Solar Panels

[Tharisdan]

I noticed them for sell at a trader, do not remember them from early Alpha, do they do something now or just a prop?

[rincewind]

You put a solar bank, and solar panels in it and generate energy, only at day.

Just like a generator, but without fuel.

[Tharisdan]

Thanks

[Shneekey]

They don't produce a whole lot of power, best use I've found for them is to recharge a battery bank running your base's lights and automated doors and whatnot. Maybe a couple of turrets to keep birds off if you can get a few solar cells to put in your solar bank. They're vendor only, and tend to be exceedingly expensive, so it's mostly a late-game vanity thing.

[Blue Hasia]

i notice with my solar set up one solar cell does not seem to work. seems you need a solar array that can power everything for it work.

it can not work to offset battery drain.

[Corsin]

Originally posted by Blue Hasia:

i notice with my solar set up one solar cell does not seem to work. seems you need a solar array that can power everything for it work.

it can not work to offset battery drain.

The number of solar cells is similar to the number of car engines you put in the generator. The more Solar cells you have the higher the wattage output (to charge the batteries) just like the more engines you have puts out more wattage for devices using it which impacts how much gas is used.

Batteries will always drain at night time as they're not being recharged while it's dark. T1 batteries will get used up faster than T2, T2 faster than a T3 etc. Make sure you have enough solar panels to fully recharge the tier and number of batteries you have and try not to max out wattage unless you're using higher tier batteries.

You could also use a TIMER RELAY on your solar circuit. That way, whatever you're powering is not running 24/7, unless you want to power doors and stuff used during the day via pressure plates or cameras. In that case, you'd definitely want max solar panels (6 I think?) and T4 or 5 batteries. You could set the timer so items go on at 8pm (or whenever) and go off at 6am (or whenever).

hope that makes sense haha :) I have never had a problem keeping batteries charged or charges running out overnight.