 Power Sensor
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|---|---|
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| Details | |
| Tier | Small |
| Group | Item |
| Type | Automation |
| Crafted at |  Small Printer
|
| Recipe |  Zinc Copper
|
| Unlock Cost | 500 Bytes |
The Power Sensor is an Automation item in Astroneer. It allows players to detect when there is a change in power flow and will send a signal to connected items.
Source
| Output | Input | Module |
|---|---|---|
 Power Sensor
|
Zinc Copper
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Small Printer
|
Uses
The Power Sensor can be used to detect when there are changes in the flow of power to the connected platform, such as losing or gaining power. This can be useful to shut down or start parts of players' bases when the state of solar and wind changes. This can also be useful to detect when power shuts down and trigger Generators to turn on to provide extra power at nighttime.
Power Sensors currently have three different settings, which are indicated by the green arrows on its side. The player can cycle through those by pressing the use key (default F). Each sending a signal when a state change is detected:
- Gained or Lost: Will send a signal when power is gained or lost. It must first lose power before being able to detect power gain again.
- Gained: Will send a signal each time that power is gained.
- Lost: Will send a signal each time that power is lost.
Example
Turbine (left) active
Generator (right) active
The images above show a simple example how to wire up a Power Sensor located in the background. It is connected via network cable to the 
Small Wind Turbine on the left. The Power Sensor has its pin connected to a 
Small Generator on the right and is set on Gained-Or-Lost-Mode. At the first time, the player has to manually turn on the generator, while the wind turbine is off. The network cable on the right provides power to the rest of the network.
After this, it works automatically: The generator turns off, when wind energy is available (left image), and turns on, when no wind blows (right image). Of course, the player has to provide new fuel for the generator e.g. by using an 
Auto Arm or connecting it to a 
Medium Resource Canister.
The 
Extender in the center was not yet mentioned, but is crucial for the setup to work: It allows the Power only to flow in the shown direction. Otherwise, power from the generator (or the network) would flow back through the wind turbine into the sensor and turn the generator off immediately, resulting in turning it on and off in fast succession.
Gallery
Power Sensor Icon
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