How do you power on lights?

[ WraithGear]

i have power and batteries. light fixtures need this power, but as far as i can see, they have no power port to accept it. Makes things pitch black at night and its hard to get anything done.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

The cuboid rooms are best. They come pre-lit and pre-wired. I am pretty sure the lights will work in any pre-wired room type...but not sure how to get them to work with individual piece buildings.

[Shame]

What kind of lights? I have seen all kinds of lights and they all seem to have power connections, unless they are under "decoration" category, which is when they don't need power at all. Did test the latter on a freighter only, however, so I am not 100% sure.

[ WraithGear]

i am not using the prefab buildings as i can't build them how i want. i am using the decoration lights, as they are the only ones i have access too. they provide no light at all, and when you activate then they say they need power to operate.

[Arland]

I have found that if you place the lights that need wire and then leave them/go away, then if you come back they can no longer accept wire.

Best is to stay at same location and put all lamps that you want and pull all the wires before leave/go other place. In my own save game, if I leave and then come back later I can no longer pull wire to the lights I have placed. but if I do it immediately and all at once then it works.

Only lights that need wire are those wall lights that look like bread loafs and come in various colours (green, blue, yellow, pink, red and uh.. light blue I guess ?) You need to have a power source (like for example solar panel) and preferebly connected to battery. I find that 2 solar panels are pretty optimal to connect to 1 battery. Then from battery you pull a wire to whatever needs to be powered. Those bread loaf lamps should have a power port in one end where you can connect wire.

But like said, if you put lamp, then return later to try connect wire (at least for me) the game "forgets" it and I can no longer connect wire to the lamp. So I found that best is to put battery, solar panels and lamps all at once, then put any wires needed BEFORE I leave the area.

If you use cuboid rooms you only need to wire the cuboid room itself. Then any power needing machine or light you place inside will automatically get powered. Also any other cuboid room or corridor directly connected to the powered cuboid room will have power, and also any machine or light inside there.
The same is true for big pre-fabricated rooms. So if use pre-fab you only need to power up one part and all other parts that are connected will also have power as well.

[Dirak2012]

Using basic parts is a bad idea, since you have to put wires everywhere.

[eram]

Originally posted by Dirak2012:

Using basic parts is a bad idea, since you have to put wires everywhere.

Not really tho. Base using basic parts with 1 cable showing.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1851932363

[^^o^^ BatCat]

Basic parts do let you build what you want, size and scale.. creative. Can hardly put anything in the square and round rooms.

Cuboid is 1/2 way between the 2 sytles.

Magic for wall "loaf" lights... put one where you want, on the other side of wall put another and wire it only. Both will light.!

Love that name "Loaf Light".

Wires can be bit of chore, but can be fun.
Most run under floor.
Straight down thro floor for machines. Hook wire to machine, go around, back of wall, or under the floor. Stretch it out some so can see go down straight. Then attach to floor/bottom. Run others to attach this point.
Proximity sensor also work thro floor.

Wires can be "lettering/numbers.."

Draw a square with wire on the wall, all corners connected. Now grab one wire corner and go behind wall. Stretch it out so can see its straight, then attach to wall. Then wire that to power for Blue square. OR wire to "power turned off" for Red square.

[^^o^^ BatCat]

Originally posted by eram:

Originally posted by Dirak2012:

Using basic parts is a bad idea, since you have to put wires everywhere.

Not really tho. Base using basic parts with 1 cable showing.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1851932363

Very nice.. :)

[Rexxer]

Originally posted by  WraithGear:

i am not using the prefab buildings as i can't build them how i want. i am using the decoration lights, as they are the only ones i have access too. they provide no light at all, and when you activate then they say they need power to operate.

The small industrial-looking lights (read: caged lights) of different colors have to be wired, but if they are in close proximity, they don't have to be. For example if you wire one on one side of a wall then place one on the other side around where the other one is, it will light automatically without wiring.

The decorative light stands, flood lights, etc... don't have to be wired as they are always on.

[^^o^^ BatCat]

Lettering.. crude tho, experimenting.

With my screen rez' you'll have to click/zoom center.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1860638472

Tower has lit wires too, way up top.
I got basic power up, and 4 resources working and availiable local. Now we can design something.

[ WraithGear]

i may be weird, but i love the wiers crawling across the walls, and i am interested in making art from them, as for hooking up the lights, i can't even do that the SECOND i drop them, i have never seen a plug in port for any lights i have access too so far,

I also can't power health stations, or hazmat stations.

[^^o^^ BatCat]

Originally posted by  WraithGear:

I also can't power health stations, or hazmat stations.

On basic wall? ..put a wired Light exactly behind them.

[Rexxer]

Originally posted by ^^o^^ BatCat:

Originally posted by  WraithGear:

I also can't power health stations, or hazmat stations.

On basic wall? ..put a wired Light exactly behind them.

It's a new feature, proximity power, if the lights are within a few inches of each other they will power other lights or items nearby.

[Jez Hammond]

Maybe I should try connecting a door to a light if I want it to function consistantly between base visits lol.

I think current public build is not ideal to dabble with electrics. See my permadeath base in the NipNip thread for an example of hidden wires and a currently broken door that changes each visit.

[Rexxer]

Here is an example of the proximity effect of lights, note that none of the clusters is directly wired to one another except from top to bottom. I like to use this effect on my power poles for 2 good reasons:

(1) The snap-on power connectors lights have are easily targetable when using the construction camera at a great distance (300u to 500u), and this is especially true when you cluster them: four huge connnectors in a bunch...can't miss wiring it even half a base away. By "snap on power connector, I mean that large green circle that pops up on some things when wiring is active in the build menu.
(2) It is another immediate "power on" feed back in addition to the power line going blue. This is important in some situations because the reflected light from the power pole is sometimes visible when the wire itself is not. It acts as a "power on" light.

Example:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1861949470