Solar Panels

Solar panels are items that produce power out of nothing when they are exposed directly to the light of the sun.

Small Solar Panel
You can craft a small solar panel in your backpack's printer, using Copper. This kind of panel can be placed on any one slots, but in the backpack, it will only produce power when placed on one of the side slots (see image on the right).

When exposed to light, the panel will orient itself automatically toward the sun (if possible) and produce 0.5A of power, or enough to fill one bar on a Small Battery in 8 seconds.

Medium Solar Panel
You can also craft another kind of solar panel in the Small Printer module, using 1 pieces of Copper and 1 pieces of Glass. It can be placed on any T2 slot.

When exposed to sunlight, a Medium Solar Panel produces power at 2A, which is exactly four times as much as a Small Solar.

Solar Grid
A Medium Storage unit can hold 8 small solar panels, and takes up same space as 1 Medium Solar Panel while generating twice the power. The grid will cost 8 copper and 2 Compound, compared with only 2 copper for the Medium Solar Panel. This is useful where resources are abundant but space is at a premium, but it is otherwise advisable to just use Medium Solars.

Wrecked Solar Array
When exploring, you can come across a large crashed solar array with a bent girder segment embedded in the surface of the ground (see image on the right).

This solar panel can be completely dug out then hauled to your base when attached to a rover or truck with a winch.

Exposed to sunlight, this array yields a minimum of 2A power, and increases in parabolic fashion capping at 4A briefly at noon if angled directly up towards the sky on the equator of the planet. Solar arrays only have panels on one side, and must be placed with the connection point facing upwards to work. Upon placing solar arrays at your base they are prone to movement, especially during storms. Currently, upon saving and re-entering the game solar arrays will become stationary. This is great for holding them in place, but can be a issue if not placed properly beforehand.

There is a connection point at its base which can be plugged into any platform vehicle or widget to provide power.

Interestingly, the Wrecked Solar Array's power generation is actually dynamic, and adjusts itself as the object moves through space or changes angle.

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Panneaux solaires