Whoa... you can build solar panels underwater?

jpinard · September 2016

I just looked at some seabase screenshots from the "how big do you like your base" thread, and was surprised by what I saw. Solar Panels underwater? I've been balancing them on top of riser tubes all this time. Is the power output lowered the deeper you go? Or is it all the same but some depths/biomes you get power and some you don't?

Here's a pic of my precarious balancing act. I'm generating 350-400 Watts during the day.

The entire upper section of my base was just a platform for my solar panels. Be nice to get all those materials back along with fps:

Ralij · September 2016

Building on floater island gives 200% charge rate so by keeping it above the water you may be getting the same rate, but I cant confirm. The % drops the further down you go and below 250m (I think) they stop working entirely.

jpinard · September 2016

Awesome, thanks for the information Ralij!

Lonnehart · September 2016

It'd be nice if I could build mine overwater. But since I'm all for getting things setup as fast as possible, I build mine right on my foundation.

My new base, 2 hours in...

scubamatt · September 2016

Its a sliding scale, which tapers off to just about zero around 220m depth. In practical terms, you start looking for alternatives (or very large numbers of them) around 150m deep. There's a chart in the Wiki about it that is pretty accurate.

Kyman201 · September 2016

I can understand making that mistake. But I have to say: Clever of you, making those Solar outcroppings. Normally I make a base in one of the safe shallows, and build my panels on higher outcroppings.

jpinard · September 2016

Kyman201 wrote: »

I can understand making that mistake. But I have to say: Clever of you, making those Solar outcroppings. Normally I make a base in one of the safe shallows, and build my panels on higher outcroppings.

Haha thank you! Necessity breeds invention lol. I still wouldn't have known you could put them underwater if I hadn't seen screenshots, so I'd be expanding even more "solar tubes to the sky" as my base expanded

DrownedOut · September 2016

Gotta say, solar panel towers are a neat look. Def a case of "necessity is the mother of invention".

Ralij · September 2016

jpinard wrote: »

Awesome, thanks for the information Ralij!

You're very welcome.

Sidchicken · September 2016

Not only can they be built underwater, they still work in spots where they obviously shouldn't, like inside of caves in the safe shallows. Unless the devs recently fixed that in the dangerous critters update.

CaptainRon · September 2016

My base is 90m deep and 16 panels is more than sufficient during the day... need to have bioreactor up and running for nighttime though to help with the loads if the water filtration and battery/power cell chargers are running.

ComicalSkate · September 2016

Cool way you got around what you thought was a feature. But also; what were you thinking? Does sunlight not pierce the surface of the water and light up the ocean below? So of course they can be underwater as long as they are in sunlight, and deeper they are the less efficient because sunlight is filtered out and can't reach that far, but near the surface it is fine. But either way that was a neat way you got around it.

Rainstorm · September 2016

If you've got a water filtration machine up and running, you need at least 5-6 solar panels per machine so to not get short on energy and thats just for the water machine (not taking into account the energy used up by the fabricator when you craft)

personally i dont go below 10 solar panels per filtration machine since during the night the panels dont regen energy.

Lonnehart · September 2016

Lately I've been building my bases near one of the thermal vents. Well, not TOO near. The site is usually near Lifepod 6, next to the creepervine forest, thirty or so meters down (where my latest screenshots were taken. I can easily use thermal generators to supply the base at night once I get the tech for it.

Harry82 · September 2016

@jpinard Aw man I had to laugh!! I can imagine all the effort in building them above water!!

Who needs Nuclear power anyway? Build a few of these on a nice clear bit of sand even!!

...and at night;

I've also got 3 Thermal gens WAY off in the south somewhere, about 7-8 full power transmitter extensions beaming the power all the way back to base!

Gives me 875 power at base in total (which is enough power to even insta-charge a few Power Cells via the docked Seamoth at night) and the power recharge during the day is super fast!

Here's another version;

If ya's wanna try building a farm away from base, just don't build it on a base platform or the beams will tract to it as its closer than any transmitter you can build. Ruins the effect.

jpinard · September 2016

Whoa that is cool! Doesn't that kill your frame rate though?

awesomeguy101 · September 2016

WOW. That's a cool base jpinard. I never thought of using the connectors like that!

Harry82 · September 2016

jpinard wrote: »

Whoa that is cool! Doesn't that kill your frame rate though?

Thanks, and nope doesn't hurt the fps... Building about a hundred wall lockers in the Cyclops does a bit though...

DannyR · October 2016

Well, I always build something like that:

So I can have the solar panels above water:

And in the MPR I put the water filtration machines, to get rid of the annoying sound they make

Win/win!

Mirality · October 2016

I'm always puzzled why people build so many filtration machines (unless the answer is just "because I can"). I built just one in my base and I had more water and salt than I knew what to do with. (Filled a freestanding locker with extras, then just stopped using it.)

Sidchicken · October 2016

"Because I can" is a perfectly valid reason. You're right though - you really only need 1.

Ralij · October 2016

I always build a second to use for restocking the cyclops with waters. It seemed to me that the speed of the water fab. is roughly the same rate that I need it so the second one is just for expeditions. The only other reason I can think of is an unusually high optimism that you're going to find other survivors and so will have higher demands on fresh water.

Whoa... you can build solar panels underwater?

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