FAQ - turret001/OffGrid GitHub Wiki
Short answers. Each one links to the guide with the details.
Getting started
Do I need a skill to use it? No. Placing, wiring and running a rig need no skill. Skills only matter for building parts, and for converting or repairing a backup generator.
Where do I get parts? Find them or build them. Hardware, electronics and car supply stores have boxed parts; garages, sheds, farm storage rooms and electricians' trucks have used ones. About 1 house in 15 has a rig in the yard, and about 1 hay barn in 2 keeps spare panels and battery racks. See Finding parts.
How do I learn the recipes? Read the Photovoltaic Systems Handbook (10 recipes) or Advanced Photovoltaics and MPPT (5 recipes). Levelling Electrical never teaches them. The solar lamps need no book, and neither does a backup generator: converting one takes Electrical 3 or Magazine: How to Use Generators.
What do I need to build a Charge Controller? The handbook, Electrical 3, a car battery charger, 6 scrap electronics, 3 electrical wire, 1 steel sheet, 4 screws, a screwdriver and pliers.
Can I add it to a running save? Yes. Yard rigs and barn stock also turn up in places you already explored, the next time someone goes near. Player bases are skipped. Loot in containers only appears in places nobody has been near yet.
Wiring
How do I connect panels, batteries and the controller?
- Right-click a Solar Array, Off-Grid › Run cable from here.
- Right-click the controller, Off-Grid › Connect Solar Array.
- Do the same for the Battery Bank.
- Right-click the controller, Off-Grid › Switch on.
See Build your first rig.
Does every panel need its own cable to the controller? No. Arrays can chain to arrays and banks to banks. Every chain has to end at the controller.
How long can a cable be? 12 tiles per run between panels, batteries and the controller (Sandbox › Off-Grid › Link radius (tiles)), and 30 to or from a transformer (Transformer line length). Past that you see "Too far for one run of cable." Chain through another array, bank or transformer. A backup generator's cable runs straight to the controller, up to the same 12 tiles.
How do I remove a cable? Right-click a wired part, Off-Grid › Cut a cable, and pick the link.
Can the controller and batteries go indoors? Yes. Only arrays need open sky, and the controller makes no fumes. A backup generator is different: it only runs outdoors.
How far does the power reach? Everything within 20 tiles of a running controller, the same as a generator, plus every building you wire up. Transformers take it further. See Power whole buildings.
How do I power the whole house? Right-click the controller, Off-Grid › Wire up the building. Every room on every floor of the building it stands in gets power; outside a building, it wires the nearest one within its 20 tiles. Choose buildings... adds others in reach, including ones you built.
How do I get power to a building across town? Build transformers and chain them: each cable runs up to 30 tiles, and each transformer powers what is around it and can wire up buildings of its own. See Power whole buildings.
Why is a light glowing white? Show power coverage is on. White means it draws nothing from your batteries: it is switched off, or the town grid still runs it. Green means it draws on them and counts on LOADS.
Power and batteries
What trips the breaker, and how do I stop it?
Since 2.10.0 nothing trips it. Older versions latched the controller off (BREAKER TRIP) when the batteries ran flat.
Now the controller cuts the house off at the batteries' floor (LOW BATT) and turns the power back on by itself. If a
controller still shows BREAKER TRIP from before 2.10.0, right-click it, Off-Grid › Reset the breaker, once.
The lights go out at night (LOW BATT). How do I stop that? Add batteries or panels, switch off what you don't need at night, or use better racks: a Sealed Battery Cabinet runs down to 8%, a crate only to 30%. See Batteries.
When does the power come back after LOW BATT?
By itself, once the batteries can run what is switched on for about half an in-game hour. The screen shows the target:
LOAD SHED BACK AT N%. Switching things off lowers N.
Do batteries wear out? Only while they are below their floor. The controller stops the load there, but flat batteries you fit start below it and wear until the sun lifts them. Switch off Sandbox › Off-Grid › Deep discharge damages the bank to stop the wear.
What is equalising? A slow charge that brings back a worn crate or Battery Bank, about 2% health an hour, using only spare sun once the bank is full. Right-click the controller, Off-Grid › Start an equalisation charge. The option only shows when there is health to recover; sealed cabinets never need it.
Does it do anything before the power goes out? The panels charge the batteries. While the town grid still has power, the appliances it runs cost the batteries nothing. A structure you built is never on the grid, so what runs there draws on the batteries from the start.
What uses the most power? A dryer (1800 W), a stove (1400 W) and a washer-dryer (1200 W); a microwave draws 900 W. Fridges, freezers and fuel pumps with fuel in them draw day and night. See What uses your power.
Can two controllers share a house? Yes, but an appliance both reach is paid for by both, like two petrol generators.
Why do my panels make so little? Clouds, winter, dust, snow, damage or a poor facing. Read the array's Info card. With Realistic Mode on, panels make what 1993 panels made: a standard frame about a quarter of the usual, salvaged and premium frames an even smaller share. See Where the power comes from.
Do the solar lamps need a controller? No. Each one has its own panel and battery, and never draws on a system. See Solar lamps.
Can I make yard rigs rarer or more common? Yes: Sandbox › Off-Grid › Houses with a solar rig (one in), default 15, and Storage barns with spare solar gear (one in), default 2. 0 turns either off. A change only affects houses and barns the mod hasn't checked yet.
Multiplayer
Why can't I pick up a panel? "Placed by somebody else" means the server uses the owner lock: only the owner, members of the safehouse the part stands in, admins and moderators can. "Switch it off first" means it is a running controller. A running backup generator says "Stop it first." See Multiplayer.
Why can't I switch on someone's controller or cut its cable? A part's controls follow the same setting as picking it up. "Placed by somebody else" means only the owner, members of the safehouse it stands in, admins and moderators can. Its monitor, cleaning and repairing stay open to anyone. See Multiplayer.
I made a new character. Are my parts still mine? Yes. Ownership follows your account, not your character.
How do I let everyone take parts? Sandbox › Off-Grid › Who may pick up solar parts › Anyone. That lets anyone use their controls too.
Does the server need the mod too? Yes. The server and every player need the same version.
Other
My controller powers almost nothing with LG Extended Electricity.
That mod's "Mod sets generator range" option, on by default, cuts the game's generator range to 1 tile and leaves
solar controllers out when it redraws the ranges. The controller and each transformer then light only the tiles next
to them, and Wire up the building only finds a building the part stands in or touches. While LOADS lists nothing,
it says POWER REACH LIMITED. Turn off "Mod sets
generator range" and "Mod sets generator vertical range" in LG Extended Electricity's sandbox settings, then restart the
server or reload your singleplayer save. Changing the options alone is not enough.
Where is "Wire up the building"? Right-click the controller, Off-Grid › Wire up the building (since 2.12.0). It shows until the controller has wired something; after that, Unwire the buildings takes its place. Choose buildings... is always there. See Power whole buildings.
Can I use a generator with Off-Grid? Yes: convert it into a backup generator. It then only feeds its controller, which starts it when the batteries run low. See Backup generators.
Why is "Convert to Off-Grid backup" greyed out? Hover over it: the tooltip says what is in the way. Turn the generator off, disconnect it or move it outside. Converting also needs Electrical 3 or Magazine: How to Use Generators, and a screwdriver.
Does it work with other mods? Yes. Error Magnifier, Water Pipes and LG Extended Electricity have extra support. Better Generator Info needs none: the controller is a real generator, so its overlay can include a running one. A backup generator is not a generator to other mods: their generator features and overlays do not see it. See the README.
How do I report a bug? See Troubleshooting.