Recharging Batteries is too short

[tjoneslo]

P. 241 "Recharging may be accomplished by hooking the battery into any available power plant/supply, at a rate of 1 EP recharged per round the battery is hooked to the power supply."

The problem is that all power plants output EP per minute. This leads to the design of a 1 EP power plant charging a 1 EP battery in one minute, then running the 1 EP drivetrain for 1 hour. This violates the first and second law of thermodynamics.

Either the Vehicle power plant output needs to be EP per hour (to match the battery output) or the battery recharge rate needs to be 1 EP per hour (to match the battery capacity).

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
P. 241 "Recharging may be accomplished by hooking the battery into any available power plant/supply, at a rate of 1 EP recharged per round the battery is hooked to the power supply."

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
The problem is that all power plants output EP per minute. This leads to the design of a 1 EP power plant charging a 1 EP battery in one minute, then running the 1 EP drivetrain for 1 hour. This violates the first and second law of thermodynamics.

I can see the EP/time-unit required for drivetrains, though. That's a problem.

The rule on page 241 states, "1 Battery Unit can discharge up to 1 EP for 1 hour." This makes it seem like the Battery is providing 1 EP per round for the entire hour, just like a powerplant (and if not, how does the battery push a drivetrain?). Wouldn't that be 360 EP (Personal Scale), 60 EP (vehicle scale), and 1/20th EP (Starship Scale)? I'm ok with EP's providing different amounts of energy a different scales, I guess . . .

If I pull a 20EP battery module out of a person-sized robot, and stick it in my small walker-mecha, is it now providing 1EP/minute (1-round)instead of 1EP/6-seconds (1-round). Or is it that the drivetrains (Legs, in this case) draw less energy over a given time when they get larger . . . oops, what did I just say? Bigger requires less power? Oh yes, as the battery is placed in the Vehicle Scale mechanism, it's EPs are now really worth more energy (as noted above) . . . wait . . .


I've been reading the thread: "Round duration for Advanced Fusion EP production", and have made note of the various statements made there in regards to this issue.

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
Either the Vehicle power plant output needs to be EP per hour (to match the battery output) or the battery recharge rate needs to be 1 EP per hour (to match the battery capacity).