I did a little searching and couldn't find anything on this topic, but I"m sorry if this is an old question and I missed the answer!
I'm building a multi-stop train system in my mincraft world connecting multiple locations. Is there a limit to how far redstone will conduct a signal, if you use repeaters etc?
For a concrete example... I am at Point A, which is about 400 blocks away from Point B, which is 400 blocks from Point C. I set up a circuit such that pushing a button (not a lever) at Point A causes track switches over at point B (using some flip-flop located at point B to convert the pulse to a steady current). Then I hop in a car at Point A and it carries me over to Point B, and then onward to Point C, based on those track switches.
So, will a quick pulse signal sent via a button conduct all the way from Point A to Point B, 400 blocks away? I have the feeling that it won't and that, after a certain distance, the game will simply stop propagating the signal, since it hasn't loaded the more distance chunks/blocks/thingys into RAM.
As a follow up question.. if a pulse signal won't conduct over that distance, what about using a lever to send a steady signal instead? Would that get around the problem? I'm hoping, in this scenario, that as I travel down the 400 block track in the mine cart, the signal I initiated at Point A propagates along with my travel and reaches Point B ahead of the minecart, flipping the track.
Thanks for any help!!!
Mike
(And as a PPS... if the button approach doesn't work but the lever approach does, how far apart can the wire and the track be for it to still function? E.g. if my track runs at water level, and my wiring runs roughly along the same course but about 50 or 55 blocks underground, will this work, or do the wires need to be a lot closer to the track?)
As an experiment I dug a very long corridor and laid wire (with repeaters) the length. Then set up TNT at various points (measured out). Tested with a lever to make sure all the wiring was good for all points, then connected the TNT and used a button. Hit it a few times just to be sure then went down and checked.
The TNT block at 260 tiles distance from the signal start was the last one to go off. The next TNT block, at 310 tiles, did not explode. I retested the wire and the button and still couldn't get it to go off.
For the final test, I replaced the button with a lever and switched the lever on. Then I climbed up vertically to the surface -- my corridor is at around height 13 above bedrock. I walked 400 tiles across ground level following the general route of the tunnel, and then descended to the far end, and walked back toward the TNT block. It had blown.
Cheers.
Definitely possible that the edge positions of the chunks would give different transmission ranges for pulses, and also that a repeater set up at just the wrong point between chunks could wreck the lever solution (as bromazepam suggests).
Assuming you have worked out all the repeating, redstone charges (levers, RS nor latches, redstone torches) have no limit to how far they carry, as long as you follow the wire at all times, within 4 chunks. Redstone pulses (buttons, pressure plates) on the other hand, will only carry as far as you have loaded chunks.
We've done quite a bit of testing on this related to controlling distant minecart switches. I wouldn't count on a redstone charge carrying over very long distances unless you have latches along the way that detect your position and disregard input from behind you before the previous latch leaves the redstone operational area.
Pulses have both that problem and an additional problem that pulse width can change if it passes through certain configurations of repeaters.
I would just toss a memory gate at about 250. As you get closer, the gate will keep the signal moving.
Quote from sfs »
Just curious: What would happen on smp where you had players positioned along the wire so the chunks update?
if you had enough people, would the signal be able to travel infinitely?
I should.
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I'm building a multi-stop train system in my mincraft world connecting multiple locations. Is there a limit to how far redstone will conduct a signal, if you use repeaters etc?
For a concrete example... I am at Point A, which is about 400 blocks away from Point B, which is 400 blocks from Point C. I set up a circuit such that pushing a button (not a lever) at Point A causes track switches over at point B (using some flip-flop located at point B to convert the pulse to a steady current). Then I hop in a car at Point A and it carries me over to Point B, and then onward to Point C, based on those track switches.
So, will a quick pulse signal sent via a button conduct all the way from Point A to Point B, 400 blocks away? I have the feeling that it won't and that, after a certain distance, the game will simply stop propagating the signal, since it hasn't loaded the more distance chunks/blocks/thingys into RAM.
As a follow up question.. if a pulse signal won't conduct over that distance, what about using a lever to send a steady signal instead? Would that get around the problem? I'm hoping, in this scenario, that as I travel down the 400 block track in the mine cart, the signal I initiated at Point A propagates along with my travel and reaches Point B ahead of the minecart, flipping the track.
Thanks for any help!!!
Mike
(And as a PPS... if the button approach doesn't work but the lever approach does, how far apart can the wire and the track be for it to still function? E.g. if my track runs at water level, and my wiring runs roughly along the same course but about 50 or 55 blocks underground, will this work, or do the wires need to be a lot closer to the track?)
As an experiment I dug a very long corridor and laid wire (with repeaters) the length. Then set up TNT at various points (measured out). Tested with a lever to make sure all the wiring was good for all points, then connected the TNT and used a button. Hit it a few times just to be sure then went down and checked.
The TNT block at 260 tiles distance from the signal start was the last one to go off. The next TNT block, at 310 tiles, did not explode. I retested the wire and the button and still couldn't get it to go off.
For the final test, I replaced the button with a lever and switched the lever on. Then I climbed up vertically to the surface -- my corridor is at around height 13 above bedrock. I walked 400 tiles across ground level following the general route of the tunnel, and then descended to the far end, and walked back toward the TNT block. It had blown.
Cheers.
Definitely possible that the edge positions of the chunks would give different transmission ranges for pulses, and also that a repeater set up at just the wrong point between chunks could wreck the lever solution (as bromazepam suggests).
Pulses have both that problem and an additional problem that pulse width can change if it passes through certain configurations of repeaters.
if you had enough people, would the signal be able to travel infinitely?
I should.