There needs to be two types of gens, small home consumer ones(the present ones in game) with reduced power radius, and less efficient but does not require the gen mag. Then there needs to be the big ones that are used in agriculture/industrial, that require literature and towing. They'd also have a much greater power radius and would require higher elec skill to use and fix.
> with reduced power radius
Aren't they changing it in B42 to use in-house wiring, so radius won't be an issue? Or is that a post-42 thing they've talked about?
Yep I think it's in Autostar Trailer mod, but the one I was thinking of are.the ones.that come up if you search " agricultural generator" in Google. I don't want to put a link here.
And a solar panneled one where you get horibal power radius but you can have infinite power but you need tha manual and level 5 electrocution and more energy used during dark days
Hi, I'm a real life electrician with 13 years experience. You are 100% correct. Any person that knows how to work a lawnmower will be able to use a generator. Any apprentice that has been in the trade for 2 weeks would be able to hook up a generator to an electrical circuit (edit because people seem hung up on this: and turn off the breaker so it doesn't backfeed to the grid, again, super simple) Even huge tow behind generators are super easy to connect, although some have a more complicated (but usually very clearly labeled) starting process. On the other hand, no amount of electrical skill alone will teach someone how to hot wire a car. If you asked me to do that today I would not know where to start besides what I've seen in movies. But I'd bet any mechanic with a basic knowledge could figure it out.
The electrical skill in this game is bonkers and makes absolutely no sense.
Level 1 electric: Can hotwire car
Level 2 electric: Can move a lamp
Level 3 electric: Can move a plug-in oven
Level \[infinity\] electric: Still cant operate generator unless you read the comics about it.
This is just wrong. Its true they were 3 wire before 1996 but they had 3 prong plugs before the 1996 NEC made 4 prong standard. Everything he says is correct until he uses all the information to somehow try to say that means they were hard wired. I'm an electrician.
https://fredsappliance.com/oven-repair/difference-between-a-3-prong-range-cord-and-a-4-prong-range-cord/
The first line: "If you live in a home that was built prior to 1996, the outlet for your kitchen range may still require a 3-prong cord."
Edit: actually he is misunderstanding a lot. Not all 3 wire is 120v. Old ovens were still 240v, but they didn't have a seperate neutral conductor. Is was just 2 hots and a ground. The 1996 code required new oven installations to include a neutral, which is where the 4 prong came in. If anything it would've been EASIER in 1993 to move an over because you know every oven has the same wiring. 2 hots and a ground. After 1996 there's a chance you get an oven that needs a neutral when you don't have one, or a house that has a neutral run that your oven doesn't need.
Regardless dismantling 1000 digital watches will surely make me understand how to rewire a circuit. /s. It’s all good I don’t really care about this much. I use a better prop moving mod that makes things more sensible.
Really? When did they introduce 220v outlets for larger appliances in homes? I thought it would have been a thing in the 80s or 90s when the games take place
When my family had to use a small generator for weeks in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, we plugged a few items directly into it (fans, TV, lights), running long cables to it from outside. My uninformed self would think that plugging into a house so that all the outlets work would be more difficult than that, as well as I’ll-advised. Is that not the case?
Correct you shouldn't make a double male end chord which is a lot of peoples first thought, but it its actually pretty simple to open a plug and attach a cord directly to the house wiring, turn off the breaker that feeds the circuit from the house panel, then the circuit is isolated and fed from the generator. I wouldn't suggest anyone doing it in normal life but super simple in a survival situation.
In real life the correct option is to use an ATS (automatic transfer switch) that switches feed from the grid to the generator, effectively isolating the building from the grid. But like others have said, zomboids grid isn't coming back, you can just turn off your breakers yourself.
Well... Electrical shocks on a human usually cause our muscles to contract and sieze up. In turn, that usually means we can either barely move said muscle or not at all-often times if you can move it, it won't be without experiencing pain. Naturally, zombies don't experience pain due to the nervous system being completely dead so... Chances are it'd cause the zombies to sieze up and be unable to move depending on the voltage of the current. Higher voltage will likely cause the zombie to be stuck and even burn to their second death.
I work in a warehouse for not even 2 years and I am even able to turn on 20 year old pop up lights, how to operate our big generators (that are used for welding machines), know how to test a welding torch etc.. honestly electrical should up the amount it repairs the generators. Or just remove it because nobody uses electrical skill except hotwire
Is this true for generators in the 1990s too?
I read that things like ovens didn’t have standardized plugs back then so it makes sense for them to require higher electrical skills. Just wondering if something like that was the case for generators too, especially those with heavy currents.
It was in 1996 that plugs for appliances needed to have their old style 3 prongs replaced with 4 prongs, so the 3 prong plugs were already extremely common by the 80s-90s. So yes ovens were generally pretty standard plug-and-go. As far as generators go the concept is basically so the same, they've just gotten smaller and more efficient. But the 1900s is a long time in 1920s only about a 3rd of new houses had electrical systems. The 1990s things were pretty similar to what they are now.
I work in a warehouse for not even 2 years and I am even able to turn on 20 year old pop up lights, how to operate our big generators (that are used for welding machines), know how to test a welding torch etc.. honestly electrical should up the amount it repairs the generators. Or just remove it because nobody uses electrical skill except hotwire
I work in a warehouse for not even 2 years and I am even able to turn on 20 year old pop up lights, how to operate our big generators (that are used for welding machines), know how to test a welding torch etc.. honestly electrical should up the amount it repairs the generators. Or just remove it because nobody uses electrical skill except hotwire
I forget exactly, but up until the late 90s or early 00's, all cars had the same type of wiring under the wheel with no real security measures. It was only 4 wires, 2 white and the other 2 varied by manufacturer but typically something like 1 black and 1 red or blue. You cut them all, tie the whites together to power up electronics then touch the 2 colored ones for ignition. Been a long time since I've seen/read anything on this so I might be slightly off, but it wasn't a difficult task back in the days that pz takes place in.
Realistically hot wiring a car that you, a theoretical not mechanic have no wiring diagram for is way harder than connecting a generator for you, a theoretical not electrician. AC power is literally three wires, and the color code is universal. A cars wiring harness, even in 1993 is a fucking rats nest of wires in all the goddamn colors of the rainbow that may or may not mean something depending on the manufacturer.
I get that there is some imposed structure to allow for leveling, but the fact that you need a specific magazine to figure out attach black to black, white to white, and green/bare to green/bare is fucking idiotic. At least employ RNG to let people try and burn their house down in the process.
Also, residential stoves literally plug into a receptacle like any other appliance. Different receptical, but its still a plug. The level 3 electrical requirement to move a stove is also moronic.
End rant. It is what it is.
Edit: made a complete sentence about hot wiring a car
I think the thought process was "How do we give Electrical some semblance of use"
I rarely see people using traps and shit, even the basic noisemaker doesn't see much use.
I tried a noisemaker and it was so quiet that I thought it wasn't working. It was roughly equivalent of crouching and saying "psssst" a few time.
I expected something more like a car siren, but I stood there with a molotov in my hand looking at my noisemaker and a bunch of disinterested zombies who were more than 5 tiles away and couldn't hear it.
> Also, residential stoves literally plug into a receptacle like any other appliance.
They do now, but in 1993 Kentucky I'd expect most houses to have them as older style hard-wired installations. Which is still not a huge challenge to wire up yourself if you don't care about regulations and insurance, but that's probably where the "electrical 3' requirement came from.
This is true. However your average layman is unlikely to know that, so I added it in to maximize the confusion someone with no electrical knowledge would experience
IME 90's three-wire stoves don't have a green wire. You had two hots and a neutral. hot-hot = 240V, hot-neutral = 120V.
If it was used ground was bonded to neutral.
You have to get pretty old before you start running into stoves that don't have things like electric timers, or lights, which allows stoves to be pure 240V appliances.
I think it'd be neat if like, there were a couple kinds of generators and various levels of "knowledge" associated with them.
Small home generators, like what u/DiscoInfernoVolcano said, "doomsday prepper" generators, higher grade than the home ones, and industrial generators, also like what u/DiscoInfernoVolcano said.
So, imagine having to actually hook up the generator to the grid, with various knowledge barriers and risks associated with that. The generators would have different numbers of wires to hook up and they could shock you based on a few factors, like safety equipment/tools, knowledge, and experience.
When you fail a wire check, you get shocked for an amount of health dependant on the generator. Say, 20-30% for small, 50% for medium, and 70-80% for large.
There would always a base chance to be shocked regardless of experience, but it can be mitigated by higher electrical stat and coild be nullified by proper tools and equipment.
Generator manuals would only function for that model of generator (s/m/l) and wouldn't just give you a free pass to operate completely safely. They would be found in places corresponding to the generators they're for, like garages/sheds for small manuals.
For example: The home/small generator. Need electrical 2 to operate, min 0 with manual. 1 wire to connect to the grid. Low grade, burns gas ~20% faster than medium gen. Found in most of the sane spots gens are found now, inside garages and sheds and whatnot.
The doomsday prepper/medium generator. Electrical 4 to operate, min 2 with manual. 3 wires to connect to the grid. Mid grade, base gas burn rate. Found in survivor homes and other "prepper" sorts of places, like bunkers(if they're ever added)
The industrial generator. Electrical 7 to operate, min 5 with manual. 6 wires to connect. High grade, burns gas ~30% slower than medium gen. Found in factories.
EDIT: I forgot to mention generators should break down and could be fixed lol
Now, admittedly, I have no idea how to balance all that, especially how many tiles they should cover. This was just an extremely long rant about my stupid generator idea. If any modders are reading this and want to make something out of it, go for it.
it's literally a "plug-in-and-play" kind of thing. You connect whatever you want in a socket and thats it.
Also 2 mechanical and 1 electrical allows you to hotwire cars. Why can't we have elec 2 allow us to use generators.
Do not attempt in real life… only plug your generator with the proper plug into a specific slot for a generator in your house I don’t think it’s THAT much of an issue in zomboid but plugging your generator just into a wall outlet will send power down the grid possibly electrocuting anyone working with the now live wires on the grid and to plug a generator into a wall would require you to have a male to male plug meaning that if your generator is active there will literally be exposed power connections until you plug the plug in not fun stuff
Hes saying if you connect a generator to your house without properly disconnecting your house from the power grid you could backfeed the grid and send power down a wire that someone is working on.
My assumption in this scenario is that the grid is down and someone is working to repair it. This is why IRL backup generators need to be installed in specific ways to prevent this, and also damaging the generator or house electrical when the grid comes back up.
However in zomboid, the grid isn't coming back up, and there's no one else repairing shit, so moot point for video games.
Usually people would want to plug in a generator during a power outage, usually there’s people working on the grid when there is a power outage, if you plug in a generator into the wall and back feed power into the grid the people working on said grid would not be happy. This happens because plugging your generator into the wall bypasses house electrical protections because of the reverse flowing power :3
While you could do this this is not recommended because the main breaker really isn’t designed to prevent back flow and it’s VERY dangerous to use male to male plugs required to feed electricity into the wall outlet and these plugs are actually illegal and you SHOULD NEVER use them the fact that people are downvoting me shows that some people think it’s a good idea to plug into a non specific outlet designed for generators in a pinch also I have no idea why these plug are even allowed to be sold they are SO dangerous…
Well we are talking about a survival situation, you are right it generally shouldn't be done. But as I said other places you don't need a m2m chord, you hardwire the cord into a box after taking out a plug. Also you are at no risk of damaging a breaker by having power go to the load side instead of the line side. Its just a switch with added overcurrent protection. When they are turned off the parts are disconnected, there is no contact, so it isn't stopping the backflow, there just literally isn't anywhere for it to go. both sides of the breaker are rated for whatever voltage it's meant to serve.
Source: I'm a proffessional electrician
You are 100% right do not do this in real life for a lot of reasons. But you can keep power from the grid by just turning off your breakers in your main panel.
AGAIN FOR REAL DONT DO THIS IN REAL LIFE IN FACT DONT DO ANYTHING WITH ELECTRICITY UNLESS YOU ARE LICENSED AND CERTIFIED
That was my point in the first place to never try this in real life because some people might see hey you can just get power by plugging into the wall thinking they’re clever while endangering workers and themselves I’ve seen so many people post about how they’re being smart getting power back with the most jank ass set ups
I posted this elsewhere earlier, but since we are on topic, I'll weigh in with the trick of making an Electrician character (can use a generator without the magazine) and spawning him into your existing game just to hook up the gennys, then going back in with your main. On that note, I present the following skit:
Zack the Electrician: Hello there!
Sam the Survivor: HOLY SH... Who the heck are you!?!?
Zack: I'm Zack from the Zomboid Electrical Dept. I'm here to hook up your generator.
Sam: B b b but I didn't call anyone... I didn't even know...
Zack: Yes sir. I understand, now let me just tie in this to your power panel.
Sam: I thought I was the last person. How many others are there? CAN YOU TAKE ME WI-
Zack: Sorry, Sir. Just here to do my job. Have great day and remember we here at Z.E.D take your power concerns seriously (blinks out of existence).
Sam: WTF???
Yes I know they wouldn't be in the world at the same time, but it's funny IMO.
Glad you liked it.
Not a bad idea, but I could see me quickly going down a rabbit hole of having 4 or 5 specialized characters rotating out of one map. Hey- if we take into account that they AREN'T ever in the world together, that could be almost as funny. Imagine you think you are the last person on Earth and then coming home from a loot run and being like:
"I thought my car's hood was damaged. Weird."
"There's a new lamp in the corner?"
"WHO THE F\*\*\* COOKED DINNER!?!?!"
I think it's 5; there's a note in the lightswitch overhaul mod that hooking things up to a battery is hardcoded to have a minimum skill level of 5, presumably that's in the java code instead of the moddable lua code.
I'm with you and not with you. It's almost too easy to survive with a generator. Just turn up the chance of literature dropping in your settings and you'll find one more easily. Or start as the electrician.
Yes, please. 2 electrician should be enough grind to not make the game easier and remove the full dependency of literature while maintaining the mag for those that want to neglect the skill until later.
I’m a power generation technician. My job was literally to put together, break apart, maintain, fix, and inspect generators and other power supply systems for the military. Our “training” to do this doesn’t actually cover anything related to the functions of a generator, but the values you wanna look for. As a military man, I can assure you that a monkey could operate most generators as long as they can read an on/off switch and aren’t blind to the colours of red black and blue.
My dad was an electrician before he retired a few years back. Went to college on the GI bill in the 80's. Around 2012 the power went out and he plugged the generator in, but didn't check the output switch; a few weeks before he had used it on the arc welder to fix the tractor which broke in the pasture.
Mom says "Everything got really bright for a few seconds and then everything burnt out at once." Light bulbs, computer, TV, microwave was even running when it happened.
Point is, I agree that electrician lvl 2 should be able to use generators, but maybe electrician lvl 3 should be a little safer.
Is this a generator from 1996? or from 2023?
You need to put into perspective the time and technology that was available and ease of access of items back in 96
Or add extension cords to the game so with out the generator mag you can still use it to run your gear and some lamps but you need the manual to hard wire it to the house.
I was about to go on a rant on how it's not difficult to operate a generator, but stopped myself mid paragraph when I realized that the devd are probably lumping the generator and "whole home wiring" into one.
They're making this change in Build 42. It was in their blog in February. I could have sworn I remembered them specifically stating Electrical 3, but I couldn't find that specific post. The blog just says "Sufficiently high"
[https://projectzomboid.com/blog/news/2023/02/play-your-cardz-right/](https://projectzomboid.com/blog/news/2023/02/play-your-cardz-right/)
Gas generators IRL need maintenance fairly often. The manual has info on when / how it has to be done. It's literally just a small gas engine that converts gas into electricity. While anyone could hook it up and start it, keeping it running for more than a day or two requires specific knowledge.
As PZ grows in popularity, it keeps bumping against the old balancing systems. Like I agree with you, I even think these generators should be just less frequent to find and require no skill to operate.
I agree. I hooked up a generator to my place after the last hurricane. I took one semester of electrical class as a prereq for computer engineering.
Not only did the generator have the instructions WRITTEN ON IT, I could have probably figured it out on my own how to hook it directly to the house, burning down only a single house first. (I would not have thought to turn off the breaker, I got a low C in the class)
Yes small generators should be a zero skill level item. They also need to implement extension cords in the game and a power limit to the generators. Because your typical small generator can barely power a few light bulbs.
There needs to be two types of gens, small home consumer ones(the present ones in game) with reduced power radius, and less efficient but does not require the gen mag. Then there needs to be the big ones that are used in agriculture/industrial, that require literature and towing. They'd also have a much greater power radius and would require higher elec skill to use and fix.
This sounds better. Two types of gens.
We could call them 'Gen-X' and 'Gen-Y'. /s
😂😂😂
Take my upvote, you savage.
That… that…. That was brilliant 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 well done 🤣🤣🤣🤣
> with reduced power radius Aren't they changing it in B42 to use in-house wiring, so radius won't be an issue? Or is that a post-42 thing they've talked about?
Not sure.
I usually see parked a trailer that looks like a big ass generator, that sorta thing?
It's a mod.
Yep I think it's in Autostar Trailer mod, but the one I was thinking of are.the ones.that come up if you search " agricultural generator" in Google. I don't want to put a link here.
It's actually a function generator as well to my knowledge, but it in a trailer mod pack I think
Also require engine parts and stuff like that, louder and more likely to attract zomboids
Somebody make a mod out of this. I need more reasons to drive my semi!
And a solar panneled one where you get horibal power radius but you can have infinite power but you need tha manual and level 5 electrocution and more energy used during dark days
Hi, I'm a real life electrician with 13 years experience. You are 100% correct. Any person that knows how to work a lawnmower will be able to use a generator. Any apprentice that has been in the trade for 2 weeks would be able to hook up a generator to an electrical circuit (edit because people seem hung up on this: and turn off the breaker so it doesn't backfeed to the grid, again, super simple) Even huge tow behind generators are super easy to connect, although some have a more complicated (but usually very clearly labeled) starting process. On the other hand, no amount of electrical skill alone will teach someone how to hot wire a car. If you asked me to do that today I would not know where to start besides what I've seen in movies. But I'd bet any mechanic with a basic knowledge could figure it out. The electrical skill in this game is bonkers and makes absolutely no sense.
Level 1 electric: Can hotwire car Level 2 electric: Can move a lamp Level 3 electric: Can move a plug-in oven Level \[infinity\] electric: Still cant operate generator unless you read the comics about it.
My cat can unplug a lamp.
That is level 2 electric!!! Level2 > Level1 Conclusion: Your cat can hotwire a car.
I'm sending my cat to work for me this morning because apparently they are more skilled than me
Does the cat have lvl2 mechanics though?
He must, he can unplug a lamp
You gotta understand the generator lore to work them.
"You see, Micheal Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction in 1831..."
The ovens aren't plug in when the game takes place. Most/all would be hard wired at that time period.
No this is wrong. Not even debatable. But moving one and having function would require moving an outlet and a rewired circuit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/projectzomboid/comments/xdlytm/your_character_should_actually_need_at_least_3/
This is just wrong. Its true they were 3 wire before 1996 but they had 3 prong plugs before the 1996 NEC made 4 prong standard. Everything he says is correct until he uses all the information to somehow try to say that means they were hard wired. I'm an electrician. https://fredsappliance.com/oven-repair/difference-between-a-3-prong-range-cord-and-a-4-prong-range-cord/ The first line: "If you live in a home that was built prior to 1996, the outlet for your kitchen range may still require a 3-prong cord." Edit: actually he is misunderstanding a lot. Not all 3 wire is 120v. Old ovens were still 240v, but they didn't have a seperate neutral conductor. Is was just 2 hots and a ground. The 1996 code required new oven installations to include a neutral, which is where the 4 prong came in. If anything it would've been EASIER in 1993 to move an over because you know every oven has the same wiring. 2 hots and a ground. After 1996 there's a chance you get an oven that needs a neutral when you don't have one, or a house that has a neutral run that your oven doesn't need.
Regardless dismantling 1000 digital watches will surely make me understand how to rewire a circuit. /s. It’s all good I don’t really care about this much. I use a better prop moving mod that makes things more sensible.
Really? When did they introduce 220v outlets for larger appliances in homes? I thought it would have been a thing in the 80s or 90s when the games take place
When my family had to use a small generator for weeks in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, we plugged a few items directly into it (fans, TV, lights), running long cables to it from outside. My uninformed self would think that plugging into a house so that all the outlets work would be more difficult than that, as well as I’ll-advised. Is that not the case?
Correct you shouldn't make a double male end chord which is a lot of peoples first thought, but it its actually pretty simple to open a plug and attach a cord directly to the house wiring, turn off the breaker that feeds the circuit from the house panel, then the circuit is isolated and fed from the generator. I wouldn't suggest anyone doing it in normal life but super simple in a survival situation. In real life the correct option is to use an ATS (automatic transfer switch) that switches feed from the grid to the generator, effectively isolating the building from the grid. But like others have said, zomboids grid isn't coming back, you can just turn off your breakers yourself.
Double-male power lead bonus: you can pull the cord out of the house socket and have an anti-zombie zapper ready to go.
Interesting concept, how does electricity affect zombies??
Good question. _straps generator to back and connects power cable to spear mounted breadknife_ Lets go do some science!
This is some fallout shit right here
More Dead Rising, imo.
Yes, I am so all about mad scientist sci-fi weapons!!
Well... Electrical shocks on a human usually cause our muscles to contract and sieze up. In turn, that usually means we can either barely move said muscle or not at all-often times if you can move it, it won't be without experiencing pain. Naturally, zombies don't experience pain due to the nervous system being completely dead so... Chances are it'd cause the zombies to sieze up and be unable to move depending on the voltage of the current. Higher voltage will likely cause the zombie to be stuck and even burn to their second death.
Why waste time with loud guns that require bullets when you could use a taser with enough power to cook someone?
I work in a warehouse for not even 2 years and I am even able to turn on 20 year old pop up lights, how to operate our big generators (that are used for welding machines), know how to test a welding torch etc.. honestly electrical should up the amount it repairs the generators. Or just remove it because nobody uses electrical skill except hotwire
No it just needs better craftable items.
Is this true for generators in the 1990s too? I read that things like ovens didn’t have standardized plugs back then so it makes sense for them to require higher electrical skills. Just wondering if something like that was the case for generators too, especially those with heavy currents.
It was in 1996 that plugs for appliances needed to have their old style 3 prongs replaced with 4 prongs, so the 3 prong plugs were already extremely common by the 80s-90s. So yes ovens were generally pretty standard plug-and-go. As far as generators go the concept is basically so the same, they've just gotten smaller and more efficient. But the 1900s is a long time in 1920s only about a 3rd of new houses had electrical systems. The 1990s things were pretty similar to what they are now.
I work in a warehouse for not even 2 years and I am even able to turn on 20 year old pop up lights, how to operate our big generators (that are used for welding machines), know how to test a welding torch etc.. honestly electrical should up the amount it repairs the generators. Or just remove it because nobody uses electrical skill except hotwire
I work in a warehouse for not even 2 years and I am even able to turn on 20 year old pop up lights, how to operate our big generators (that are used for welding machines), know how to test a welding torch etc.. honestly electrical should up the amount it repairs the generators. Or just remove it because nobody uses electrical skill except hotwire
I forget exactly, but up until the late 90s or early 00's, all cars had the same type of wiring under the wheel with no real security measures. It was only 4 wires, 2 white and the other 2 varied by manufacturer but typically something like 1 black and 1 red or blue. You cut them all, tie the whites together to power up electronics then touch the 2 colored ones for ignition. Been a long time since I've seen/read anything on this so I might be slightly off, but it wasn't a difficult task back in the days that pz takes place in.
Realistically hot wiring a car that you, a theoretical not mechanic have no wiring diagram for is way harder than connecting a generator for you, a theoretical not electrician. AC power is literally three wires, and the color code is universal. A cars wiring harness, even in 1993 is a fucking rats nest of wires in all the goddamn colors of the rainbow that may or may not mean something depending on the manufacturer. I get that there is some imposed structure to allow for leveling, but the fact that you need a specific magazine to figure out attach black to black, white to white, and green/bare to green/bare is fucking idiotic. At least employ RNG to let people try and burn their house down in the process. Also, residential stoves literally plug into a receptacle like any other appliance. Different receptical, but its still a plug. The level 3 electrical requirement to move a stove is also moronic. End rant. It is what it is. Edit: made a complete sentence about hot wiring a car
I think the thought process was "How do we give Electrical some semblance of use" I rarely see people using traps and shit, even the basic noisemaker doesn't see much use.
Why make traps when you can just hit them?
Useful for insane pop sprinters as a distraction when they glob up
So caveman but so true.
I tried a noisemaker and it was so quiet that I thought it wasn't working. It was roughly equivalent of crouching and saying "psssst" a few time. I expected something more like a car siren, but I stood there with a molotov in my hand looking at my noisemaker and a bunch of disinterested zombies who were more than 5 tiles away and couldn't hear it.
> Also, residential stoves literally plug into a receptacle like any other appliance. They do now, but in 1993 Kentucky I'd expect most houses to have them as older style hard-wired installations. Which is still not a huge challenge to wire up yourself if you don't care about regulations and insurance, but that's probably where the "electrical 3' requirement came from.
This is all just so dumb. Consider in game furniture is nailed to the floor and I can climb a sheet rope with the stove in my inventory.
AC power is two wires (single phase), btw. The green yellow is grounding that can be theoetically skipped if you like to be an unsafe monkey.
This is true. However your average layman is unlikely to know that, so I added it in to maximize the confusion someone with no electrical knowledge would experience
IME 90's three-wire stoves don't have a green wire. You had two hots and a neutral. hot-hot = 240V, hot-neutral = 120V. If it was used ground was bonded to neutral. You have to get pretty old before you start running into stoves that don't have things like electric timers, or lights, which allows stoves to be pure 240V appliances.
Fun fact, if you do connect the third wire to a breaker you get 220v... which I found out at the cost of two power tool chargers and a light.
Moving one should be no skill hooking it back up would require skills.
I think it'd be neat if like, there were a couple kinds of generators and various levels of "knowledge" associated with them. Small home generators, like what u/DiscoInfernoVolcano said, "doomsday prepper" generators, higher grade than the home ones, and industrial generators, also like what u/DiscoInfernoVolcano said. So, imagine having to actually hook up the generator to the grid, with various knowledge barriers and risks associated with that. The generators would have different numbers of wires to hook up and they could shock you based on a few factors, like safety equipment/tools, knowledge, and experience. When you fail a wire check, you get shocked for an amount of health dependant on the generator. Say, 20-30% for small, 50% for medium, and 70-80% for large. There would always a base chance to be shocked regardless of experience, but it can be mitigated by higher electrical stat and coild be nullified by proper tools and equipment. Generator manuals would only function for that model of generator (s/m/l) and wouldn't just give you a free pass to operate completely safely. They would be found in places corresponding to the generators they're for, like garages/sheds for small manuals. For example: The home/small generator. Need electrical 2 to operate, min 0 with manual. 1 wire to connect to the grid. Low grade, burns gas ~20% faster than medium gen. Found in most of the sane spots gens are found now, inside garages and sheds and whatnot. The doomsday prepper/medium generator. Electrical 4 to operate, min 2 with manual. 3 wires to connect to the grid. Mid grade, base gas burn rate. Found in survivor homes and other "prepper" sorts of places, like bunkers(if they're ever added) The industrial generator. Electrical 7 to operate, min 5 with manual. 6 wires to connect. High grade, burns gas ~30% slower than medium gen. Found in factories. EDIT: I forgot to mention generators should break down and could be fixed lol Now, admittedly, I have no idea how to balance all that, especially how many tiles they should cover. This was just an extremely long rant about my stupid generator idea. If any modders are reading this and want to make something out of it, go for it.
To use them yes, but not to repair them.
I see your point, but maybe the generator manual is more about how to properly connect it to the local power grid?
it's literally a "plug-in-and-play" kind of thing. You connect whatever you want in a socket and thats it. Also 2 mechanical and 1 electrical allows you to hotwire cars. Why can't we have elec 2 allow us to use generators.
Do not attempt in real life… only plug your generator with the proper plug into a specific slot for a generator in your house I don’t think it’s THAT much of an issue in zomboid but plugging your generator just into a wall outlet will send power down the grid possibly electrocuting anyone working with the now live wires on the grid and to plug a generator into a wall would require you to have a male to male plug meaning that if your generator is active there will literally be exposed power connections until you plug the plug in not fun stuff
i agree to not do it irl if you don't know whta you are doing, but I have no clue what scenario you are describing with the rest of your comment.
Hes saying if you connect a generator to your house without properly disconnecting your house from the power grid you could backfeed the grid and send power down a wire that someone is working on. My assumption in this scenario is that the grid is down and someone is working to repair it. This is why IRL backup generators need to be installed in specific ways to prevent this, and also damaging the generator or house electrical when the grid comes back up. However in zomboid, the grid isn't coming back up, and there's no one else repairing shit, so moot point for video games.
Usually people would want to plug in a generator during a power outage, usually there’s people working on the grid when there is a power outage, if you plug in a generator into the wall and back feed power into the grid the people working on said grid would not be happy. This happens because plugging your generator into the wall bypasses house electrical protections because of the reverse flowing power :3
You just turn off your main breaker
While you could do this this is not recommended because the main breaker really isn’t designed to prevent back flow and it’s VERY dangerous to use male to male plugs required to feed electricity into the wall outlet and these plugs are actually illegal and you SHOULD NEVER use them the fact that people are downvoting me shows that some people think it’s a good idea to plug into a non specific outlet designed for generators in a pinch also I have no idea why these plug are even allowed to be sold they are SO dangerous…
Well we are talking about a survival situation, you are right it generally shouldn't be done. But as I said other places you don't need a m2m chord, you hardwire the cord into a box after taking out a plug. Also you are at no risk of damaging a breaker by having power go to the load side instead of the line side. Its just a switch with added overcurrent protection. When they are turned off the parts are disconnected, there is no contact, so it isn't stopping the backflow, there just literally isn't anywhere for it to go. both sides of the breaker are rated for whatever voltage it's meant to serve. Source: I'm a proffessional electrician
That’s why in my first comment I said it wouldn’t be too much of an issue in zomboid!
You are 100% right do not do this in real life for a lot of reasons. But you can keep power from the grid by just turning off your breakers in your main panel. AGAIN FOR REAL DONT DO THIS IN REAL LIFE IN FACT DONT DO ANYTHING WITH ELECTRICITY UNLESS YOU ARE LICENSED AND CERTIFIED
That was my point in the first place to never try this in real life because some people might see hey you can just get power by plugging into the wall thinking they’re clever while endangering workers and themselves I’ve seen so many people post about how they’re being smart getting power back with the most jank ass set ups
...and repair it
Engineer class makes no sense. "I understand electricity well enough to make sensors and timers, but not plug in the scary red box!"
🪄your mind is now changed
The Dev blogs said they’re planning to incorporate skills with gaining crafting / specialist knowledge, so I hope that will implement it.
I posted this elsewhere earlier, but since we are on topic, I'll weigh in with the trick of making an Electrician character (can use a generator without the magazine) and spawning him into your existing game just to hook up the gennys, then going back in with your main. On that note, I present the following skit: Zack the Electrician: Hello there! Sam the Survivor: HOLY SH... Who the heck are you!?!? Zack: I'm Zack from the Zomboid Electrical Dept. I'm here to hook up your generator. Sam: B b b but I didn't call anyone... I didn't even know... Zack: Yes sir. I understand, now let me just tie in this to your power panel. Sam: I thought I was the last person. How many others are there? CAN YOU TAKE ME WI-
Zack: Sorry, Sir. Just here to do my job. Have great day and remember we here at Z.E.D take your power concerns seriously (blinks out of existence).
Sam: WTF???
Yes I know they wouldn't be in the world at the same time, but it's funny IMO.
LMAOOOOO There should be more of these. Carpenter Johnson : Helps you move a box without exploding it
Glad you liked it. Not a bad idea, but I could see me quickly going down a rabbit hole of having 4 or 5 specialized characters rotating out of one map. Hey- if we take into account that they AREN'T ever in the world together, that could be almost as funny. Imagine you think you are the last person on Earth and then coming home from a loot run and being like: "I thought my car's hood was damaged. Weird." "There's a new lamp in the corner?" "WHO THE F\*\*\* COOKED DINNER!?!?!"
I had a try, when I was looking for the manual about a month (in game). It was the main goal and it was funny. :)
doesnt it take lvl 4 to make lamps use batteries
I think it's 5; there's a note in the lightswitch overhaul mod that hooking things up to a battery is hardcoded to have a minimum skill level of 5, presumably that's in the java code instead of the moddable lua code.
I'm with you and not with you. It's almost too easy to survive with a generator. Just turn up the chance of literature dropping in your settings and you'll find one more easily. Or start as the electrician.
Yes, please. 2 electrician should be enough grind to not make the game easier and remove the full dependency of literature while maintaining the mag for those that want to neglect the skill until later.
I’m a power generation technician. My job was literally to put together, break apart, maintain, fix, and inspect generators and other power supply systems for the military. Our “training” to do this doesn’t actually cover anything related to the functions of a generator, but the values you wanna look for. As a military man, I can assure you that a monkey could operate most generators as long as they can read an on/off switch and aren’t blind to the colours of red black and blue.
So I can hotwire my car but I can't turn on a generator?
My dad was an electrician before he retired a few years back. Went to college on the GI bill in the 80's. Around 2012 the power went out and he plugged the generator in, but didn't check the output switch; a few weeks before he had used it on the arc welder to fix the tractor which broke in the pasture. Mom says "Everything got really bright for a few seconds and then everything burnt out at once." Light bulbs, computer, TV, microwave was even running when it happened. Point is, I agree that electrician lvl 2 should be able to use generators, but maybe electrician lvl 3 should be a little safer.
You might be able to operate the generator, but should you be able to connect it to the grid of your house?
Is this a generator from 1996? or from 2023? You need to put into perspective the time and technology that was available and ease of access of items back in 96
Why are you getting downvoted? The game is set in 90’s
Or add extension cords to the game so with out the generator mag you can still use it to run your gear and some lamps but you need the manual to hard wire it to the house.
I know how to use a generator because my dad showed me, any monkey could figure out how to hook up and turn on a pull cord generator
As an electrician, it isn't straightforward how to wire a generator into a house. But almost every generator has electrical outlets for plugs
I was about to go on a rant on how it's not difficult to operate a generator, but stopped myself mid paragraph when I realized that the devd are probably lumping the generator and "whole home wiring" into one.
You have to disconnect the house from the grid so you don't backfeed the whole grid with your generator. It's mostly just adding a disconnect.
But hey, at least you can unplug a washing machine.
They're making this change in Build 42. It was in their blog in February. I could have sworn I remembered them specifically stating Electrical 3, but I couldn't find that specific post. The blog just says "Sufficiently high" [https://projectzomboid.com/blog/news/2023/02/play-your-cardz-right/](https://projectzomboid.com/blog/news/2023/02/play-your-cardz-right/)
I think there should be more stuff for electric, like for example a button that opens your gates, electric weapons, etc
Don’t get me wrong there’s pretty cool things that you can do with it, but they’re very situational
Gas generators IRL need maintenance fairly often. The manual has info on when / how it has to be done. It's literally just a small gas engine that converts gas into electricity. While anyone could hook it up and start it, keeping it running for more than a day or two requires specific knowledge.
As PZ grows in popularity, it keeps bumping against the old balancing systems. Like I agree with you, I even think these generators should be just less frequent to find and require no skill to operate.
Generators man, how do they work?
even a child can use one. It should require nothing
I agree. I hooked up a generator to my place after the last hurricane. I took one semester of electrical class as a prereq for computer engineering. Not only did the generator have the instructions WRITTEN ON IT, I could have probably figured it out on my own how to hook it directly to the house, burning down only a single house first. (I would not have thought to turn off the breaker, I got a low C in the class)
Yes small generators should be a zero skill level item. They also need to implement extension cords in the game and a power limit to the generators. Because your typical small generator can barely power a few light bulbs.
i think theres a mod for that [use generators mod](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ)
Nice
I am willing to bet a kid who has seen an adult fuel and start a generator could run a generator.