Electricity

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Revision as of 15:08, 21 March 2014 by Scarvig (talk | contribs) (added solar panel energy)
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Electricity is a system and resource in Space Engineers that is used to power most devices. It is created with large and small Reactor. Any device that has a direct block connection to a reactor will be powered by a reactor. That is to say, if a reactor is on a ship, all devices attached to that ship should receive power, granted there is enough power to receive. However at this point a motor block does not conduct electricity nor does it connect any pieces to the terminal except itself.

Reactors are powered by uranium ingots. 1L uranium ingots produces 68.76 GWs or 0.0191 GWh of energy.
At the current stage of the game, uranium is not required to power a ship, and will not deplete while using power.

The maximum amount a reactor can power:

Reactor Small Ship Large Ship
Small Reactor 4 GW 56 GW
Large Reactor 108 GW 1512 GW
Solar Panel 1.5* kW 6* kW

( *Solar Panels have a maximum output depending on their angle to the sun and the amount of actually lit surface. Given values are the max achievable output with perfect conditions.)

Thrusts being used by the ship's inertia dampening will use 1.5x the maximum power.
Thrust power usage:

Ship Thrust Minimum Power Maximum Power Automatic Stabilizing
Small Small 0.0001 GW 1.68 GW 2.52 GW
Small Large 0.0001 GW 20 GW 30 GW
Large Small 0.0001 GW 28 GW 42 GW
Large Large 0.0001 GW 336 GW 504 GW

Refinery and assembler power usage:

Mode Power Usage
Standby 1 GW
Operational 28 GW

Other component power usages:

Component Small Ship Large Ship
Gravity Generator N/A 0.0112 GW
Interior Light N/A 0.0004 GW
Medical Room N/A  ? GW
Door N/A  ? GW
Gyroscope 0.00003 GW 0.0015 GW
Reflector Light 0.012 GW 0.0112 GW
Beacon 0.1 GW 0.1008 GW
Antenna  ? GW 0.1008 GW
Ore Detector  ? GW  ? GW
Conveyor  ? GW  ? GW
Drill .01 GW N/A
Gatling/Missile Turret N/A 0.1008 GW
Interior Turret N/A 0.1008 GW

(Ver: 01.013.008)

Notes:
Anything labeled "? GW" did not have power usage listed in the CubeBlocks.sbc file.
Noticed that lights, beacons, and antenna have power usage costs. However, have not thoroughly tested them.
Doors and reflector lights are off by default. All reflector lights are simultaneously turned on or off when using the toggle lights key.
Not sure if the drill requires power while in standby.

  • novice test, drill uses 2.5% of 4 GW with a small reactor, whenever equipped, regardless of if it is active or not. Hence the value of .01 GW.