Why is my inserter factory doing start-stop production?

[silman]

When i look at my factory it is pressurized on the belts, but when i click on a factory it seems to create an inserter then pause to wait for some ingredient even though the ingredients are right next to the factory waiting to be inserted into it.

Here is a pic, in this istance, the yellow inserter factory wasn't picking up any o the electronic circuits that were passing by it even though the assembly machine said it needed more, after about four seconds it re-stocked it.

[Boogieman14]

A full output will also prevent the factory from accepting further components. That's the first thing I'd look at.

[n9103]

I can already tell you that your problem is not enough ECs for all of them to run at full speed.
If there were, your EC line would have them waiting at the far end, and all the inserters would be working.

But yes, the specific reason is as Boogie said, your output is full at the moment.

[silman]

I can already tell you that your problem is not enough ECs for all of them to run at full speed.
If there were, your EC line would have them waiting at the far end, and all the inserters would be working.

But yes, the specific reason is as Boogie said, your output is full at the moment.

I know my EC production needs to be improved, but my output wasnt full and the inster was just passing up the ECs that were going right by it.

[FishSandwich]

Basically, your smart inserter is waiting for ECs. Because of this it can't take any more blue inserters (max 2), so blue inserters output will get full. Blue inserter factory shuts down because it can't make any more, so it can't take any more yellow inserters. Then yellow inserter output gets full, so yellow inserter factory shuts down and waits for smart inserter factory to need blue inserters.

[silman]

Basically, your smart inserter is waiting for ECs. Because of this it can't take any more blue inserters (max 2), so blue inserters output will get full. Blue inserter factory shuts down because it can't make any more, so it can't take any more yellow inserters. Then yellow inserter output gets full, so yellow inserter factory shuts down and waits for smart inserter factory to need blue inserters.

I see, is this design not good for smart inserters? Or do i just need more ECs? How any EC assemblers should a full factory have?

[n9103]

A little bit of both, most mostly need more ECs.
Unless this is the only thing you plan on feeding this particular belt of ECs to, then you should probably split off the belt to each factory.

[silman]

A little bit of both, most mostly need more ECs.
Unless this is the only thing you plan on feeding this particular belt of ECs to, then you should probably split off the belt to each factory.

I was planning on having these ECs go to my entire factory, including Adv. Circuits, what is a better smart inserter design?

[n9103]

Well, just do for the ECs what you're doing for the iron plates.

[FatMcK]

I see, is this design not good for smart inserters? Or do i just need more ECs? How any EC assemblers should a full factory have?

I say the design is good. I'm using a very similar layout in my current map as part of my science line, just in vice versa order.

I call it a 'Self regulating assembling line', means smart production has anything stocked but circuits. Similar to what Fish told, normal and fast takes as much circuits as they can, so smart don't gets enough and stopps working. When normal and fast are fully stocked circuits gets through, smart can start producing, using up a fast, so fast starts producing, normal too, and both start to stockpiling circuits again till they are full. In my reversed order it is nearly the same, just in reversed order.

Feeding each assembler with splitters would just change that the smart assembler would make less pauses, but the other assemblers would then start making pauses too. So as long as the whole assembler line doesn't get more circuits there is nothing to optimize in the layout.

[DerivePi]

For my inserter production, I have two belts with Iron Plate/Iron gears and Circuits/Advanced Circuits on one side. On the other side, I output the inserters to other belts. For the basic inserter, I have three outbound belts: one for green science, one for a storage/requester chest, and one that runs adjacent to the red then the blue inserter assemblers. For the blue inserters, I have another belt that runs one step up to the smart inserter assembler. Although, not intentional, this provides a bit of a buffer.

[silman]

I have noticed that no matter how many EC assemlbers i build, the circuits can' get far enough down due to the spacing that is introduced by the EC splitter before they enter the inserter factory.

What i have is a bunch o EC assemblers creating ECs on a that turns into the EC main bus, but when i use a splitter to branch off this bus there is always a definite space between the ECs that come through the splitter.

[ssilk]

You need to compress the items on the belts. Use faster belts.
https://forums.factorio.com/wiki/inde ... ompression