Electricity
Electricity is a system and resource in Space Engineers that is used to power most devices. It is created using a large or small reactor, or by using a Solar Panel. It can be stored in a Battery. Any device that has a direct block connection to a reactor will be powered by a reactor; that is, if a reactor is on a ship, all devices attached to that ship should receive power granted there is enough power to receive. Electricity can pass through rotor blocks, pistons, and locked connectors (incl. small-to-large connections), but not landing gear. Most blocks have off switches if you want to save electricity temporarily.
Contents
Electricity fundamentals & Terminology
In Space Engineers, electricity is based around several concepts. When referring to consumption or demand, a Watt of energy demand will consume 1 watt over 1 second. Watts come in various unit conversions from KW to MW, as seen in the table. When referring to energy stored or energy needed over time, a Watt-hour (W-h) is typically used to represent this amount over an hour (3600 seconds). This is typically used to refer to stored energy in a charged battery or to fuel like uranium ingots. Reactors are the main source of reliable electricity, and they require Uranium Ingots as fuel.
1 kg of refined uranium ingots converts to 1 MW-h of power, that is a reactor that needs to supply 1 MW per second to ship or station will consume all of its uranium in 1 hour. If the reactor needs to supply 2 MW per second, it will consume 1 kg of uranium in half the time and so on. For example, a large block Small Reactor generating electricity at maximum capacity 15 MW to supply a large ship's total electrical needs (such as refineries, thrusters at full capacity, etc), will consume 1 kg of uranium in 4 minutes. While a large block Large Reactor will consume 1 kg of uranium ingots in as little as 12 seconds, at it's full output of 300 MW per second. Consumption of Uranium is solely decided by your current energy demand. There is no difference in efficiency between large and small reactors per uranium ingot, so a large reactor doesn't use uranium or extract any more energy out of a uranium ingot than any small one would. It also makes no difference how many reactors you have online, reactors that are not needed will not draw any unnecessary power or use any uranium within them until required.
A Battery is special it doesn't general electricity it merely stores it for later use, its wise to combine renewable electrical generation from solar panels with batteries and never use reactors as the battery is only 80% efficient. That is while it will draw 4 MW per second and store 3.00 MW-h (for large blocks), the battery will actually end up demanding/using 3.75 MW-h from electrical sources - 750 KW-h will be wasted. A Large Ship battery continuously at full output 12 MW, at maximum charge 3.00 MW-h will be completely depleted in 15 Minutes.
Conversion Table | Watt (W) | Kilo-Watt (KW) | Mega-Watt (MW) |
---|---|---|---|
Mega-Watt (MW) | 1'000'000 W | 1'000 KW | 1 MW |
Kilo-Watt (KW) | 1'000 W | 1 KW | 0.001 MW |
Watt (W) | 1 W | 0.001 KW | 0.000001 MW |
Sources energy
Maximum output for Electricity Sources:
Energy Source | Block size | Dimensions [size in m3] |
Maximum Output [KW] |
Mass [kg] |
Mass Efficiency [KW/Kg] |
Energy Density [KW/m3] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Large Reactor | Large | 3x3x3 [421.875 m3] | 300'000 | 73795 | 4.065 | 711.11 | |
Small | 3x3x3 [3.375 m3] | 14'750 | 4793 | 3.845 | 960 | ||
Small Reactor | Large | 1x1x1 [15.625 m3] | 15'000 | 3901 | 3.077 | 4370.37 | |
Small | 1x1x1 [0.125m3] | 500 | 278 | 1.799 | 4000 | ||
Solar Panel | Large | 2x4x1 [125 m3] | 120* | 441.4 | 0.272 | 0.96 | |
Small | 5x10x1 [6.25m3] | 30* | 159.2 | 0.188 | 4.8 | ||
Battery | Large | 1x1x1 [15.625 m3] | 12'000 | 4845 | 2.477 | 768 | |
Small | 3x2x3 [2.25m3] | 4'320 | 1040.4 | 4.152 | 1920 |
(*) Solar Panels have a maximum output depending on their angle to the sun and the amount of actually lit surface. Given values are the maximum achievable output with perfect conditions, therefore efficiency and output may vary.
Power Usage
Thruster
Thruster type | Block type | Minimum Power [KW] | Maximum Power [KW] | Inertial Dampeners [KW] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Small | Small | 0.002 | 201 | 301.5 | ||
Large | Small | 0.002 | 2'400 | 3'600 | ||
Small | Large | 0.002 | 3'360 | 5'040 | ||
Large | Large | 0.002 | 33'600 | 50'400 |
Production (Individual Usage)
Machine | Idle [KW] | Operational [KW] | |
---|---|---|---|
Projector | 0.100 | 0.198 | |
Arc Furnace | 0.999 | 330.000 | |
Assembler | 0.999 | 560.000 | |
Refinery | 0.999 | 560.000 |
Weaponry and tools
Device | Small Ship [KW] | Large Ship [KW] | |
---|---|---|---|
Drill | 2 | 2 | |
Welder | 2 | 2 | |
Grinder | 2 | 2 | |
Gatling Turret | N/A | 2 | |
Missile Turret | N/A | 2 | |
Interior Turret | N/A | 2 | |
Reloadable Rocket Launcher | 0.2 | N/A | |
Gatling Gun | 0.2 | N/A |
Communication
Device | Small Ship [KW] | Large Ship [KW] | |
---|---|---|---|
Beacon | 0 - 10 | 0 - 10 | |
Antenna | 0 - 20 | 0 - 200 | |
Laser Antenna | 181** | 577** |
(**) The maximum power usage of laser antenna include both beaming and rotating at once. Beaming alone would be 180 for Small and 576 For large.
Other device power usages
Device | Small Ship [KW] | Large Ship [KW] | |
---|---|---|---|
Gravity Generator | N/A | 0 - 567.13*** | |
Spherical Gravity Generator | N/A | 0 - 44800*** | |
Artificial Mass | 25 | 600 | |
Interior Light | N/A | 0.06 | |
Spotlight | 0.200 | 1 | |
Medical Room | N/A | 2 | |
Door | N/A | 0.031 | |
Gyroscope | 0.001 | 0.03 | |
Ore Detector | 2 | 2 | |
LCD Panel | 0.1 | 0.1 | |
Wide LCD Panel | 0.2 | 0.2 | |
Button Panel | 0.1 | 0.1 | |
Rotor | 0.2 | 2 | |
Advanced Rotor | 0.2 | 2 | |
Piston Base | 0.2 | 2 | |
Collector | 2 | 2 | |
Connector | 0.05 | 5 | |
Camera | 0.03 | 0.03 | |
Sensor | 0 - 30 | 0 - 30 | |
Remote Control | 10 | 10 | |
Programmable Block | 0.5 | 0.5 | |
Sound Block | 0.2 | 0.2 |
(***) The power cost of Gravity Generator is directly proportional to the field size and acceleration (absolute value, so 1G consumes the same as -1G).