Moon Sweepers power guide: solar panels, batteries & night shutdowns

What makes up a power setup in Moon Sweepers?

A power setup comes down to three numbers on the panel and one on the machine:

• Generation (kW) — what the panel produces while sunlight reaches it.
• Storage (kWh) — charge held by that unit for later use.
• Range (m) — how far from the panel a machine can sit and still be supplied.
• Load (kW) — what your processors draw while they run.

Solar equipment is placed from the Power category of the Building Tool, and each unit lists its own generation, storage and range. Processors list their demand the same way. Match installed kW against total load, and stored kWh against the hours you want to run.

Storage comes with the units that list kWh, so check that column when you buy for overnight work: a panel with generation but no storage only helps while the sun is up.

Which solar unit should you buy?

Unit	Price	Full-sun generation	Stored charge	Range	Follows the sun
Solar Post	$75	3 kW	none	16 m	No
Solar Twin	$150	7.5 kW	4 kWh	24 m	No
Solar Tracker	$300	16 kW	10 kWh	34 m	Yes

Prices and figures are as of patch 1.0.5; a later patch can change them.

What each unit gives you:

• The Post is the cheapest way to reach a small load in daylight, but it stores nothing.
• The Twin adds a small battery and a wider range for twice the Post price.
• The Tracker is the only one that turns to follow the sun, and it carries the largest battery and the widest range.

For a first processor, the choice is usually between several Posts for daylight only and one Twin that also banks a little charge. Buying a single cheap panel and expecting it to run a line overnight is the setup that fails first.

How much generation does your factory need?

Add up the demand of everything you want running at once, then compare it with installed generation. In 1.0.5:

Equipment	Demand
Pressure Chamber	10 kW
Stone Press	18 kW
One chamber plus one press	28 kW

Three Posts reach 9 kW, which is short of a single chamber’s 10 kW. Four Posts reach 12 kW and clear it. Six Posts reach 18 kW, matching one press exactly, with no headroom. Three Twins reach 22.5 kW; four reach 30 kW, enough for a chamber and a press together.

Two things change the total:

• Headroom. A line that exactly matches its load has no margin for a second machine, a longer belt run of processors or a panel partly shaded by terrain. Round up when you expand.
• What runs at night. Every kW you spend during daylight is a kW that is not charging a battery. If the whole array runs the processors all day, the batteries stay empty and the line stops at sunset.

The factory ratios guide covers how many processors a dust supply can feed; size power against that number, not against the machines you hope to add later.

Why do machines stop at night?

Generators only produce while sunlight reaches them. After sunset, a running machine draws from stored kWh in the panels covering it. When that charge is gone, the machine pauses until the sun returns — it is not broken, and rebuilding the belt will not fix it.

Check three things:

1. Is the loaded machine inside a panel’s range? A panel does not supply the whole base.
2. Do your panels have storage at all? Posts have none, so they cannot carry anything past sunset.
3. Did the batteries get a chance to charge? Panels charge from spare generation. If demand equals or exceeds generation all day, there is no surplus to store.

Stored charge divided by load gives runtime. A fully charged 10 kWh Solar Tracker, with one machine drawing from it at its rated power, runs a 10 kW Pressure Chamber for 1 hour or an 18 kW Stone Press for 33 minutes. Decide how many hours of production you want after sunset, then multiply by the load to get the kWh you need.

How do you check range and coverage?

Range is measured from the unit. A processor outside that radius is simply not supplied, however much generation you own. Two habits help:

• Place panels after the processors, not before. You can see where the machines actually stand and check that each one sits inside the radius.
• Recheck power after every move. Since 1.0.5, moving a platform is free and belts follow where they can reach, so a relocation is easy — but a relocated machine can end up outside the panels it used to rely on. The building guide covers move mode and what to verify afterwards.

Adding a second panel inside the first one’s range still adds its own generation and storage, but it does not enlarge the radius you already have. Each unit’s range applies to that unit.

What should you check when a machine has no power?

Work through these in order, and stop at the first one that fails:

1. Sunlight — is the panel actually lit, or is the array facing away from the light?
2. Range — is the machine inside a panel’s radius?
3. Load versus generation — does the total demand of running machines exceed what the panels produce?
4. Stored charge — after sunset, is there any kWh left, or did the day’s load consume it?
5. The machine itself — power present but no output points to inputs, output belts or a full destination, not to the array. The logistics guide covers those checks.

A processor that stops the moment the sun goes down, then restarts at dawn, points at storage. One that stops at any hour points at range, load or the machine’s own supply.

How should you plan power as the base grows?

Build generation slightly ahead of each processor you add, and keep the storage question separate from the generation question:

• Early line: cover the first chamber’s 10 kW, and expect daytime-only production unless you bought a unit with kWh.
• Two-machine line: plan for the combined 28 kW rather than the chamber alone, or accept that both machines slow down.
• Overnight production: add storage rather than more generation-only panels, then confirm the charge survives a night at your actual load.
• Wide layouts: prefer fewer units with longer range over many short-range Posts scattered across the site.

Lighting is a separate problem from factory electricity. Night Vision Goggles and the helmet lamp change what you can see; they do nothing for a processor’s supply. The night guide covers the lighting cycle, and the upgrade matrix covers the suit purchases that go with it.

Game imagery © DragDrop Games.