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[Atlas]

A few days ago, i used a motion device from the Wiki, it worked well enough.


Then I tried on my other computer to make a larger version... Which failed...


My second one SHOULD work based off the first one, I cant really tell why it isn't. Is my flow not enough, or is it too long for the water to travel with "motion"?


What is the largest perpetual motion device that you guys have created? Can you post screens?

[Kanddak]

The second one looks like it needs to be primed by having some dwarves work the pumps manually.

Here are the designs I'm familiar with:
http://mkv25.net/dfma/movie-1073-perpetualpowerfromalake - Pumps lake water through waterwheels which then power pump.
http://mkv25.net/dfma/poi-15092-powerplant - Same thing in a cave river.
http://mkv25.net/dfma/poi-14921-akmoltimikashbmemorialpowerplant - Channels dug in an aquifer. Experimentation with this setup in other forts has determined that once the wheels start turning, they will continue turning even if the drain is later sealed, which should conserve FPS.

Most other things I've tried, I've been unable to make work reliably. Usually a few wheels will turn on and off unpredictably. That includes variants of the "pump water from a large source through some wheels that power the pump, then dump it back into the source" technique built on artificial reservoirs, which is unfortunate.

I also have been unable to come up with a perpetual-motion design that doesn't tend to slowly evaporate water, which would be valuable on low-water maps.

[Atlas]

The second one looks like it needs to be primed by having some dwarves work the pumps manually.

Yea, I was trying to prime it for a while, i just kind of gave up...

[Razin]

In my last fort I tried building a bank of smaller ones (got up to 6 before abandoning for other reasons) (http://mkv25.net/dfma/poi-17263-itworkssuprisingly).  A few of them were chronically difficult... they had to have the water be less then 7/7 but at least 4/7 to work. They would run for a while (after a good "reset" I got it go go about two years without problems), but then one or two would start acting fussy until the whole chain eventually collapsed. I could keep some of them running longer by dumping more water into it with the pond method, but would always crash eventually.  It was terribly inefficient anyways; I only got 300 usable power out of the system, and even that wasn't really reliable either.

[Quatch]

I use these, a circular(square) channel, one pump on one side, a bank of wheels on the other, linked together. uses very little power.

Yes, it does occasionally stop working, if the random flow in the pool stops the wheels, or if there is too much(all 7s) or little water. A bucket or two and a single manual turn of the pump and it goes again. Stopped twice since I built it.

[Atlas]

My first device gets frozen during winter, but still can be restarted every spring with a simple manual turn of a pump.

[Itnetlolor]

Idea for regulating flow, and underflow prevention.

Be sure to have an auxiliary pump, triggerable, of course, pumping outside of the unit. Doing so for a split-second, or having an automatic mechanism that handles that at a properly timed interval (IE- Clock Mechanism). That would then solve the cardiac arrest that occurs.

One pump should do fine regardless of the size. Heck, you can even pump into a temporary evaporation (if above ground) reservoir that can flow back in if too much water is collected, of course, with a manual pump (for precision). But if it works properly, it won't require it. But one can't be too safe now could they?

[Atlas]

I upgraded my larger repeater to span multiple z-levels, with small waterfalls. It now is starting to work like it should, and with my placement of the intake valve, it requires no tuning of the pumps.