solar panels

[Labaar]

So when you leave a planet where your base is, why is it the solar panels don't maintain the power? I come back and everything in the fridge is spoiled.

[japp_02]

On planets you must orientate the panels towards the sun, and there is not always sun so you must provide a minimum of fuel. In Orbit you do the same but you will always have sun and therefore always energy.

[Too lazy to choose a name]

By the way, solar panels can't store energy, you need another equipment(forget the name, sorry) to store energy which come from solar panels,
Without that equipment, solar panels won't work.

[Walsingham]

Capacitors.

But overall, go to the stats section of the control panel and check your output. You may be running more power out than your solar can sustain. In general I recommend having a separate farm facility with food storage.

[margalus]

my bases always stay powered with only solar. make sure you have 15 panels and several capacitors. laying your solar panels flat on the ground or flat on the roofs of your buildings is the best orientation for continuous high output. turn high energy use devices off when not in use. use floor switches on equipment repair machines so they are only on when you are standing in front of them using them. they use ridiculous amounts of power idling

[Yascherrica]

Originally posted by margalus:

my bases always stay powered with only solar. make sure you have 15 panels and several capacitors. laying your solar panels flat on the ground or flat on the roofs of your buildings is the best orientation for continuous high output. turn high energy use devices off when not in use. use floor switches on equipment repair machines so they are only on when you are standing in front of them using them. they use ridiculous amounts of power idling

I'd say, turn sloped panel to the north if you're in sothern hemisphere and to the south if in a northen. Or just test with 1 panel. As soon as you get max ammount of green lights - panel is positioned correctly. Current output (yellow lights) will be fewer but that doesn't matter in the long run.

[XLjedi]

The starter moons are very weak on solar resource, Omicron is considerably better. I typically pick a spot on the equator and orient my base NSEW facing based on where my eyeball says the sun appears in the sky at mid-day.

[Labaar]

Thanks to everyone

[japp_02]

I wonder if the star type has any influence on the amount of energy per time you get. Does anyone know?

[ZomBeGone]

I am not sure, but I think so. I have built 4 space stations with solar, and they varied greatly as far as the power I could get. The Distance to the star has a drastic effect on the power, so I learned to build close to the star.

I had a base near a white dwarf and I had trouble keeping it powered, however I had random attacks by interceptors so had to keep defense guns on it, so not a controlled test.

Space bases are WAY better with solar than ground bases because no time of day, rain, clouds, etc

[Yascherrica]

Basicaly you want a closest sector to the star with high luminosity. If on planet, then atmosphere density also influense the output

[Too lazy to choose a name]

Originally posted by Walsingham:

Capacitors.

Thanks.

Originally posted by japp_02:

I wonder if the star type has any influence on the amount of energy per time you get. Does anyone know?

I don't know.
But when I start from Skillon,
15 Solar power panels and 2 Capacitors can support Opportunity with 2 growing lights, 1 large constructor, 1 fridge, 1 food processor, and air condition.
I don't build base on the other moons when I start from the other moons.

[Shaauppp]

Originally posted by japp_02:

I wonder if the star type has any influence on the amount of energy per time you get. Does anyone know?

Nah. Star type doesn't matter. Only the distance from the star. You'll get the same output from a red dwarf as you would from a massive hot blue star on a base equal distance from either.

Kind of sucks. When i first started playing I ran about looking for super hot stars only to realize it was a wasted effort.