Power switch
Power switch
Switches power on/off.
Base Stats
Building
- Size
- 1 × 1
- Minifiable
- False
- Placeable
- True
- Passability
- standable
- Terrain Affordance
- Light
Creation
- Required Research
- Electricity
- Work To Make
- 200 ticks (3.33 secs)
- Resources to make
15 + 
1- Deconstruct yield
- 7 - 8 + 0 - 1
- Destroy yield
- nothing
A power switch is used to toggle power of the conduit lines connected to it. It provides an efficient way to control power to several appliances all at once.
Acquisition
Power switches can be constructed once the Electricity research project has been completed. They require 15 Steel, 1 Component and 200 ticks (3.33 secs) of work.
Summary
Power switches transport power, much like a conduit. An active power switch must be directly connected to a power conduit, battery, or source of power for electricity to transmit. They cannot be uninstalled, only deconstructed at the usual loss of half the material.
Power switches can be turned on or off, by selecting the Toggle Power gizmo. A colonist must travel to the switch and physically turn it off. This is considered a Basic work task.
- When the power switch is on, the inspect pane displays 'Power: On', and the center of the power switch shows a pale circle.
- When the power switch is off, the inspect pane displays 'Power: Off', and the center of the power switch is dark.
Analysis
Power switches can be useful for turning multiple batteries or other appliances on or off. With batteries in particular, switches can be used to create a backup grid. The short circuit event will discharge any connected batteries' power, leaving ones behind an off switch unaffected.
Power switches can also turn other devices on or off. Its utility with other appliances is somewhat limited - see below for details.
Reconnect trick
The intended purpose of a power switch - turning multiple devices off at the same time - is largely inefficient when considering the Reconnect gizmo.
Place a single, unconnected power conduit within 6 tiles of any power consuming building. Using Reconnect will alternate the device between a powered line and the unpowered conduit. This is instantaneous; a colonist does not have to walk anywhere, and it can be done even when the game is paused. As batteries cannot (re)connect to distant power conduits, power switches are still required to toggle them on or off.
- Power
- Power conduit (Waterproof) • Power switch • Wood-fired generator • Chemfuel powered generator • Wind turbine
- (research)
- Battery • Geothermal generator • Solar generator • Watermill generator • Toxifier generator
- (uncraftable)
- Vanometric power cell • Unstable power cell
- Related
- Ship reactor