You're here about valves are you. Well, I can get you started. There's a lot you can do with them, and unfortunately I'm only going to scratch the surface here.
#One dee ten tea's guide to valves (incomplete)
hazy shore
By default, the valve will be set to limit you to 1 m^3/s flow rate. Rarely do you want that, so go ahead and crank that all the way to the right or left, unless you actually need a rate limit
0 being off, and flow unlimited being, well, it's not exactly unlimited per se, as a channel has a limit to how much water it can pass
0 being off, and flow unlimited being, well, it's not exactly unlimited per se, as a channel has a limit to how much water it can pass. a 1 wide 1 height unconstrained channel can theoretically move around 3.3cms, but this goes up for a valve if there's a lot of water height built up behind it compared to the water height downstream.
Additionally, the valve acts as a one way, well, valve, only allowing water to flow in the direction the arrow is pointing in. In from the flat side, out from the side with metal bits sticking out.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/912994733708681216/1478577519648182485/image.png?ex=69a8e81f&is=69a7969f&hm=748af80f8975fd2351979e4352591e2ddfc6f16092081c257945170b374ed31f&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=903&height=745
Okay, we're done here now. That's your guide to valves! See you around next time.
...What are you still doing here? Oh. You want to know about automation... okay, fine...
Well, to start you off on automation, take a quick look over at #1478152307056316659 to get a brief overview of how those work. That actually does give an example of working valve automation, so it's fine if you stop there as well.
This one is more intended to be a replacement for #1256408526129991791 or for those trying to replicate sluice functionality with valves and automation
While there are many different ways to automate, we will be strictly sticking to depth and contamination sensors, and the weather station as these should be the most common and simplest usage of automation with valves.
Where to begin...? Let's start with opening and closing a valve based on water levels.
Let's say you have a large, tall body of water and you want to keep a shallow pool topped off at a depth of 0.4 for the purposes of irrigation (or other reasons)
To start off I'll go ahead and place a valve in the reservoir wall, near the base. Ideally you do this before it's filled, but if you have to do it after.. it might get messy.
Next, we'll add a depth sensor-mine is at the top of the reservoir wall, but yours can be lower, anywhere along the red lines, as long as the paddle sticking out of the sensor is over where the water will need to be and the paddle is entirely above the water you want to measure
Then I'll set so x < 0.4 so if measurement is less than 0.4, the sensor will activate. you can do x > 0.4 instead if you want, but you'll have to flip the valve settings around.
Then go to your valve and hit "Automate" and either click on the depth sensor or choose the correctly named one from the dropdown
You'll notice that the valve settings change a little, and the settings that you had for the valve previously will be saved in the first slot, "Off"
Slot one rules (red 1), Off, will be active when there is no signal being sent to the valve. In this case, I set Off to 0, so if there is no signal, there is no flow.
Slot two rules (cyan 2), On, will be active when there a signal being sent to the valve. In this case, I set On to unlimited, so when it gets a signal, it'll let water pass.
Slot three rules (blue 3), reaction speed, affects the speed at which the flow limit switches between states when the valve is toggled. 100% is near instant, around 3-4 ticks to go from 0 to fully open, 65% takes around 3.75 hours, and 10% will have you waiting until you get old.
If you're getting large waves or rapid opening and closing, dialing down reaction speed some and limiting the flow rate may help you some. Generally speaking, i prefer around 90% overall, and 60% plus rate limit if i'm worried about overfilling
Depth sensors are not limited to downstream, however, there is little value to regulating upstream depth with a valve when a dam block or floodgate would do just as well, if not better. If you do not need to divert badwater with this structure, then letting water roll over the top of the dam is perfectly fine for setting the upstream reservoir's height... but it's not like I can stop you 😄
Here, have a save to play with
blergh. need to rewrite some stuff. on pause
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One dee ten tea's guide to valves (incomplete)
mint inlet
You should compare the valve to the old sluice so that people can get a hand with the new system
hazy shore
yeah, that's why i need to rewrite things
brain is fried though, so if you want to take over
agile echo
Would it make sense to mention tunnels and dynamite (used carefully) as the route to getting water out of a full reservoir without a mess?
hazy shore
Sorry, being a bit slow on finishing this, i might just break it into smaller pieces,
- integration with basic sensors and why you might want to do it
- duplication of sluice functionality