Tool · Power grid
Power calculator
Is there enough power, will the cable hold, and does the base survive the night? Calculated the way the game settles its grids every tick.
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Generators
Consumers
Grid
Sets the output of the solar panel presets (mean sun distance, clear weather, ideal alignment).
How it is calculated
peak = Σ W · count · average = Σ W · count · duty cycle
the grid only supplies if supply > demand (strictly greater)
grid flow = min(supply, demand) – burns if the weakest cable is below it
The game settles every tick: if the power on offer is not enough, every consumer gets a proportional share – but all normal devices switch off at once. Only batteries, transformers and APCs stay on.
Inputs
Chosen when the world is created and the same on every planet.
Depends on latitude and season. 50 % is a sensible starting point.
How it is calculated
energy = load (W = J per tick) · night length / 0.5 s
storage = round up(energy / (capacity · (1 − reserve) − self-discharge))
charge time = energy · 0.5 s / surplus
Watch out: the game shows joules per tick as “W”, and one tick lasts 0.5 s. So 1000 “W” empty a station battery (3.6 MJ) in 30 minutes, not in an hour. Batteries also lose 10 J per tick, 50 J in vacuum.
Inputs
Angle between panel and sun. 60° already means 0 W.
| Planet | Irradiance | Panel 2 × 2 m | Panel 1x5 |
|---|
How it is calculated
irradiance = solar constant / distance² (1367 W/m², Vulcan 2402 W/m²)
X = irradiance · area · weather; P = X / log₁.₄(max(1.4; X / P_max))
efficiency = 1 − 2 · sin(angle / 2) · condition
P_max is not a hard cap: above 1.4 times it gets damped logarithmically (1.6 in a storm). That is why a 500 W panel delivers about 770 W on the Moon. Below 0.1 W a panel delivers nothing.
Wind turbine
P = outside pressure (clamped to 5–25 kPa) · wind strength · 10 (large: 25), at most 500 W (large: 1000 W). Below 1 kPa or inside a room the turbine stands still. Wind strength wanders randomly between 0 and 100 % – an approximation, not a promise.
Cables and fuses
| Part | Limit |
|---|
The grid flow is compared with every cable piece in the grid – the weakest one counts. At most one part breaks per tick, fuses first. A tripping fuse also destroys its cable piece.
Transformers
| Part | Max output | Own draw |
|---|
A transformer separates two grids and supplies at most its setting into the output grid. That way a branch with normal cable never gets more than 5 kW.
Storage
| Part | Capacity | lasts at 1000 W |
|---|
Station batteries charge and discharge without a cap: on a grid they request their entire remaining capacity. Without a transformer in front, the cable likes to burn.
Generators
| Part | Output | Type |
|---|
Consumers
Base draw = value from the prefab (Stationpedia: Base Power Draw). Working load only where the game code pins it down clearly.
| Part | Base draw | Working load | Note |
|---|
All values from Stationeers 0.2.6428 (game code, prefabs, world and recipe data). New game build? Then the numbers get checked again.