Batteries not charging

[Commander Freedom]

Hey I just started playing Rimworld and my biggest issue is power.
I built solar panels so they can charge the batteries during the day and use them at night, but they won't charge at all, I have no idea why so after one or two minutes (solar panels power left) everything goes dark.
Here's a screenshot...

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/950713922705705418/6845D3A067CCAB5A7E43D8E7FA2DC10091975E04/

Anyone knows why?

[Lorax]

Only thing i can see would be if your drawing more power then the panels can supply. When they are on do you get brown outs? Some things aren't on? Also it looks like your both heating and cooling every room indivualy. Thats a big power drain. 1 cooler/heater can cool down a huge area. Use vents to connect rooms.

[Grogwind]

You could be using too much power for them to charge.

During the day what’s the wattage of the whole power system that the battery’s are connected to? Clicking on the battery’s should tell you this. If it’s a negative or low number then you need more power.

[Jaasrg]

Sure the batteries don't just drain so fast?
That seems awfully lot to supply with just 3 batteries and 1 turbine over the night, not to mention your turbine is being blocked by trees and possibly by building.

[dengeist]

Make sure there’s no break in your conduits. Sometimes there might not be a connection to your batteries somewhere.

[Jigain]

Looks like too many consumers and a blocked wind turbine by 4 tiles (unless I'm mistaken about how far back they go; if it clears the two walls, it's just the two trees in front). Consider using vents to reduce the amount of coolers and heaters you have running, turning off the smeltery (700W) when you're not using it, and putting the solar generators in front of the wind turbine (doesn't block the wind turbine and stops trees from growing to boot). Each blocked tile is 20% reduced efficiency, stacking, so at 80% reduced efficiency that turbine isn't doing much.

[Security Cam #7]

You have way too many coolers. Use one cooler with a vent per 2 rooms, not separate coolers in every room you have. They drain tons of energy. Disable your workbenches when you don't plan on using them because they drain lots of energy too.

Edit: Also, one light per room is enough, unless the room is very big.

[desrtfox071]

Tie your various networks together and see if you still have the issue. I tend to agree with the other posters, you just aren't making enough power, even during the day, so the batteries don't get charged.

[Commander Freedom]

Originally posted by Grogwind:

You could be using too much power for them to charge.

During the day what’s the wattage of the whole power system that the battery’s are connected to? Clicking on the battery’s should tell you this. If it’s a negative or low number then you need more power.

Where do I see the power I use and the energy I need?

[Security Cam #7]

Originally posted by Sgt. Jefeon:

Originally posted by Grogwind:

You could be using too much power for them to charge.

During the day what’s the wattage of the whole power system that the battery’s are connected to? Clicking on the battery’s should tell you this. If it’s a negative or low number then you need more power.

Where do I see the power I use and the energy I need?

When you click on a solar panel you can see the output along with power generated from everything in the bottom left. If it's on negative then you don't have enough power generated (if I remember correctly)

[Commander Freedom]

Originally posted by Smelly Fish:

Originally posted by Sgt. Jefeon:

Where do I see the power I use and the energy I need?

When you click on a solar panel you can see the output along with power generated from everything in the bottom left. If it's on negative then you don't have enough power generated (if I remember correctly)

Thanks, it says I have 190Wd stored, grid excess is at 1785 W, doesn't look like I'm using too much energy.
Yet the 2 batteries have barely stored enough energy to get through the night.

[TotallyAverageGamer]

Batteries only store at 50%, so if you put 1k W through them they really only store 500, and they have a discharge rate of 5W though that’s not much to do anything unless you put them in “storage”

[Commander Freedom]

So I would need even more panels?
it's a bit excessive to have over 5 solar panels for this small base and to run only 8 colonists no?

[Jigain]

Yeah, batteries aren't efficient. To make it through the night you'll need either more power to charge them over the day, or a more efficient battery. In vanilla the second option isn't available, I believe, but there are mods that introduce more expensive (and efficient) batteries.

[Jigain]

Originally posted by Sgt. Jefeon:

So I would need even more panels?
it's a bit excessive to have over 5 solar panels for this small base and to run only 8 colonists no?

Yes, but that's because you have so many coolers and heaters and don't turn off your electric smelter when it isn't needed. :)

[Commander Freedom]

The heaters are turned off during summer and coolers in winter.
The 2 prisons use the wood-fired generator.