Can someone explain off the grid power please

[SparklyB]

So I recently got Eco Lifestyle and moved my Sim into an off-the grid lot.

She's bought a wind turbine and two solar panels for electricity and after a few electrical storms took them out, and a few upgrades they're working well.

She now has a power surplus of +14.64 per day and currently has 33 saved up.

So I've had various electrical items like a fridge, recycler, fabricator and tv, but when my turbine and panels broke down my energy was drained so I had to get rid of them all.

I put my fridge in storage so I thought I've surely got enough power and making enough power now to put the fridge back.

The fridge is the Crisponix Budget Dee-Lux used and it's power consumption is 1. I placed it back in the kitchen and when I checked my power had changed to -9.06 per day.

That's a massive jump. Could someone please explain how this works. When it say's how much power an item consumes, what does that relate to? The fridge is a 1, I would have thought that meant it consumes one unit of power per day. If I'm making 14.64 per day, would adding the fridge mean my power is +13.64? Is the power I'm collecting not measure in units, or is it fractions of units?

Could it be that 100 is actually 1 unit, but that would mean I'd have to collect a huge amount of power per day to just use one fridge. Am I missing the point of living off grid in that you're not meant to obtain items that use power or water other than the very basics? I would have thought a fridge was a pretty basic item. 

Would someone be able to explain this to me, I've tried googling it but can't seem to find an explanation in any detail of how the power and water surplus, or units actually work.

Thanks

[jpkarlsen]

@SparklyB 

The ratings 1 - 5 as far as I can see is like the real world ratings A - F on appliances so not a number for how much electricity they use. As the pack is new I don't think anyone has yet tried to figure out how much electricity they consume at a certain rating. All I can say is that you need to produce more than you use. I recommend using roof windmills and roof solar panels as they don't break.

[SparklyB]

@jpkarlsen If the numbers don't actually relate to the amount of power an item uses, then the description 'Power Consumption 1' is confusing. That to me sounds like how much power an item uses.

My turbine can't break anymore as it's been upgraded. The solar panels do sometimes break but are quick to fix so that's not too much of an issue. My Sim has no electrical items on her lot currently and is making an electricity surplus, but the moment I add a fridge it tells me that she would use up all her power created each day and would actually go into negative. I'm just trying to work out how much power you have to create to actually run very low consumption items. 

I don't want to have to fill my lot with a huge amount of solar panels just to get one fridge to work. Seems very excessive. 

[jpkarlsen]

@SparklyB 

You can choose to remove some unnecessary appliances if you prefer.

[SparklyB]

@jpkarlsen She currently has no electrical appliances, because even adding one fridge gives her negative power. 

That's why I was trying to work out how the power consumption works, compared to the amounts of power it say's your panels and turbines are producing.

[jpkarlsen]

@SparklyB 

You need to have produced some power before you can use an appliance that uses power.

[Rae_Regenbogen]

Yeah, I don’t understand this either. I honestly wonder if the power system is bugged. I have one fridge that I can’t use and no other electrical items. I don’t understand how my solar panel isn’t generating enough electricity to run one refrigerator.

[jpkarlsen]

@Rae_Regenbogen 

I did a test. on the container lot. Added one roof solar panel Power Production 2 (PP) and one Fridge Power Rating 2 (PR). This worked fine.  Did you try one of the more expensive fridges with far higher PR?

I then added a stove PR 5 and two roof wind turbines PP 3 each and now have a surplus I can store or sell.

PP and PR must be one to one or better.

[Rae_Regenbogen]

I can’t really play right now due to the game constantly crashing, but I’ll check once PS4 gets some sort of update.

[SparklyB]

@jpkarlsen Well that's what I thought, but it's not.

As in my original post, my Sim has a power surplus of +14.64 per day. She has no electrical items at all, but I placed the cheapest fridge with a PC of 1. My power then went from +14.64 per day to minus 9.06. That means she's now running a minus amount of energy per day, so over time once the +33 she has saved up runs out that the 2 solar panels and the wind turbine will not be generating enough power to run one fridge. Because she's running a minus per day it means she's just using from the store, so no energy will be stored and because she's using more than what is generated the store will eventually run out and it won't generate enough to run one item.

That's why I was asking about the PC as it doesn't seem to add up. If the fridge uses 1 per day, I would expect my power consumption to go from +14.64 to +13.64. As long as she's not using more electricity then she's generating then I should always be running a surplus. But placing just that one item with a power consumption of 1 meant I immediately was running a power deficit, and I wasn't generating enough power.

With the water it's not as bad because you use those items as and when. She has plenty of water stored up so she can take a shower per day and use the taps and toilet here and there and that's fine.