TL:DR - Batteries can accept incoming power at the same time they aresending power out.
- Charging rate is dependent on the amount of power coming in, with anefficiency of80%.
Example: 20rW from a Solar Panel × 0.8 = 16rW usable througha battery.
Example: If your Medium Battery is supplying 16rW to acircuit, 16 ÷ 0.8 = 20rW is the minimum you want to give the battery soit doesn’t lose any charge.
- It is recommended to supply slightly more than you need if you wantto charge the battery.
- When you combine batteries with Root Combiners, they do not splitthe load as one would expect. They cannot see each other, so eachbattery tries to power the whole circuit.
For example, in a circuit with 2 root combined batteries supporting aload of 50, it would seem to make sense that 50 power divided by 2batteries equals 25 per battery. Rustricity doesn’t work like that and50 power is taken from each battery and seen as Active Usage on bothbatteries. This means both batteries are draining at a rate of 50.
This means when we get to circuits that need more than 100 power, allthe batteries combined will show a max Active Usage, which is used tocalculate how fast a battery drains.
So if we are forcing batteries to max drain, then we might as well tryto use as much of the power the combined batteries will provide.
When using a bypass battery backup like the Nih core, Active Usage does notmatter because the circuits are getting power from the main power sourcemost of the time and not the battery.
- Rustricity has its own version of Parallel and Seriesbattery configurations.
- 1rw will charge a Large Battery in 34 IRL days.
- When a battery is depleted because it is not receiving enough power,no power is outputed until it charges up for a couple seconds beforeoutputting to the connected circuit. The battery still not receivingenough power will deplete in a second and the process repeats.
- If the circuit after a battery is turning on and off, you do nothave enough power charging your batteries.
- When they get picked up, they lose 25% HP but retain their currentcapacity. This means if a large battery has a full charge, when you pickit up and place it back down, it will still have a full charge.
- Batteries have something called Active Usage and components havesomething called Power Consumption. Read about it in BatteryActive Usage vs Actual Power Consumed.
There are 3 types of battery backup systems. There are InlineBackups, there are Bypass Backups and then there are the Battery CheckedBackups of both Inline and Bypass. Inline backups include the Inlinewhile The Kore is Battery Checked. Bypass backups include the OR/Blockerand the Nih Core while the BCN Core is Battery Checked.
Deciding which backup to use really comes down to preference. Theyeach have their own pros and cons and some may argue that 1 is betterthan another in different situations. For example, if you only need topower a few turrets and are in a hurry, you might find the simplicity ofthe Inline backup works for you. Maybe you are working with 300rW to1000rW and a dozen Windmills, you might find the efficiency of the NihCore is preferred. Having a good understanding of the concept ActiveUsage Vs Actual Power Consumed will also help you decide on a backup. Atthe end of the day, as long as the battery backup you go with, workswhen you need it to work, that was the right backup to choose.
This is when the power source is directly connected to a circuit. Ifthe power source is destroyed or stops producing power for any reason,the circuit will go offline. This method is a great solution for shortterm uses like getting some auto turrets asap for your clan or gettingsome water pumps online early for a berry farm. While this method isgood for a very short time to get an early game advantage, it is notrecommended to rely on this method for any length of time. Introducingbatteries to a circuit to create backup power is more suited for longterm use.
Things to note:
- Easy to wire.
- Uses minimal components.
- Provides an early game advantage.
- If the power source is destroyed, the circuit will turn off.
- There is no backup power.
- Short term use only.
Recommended reading:
- This is not a battery backup but worth mentioning. Check out the restof this section.
This is called an Inline because power must pass through the batterybefore powering something. Inline batteries are the most common andeasiest way to provide a battery backup. This method is fast to make andwire. It is reliable assuming enough power is being produced to keep thebatteries charged. It is also an easy way to decentralize circuits. Whena power source is directly connected to a battery, 100% of that power isused for the sole purpose of charging that battery. When a battery isfully charged, any power above what is needed to maintain the battery’scharge, is not being used, which we call wasted.
Batteries are 80% efficient and have a mechanic called Active Usage.There is an entire section about this but for right now, to figure outhow much power a battery must be given so it doesnt drain, take theActive Usage number and divide that by 0.8. Active Usage can be found byholding a Wire Tool and looking at a battery.
For example, a large battery with an Active Usage of 100. 100 ÷ 0.8 =125. Therefore, 125rW needs to be provided to prevent the battery fromdraining.
If the battery is being given 150rW so it charges, when it is fullycharged, there is 25rW of power that is not being used. When it needs tobe charged, that 25rW is better then 1rW because it will charge faster.Giving a Large Battery only 1rW, it will take roughly 34 IRL days tofully charge. For 1 battery, 25 extra doesn’t seem like a lot, but whenusing 4 or more batteries, that can be 100rW of power being“wasted”.
One of the biggest benefits of an Inline backup is when the powersource stops making enough or any electricity, the battery will continueto supply power, uninterrupted. This means that unlike bypass backs, theinline is not prone to a flicker off/on when the power source is notproducing enough power. The battery will continue to power the circuituntil it is depleted or destroyed.
It is recommended to start charging batteries as soon as possible.Let them charge to a minimum of 3000rWm before letting them poweranything. The reason for this is if a Wind Turbine is used, the windcould be entering a slow period. When using Solar Panels, night comesonce an hour. Having some capacity saved up will help get through theslow or no times.
Things to note:
- Simple to make with minimal electrical components.
- Easy for decentralizing having different circuits with different powersources/backups.
- There is no flicker of power because there is no switching betweensources.
- It does require an understanding of Active Usage to take fulladvantage of.
- It is not meant to be used with root combined batteries. Requires morepower to be produced making it an inefficient use of power.
- If the battery is destroyed, the circuit will turn off.
Recommended Reading:
- BatteryActive Usage vs Actual Power Consumption
- Short Circuit/ Max Depth
- What is a PowerBus?
This is an upgraded Inline battery backup. It is a battery checkedInline backup, aka The Kore. Just like the traditional Inline, powerfrom the main power source is used to charge the battery. The batterystill powers the circuit all of the time just like an Inline backup, butif the battery gets destroyed, The Kore will switch over to the WindTurbine or main power source. This is a huge advantage over thetraditional Inline.
As The Kore is using an inline battery, paying attention to ActiveUsage is required. Active Usage can be found by holding a Wire Tool andlooking at the battery. There is a section that goes into detail aboutActive Usage but for now, just know that the amount of power an inlinesystem needs is the Active Usage number ÷ by 0.8 (or Active Usage number× 1.25). This is because batteries are 80% efficient. The number that isgiven from doing this math is the minimum amount of power the batterywill require to not drain. Adding more than that number allows thebattery to charge.
The way this system works is by sending power to a Memory Cell first.The left output, Inverted Output, is connected to an ORSwitch that connects to a circuit. Power moves through the right sideoutput, Output, to an Electrical Branch. 2 power isbranched off to RESET on the Memory Cell and the rest isused to charge the battery. Power from the battery is sent to anElectrical Branch where 2 is branched off to ‘SET’ on the Memory Celland the rest is sent to the OR Switch which powers the circuit. Due tohow side inputs on the Memory Cell work, while SET isgetting power, it will always send power through the right side output.If the battery is destroyed, power is removed from SETwhile power is still going to RESET which causes the MemoryCell to flip outputs. This allows the attached circuit to still receivesome power which is better than no power.
The biggest advantage of this backup system is the ability tocontinue to send power to the circuit even after the battery isdestroyed, no matter how much power is coming in. It is recommended tolet the battery charge to a minimum of 3000rWm before letting it poweranything providing a buffer when entering a low power protection periodof time.
Read the infographic below for more details.
Things to note:
- Simple to make with minimal electrical components.
- Easy for decentralizing having different circuits with different powersources/backups.
- There is no flicker of power because there is no switching betweensources unless the battery is destroyed.
- It does require an understanding of Active Usage to take fulladvantage of.
- It is not meant to be used with root combined batteries. Requires morepower to be produced making it an inefficient use of power.
- If the battery is destroyed, the circuit will switch over to the powersource no matter how much power is coming in.
Recommended Reading:
- BatteryActive Usage vs Actual Power Consumption
- Short Circuit/ Max Depth
- What is a PowerBus?
Check out the demohere
This method has been around for a long time and is often called‘Infinite Power’. It is not infinite power, it is just a bypass batterybackup. It has been carried over from a previous version of electricitywhen batteries could only charge or discharge, not both at the sametime. During this time batteries did not have an Active Usage and forcedout max power causing the need to invent the ‘Infinite Power Loop’,which actually was something, but it was not this circuit.
This is an OR/Blocker battery backup. It is a bypass battery backupthat powers a circuit most of the time from the main power source. Poweris bypassing the battery to power the circuit, while the excess power isused to charge the battery. When not enough power is produced, it willautomatically switch on the battery keeping everything powered. Thereason it is now considered out of date is because it doesn’t takeadvantage of the batteries ability to charge and discharge at the sametime.
The way this method works is by sending power into the firstElectrical Branch and branching out enough power to meet a circuit’sneeds. That power is passed to an OR Switch which sends power to acircuit. The extra electricity from the first Electrical Branch is sentto another Electrical Branch. Power is branched out to block the Blockerwhich prevents the battery from draining. The extra power is then usedto charge the battery. When there is not enough power to keep thebattery blocked, the battery sends power out to the OR Switch to keepthe circuit online.
Based on the picture below, green wire showing what has power, redshowing no power and yellow showing wasted power. If the Windmill onlyproduces 75 power, it is not enough power to meet the demand of thefirst
Electrical Branch or blockthe battery. The battery takes over powering the circuit but the 75power is still coming out of the first Electrical Branch. The power isstill there, it is just not being used, it is wasted.
While considered out of date today for use as a primary batterybackup system, with some small modifications, it is useful as asecondary battery backup which we talk about in its own section.
Things to note:
- Simple to make with minimal electrical components. Havingunderstanding of the components and Power Flow is advised.
- Easy for centralizing all circuits to a single power source/backup butis limited in size needing an understanding of Short Circuit/MaxDepth.
- Is an inefficient use of power when running on battery because it doesnot take advantage of charging and discharging at the same time.
- Without modification there is a flicker of power when switchingbetween sources.
- It does require an understanding of Active Usage and Power Consumptionto take full advantage of.
- It can be used with root combined batteries because this circuit isnot designed for Active Usage.
- If the battery is destroyed, the circuit will only switch over to thepower source if enough power is coming in.
Recommended Reading:
- BatteryActive Usage vs Actual Power Consumption
- Short Circuit/ Max Depth
- CircuitDelay and Power Flow
- What is a PowerBus?
The Nih Core is the modern version of, and replacement for, theOR/Blocker. When using an inline battery to power a circuit, there is a20% loss due to the batteries inefficiency. Bypass battery backups, likethe Nih Core, are not necessarily a way around this. Instead of acircuit being powered by the battery, the circuit gets power directlyfrom the Wind Turbine while the battery gets charged with the excess.This excess may not be the full 20% but due to the cost of distributionand overcoming the small Active Usage from combining batteries, it canbe most of it. The Nih Core will automatically switch over to the backupbattery when the power source is not producing enough.
The Nih Core becomes more efficient the more batteries it has butthere is only 1 in the picture because it’s all that is needed todemonstrate how the Nih Core functions. The simple explanation is whenthere is not enough power to meet a circuit’s requirements, it redirectsthe insufficient amount of power to the battery and activates it to takeover powering the circuit. The reason the Nih Core becomes moreefficient with more batteries is because we are bypassing the 20% hitfrom an inline battery and we don’t care about the battery’s ActiveUsage. We are bypassing the battery therefore removing any restrictionsor conditions caused by it. Check out the section called ‘Battery ActiveUsage Vs Actual Power Consumed’ for an in depth explanation.
Using the following picture, it is possible to see where power existsand where it doesn’t when the Nih Core is running off of Main Power vsBattery Power. The green wires have power and the red wires do not.
To understand how this works, becoming familiar with the Memory Celland the Splitter will help a lot. The inputs on the side of the MemoryCell are prioritized from top to bottom and when the Splitter receivespower, it sends out power from left to right. This also applies to whenSplitters lose power, they stop sending power out from left to right.The section ‘Circuit Delay and Power Flow’ helps explain in detail howrustricity moves around a circuit.
Based on the picture above, if the windmill only produces 75rW ofpower, it is not enough power to meet the demand of the first ElectricalBranch, which is set to 100. That first Electrical Branch will stillsend that 75rW to the Memory Cell. This means no power is going to thesecond Electrical Branch, therefore the Splitter loses power. When theSplitter loses power, Output 1 first stops sending power to SET on theMemory Cell. At that moment, power from Output 2 is still going toRESET, so the Memory Cell flips outputs. RESET loses power followed byOutput 3 going to Block Passthrough on the Blocker. The battery thentakes over powering the circuit. The 75rW of power that is still goingthrough the first Electrical Branch and Memory Cell, is now sent to thebattery extending its life instead of being wasted. This will take a 4hour backup time and extend it.
Here is a look at a Nih Core with 4 batteries. Keep in mind Max Depthwhen using large numbers of power sources and batteries. 16 powersources and 16 batteries is the most you can connect before hitting theMax Depth. Check out the section ‘Short Circuit / Max Depth’ for an indepth explanation on that subject.
If you notice that power is flickering off/on when switching betweenmain power and battery power, it is because 1 of 2 issues.
Solution 1 - If using only 1 battery, add a RootCombiner between the battery and blocker to keep the battery active. Ifthe battery does not have something registering Active Usage, it willenter an inactive state. This causes a delay when switching on tobattery power waiting for the battery to wake up.
Solution 2 - If already using a Root Combiner orusing more than 1 battery, add 1 or 2, maybe even 3 components betweenthe Memory Cells ‘Output’ and the OR Switch. This will hold power herelonger giving the circuit a chance to receive power from thebattery.
Solution 3 - Use a secondary inline battery backupto buffer against the flicker on circuits that need stability. In thepicture below, the purple wires are representing a destruction detectionsystem on some walls. Then the flicker happens, the Smart Alarm getstriggered. Adding the battery prevents that from happening. It does cost20% more power for that circuit because of the battery, but it is 100%stable. The yellow wires represent circuits that do not need 100%stability. It could be deemed acceptable if these circuits turn off andon once in a while.
Things to note:
- Added complexity needing multiple components to make requiring anunderstanding of the components and Power Flow.
- Great for centralizing all circuits to a single power source/backupbut is limited in size needing an understanding of Short Circuit/MaxDepth.
- Is an efficient use of power when running on battery because it takesadvantage of charging and discharging at the same time.
- Without modification there is a flicker of power when switchingbetween sources.
- It does require an understanding of Active Usage and Power Consumptionto take full advantage of.
- It can be used with root combined batteries because this circuit isnot designed for Active Usage.
- If the battery is destroyed, the circuit will only switch over to thepower source if enough power is coming in.
Recommended Reading:
- BatteryActive Usage vs Actual Power Consumption
- Short Circuit/ Max Depth
- CircuitDelay and Power Flow
- What is a PowerBus?
The BCN Core is a Battery Checked Nih Core…..
Things to note:
- Added complexity needing even more components to make requiring anunderstanding of the components and Power Flow.
- Great for centralizing all circuits to a single power source/backupbut is limited in size needing an understanding of Short Circuit/MaxDepth.
- Is an efficient use of power when running on battery because it takesadvantage of charging and discharging at the same time.
- There is no flicker of power when switching between sources unless thebatteries cannot supply enough power.
- It does require an understanding of Active Usage and Power Consumptionto take full advantage of.
- It can be used with root combined batteries because this circuit isnot designed for Active Usage.
- If the battery is destroyed, the circuit switch over to the powersource even if not enough power is coming in.
Recommended Reading:
- BatteryActive Usage vs Actual Power Consumption
- Short Circuit/ Max Depth
- CircuitDelay and Power Flow
- What is a PowerBus?
A secondary battery backup is used to provide power to a circuitafter the main backup system goes offline. It’s a backup of a backup.The chance that a secondary backup battery gets used on a typical day isnear 0%, so why use them? Why not? The only drawback is the increasedpower cost. More backups and redundancy never hurts functionality, itonly adds to it.
There are a couple of different versions of the secondary backup.Just like primary battery backups, there is the inline and the bypass.Secondary backups can be built into any place in any circuit.
The first and easiest way is installing an inline battery between acircuit and its power bus. Let’s use a picture to illustrate a circuitthat is using a Nih Core as a primary battery backup with Inlinebatteries for the secondary backup.
The secondary batteries are installed between the Electrical Branchesand what the branch is providing power to. In the case of the AutoTurrets, instead of the Electrical Branch sending power straight to theSmart Switch, the branch sends power to a battery that then powers theswitch and all the turrets. It’s the same for the SAM Sites. Power fromthe branch powers a battery and the battery powers the SAMs. Rememberingthat batteries are only 80% efficient, the amount of power eachElectrical Branch provides is increased to compensate. With a secondarybattery, the branch sending power to the turrets is set to 115. Withoutthe secondary, it only needs to be set to 99. That’s a 16rW difference.The branch sending power to the SAM Sites is set to 96 but without thesecondary battery, it only needs to be set to 76. That’s a 20rWdifference. For a total cost of 36rW, both the turrets and the SAMs willhave a runtime of 8 or more hours if the main power source is completelydestroyed.
Another thing that should not be forgotten is that it takes 34ishdays, or over 800 hours, to charge a large battery with only 1rW. Inother words, precharging secondary batteries should be a requirement.Once a battery is fully charged, providing it with any more then exactlywhat it needs to not drain, is wasted power that could maybe be betterused elsewhere. The maximum input a battery can accept is 4x its output.That means 400rW could be sent to a large battery and have it fullycharged in approximately 1 hour 15ish minutes.
The inline secondary battery is the easiest but paying the 20% taxfor the battery can make this version not so attractive. So let’s have alook at a bypass secondary backup which has a static tax of only 3rW.This is essentially an OR/Blocker backup except the battery getsinstalled precharged and there is no built in way for it to berecharged. Let’s use the picture below to help illustrate how itworks.
The Test Generator represents static power coming from your mainbattery backup system. This means power levels won’t go up or down likewind and solar. When the Electrical Branch loses just 1rW, the batterywill take over. What is more likely is that power will either be presentor it will not. This battery should never be used so there is no builtin recharging system. This saves wasting power recharging a battery thatwill probably never be used so it must be precharged.
This secondary backup gets installed just like the inline version,between the circuit and its power bus. The picture below illustrates thesame circuit as before using a Nih Core as a primary battery backup butnow with a bypass battery for the secondary backup.
The secondary batteries are installed between the Electrical Branchesand what the branch is providing power to. In the case of the AutoTurrets, instead of the Electrical Branch sending power straight to theSmart Switch. Power is sent to another Electrical Branch that blockspassthrough on a Blocker before sending a specific amount of power on anOR Switch. From there, it’s on to the Smart Switch and all the turrets.It’s the same for the SAM Sites. Power from the branch goes to anotherElectrical Branch that blocks a Blocker before sending power to an ORSwitch. From there it’s off to power the SAMs.
The ability to bypass the battery means the amount of power eachElectrical Branch provides only needs to be increased by 3rW tocompensate. With a secondary battery, the branch sending power to theturrets is set to 98. Without the secondary, it only needs to be set to95. That’s a 3rW difference. The branch sending power to the SAM Sitesis set to 79 but without the secondary battery, it only needs to be setto 76. That’s also a 3rW difference. For a total cost of only 6rW, boththe turrets and the SAMs will have a runtime of 8 or more hours if themain power source is completely destroyed.
Adding a recharging system can be done. It is just the OR/Blockerbattery backup. The only drawback is the added power cost. If a playeris OK with that, then go for it.
Things to note:
- Simple to make with only a few components
- Great for creating a redundant backup for a backup while adding alevel of decentralization on a centralized circuit
- Is an efficient use of materials if the main backup is properlyprotected and secured
- There is a flicker of power when switching on to this backup
- It should not be used with root combined batteries because thiscircuit can be inserted anywhere in any circuit
- The battery should be fully charged before getting installed
Recommended Reading:
- BatteryActive Usage vs Actual Power Consumption
- Short Circuit/ Max Depth
- CircuitDelay and Power Flow
- What is a PowerBus?
Simply put, Active Usage is what a battery uses to calculate itscharge and discharge rate. Power consumed is the amount of power acomponent requires to operate. Active Usage doesn’t always = PowerConsumed. This is also where the argument of Electrical Branch vsSplitter comes from. Once you understand this section, you will know theanswer to this age-old argument.
When you look at the battery with a wire tool, you will see ActiveUsage. Active Usage is the amount of power the battery is draining by.This is the number you want to use when calculating how much power togive a battery for it to remain charged based on the battery’s 80%efficiency. Active Usage ÷ 0.8 or Active Usage × 1.25 gives you theminimum power input to remain neutral.
It is reasonable to think that the number you see is the amount ofpower your circuit is currently consuming, but it’s not always the case.Even when some components are turned off and not consuming power, theycan still add to a battery’s Active Usage. In this next picture, eventhough the Auto Turret is not consuming power, it is still adding to thebattery’s Active Usage and in fact, it will actually consume 14power.
In this case even though the AND Switch is not allowing power to passthrough, it does not have the ability to hide the Active Usage frominactive components downstream or past it. In this next picture, if weuse different components to achieve the same outcome, we can hide theAuto Turret’s Active Usage from the battery when it is not consumingpower.
This setup reduces the Active Usage all the way to 6. When active, wewill get an Active Usage of 16 but it will actually consume 18.
Components like Switches, the Blocker, Timer, HBHF Sensor and RFReceiver all have the ability to hide a component’s Active Usage frombatteries when not passing power through.
Every component will only register an Active Usage once and equal tothe amount of power it consumes with the exception of the ElectricalBranch. Only the Branch Out value will register Active Usage even thoughit does consume 1 power for itself. An Electrical Branch set to 2 willregister an Active Usage of 2 but will consume 3. Branch Out is a FIXEDvalue. The thing to remember is that it is the Branch Out value that isregistering Active Usage, not the components connected to Branch Out.This means that the components connected to Branch Out, even though itis where they are getting their power from, their Active Usage is notwhat is registering on the battery. If there is another path that letsthe battery see these components, it is possible for their Active Usageto register on the battery along with the Branch Out value, effectivelydoubling the power needed. This next picture is a quick example to showhow a Boom Box that is powered from Branch Out, but using a Switch toToggle Play on and off, is registering 10 Active Usage for the BranchOut, 1 for the Switch and 10 for the Boom Box. If we do the same thing,but with the Splitter, we dont have this issue because the Splittercontrols its power flow DYNAMICALLY.
This is helpful in situations where you have a few small circuitswhere you dont want to force an Active Usage when the circuits are off.Now because the Electrical Branch only registers the Branch Out value asActive Usage and 0 for itself, we can trick batteries into thinking lesspower is being consumed. In the next picture, we have some examplesusing Auto Turrets.
Above, we have 1 example using 8 Electrical Branches to power 9 AutoTurrets. Every branch is outputting 10 power but also consuming 1 powerfor itself. So in total we are consuming 98 power but the battery’sActive Usage is only 90. The 2nd example we are using 4 Splitters topower the same number of turrets only this time the Splitters areconsuming 1 and have an Active Usage of 1 each. This gives us an ActiveUsage and Power Consumption of 94. The example with Electrical Branchesonly has 2 extra power meaning there is enough power available to add asingle Ceiling Light while the 2nd example has 6 extra power, that’senough power for 3 Ceiling Lights.
In the situation where an Inline Battery is being used, you want tominimize the battery’s Active Usage to minimize the cost of powerproduction. Like in the single Auto Turret examples above, there is arequired input power difference of 9rW just to maintain the battery.Batteries are 80% efficient. Take the Active Usage number and divide itby 0.8. This will give you the minimum amount of power required tomaintain the battery and it will not drain. It wont charge either. Themore power above the minimum, the faster the battery will charge but themore you will waste when the battery is full. 1rW will charge a largebattery but it will take 34 IRL days.
In a bypass system like the Nih Core, Active Usage doesn’t matterbecause you are not relying on the battery as a main power source. Youare bypassing the battery. This means that the amount of power consumedis more important. If we look at the above picture again with the 9 AutoTurrets, we can see that while both examples are accomplishing the samegoal, 1 is consuming less power then the other. If we look back at thesingle Auto Turret examples, the 1st example with an Active Usage of 13will actually consume 14 vs the 2nd with an Active Usage of 6 willactually consume 18. So while the 1st example is bad on an Inlinesystem, it is better in a bypass system. The less power you can use todo something, gives you more power to do other things.
You can use a bypass system with 1 Large Battery and only use 50power to double the life of the battery but, it is more common to see abypass system used for 2 or more batteries to get a larger output. If weare using 2 or more batteries to get the higher output, a Root Combinerwill be used. The moment we combine batteries to power a circuit thatuses more than 100 power, both batteries will have an Active Usage of100. This is because load sharing is not a thing in Rustricity. If thecircuit only needs 50, both batteries will have an Active Usage of50(plus 1 for the Root Combiner).
Due to this being the way it is, if you combine 2 batteries to get200 power, try to use all 200 because no matter if the circuit needs 101or 199, 2 large batteries will only last 4 hours. If they are only goingto last 4 hours regardless, try to use as much of that 200 as possibleto make it worth combining the batteries. Otherwise, split the circuit,run Inlines and minimize the Active Usage.
Now having said consuming less power when using a bypass backup ismore important, there are times when it is worth consuming more for abit of added security. In the next picture, for demonstration only,medium batteries have been root combined to power some Auto Turrets.
The top groups are using Electrical Branches. They are consuming morepower but in the event 1 battery is destroyed, top right, some turretsstay active. The bottom groups use Splitters. While they do consume lesspower, in the event a battery is lost, very bottom, all the turrets gooffline. You will need to weigh the pros and cons and decide what isright to fit your needs. Read more in What is a PowerBus?
Lets start by learning what Parallel and Series means in real life.Connecting batteries in series increases voltage and connectingbatteries in parallel increases capacity.
V = Volts (power)
Ah = Amp hour (capacity)
If we wire two 6V@10Ah batteries in series, we will now have twicethe power at 12V but with only 10Ah of capacity.
If we wire two 6V@10Ah batteries in parallel, we will still only have 6Vbut have 20Ah of capacity.
In real life, batteries have positive (+) and negative (-)connections. In Rust, our batteries only have 1 input and 1 output. Wealso measure our Volts (V) as Rust Watts (rW) and our capacity, insteadof Amp hours (Ah) we use Rust Watt Minutes (rWm).
In Rust, a large battery can give 100rW of power and has a capacityof 24000rWm. The outcome of wiring 2 large batteries in series would be200rW of power with a capacity of 24000rWm. The outcome of wiring 2large batteries in parallel would be 100rW of power with a capacity of48000rWm.
*Series
To wire large batteries in series in Rust, just use a Root Combiner.The output will be 200rW and because both batteries will drain at thesame, the total capacity will remain at 24000rWm. This will give amimimum runtime of 4 hours.
Wiring more than 2 batteries into series is not much morecomplicated. Just add more Root Combiners. This will provide more powerfor consumption but the capacity will remain the same. For moreinformation as to why the capacity stays the same, it is recommendedreading BatteryActive Usage vs Actual Power Consumption in the Power Storagesection under Concepts.
It is recommended to charge all the batteries wired in series at thesame rate. This will help keep power levels equal across all batteries.For example, if there are 2 batteries in series and 1 of them drainsempty, 50% of the circuit will go offline because 50% of the power isgone. However, giving priority to 1 battery in series could be a designfeature.
*Parallel
To wire 2 large batteries in parallel requires a few more components.1 battery needs to block the other battery to prevent both from drainingat the same time. The output is only 95rW because of the extracomponents but the capacity will be doubled to 48000rWm. This wouldprovide a minimum runtime of 8 hours.
While this technically works for paralleling 2 batteries, considerusing a secondary backup instead. 2 parallel batteries costs 5rW but abypass secondary backup could cost as little as 2rW. This can also betrue no matter the number of secondary batteries if there is no built inrecharging. If recharging a secondary battery is built in, it adds aminimum of 2rW per battery to the power cost. Check out the section forSecondaryBackups in Power Storage under Concepts.
Going beyond 2 batteries and tripling the capacity, things get alittle more complicated.
( This has been patched out with a hotfix on November 4th2023 but remains here for the historical record )
The Nih Capacitor was first established by Nih, with assistance fromSwiftCoyote, on September 11, 2022. A Capacitor is a set of componentsthat accumulate power, much like rechargeable batteries. However, themethod for assessing the amount of stored power differs.
For batteries, the stored power is represented asCapacity,
measured in Rust Watt Minutes (rWm).
Contrarily, in a Capacitor, we gauge the power storage by examiningan Input/Output (IO) connection and observing a figure that is typicallyassociated with power or the amount of power available foruse.
But within the Capacitor, this figure DOES NOT indicate theamount of power that can be utilized. Rather, this figure iswhat we call Wire Capacity, symbolized as Np.For instance, in the image below, the displayed 6,492,076is NOT the amount of power available. Instead, itrepresents 6,492,076Np of Wire Capacity.
Before going into the construction and operation of a Capacitor, it’sessential to understand the math conversions between Rust Watt Minutes(rWm) and Wire Capacity (Np).
Both represent capacity, but they use different units of measurementdepending on the energy storage container, be it a battery or acapacitor.
The Maths:rWm : rust watt minutes (capacity)rW : rust watts (commonly referred to as “power”)Np : Wire Capacity∅ : 7.5 (Trust Me Bro)S : Secondsτ : 60 (The number of seconds in a minute, and minutes inan hour)M : MinutesP : Max power output for 1 secondO : The amount of power you want to outputH : Hours
To convert rWm into Wire Capacity(Np), use the followingequation:(rWm × τ = P) × ∅ = Np
To convert Wire Capacity(Np) into rWm, use the followingequation:(Np ÷ ∅ = P) ÷ τ = rWm
To figure out how much time a given capacity will run for outputtinga specific amount of power, use the following equations:Seconds: (rWm ÷ O = M) × τ = SMinutes: rWm ÷ O = MHours: (rWm ÷ O = M) ÷ τ = H
Examples
Using Capacity from the battery in the first picture, it is possible tofigure out the number that would be seen if looking at an IO connectionin a Capacitor to view Wire Capacity(Np).(rWm × τ = P) × ∅ = Np(271 × 60 = 16,260) × 7.5 = 121,950Np
Therefore a capacity of 271rWm when viewed on an IO connection isequal to 121,950Np. We can also see that if the Large Battery did nothave an output limit of 100, it would be able to output 16,260rW ofpower for 1 second.
Using the IO connection to view Wire Capacity(Np) from the secondpicture, it is possible to figure out how much rWm of Capacity we wouldhave if this was viewed on a battery.(Np ÷ ∅ = P) ÷ τ = rWm(6,492,076 ÷ 7.5 = 865,610.1333) ÷ 60 = 14,426rWm
Therefore a Wire Capacity of 6,492,076Np when viewed on a batteryrepresented as Capacity, it is equal to 14,426rWm.
Without a limited output, the Capacitor is capable of delivering865,610rW of power for 1 second.
Using both of these examples, it’s possible to calculate the lengthof time both the Battery and Capacitor would power a circuit for, givena set output.
For our example, let’s say the circuit needs 100 power.
Battery :(rWm ÷ O = M) × τ = S(271 ÷ 100 = 2.71 Minutes) × 60 = 162 Seconds
Capacitor : (you will need to convert from Np to rWmfirst)(rWm ÷ O = M) × τ = S(14,426 ÷ 100 = 144.26 Minutes) × 60 = 8,655 Seconds
OR :(rWm ÷ O = M) ÷ τ = H(14,426 ÷ 100 = 144.26 Minutes) ÷ 60 = 2.40 Hours
Prior to constructing a capacitor, it’s crucial to understand itslimitations and potential issues. This will clarify misconceptions suchas the notion of ‘infinite power’ and help identify the appropriatecontexts for its use.
- It doesn’t survive server restarts. evrytime the server restarts,all of the stored power will vanish, poof gone.
- When automating energy extraction, it is possible that a flickerwill be created or worse, all the power vanishes, poof gone.
- It consumes power even when nothing is connected to it, unlike abattery that doesn’t lose power if nothing is connected to it.
- It is not portable.
Now, some of the advantages and benefits of the Capacitor
That wraps up this section. I hope I have explained things in a waythat makes sense. Please comment on the GoogleDoc if you have any suggestions or questions.
