Ok, I'm getting really annoyed at solar panel power generation...as in, I have none. I am 10AU from my sun (in orbit), I have 15 solar panels directly pointed at the sun with full yellow and green bars, and 4 solar capacitors. The capacitors will not stay active at all. I turn them on, 2 seconds later POOF, they shut off. I thought, ok maybe 4 is too much and they have to build up 1 by 1. So, took 3 out and the single one will still not stay on. I am in survival and in the vanilla game. What am I doing wrong here? The same build planet side has good solar when mounted on the roof. I only moved the panels to an array below the build in space to get the most out of the sun. Edit: Everything is powered off and all my lights are on sensors so I'm not draining power.
It's a mid-size base, size class 5, but I've shut everything off save a few grow lights and the lights in the room that I'm in. No constructors, no furnaces...power wise I'm using 2%, 1.7kPU of a possible 58.5kPU off generator. My shield isn't even on.
1.7 kPU = 1700 PU In one of your screenshots, I see that the output of your solar panels is 953 PU 953 PU = 0.953 kPU So the solar panels are not providing enough power for the load that you have.
What's the base consumption? T4 CPUs alone can burn quite a bit of fuel and all the devices you have to take all that is allocated can burn even in idle, like teleporters for example...
Maybe it's the teleporter, it uses Code: { Block Id: 1377, Name: TeleporterBA ... EnergyIn: 12000, type: int, display: true, formatter: Watt ... } this is nearly th half of the ShildGen. And as I know Eleon, the teleporter probably ALWAYS consumes this and not only when it is working
@Kaeser The teleporter is on a sensor so it's off. It has to be the T4's and the container controllers because there's absolutely nothing else going, all the constructors and furnaces are in the off position. I never let them idle with power on.
So basically on a T4 base, solar is an exercise in futility as they require more power than solar can even manage? Thinkin something needs to be tweaked there.
If you don't mind tweaking some of the defaults with a Config.ecf file, you have two options. Increase the maximum number of solar panels, default value: 15 Code: MaxCount: 15, type: int, display: true OR Increase the efficiency of each Large solar panel, default value: 1.8 Code: SolarPanelEfficiency: 1.8, display: true This is the default for large solar panels from the Config_Example.txt file: Code: { Block Id: 1494, Name: SolarPanelBlocks Group: cpgSolar PanelAngle: 30 SolarPanelEfficiency: 1.8, display: true Material: metallight Category: Devices Mass: 730, type: float, display: true, formatter: Kilogram Volume: 55, type: float, display: true, formatter: Liter StackSize: 500 MaxCount: 15, type: int, display: true CPUIn: 45, type: int, display: true ChildBlocks: "SolarPanelSlope, SolarPanelSlope2, SolarPanelSlope3, SolarPanelHorizontal, SolarPanelHorizontal2, SolarPanelHorizontalMount, SolarPanelHorizontalStand" Info: bkiSolarPanel, display: true IsOxygenTight: varies, display: true UnlockCost: 5, display: true UnlockLevel: 3, display: true TechTreeParent: SolarPanelSmallBlocks TechTreeNames: Base }
@jesterjunk Thanks for the tip. I've never played around in the config files at all but I may just increase the efficiency a wee bit. I could mine the hell out of promethium but solar is free so I'd rather take advantage of that. Thanks again. Edit: Tweaked the solar efficiency in the Config to 5, starting to store power nicely now. Thanks!
Solar Panels were advertised as an alternative early-game power option and they worked ok (bar the bugs) in this role for a while. However, more recently I've found their usefulness niche has been eroded by other changes. Crafting vast amounts of Bio-Fuel from Wood is now so easy - and more of the tree-like plants actually give wood now - plus Solar can be so unreliable, that popping down a Small Fuel Tank and Generator is often preferred. It's this unreliability that compounds the problem, with Capacitors often breaking when the player is away from their base. I.e. I will always leave my bases in a low-power state when I'm away from them with the average power output giving a steady recharge far exceeding any drain while I'm at the base. I pop away for a few game days and all Capacitors are drained, even though I might have left with them full at a net-positive average recharge. Unreliable. Solar can be great for saving fuel if you're regularly on or around your base, but it does regularly break when you're away.. These days I NEVER go full Solar, I simply cannot rely on it. I go Small Fuel Tank, Small Generator and then might add some Solar later just to reduce fuel usage. Though, that said, Bio-Fuel really is so vary easy to create in bulk due to the abundance of wood and tweaks to the recipe, meaning I'd no miss Solar if it were removed. I had a break from the game for a couple of weeks and there have been several updates since, I've not checked the change list, but perhaps something has been tweaked. Scoob.
This is a long standing intermittent bug with solar power. The capacitors are NOT supposed to have a power switch. The game frequently bugs out though and adds in a power switch to them and when it does it just auto shuts them off over and over. Sometimes picking up all the capacitors and all the solar panels and then placing them down again fixes this bug. Sometimes a game restart fixes it. Other times you have to spawn the structure again. If you are seeing a power switch for the capacitors in the control panel then it is bugged. It has been brought up many times but so far no fix from the devs. Edit Here is a short video showing the bug and how a game restart fixes it (usually).
I did notice a couple times I was fussing with them that the power switch wasn't there. To me, this was the bug as I didn't know they had removed the power switch. I did pick up, put down, restart, delete...everything I could think of but as it turns out, it was my mistake. I didn't really pay attention to my power usage vs the output power of the solar. I did end up tweaking the panels themselves to put out more power. p.s. Respawning the build is a last ditch method for me considering all the materials I already had stored in the base. Pain in the keister to move everything out and sort it all again.
I've never actually noticed that particular bug @krazzykid2006, though I do often get the Capacitor being totally drained when I return from a field trip, despite a solid net-positive Solar income. Hence why I don't rely on just Solar any more, though my comments about the ease of obtaining Bio-Fuel are still valid of course. Scoob.
I never rely solely on solar either, too unreliable but it is nice if you can take advantage of it. I mostly use it when I have an orbital base and bio-fuel is a little hard to come by out there. I personally dislike bio-fuel unless it's a last resort, would rather mine promethium asteroids for packs or fusion cells. I just don't find enough bang for the buck with bio-fuel.
Yeah, I agree. However, quite often, promethium is very hard to come by during the early-game, though this can be down to simple RNG luck combined with the resource settings used. In several hours of play in my fresh start, I've found exactly one Promethium deposit and no promethium rocks at all. I could easily have missed this deposit. I tend to just gather a load of wood, then set a portable constructor turning it into bio-fuel, until I have a good amount of Promethium. Scoob.
