How can I pump items/liquids in Tekkit with IC2's EU without Forestry's Electrical Engine?

Question

I have loads of solar panels generating enough power to fill 5 MFEs and I use the energy link to power BC machines but I can't pump items. Well, I can use redstone engines but they're slow. Is there a better way without using Forestry - I want not to have to install new mods.

Answer 1

Plop an energy link next to a wooden pipe, add power. Prepare for lag :D. A high powered energy link will blow your mind as to how fast it moves items. Great because it uses no stupid engines which are slow, explosive, and laggy.

Answer 2

Redstone engines certainly start slow but they increase significantly in speed the longer they are allowed to run. You can also use energy links to power steam engines and combustion engines - I did a quick test in creative, and even while still cooled down these will transfer a minimum of half a stack in one go. Warmed up they'll do a full stack at a time.

If you need speed more than volume you could add some gold pipe to your system. You can power gold pipe with a redstone torch and it will significantly increase the speed of the items that go through it for 16 blocks. In creative I tried a golden pipe after a transfer pipe powered by a steam engine, an energy link, and a a batbox; and I was really pleased with the results.

EDIT: the tekkit wiki says that the boost lasts twice as long if you use stone pipe as opposed to cobble.

UPDATE: Be cautious with the kind of power you supply an engine. It'll explode if you give it too much, and it'll overload if it runs too long. Redstone engines won't blow as long as something is running through the tube, so either be content with low volume and high speed, or increase the volume as discussed above but remember to shut your engines off every so often and let things cool.

Finally you could try using pneumatic tubes with accelerators and magtubes. I haven't ever done much with these as they use redpower's blutricity, and at this point I don't think there's a mod that will transfer IC2 or BC power to blutricity. I've been tempted to start messing with them though because these tubes will only send items if there's a vacant space to put them; therefore they don't spit overflow out into the world if the target chest or machine is full.

Answer 3

Another option is dropping an electric engine on the wooden pipe, the higher the level of the engine the faster it will move items. Another option is Redpower machinery, specifically the filter can send stacks of items out of chests and into pneumatic pipes.