Which one is better.
Rimworld solar panel vs generator.
Sun lamps automatically turn themselves off at night to save power while the plants are resting.
The generator is an exact analog to the wood fired generator only the type of fuel is different.
2 solar panels will provide 2x the power.
During the night the batteries discharge at 2kw for 1 3 of a day losing 700kwd.
Both have pros and cons and it s better to use both and have lots of batteries.
They also don t block wind turbines.
Also they don t consume anything.
Solar energy is in some ways not as reliable as generators if you don t take the mechanical failure of a generator into account.
It can be placed in a wind turbine s exclusion zone with no effect on the turbine.
A solar generator provides up to 1700w of power from sunlight.
Fueled generators burn wood and will provide constant power as long as you have plenty of trees to work with.
The solar panels generate 5 1kw during the day that s 2kw to the grid and 3 1kw to battery charging so about 1 5kw charging batteries have 50 efficiency over 2 3 of a day in rimworld days on average are twice as long as nights or 1kwd of power.
Solar panels pretty much can be counted on to give power every day and i think it gives more energy as well but eclipses and bad weather makes it a rather unsteady power source.
Though they take up a good bit of space they provide high amounts of power during the day and couple very well with sun lamps.
Nov 1 2017 3 39pm.
Fuel has to be delivered to the generator by a colonist.
Generators are a low level light source and also produce heat.
It has much smaller space requirements than a wind turbine but provides no power at night or during an eclipse.
The generator outputs a constant 1000 w burning 4 5 chemfuel per day no matter how much power is actually drawn.
Fueled generator generates hardly any power but at least they do so for 3 days straight and solar panels can power a crapload during the day.
Sometimes it s hard to source enough wood for the generators.