This article discusses the redstone engine in Buildcraft version 2. For the version in Buildcraft 3, see here .
Redstone engines powering wooden pipes.
Redstone engines are the cheapest of the type of Engine. They use wood instead of stone or iron in their crafting and are the least powerful of the three types of engine.
Redstone engines, like all other engines, gain speed as they heat up, which increases their energy output per second. Unlike Combustion engines, they will never explode on running hot, except when not powering anything (see below). In fact, they produce more power when becoming orange-blinking-red and it is not advised to turn them off unless needed (again, see below).
Break with pickaxe to get your engine back.
In the current Buildcraft versions for Minecraft 1.4+ redstone engines are no longer able to be chained to other engine types, nor output their power into wooden conductive pipes. As part of this change pumps are now better able to accept power from redstone engines directly (requires 2 or more engines), however it is impossible to use a redstone engine to power more advanced machines.
Recipe[] Ingredients:
Produces: 1 x Redstone Engine Setup Demonstration[]A short video guide on how to use Redstone Engine.  Power Source[]  Simple redstone engine installation: engine plus lever. Power Output[]The Redstone Engine has 4 different power outputs, depending on how hot it is, it will eventually heat up and reach the last (better) output. Blue: Makes 1 Energy Pulse every 5 seconds (0.01MJ/t). Green: Makes 1 Energy Pulse every 2.5 seconds (0.02MJ/t). Orange: Makes 1 Energy Pulse every 1.25 seconds (0.04MJ/t). Orange-blinking-Red: Makes 1 Energy Pulse every second (0.05MJ/t). This is the max safe power output. Uses[]  Several redstone engines powering wooden item pipes. Redstone engines are most often used for powering things like wooden pipes when it's not necessary to move many items at once because they are cheap to produce and maintain. Redstone engines are at their best used as powering for wooden pipes, for solid items or liquids. They are sufficient to execute this task and don't need a significant installation to function. The minimum configuration takes only two blocks: the engine itself and a lever or redstone torch. Redstone engines are only able to power more advanced machines, like quarries, when combined into great arrays. Quarries run at full speed with around 100 hot redstone engines, although will run (albeit more slowly) with 50-ish engines as well, so you can build more as it gathers more materials. Powering an engine with another will have both power the target of the former one. It is possible to set them up in a chain (daisy-chaining). This isn't recommended though, see below. Overheating[] Redstone engines can and will explode if not powering anything. Being connected even to a single wooden conductive pipe (even if leading nowhere) will allow it to run indefinetly without any risk of exploding. It will go from blue to green and then orange and when running at full power it will start blinking red-orange and will remain red-orange till swithched off or the load removed. When in danger of exploding the engine will be fully red. They take a while to explode even when fully red. While it's possible to connect any engines in a chain (daisy-chaining), this makes the lead redstone engine much more prone to overheating and eventually exploding even if connected to something. The explosion of an overheated redstone engine is relatively weak, anything at more than 2 blocks from it is usually safe. Damage to the player is limited as well. This is somewhat annoying in big arrays, as one builder error can escalate and destroy half of them if left unchecked. Always double check the wiring. |
