638/solar-panel-power-smartflower-united-states

Smart Cooling

Nominal output	2.50kWp*
Annual output	~4,000 – 6,200kWh/a**

Physical Specs

Installation	4 fastening points earth screws or concrete foundation
Clear space	~16ft3
Weight	~1,690lbs

Safety

Temperature range	-13 F° — 122° F / -25°C – 50°C
Wind speed before automatically entering two safety positions	1: >30 miles per hour 2: >40 miles per hour

Warranty

Module performance warranty	25 years
System warranty	2 years

*according to STC standards

**depending on the region and weather

  Edited April 6, 2021 by Kloudkicker  
Added tech data

[Simizen 1,088]

23 minutes ago, Kloudkicker said:

Like these? They are state of the art. https://archive.curbed.com/2018/9/11/17845638/solar-panel-power-smartflower-united-states

OH MY GOD

why aren't we using more of these?

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

39 minutes ago, Ryuu Tenno said:

OH MY GOD

why aren't we using more of these?

They are VERY expensive right now. They follow the sun and retract at night. They are very similar to Simmer2's design, all but retracting into the ground. That's the part I love on Simmer2's models. Assuming his are just part of the eye candy function of his lot. It would be cool to have a disaster alarm in the game and when used, all of his panels fold up and "hide". LOL

Edit. Forgot that they self clean as the flower folds up. Cleaners are on the bottom side of the panels and it cleans the glass every night. High tech!

Edit#2. A quote from the link in above post...

"When the sun rises in the morning, the SmartFlower automatically unfolds and begins producing energy by setting its petals at a ninety-degree angle. The flower goes “back to sleep” into a folding position at night or whenever high winds make it unsafe to operate.

It does all of this autonomously through algorithm-based dual axis tracking. It also boasts a cooling and cleaning system that brushes the front of each panel every time the unit folds and unfolds. Because the SmartFlower is always at an optimal angle to the sun, it can generate up to 40 percent more energy production than traditional solar.

The SmartFlower is a kinetic all-in-one system, with the inverter, monitor, and control system housed in the cabinet of the unit. This means that the solar system can be delivered, assembled, and installed in a short amount of time. Even better, the SmartFlower can be installed in any open space and you can draw power off of it just by connecting it to your home or office.

The original SmartFlower base model is a fully integrated photovoltaic system meant for residential use that comes in eight different colors. The SmartFlower is also electric vehicle-compatible thanks to easy integration with external EV charging stations. The cost is $24,950 which doesn’t include shipping or installation. Another model—the SmartFlower Plus—offers an integrated battery storage system that lets you store solar energy for when you need it."

High tech at a price.

  Edited April 4, 2021 by Kloudkicker  
Forgot.

[Simizen 1,088]

That's not bad actually. $25k? I expected it to be way higher than that. So, that's pretty cheap for what I was thinking. Granted, it's the cost of a new car, so, not quite that cheap. But, not bad overall.

Though, if each petal cleans the next, what cleans the top one?

And, a weird thought came to mind, is it possible to create an inverted iris system for it? Like, there's a window cover, that lets you turn a knob and it closes in, in a circle, I'm wondering if maybe that's possible in reverse to help flatten it out some. Though, I'm sure that would bump the price up considerably.

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

4 minutes ago, Ryuu Tenno said:

Though, if each petal cleans the next, what cleans the top one?

Looking at the picture, I think it could be in the unit base some how, when it docks for the night. Other than that, I would guess, YOU, the owner. LOL (Beats doing all the panels)

Google 'solar flowers' in Images and look at all the different designs there are. There's a lot!

 

[Simmer2 23,785]

25k? Why pay when its free

SM2 Advanced Solar Array

12 models and 21 timed exemplars gives you this...

[Simizen 1,088]

I assume, we can choose their direction? cause, solar power's not that effective when facing away from the sun

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

10 hours ago, Kloudkicker said:

Assuming his are just part of the eye candy function of his lot.

I am so happy I assumed wrong. WOW @Simmer2, WOW!

[RobertaME 1,376]

Sorry I haven't been too active the last couple days. Getting things ready for Easter took all my time, so I haven't even touched the mod since earlier this week. I should have a lot more free time when everyone's at work, so I can get back to trying to get the load balancing function to work. (ran out of excuses and other things to do instead :^Þ )

@Simmer2

Your new PV panels look very cool. :^)

I hate to bring this up... but I just can't help but see these sort of things. First, look at these two screen-caps.

Do you see the proportional difference in the amount of shadow these two lots cast compared to their overall ground surface area? That shows how much sun the panels are catching and as a direct consequence, how much energy potential they have. The first image is your new PV panel set. By my calculation, only 20% of the potential surface area is catching the sun. The other 80% is just letting it hit the ground. by comparison, your Modular PV Panels (right) are shading over 70% of their ground, catching a far higher percentage of the sun's rays. Efficient solar collection depends on catching as much sun per square foot of land used as possible... otherwise it's wasted potential. We used a "windmill" type PV panel setup on Skylab, but that's because the whole mechanism had to be able to fit into the nosecone at the top of the C-I and C-II stack of the Saturn V, and flexible monocrystalline PV panels didn't exist yet. They do now.

By my calculations, based on your pics, each "wing" of these panels measures about the same as one of the two panels in your Modular PV Panel set. That would mean a total power potential from one "windmill" of about 75kW because these panels are not actually catching much sun, and thus wouldn't rate more than about 15 MWh/month. They appear to take up 2x2 tiles, so that's a quarter acre. That's a lot of real estate to eat up for not much actual power generation. Three of your Modular PV panels could do the same job with less complication, cost, and land. If they were a complete circle as shown in the "Smartflower" that @Kloudkicker referenced (more on those below) rather than six radiating "wings" it would be much more efficient.

Additionally, PV panels in most areas have to be ASCE 7-10 or 7-16 certified for wind gusts up to 170 mph anyway. This is most often accomplished though the choice and design of the panels' solar racking system that they're mounted to. Because of the high winds we get where I live, the ones on my own roof had to be rated up to 200 mph... that's hurricane-force winds. By making units stand so far off the ground, they actually can take less sheering force than your Modular PV Panels that are built right against the ground on sturdy pylons.

Rule of Cool is one thing, but more often than not, Cool is impractical.

Regarding the Smartflower, $25k is almost as much as I paid for my entire 7.62 kW system and Smartflowers only provide 2.5 kW peak... less than one third the power. For three times the price of good quality monocrystalline roof panels that can be rated to still operate in hurricane force winds, it makes them nothing more than expensive art. Cleaning panels also isn't an issue. I live in the Nevada desert where we get less than 2.4 inches of rainfall per year and my panels get cleaned by Mother Nature often enough to not warrant me ever cleaning them myself... only occasional snow removal when we get a bad storm. (and this is more for our benefit as covered panels don't produce... the snow would melt eventually) This isn't Mars where PV panels that get dusty never get rained on to clean it off. With no moving parts, there's also nothing to wear out on a good set of fixed-angle panels that are engineered for maximal sun exposure... which is why they're guaranteed for 25 years.

"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." Capt. Montgomery Scott, Star Trek III

Not wanting to rain on anyone's parade or anything... but I just can't help but see the problems with things like this. It's in my nature. Sorry if I offend anyone. It's not intentional.

Hoppy Easter, everyone! :^)

Edit: Oh, and yes... in school I was that girl... you know, the one that told the substitute teacher what last night's homework was and where the regular teacher kept her grade book? The one that reminded teachers that they forgot to assign the homework for that night? That girl? That was me! And yes... I'm loads of fun at parties! :^Þ

  Edited April 5, 2021 by RobertaME  
You must be fun at parties...

[RobertaME 1,376]

OK, the slope has been getting slipperier, but I'm going to remind everyone once more...

NO

POLITICS

ALLOWED

IN

THIS

THREAD...

PERIOD.

That means favoring "green power" over others as well. If you don't like Georgia Power or any other company, for whatever reason... that's fine. If the reason is ideological, please keep it to yourself.

I don't want ANYONE turned off of using AMPS because of ideological differences... in either direction. That means no one is allowed to state things like "this company pushes green energy with strong-arm tactics, so we shouldn't use it" either.

Edit: Removed comment about post; thanks @Cyclone Boom!

  Edited April 5, 2021 by RobertaME  
Moving on...

[Cyclone Boom 16,852]

Just to add...

It is completely Roberta's choice how she wishes her thread to run for politics (and such) being avoided. Those are very divisive polarising subjects, which people strongly have very contrasting views. Understandably that could lead to heated diverging debate in here, which is beyond the scope of AMPS development discussion.

Of course, we do have the Off-Topic forum, and thus I've moved the above post into a new topic posted there. I'll not post the link to it here, but those who wish to discuss about that can continue there instead. Everyone is entitled to their own views, but there is the right time and place for them to be expressed.

Let's now continue back onto discussing AMPS specifically in here.

Thanks all!

[Whte_rbt 1,431]

Sorry for not being clear in the original post, I wasn't trying to start a green/dirty political argument (though I appreciate how it could be construed so, my apologies) or come across as some kind of eco-warrior, just trying to give a little of the reasons behind altering my intended lot plan. I'm with you on not having this devolve into a political debate.

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

Came across the article and found it to be real interesting. Duke Energy turned an old coal plant into a battery storage plant. Reduce, reuse, recycle. That is what they have been teaching us. Its good to see it being put to use on a large scale project. 

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Duke-Energy-Installs-4MW-of-Battery-Storage-at-Retired-Coal-Plant

[Simizen 1,088]

4 minutes ago, Kloudkicker said:

Duke Energy turned an old coal plant into a battery storage plant.

See, why can't we do this more often? Like, so many people keep trying to build up new stuff, and I'm sitting here wondering why we can't just reuse the old stuff we got?

But, this seems like a really neat way to handle it, cause, then you can keep them all in an enclosed area, and protected from the elements as needed. Plus, many of these buildings are already close to cities and such, so, it's not like you'd need to work out the zoning regulations and such.

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

Found GE has quite a few beautiful HQ buildings all around the world. Here is a image search on google

https://www.google.com/search?q=General+Electric+hq&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjHoPLfp-jvAhVGPs0KHUVOA_oQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=General+Electric+hq&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzICCAAyBAgAEBgyBAgAEBg6BwgAELEDEEM6BQgAELEDOgQIABBDUKbnA1iT8QNg8PYDaABwAHgAgAGsAYgByQSSAQMwLjSYAQCgAQHAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=UKRrYMe4G8b8tAbFnI3QDw&bih=800&biw=1280&client=tablet-alps-full_t10q-us&prmd=nimv#imgrc=7nJM0r8okHmM8M&imgdii=azteOg5HX05lCM

  Edited April 6, 2021 by Kloudkicker  

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

19 hours ago, RobertaME said:

Regarding the Smartflower,

The Smartflower site comparing the fixed panels to theirs. https://smartflower.com/compare/. This one is a far stretch against fixed panels, "Rooftop panels may create risk in case of a house fire". WHAT, really? That's a bad time to play a board game! 

https://smartflower.com/

[Skyroguen 67]

Looks like the smart flower is an excellent option for emergency power. For when you need to have power right now. and it would cost next to nothing to remove and redeploy somewhere else. Add in some batteries and you could power a city fair or other temporary extravaganza. Or even provide emergency power when a substation gets knocked out by a disaster.

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

Here goes the central office and the research facility. Enjoy!

 

And here is the link to the corporate HQ I made.

 

[RobertaME 1,376]

Sorry I've been away a few days. Life gets busy when you aren't looking. I haven't even had time to open SC4 all week, let alone work on AMPS. ::sigh:: And this weekend is busy as well. Next chance I get to work on AMPS won't be until next Wednesday. :^/ Until then I'm stuffed with other stuff that needs done NOW. (like getting the car down to the mechanic... groceries... life... etc.)

Re: Smartflower vs. Rooftop

"(Rooftop) May take a month or more (to install)"

Yeah... right. They had my 7.62 kW system installed in less than 4 hours from when they arrived. Then when I needed to redo the roof due to some damage, they had them off again in 2 hours and reinstalled on the new roof in another 4... all for less than you'd pay for ONE 2.5 kW Smartflower. Sorry... I call a great big "NOPE" on that one.

As far as the rest, it's just a bunch of bad sales pitch.  House fire hazard? Exposed to the elements of weather and storm damage? Aesthetics? OK... still not worth triple the cost per kilowatt. Mine could get utterly destroyed down to the last panel and it would still be cheaper to replace them than buy three of their units that wouldn't quite match my output... and I have less than ideal mounting.

Plus there's one thing that these geniuses failed to think of... sun-tracking systems, and pretty much anything with moving parts, wear out... and in far less than 20-30 years that good monocrystalline PV panels will last. They require constant maintenance, whereas fixed panels require ZERO maintenance for most of their usable life. They just work.

Anyway...

On 4/8/2021 at 1:08 AM, Skyroguen said:

Looks like the smart flower is an excellent option for emergency power. For when you need to have power right now. and it would cost next to nothing to remove and redeploy somewhere else. Add in some batteries and you could power a city fair or other temporary extravaganza. Or even provide emergency power when a substation gets knocked out by a disaster.

At 2.5 kW each you'd need 3 or 4 dozen to act as emergency power for a single block at a cost of over $1 million, let alone the entire service area of a substation... and the battery cost needed to make them load follow and put out after dark would make the Smartflower cost look cheap.

See, that's part of why I want to get AMPS done. Most people have no idea just how much power pumps through a substation every day... even small ones. Since AMPS is realistically sized by kVA, someone playing with it can really see just how dependent we all are on those "ugly substations". Lose one and there's not a whole lot you can do about it except fix it and get it back working. The only real "emergency backup" is having more capacity than you need, so if you loose a station or two you're still OK.

Sorry for the mini-rant. It's just too easy to think PV systems can solve problems it just isn't capable of solving. Obviously I think they're good, otherwise I wouldn't have dropped $25k on mine, plus paid to have them removed and re-installed... but I also understand its limitations and how dependent on the grid we all are... especially people with solar net metering. No grid... no place to put a megawatt-hour or two when you don't need it and get it back when you do.

Anyway...

3 hours ago, Kloudkicker said:

Here goes the central office and the research facility. Enjoy!

...

And here is the link to the corporate HQ I made.

Thanks, @Kloudkicker! You are awesome! I'll get these integrated into the working Beta as soon as I get back to it on Wednesday! --,--'--@

Back to less fun stuff... budgets... grocery listing... checkbook balancing... laundry... ::sigh:: Someday...

[Simizen 1,088]

4 hours ago, RobertaME said:

Sorry I've been away a few days. Life gets busy when you aren't looking.

Back to less fun stuff... budgets... grocery listing...

Everyone's got stuff to do in their life. So, it's not an issue if you need to take a break from the mod to catch up on things.

And, honestly? While I know you absolutely love working on this project, I say accept this break. This will help you clear your mind for a bit, while you get everything else together, and, when you come back, you'll be able to toss in more energy than you would've had you stayed on it the whole time. Besides, with your focus elsewhere, you'll be able to figure out some extra things with it. Maybe it'll click what's a good fix for whatever your latest bug is, or, maybe how to just improve it overall. Many things can happen when you're away from the project, so, I say enjoy the time for the moment. Besides, you've done an incredible job with it so far. And, you've done a lot in a short period, and that's absolutely amazing. Granted, you did say that you've basically done this before, but, still, even with that, there's a lot of stuff going on that you're able to use, plus the fact that you've got people on here making brand new lots and buildings specifically for the mod. That's pretty impressive if you ask me.

5 hours ago, RobertaME said:

See, that's part of why I want to get AMPS done. Most people have no idea just how much power pumps through a substation every day... even small ones.

And, I am one such person. Like, I literally have no idea how much power travels through the system. But, I'm also the kind of person who likes to just learn about various things. Basically, I like to know what makes things tick, and it's just fun for me. So the fact that you're willing to teach people, through a system that many people interact with regularly like this, is absolutely wonderful. I know the rough basics (plant to station to transformer to home), but, not the more specific stuff. This will be great for learning. And even for those who aren't like me, they'll end up learning without even realizing it I'm sure.

Besides, you're doing all of this with, essentially, a broken system. Which makes it that much more impressive. Would be less broken if we had the source code, but, the fact that anyone's found ways of interacting with the game like this, without the source code still amazes me.

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

Working on a few lots just for the fun of it, and maybe others will enjoy it also. It stated out as a training center for electrical workers, and evolved into this... The field training school kicked my but for a little bit trying to convert it to a collage, but I prevailed. I also made a simple urban version for hitting the books. Both collages has its own unique attributes. All 3 lots( 2 collages and a Cs$$ plopable mirrored lot) in one pack and will be released soon.

PS @RobertaME, do feel like you need to included these in AMPS. I made them for my own fun and to share. 

Why wait any longer? Its ready, so here it is.

 

  Edited April 20, 2021 by Kloudkicker  
Why Wait?

[Simizen 1,088]

Those look awesome, but, I feel that you mean, college, as a collage is like, a collection of images.

Thought I'd let you know, since it seems that the query info, according to the pics, seem to have the same spelling.

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

1 hour ago, Ryuu Tenno said:

Those look awesome, but, I feel that you mean, college, as a collage is like, a collection of images.

Thought I'd let you know, since it seems that the query info, according to the pics, seem to have the same spelling.

You are correct, thank you. I am bad at spelling and grammar.

Update: All fixed and updated with a new version. Thank you very much for the heads up. 

  Edited April 21, 2021 by Kloudkicker  
Update

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

So much for catching all of the misspellings. Found two more, the subfolder and a file name itself. But I know I changed them. O well. What can I say, I didn't go to college, I went to a university. LOL ( I wish)

Spoiler

Secretly I am aiming for the record number of tries in the first 48 hours. LOL

 

[RobertaME 1,376]

Wow... so THAT was fun... NOT!

I sometimes get the feeling that the universe doesn't want me to finish this project! I just got done restoring all my backups after installing all new Hard Drives. This time though, I was prepared with nightly backups, so I lost... NOTHING!

HA! Take THAT, HD crashes! ::smug::

So here I am now with a brand spanking new WD Gold boot drive, a 16TB RAID data drive, (2 drives in a RAID 1 setup) TONS of free space, faster HD access, and ready to go again on getting AMPS out the door! I'll get back to work on things ASAP.

Thanks to everyone for your patience!