[Suggestion] Backup Battery for Solar Panel

Comments: 94

• 13 Oct, '21
  Spar Multendor Merged

  Beacon is worthless at night. I cannot think of any other need for adding a battery to the game. Just make it work at night and say its built in battery charges via the solar panels.

• 19 Dec, '21
  Badger Merged

  It seems a little odd that we can construct solar panels, but no batteries. I mean, we can make flashlights - presumably they have batteries?
  I seems to me that we should be able to manufacture a power storage unit of some sort (perhaps even more than one - different cost/efficiency/capacities?).

• 29 Dec, '21
  Sean Cormier (RogueCmdr TTV) Merged

  There needs to be a power store.. even make it portable battery
  
  Also rechargeable devices..

• 29 Dec, '21
  Sean Cormier (RogueCmdr TTV) Merged

  There needs to be a power store.. even make it portable battery
  
  Also rechargeable devices..

• 30 Dec, '21
  Fuhrog Merged

  Would make for making solar panels more useful rather than inky running a wire in a cave for light. Could make for nice outpost builds as well.

• 30 Dec, '21
  W2D2 Merged

  Exactly. Electricity is needed for lights at night. A battery will allow you to achieve this.
  
  We also need components like switches....

• 30 Dec, '21
  Forge Merged

  my outpost runs off a bio fuel generator but I have several electric foundries with solar panels near mining caves as it melts things down for free during the daylight hours and by time I pop back over its all melted
  
  I mean they even have a system already in that could be easily modded for batteries - just make a battery slot it into a powered machine and then have it fill up like a o2 bottle or water bottle then just have it discharge by placing it in a battery rack - uses things already in the game so really wouldn't be hard to even make also would allow for us to carry batteries to set up lamps and such in caves for mining thus expanding the ability to do things in field

• 10 Jan, '22
  pablo Merged

  allow the creation of a battery to store and transport energy

• 10 Jan, '22
  Travis Merged

  Totally agree
  Battery in conjunction with the solar panel would be a great addition.

• 12 Jan, '22
  Badger Merged

  It makes no sense that there is no battery - after all, we clearly *can* make batteries (unless the flashlight is supposed to run on magic). Although, perhaps the flashlight isn't the best example, since it seems that once its power runs out, our characters are incapable of imagining any solution beyond building a new one, since it is not repairable.

• 12 Jan, '22
  Explorer EUROPA_EXP2_3571 Merged

  it makes absolute sense, to implement batteries for night use. in daylight they get charged from solar panel for example, in the night we can have light in house and on digging

• 12 Jan, '22
  Elissa - Producer Admin Merged

  "Batteries" (suggested by Badger on 2021-12-19), including upvotes (8) and comments (1), was merged into this suggestion.

• 12 Jan, '22
  Elissa - Producer Admin Merged

  "A battery to store excess power" (suggested by Fuhrog on 2021-12-30), including upvotes (12) and comments (2), was merged into this suggestion.

• 12 Jan, '22
  Elissa - Producer Admin Merged

  "[Suggestion] Allow the creation of a battery to store and transport energy" (suggested by pablo on 2022-01-10), including upvotes (13) and comments (2), was merged into this suggestion.

• 30 Jan, '22
  EvilTweety Merged

  Implement power and mass storage for the power generated by the solar panels

• 07 Feb, '22
  Mickago Merged

  Be able to add batteries to the electrical installation and solar panels on the roof. Be able to add batteries to the electrical installation and solar panels on the roof to be able to use energy at night without having to run the generator

• 14 Feb, '22
  Toxic amount of salt Merged

  The current generator only gives energy to 2 deployables. If we put a single lamp to it (as an an example: in addition to electrical furnance T4 and material processor T4) it is not powered.
  
  Besides that: at the start of t3 we can learn the basic wall and celling light but have nothing in that tier to supply it with energy.
  
  if we get the current generator in Tier 3 and a generator with more power (maybe doubled or trippled) and correspondingly higher costs the problems are solved.
  
  The price for the T4 can be 12 carbon + 28 composite Material + 60 electronics + 25 platin.
  
  If you give us battery-modules you can make it possible to charge the generator with that. The batterys himself can be charged up by the solar panel.
  The generator should have 4 Slots for them.
  
  The generator should save his energy if nothing needs power. If a Solar panel is conected to the gen, the gen will only deliver his power on nighttime and the solar panel works for the day.
  
  (sorry for my ba

• 12 Mar, '22
  Walter Gotschalg M Silva Merged

  The game need a way of stocking energy, urgent!

• 14 Mar, '22
  Krystyn

  Like No man's Sky...Super easy to do power generation in that game.
  Maybe not quite as easy but simple and straightforward.

• 14 Mar, '22
  Coretalless

  Add Lithium Ore/ingots for Backup Batteries.

• 15 Mar, '22
  Alex Merged

  How about adding batteries for solar panels to run electronics at night?

• 16 Mar, '22
  Ankk Merged

  such a proposal has already been

• 20 Mar, '22
  Alex Merged

  So what? If they have not yet introduced these batteries, you need to bomb them with this offer. After all, a solar panel without a battery is nonsense.

• 28 Mar, '22
  JacksSmirk Merged

  Maybe even a battery that won't be T4. I'm never on missions long enough to tech up to T4 for unless I'm mining exotics, and all I want from the fabricator is the extractor. Also, the biofuel gen is HUGE...would love smaller power sources, especially that don't require composites.

• 29 Mar, '22
  Aursan Merged

  Yes I would love to actually stay up at night with lights inside of my base instead of always going to sleep just to get the sunlight back!

• 07 Apr, '22
  tom Merged

  miss me battery in icarus. for charging from solar panels an using in night as support energy for refrigerator. one generator generating 5000 energy. 2500 take forge, 2500 take material procesor and miss me energy for refrigerator. yes, I can have 2 generators, but the production is quite expensive, in addition, the biofuel must be monitored, which does not replace itself, even if there is a slots for something ...
  next miss in game any switch for on/off lights. once you have the lights in the room two walls high very poorly turn on and off.
  When I turn the game off and then on, all the lights are off. the switch would solve this

• 07 Apr, '22
  Terry Merged

  +1 for Light Switch, and also for the battery idea - this is a good idea.
  The wiring tool is terrible and the wires just look aweful. But having to jump up to a high ceiling to turn the lights on is equally as bad. A switch would be great.
  Solar at the moment is just dumb unless you want to run furnace etc only at night - which is equally as dumb as if you sleep then no progress has been made (like the storms... wtf)

• 08 May, '22
  Lianail

  Batteries should consume electricity when not in use, provide it during use. Need to decide how many you need.

• 08 May, '22
  Lianail Merged

  Duplicate suggestion, this needs to be merged with the higher upvote suggestion.

• 09 May, '22
  Lianail Merged

  Duplicate suggestion, this needs to be merged with the higher upvote suggestion. Upvote the previous and merge/close this on

• 09 May, '22
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "[Suggestion] Batteries for solar panels" (suggested by Alex on 2022-03-15), including upvotes (10) and comments (2), was merged into this suggestion.

• 09 May, '22
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "[Suggestion] Add batteries to the electrical installation and solar panels" (suggested by Mickago on 2022-02-07), including upvotes (23) and comments (1), was merged into this suggestion.

• 04 Jun, '22
  Lianail Merged

  The generator should be buildable on a machining bench. Look at the when generators first become available IRL. Change this and then the fabricator should require power to run. Look at the technology there - you have a CNC machine or laser cutting system that should consume a significant amount of power.

• 18 Jun, '22
  jinx Merged

  Batteries to store power acquired from various sources.
  - Generators from water and wind
  - Electrical storm / Grounding rod on structures redirected to battery
  - Generator using biofuel, wood, plants, and coal

• 18 Jun, '22
  cmopatrick Merged

  Ms. Elissa: It might help the devs see this if you merge the following into it:
  [Suggestion] Backup Battery for Solar Panel by Coretalless on 13 (with 64 up votes); &
  Add battery by Tom on April 7 (with 23 up votes)

• 19 Jun, '22
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "[Suggestion] Tier 4 Battery" (suggested by Rojueru on 2021-12-16), including upvotes (78) and comments (16), was merged into this suggestion.

• 19 Jun, '22
  Elissa - Producer Admin Merged

  "Batteries for power storage" (suggested by jinx on 2022-06-18), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 23 Jul, '22
  bruno esteves Merged

  add batteries that can be recharged by only the solar panel..
  what the use of solar panel if we use the lights only by night...
  is better have batteries that powers all house (only lights) that can be rechargeable by solar panel

• 24 Jul, '22
  Quin26

  Batteries would be great. however the flashlight would be something that might take say a smaller battery and need replace/repair like the pickaxe at the iron level and above that way you can make a stock of super up AAA's or something to fix it along with whatever else needs small batteries. however solar panels might need a much larger storage option. perhaps a car battery sized object or even bigger anyone with a solar array on there home with batteries attached to it knows those things aren't small. but they'll definitely power your house for a while. these batteries would have a slower charge so they wouldn't need replacing as much because batteries will loose recharge ability over time. whereas the AAA like ones will have a faster charge but be easier and quicker to make in return having a worse recharge rate.

• 25 Jul, '22
  Elissa - Producer Admin Merged

  "[suggestion] add batteries" (suggested by bruno esteves on 2022-07-23), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 30 Aug, '22
  UnwashedBiomass Merged

  With solar panels and increased need for power during night it is "must have". Also auto switches for ceiling/wall lamps would be nice.

• 13 Sep, '22
  janekburn Merged

  For if u wish to use solar power then that could be used for the day and then a battery just enough to keep the lights on of a night time or maybe more. You could have a solar farm or a windfarm. We don't need to pollute another planet GT would not approve ;)

• 24 Sep, '22
  Garoomf Merged

  same as https://icarus.featureupvote.com/suggestions/285726/suggestion-backup-battery-for-solar-panel

• 24 Sep, '22
  Garoomf Merged

  same as https://icarus.featureupvote.com/suggestions/285726/suggestion-backup-battery-for-solar-panel

• 27 Sep, '22
  Sabre070 - Designer Admin

  "[Suggestion] Add battery" (suggested by tom on 2022-04-07), including upvotes (36) and comments (6), was merged into this suggestion.

• 27 Sep, '22
  Sabre070 - Designer Admin

  "Backup Battery for Solar or Windmill for those looking at Clean Energy" (suggested by janekburn on 2022-09-13), including upvotes (9) and comments (1), was merged into this suggestion.

• 12 Nov, '22
  HimiTosi

  Alternative to a backup battery, Add a setting generators to auto turn on if no other power is available, (Turn on when solar panels are no longer providing power). Realistically if you can build a solar panel, you can build a simple on off circuit.

• 16 Nov, '22
  Beardlasers Merged

  It would be great to see further power management implemented into the gam. With the technology and ability to build solar panels it would be easy to imagine that batteries could also be constructed so you could work into the night with stored power.

• 19 Nov, '22
  Levi K Merged

  Kinda of makes solar panels hard to deal with since you will lose power in its current state at night where you actually need light. Right now you must have a Generator to make it work.

• 22 Nov, '22
  Jim G Merged

  I like the battery idea. It can be charged either by a solar panel or the generator to provide additional power when needed. i.e. nighttime when you turn on your lights (a light switch would be nice for the lights). Or, when you are doing something on the advanced alterations bench. You get the idea, I am sure. There are many useful things a battery can do.

• 04 Dec, '22
  Terry Merged

  It would be great if there was a Battery Backup / UPS solution for Solar applications, so any unused capacity in Solar Generation can go to charge a battery bank. Would be really helpful for the Artic especially, when you might build next to a mountain and dont see sun until mid morning, or even for just overnight usage for like a Heater etc.
  The more generation you have free, the faster the battery charges - potentially. And then it pulls from storage overnight or when the sun isnt shining, so you can continue to have heating etc.

• 06 Dec, '22
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "Battery Backup / UPS - For Solar applications" (suggested by Terry on 2022-12-04), including upvotes (2) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 11 Dec, '22
  WindWraith Merged

  Yep. This should be merged with the other post on backup batteries for solar panels. It only makes sense to have batteries.

• 13 Dec, '22
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "Batteries and Power Mangement" (suggested by Beardlasers on 2022-11-16), including upvotes (15) and comments (1), was merged into this suggestion.

• 21 Dec, '22
  Connor Ozment Schenck Merged

  When constructing T4 electrical equipment, one of the main ways to provide power to your system is with solar panels. However, there is no way to store power for when the sun is not shining. Bateries seem too complex and dangerous for on-planet crafting, not to mention most of the materials for making them are not easily sourced. Still, it seems reasonable to want to store electrical power from solar overnight.
  
  The solution to this problem could come in the form of a pumped hydro storage system. A large water tank where water was pumped up during the day, and flowed back down at night, storing the energy as gravitational potental. It would fit asteticaly with the game and could certianly be created using the technology already on display on planet. Each storage tank could only output a very limited amount of power, making them an expensive late-game setup for very long duration missions. They could cost more power to charge than they give back in exchange for the flexability.

• 22 Dec, '22
  Elissa - Producer Admin Merged

  "Overnight Power Storage at T4 - Pumped Hydro" (suggested by Connor Ozment Schenck on 2022-12-21), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 23 Dec, '22
  Mekat

  Batteries, since solar can't be used to power lights at night + some circuity management would be great (ie. timers to turn on lights at night automatically / switches to activate multiple generators / temperature sensors /etc... maybe even a simple power meter as a QoL plugin to electrical network that lets you view power input/output. When we have large networks it can start to get hard to tell if you're got enough power for everything.

• 26 Dec, '22
  ApexAlphaGaming

  Why complicate it at all? Simply make it so placing a battery bank and connecting it with power lines just makes solar panels work at night, that's it, no additional complications needed.

• 18 Jan
  Stimerson Merged

  We really need a battery bank to support the solar arrays. Having to rely on waterwheels and Noisy generators isnt for everyone.

• 19 Jan
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "Batteries to support Solar Banks" (suggested by Stimerson on 2023-01-18), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 22 Jan
  Typicalbranch0 Merged

  I think it would be great if battery banks could be an option. that way during the night you can continue utilizing power. Add in lead to mine and able to be crafted in one of the benches.
  
  For the hunting equipment it could be its own bench but have tree stands and traps better gear for guns and bows.

• 22 Jan
  MissB

  Batteries would be the natural addition to solar panels. Make it so they eventually give out like they do in RL (or need some sort of repair) and you've got your survival aspect, much like the water wheel needs to be emptied or the generator needs fuel.

• 23 Jan
  txdirtroad

  Having batteries would be awesome. I'd also like them reasonable so I can lug them around as well. Set up a battery to run lighting and de-humidifer while mining over night

• 23 Jan
  Robert

  I spent a little time looking at the tech tree. Battery storage would be a neat addition. Maybe an interactive part like the biofuel system. Set it up so that 1 we can link them together for more power usage, and 2 have them include slots to put things like battery-powered flashlights for charging, maybe a battery spot lamp, and other things that would have battery power.

• 23 Jan
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "Add Battery Banks and hunting equipment" (suggested by Typicalbranch0 on 2023-01-22), including upvotes (2) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 25 Jan
  Geoffrey

  Solar panels honestly are next to useless without a battery bank, I don't understand why this isn't already a feature. I'm in for this 100%. Please.

• 19 Feb
  Stevie Ray Evans Jr Merged

  I love the solar panels to use on my electric deep mining rigs. But at night they turn off so some sort of battery to store power to run throughout the night would be a nice quality of life improvement. Also your game has winds and minor winds through weather events a windmill could take advantage of that. But having to use biofuel overnight at all my mining rig locations is a very big inconvenience. A battery that could store power to use throughout the night would save a lot of trips running biofuel out to all my mining rigs. Sit it forget it and come back to a full rig would be the ideal situation.

• 20 Feb
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "Batteries for the solar panels and windmills" (suggested by Stevie Ray Evans Jr on 2023-02-19), including upvotes (2) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 20 Feb
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "[Suggestion] Beacon needs a "battery back up" for night time" (suggested by Spar Multendor on 2021-10-13), including upvotes (4) and comments (1), was merged into this suggestion.

• 24 Feb
  Kenneth Feagins

  I think the best way to solve this is with the new 'salt' mineral. Sodium Ion batteries. These can be installed on the grid as a stand alone unit (backup/solar augment), or they can be used as power packs for other needed items. Probably some combination of sodium, carbon, iron and oxite. I think I will create a new feature for this.

• 25 Feb
  Kenneth Feagins Merged

  Alright, so the latest add gave us salt. We've also had several ideas surrounding some form of battery type storage. I present the idea of sodium ion batteries.
  *I'd suggest a combo of salt, oxite, iron and carbon as ingredients.
  *Probably T4 since that is were all the electrical stuff is anyway.
  *Stand alone vs unit + charger?
  **I'd really like to see a charging station with battery units. Kinda like how the biofuel operates today. The charger can act as a battery system for the base grid, charging and discharging as power needs come and go (sunsets, gen runs out of fuel, I'm an idiot and cut the cord)
  **Possibly allowing all electric units (within reason) to run off battery unit like biofuel installs. This will help better separate T3 vs T4 variants as well like the electric drill. 4/8 battery slots runs it for a day or something.

• 27 Feb
  OhYa1337

  Within 10 minutes, I could make a battery IRL in my kitchen using a lime, some pennies (copper/zinc) & some wads of paper/cardboard (as a simple example)...
  
  I can not make a solar panel anywhere near as easily as that, so if a person is able to craft a solar panel, its not even remotely conceivable that the same person would not be capable of crafting some batteries to go along with it....
  
  So TBH, IMHO, the Battery should just be included in the solar array or at least as a large bank built inside the base with copper, aluminum, silica or something.
  Batteries are actually VERY simple things...

• 01 Mar
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "Sodium Ion Batteries + Charging unit/Powerwall + Electrical portability" (suggested by Kenneth Feagins on 2023-02-25), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 01 Mar
  Sabre070 - Designer Admin

  "Power storage for solar" (suggested by EvilTweety on 2022-01-30), including upvotes (27) and comments (4), was merged into this suggestion.

• 03 Mar
  JustTrev

  Power Storage would be a mega game changer IMHO, hope y'all do it

• 04 Apr
  cmopatrick

  Just add a battery for any electrical system. Not just for solar, because water wheels foul to a stop and generators run out of fuel; having a battery would balance those times out.
  
  It might even solve the problem with generators losing continuity when one fuel can runs out so that a second one can seamlessly swap in.

• 11 May
  Kataar

  Adding my own thoughts to this, managing power generation and backup battery capacity could be an interesting challenge that, to me, feels like it would be in line with Icarus's model. Generating enough energy to recharge batteries during the day so that at night, or when something fails to generate power, there isn't a total loss of power. No Man's Sky does this pretty well and might be a good example, though Icarus would be better served by its own implementation of such a mechanic.

• 30 Jun
  Keith

  Battery Backup would be so great to have. Lost about 6 aquariums worth of 100% quality fish from all around the map because the waterwheels got clogged up while out exploring. Thinking the logic could be:
  Battery cell requires 1500 electricity during charging. Full charge takes 14 hours in game time, and results in 10 hours of power output.
  Could also have the Backup battery have an input and an output so that you can have dedicated power sources for the purpose of charging.

• 01 Jul
  k3tanyx Merged

  solar at day batteries at night

• 05 Jul
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "Add a battery" (suggested by k3tanyx on 2023-07-01), including upvotes (2) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 09 Jul
  Kyle Merged

  having a battery bank for solar panels to charge up during the day for night time use would be awesome. also some switches and relays would also be an excellent addition. right now in open world to use the power i want its a ton of generators 6 at the moment an slightly difficult to manage running cables, powering on/off benches for available power.

• 10 Jul
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "battery bank and switches" (suggested by Kyle on 2023-07-09), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 10 Jul
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "Put the generator in T3 + new/better generator for T4 / battery for solarmodule" (suggested by Toxic amount of salt on 2022-02-14), including upvotes (27) and comments (2), was merged into this suggestion.

• 15 Jul
  RogueCmdr Merged

  We got Wind.. Lets use it.. even make it elevation opitmized for better power.. bad in lowlands arounds woods.
  
  Batterys for wind mills and even solar power collectors..
  
  Also for desert, moisture condensors.. have to be in vegetiated areas.. Allows for using the water collectors for moisture collecting in desert regions with no near by water.. or even using moisture from near by caves that have water

• 18 Jul
  Elissa - Producer Admin

  "[Suggestion] Windmill power and Battery or solar power" (suggested by RogueCmdr on 2023-07-15), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 21 Jul
  Tai

  Please please please add some kind of backup battery. We're going to be wanting this more as missions come to open world, I guarantee it.

• 21 Jul
  Aaron L

  this is game breaking to me . when i work during the day my friends and i play on a dedicated server and when i get on generators are out of fuel and water wheels are clogged. leaving only power during the day. I log on and all my food is spoiled. having battery storrage would solve this.

• 25 Jul
  AJ

  I hope the devs read the above comments and realize that hardly anyone in the community cares about the so called tactical implementation of objects in the game. Kindly take this into consideration and provide a battery solution even if it makes other objects less useful.
  
  No matter what you think of the usefulness/useless something is, other than the try hards everyone else could/would probably use other items/deployables etc. at some point for the aesthetics or variety. The biggest negatives in the game including reviews is how controlled every object is, forcing players to make or use specific items to play instead of having fun trying different things as they wish.

• 04 Aug
  J P

  Batteries are a must - I love my waterwheels and make them a feature of every sandbox base I build, but having to be constantly 'local' to them to clear them of blockages when the sun goes down means more often than not all my lovingly crafted foodstuffs in my freezers decay overnight because the power gets interrupted, not to mention my prize fish dying in the aquariums!
  Please add batteries to augment the fantastic solar panels - if nothing else it means I don't have to mercilessly log my local trees to extinction for bio-fuel without the opportunity to re-plant them...

• 12 Aug
  Ken

  Yes batteries. I also agree on switches. or even logic switches, and. nand, not, exor, or etc gated switches which then can be used to really make complex stuff your self if you wish. and a comparator. One result would be if solar is below this light (comparator) AND battery supply is lower then this amount (comparator 2) then resulted AND gate would then trigger a generator to turn on.
  
  Basically : Battery, Logic gated switches, and some circuit logic, and Op amps / comparators

• 15 Aug
  Vinci

  If battery storage is too hard or time consuming for the devs to develop; how about giving us Electrical Circuits and Logic? Like auto turn on of biofuel generators when the solar panels go offline or if power supply drops a certain level, bio generators auto turns on to take the load.

• 05 Sep
  Atmotaye

  #Planned
  From Week 91 Update:
  "This week also brings the long awaited wind power system, with new wind turbines giving you a third sustainable power source, and a sneak peek at our next improvement to the electricity system, batteries."

• 07 Sep
  Terry

  Given we have Salt in the game now, a very viable battery to make for Solar storage, when its night time etc, is salt batteries. They are real things and the game could leverage that, and make the solar panels much more usable, store excess energy during the day into the batteries, and leach that at night time, so some degree of power is still possible. Solar at the moment is really limited.

• 21 Sep
  DigitalFreq

  Maybe make the solar panel not so dern finicky (e.g. pointed in a certain direction) like if its out it produces power regardless of the direction it pointing