Wiring

This page's purpose is to document the behavior of wiring components.

= Components =

Battery Units
Battery Units will be used to refer to percentages. 1 Battery Unit (abbreviated as BU) = 1% of a stock battery.

There is no possible way of measuring energy without this?

Wirebox
A Wirebox is a one-way gate to its wire's destination. In simpler words, a Wirebox's wire can not operate backwards (i.e. from the wire's destination back to the Wirebox). Once its wire is plugged to something, it transfers power at a ≈2%/s (2 BU/s) rate, if applicable. It can connect (not to be confused with plug) to all other components, except other Wireboxes.

It seems to only be able to be used 6 times on a solar panel or a battery, most likely due to the fact(?) that machinery connect to each other with raycasting. The solar panel/battery seem to do the raycasting, and not the Wirebox.

It also seems to use a small percentage of what goes into it? (˂1%?, ˂1 BU?) probably a anomaly due to percentage being used instead of numbers

Battery
A battery can store energy, and, unlike Solar Panels, start off fully charged. Its upgraded variant, the Energized Battery, can hold 2.5x more energy (100 BU -˃ 250 BU) than the stock variant. Otherwise, it is functionally the same as stock.

It seems to "steal" from other nearby Batteries. It shouldn't be much of a problem, though.

Solar Panel
A solar panel can store 1.2x more energy (100 BU -˃ 120 BU) than a stock Battery, and can generate power at a rate of 1% (1.2 BU? maybe 1 BU) per 3 seconds, given the following circumstances:


 * 1) The solar panel's top is not blocked by anything (map geometry, player blocks, etc) within a range of (unknown, probably a double-digit) studs
 * 2) The stage allows so (needs further specification, too vague)

However, it does not start off fully charged.

Energy usage on items
As seen above, a single battery (upgraded or not) can increase a item's lifetime by ≈2 times.

=Methods of getting energy out= i have no better name to give this, sadly

Direct Battery
A battery plugged onto a machine does not last very long (depending on what said machine is) and depends on the battery's charge. More batteries may be added onto the machinery in order for it to last longer. Unlike solar panels, batteries' charge does not replenish with time, unless wired so. It is the cheapest of the alternatives.

Pros: Cheap, transfers energy instantly (as opposed to the Wirebox's ≈2%/s (2 BU/s) ), and easily stackable.

Cons: Relatively fragile, doesn't replenish energy by itself, seems to "steal" from nearby Batteries



Battery (Wirebox)
This is the same as the previous entry, but the battery is stored elsewhere and connected to the machine with a Wirebox. You could put more batteries going into the Wirebox in order to not use too much Wireboxes.

Pros: Can be stored elsewhere, for additional protection.

Cons: Transfers power more slowly, when compared to the Direct Battery.



Chained Battery
This is just a battery connected to another battery (via Wirebox) that is connected to another battery, that is connected to another battery, that is connected to another battery, and so on. This option is not recommended, since it is very fragile (1 battery could result in the failure of multiple).

Pros: Easy to recharge Cons: Very fragile, transports power slowly.

Direct Solar Panel
A solar panel connected on the top of a machine, similar, if not equal to, the direct battery. It is quite expensive, though, and not advise-able.

Pros: Replenishes energy at a constant rate (if the conditions has been met), has its own energy storage

Cons: Fragile, starts at 0% (0 BU) of energy when the sail has been set despite what it tells you



Battery Distributor
This is a battery surrounded by 6 Wireboxes (variable, can be 3 wireboxes instead, whatever floats your boat). It has one additional output, compared to the Solar Panel Distributor. Functionally, it acts the same as the Solar Panel Distributor.

Pros: Can equally distribute energy, Compact, 1 extra output when compared to the Solar Panel counterpart.

Cons: Transfers power slowly, seems to "steal" from nearby batteries

Solar Panel Distributor
Solar Panels can serve as a alternative Battery Distributor. There isn't really any reason to use it, since it is less compact and has one less output than the Battery Distributor.

Pros: Can equally distribute energy, doesn't seem to "steal" from nearby Solar Panel Distributors

Cons: Transfers power slowly (due to the Wirebox), a bit more expensive than the Battery Distributor, less compact, one less output.

Battery powered Solar Panel Distributor
This is just a regular Solar Panel Distributor, but it is powered by one or more batteries, via Wireboxes. It is functionally the same. This layout also works with the Battery counterpart.

Pros: The battery recharges the Solar Panel Distributor, so it does not need to produce its own energy in order to run. Cons: The battery recharges the Distributor quite slowly (due to the Wirebox's 2%/s (2 BU/s) ), but this effect is less noticeable when there are a lot of them.

Solar Panel powered Battery powered Solar Panel Distributor
This is a Battery powered Solar Panel Distributor, but the batteries are powered by individual solar panels. This is self explanatory, and functionally the same. Unlike other alternatives, this one is quite expensive. It could be powered by one solar panel if you use the chained battery instead. This layout also works with the Battery Distributor counterpart.

Pros: The batteries that charge the distributor gets charged, allowing for further running time.

Cons: The Solar Panel charging the Battery is vulnerable to damage.

Please update this page if you discover anything new and/or update misleading/inaccurate information.