Electrical Parts

Certain parts in Homebrew need electricity. To provide that power, you will need batteries or generators. In some cases, you might even want both. Almost every Engine requires an electric input in order to start, and some even use electricity instead of fuel. Radios and Lights also require electrical power in order to operate. The numbers sent along the Electric Line are measurements of how many watts are used or created by the part. W means Watts, while kW means Kilowatts. Batteries list their Watts Left as how many Watt Hours they have remaining. So if you have a Battery that has 564 Watt Hours left, and it its hooked to a part that drains at the rate of 1 Watt, that battery will last for 564 hours.

Batteries

These are parts that store an amount of electricity and can transfer it to other parts. They can also be charged by generators or other batteries.

12V Battery

This is the smallest battery in Homebrew. It weighs 15kg and outputs up to 564 Watt Hours. The battery will be drained by use, but can also be recharged by using generators.

Examples

• Use to power an engine so that you can start a car or plane.
• Use to power gyroscopes so you can balance vehicles.
• Use to power fireworks so you can create a tremendous display of awesome.

Inputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.

Properties

• Infinite Power - Makes the battery always be completely charged, and allows it to output infinite Watts.

Outputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.
• Watts Left - Tells how many Watt Hours the battery still has.

Notes

• Cannot be charged to have more than 564 Watts.

Battery Pack

Basically 12 of the 12V Batteries wired together. It weighs 190kg and can output 21,312 Watt Hours, so they will last much longer than normal 12V Batteries.

Examples

• Use to power an engine so that you can start a car or plane.
• Use to power gyroscopes so you can balance vehicles.
• Use to power fireworks so you can create a tremendous display of awesome.

Inputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.

Properties

• Infinite Power - Makes the battery always be completely charged, and allows it to output infinite Watts.

Outputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.
• Watts Left - Tells how many Watt Hours the battery still has.

Notes

• Cannot be charged to more than 21,312 Watts.
• The Battery Pack seems to have an insane amount of charge compared to its weight. It has about 10 times the energy density of real-world Lithium-Ion cells which are about the most efficient battery types currently available on the market.

Generators

In addition to the types of power generators listed here, many [Engines] can also generate electrical power.

Solar Panel

A Solar Panel uses many Photovoltaic Cells to produce electricity. In short, this means it has a lot of little rectangles that produce electricity, in the form of Watts, from sunlight. Meaning just add sun and this little panel of joy can produce infinite electricity!

The solar panel power output depends on two factors: angle from the sun and time of the day. The panel has a 90% base efficiency when directly faced at the sun, and will lose 1% for every degree it tilts away form that position, eventually reaching 0% when perpendicular to the sun direction; in addition, it obviously won't work at night. The base power output (before taking into account efficiency) is 138W per square meter.

Examples

• Use to recharge a battery
• Use to power engines for cars/trucks/planes

Inputs

• Sunlight - Produces electricity based on its orientation to the sun.

Outputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.
• Watts - Tells other parts how many Watts of electricity it is currently producing.

Logic

These are parts that directly modify the electrical current via logic input.

Electric Switch

This logic box allows you to use logic to turn things that use electricity On or Off. It is not a simple toggle switch, you can use any value from 0 to 1. '0' being Off (no power goes through), '1' being ON (all power goes through) and '0.5' letting half the power through.

Examples

• Use this to turn Lights or Engines on and off.
• Use it as a temporary extra power switch, turning it on only when needed, possibly conserving power.
• Can be used as a visual aid to monitor certain signals, like turning a light on when a certain speed is achieved.
• Can be used to focus the Amps from several batteries or Solar Panels.

Inputs

• Analog Input - A number between 0 and 1. The output is multiplied by the input, but the input must be between 0 and 1.
• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.

Properties

• Analog Offset - A number between -1 and 1, including zero. Adds that number to the input.

Outputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.

Electric Selector

Functions almost exactly like the Selector Box, except it uses electric outputs instead of logic, making it super easy to select one of many things to receive power.

Inputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.
• Select - Decides which output the selector uses.

Outputs

• The Electric Selector Box can have any number of outputs, determined by how many are set in the tuner, but only one will be active at any given time.

Gyroscopes

Gyroscopes contain a weighted disk that spins very quickly and generates gyroscopic force. In Homebrew, these parts require an electric input in order to spin, and each has their own effects on the vehicle.

Gyroscope

The Gyroscope acts as a stabilizer. It doesn't apply a force as much as it resists forces. Depending on the power and force you give it, it will resist movement of your vehicle. It can be especially useful in vehicles that fly!

Examples

• Use in an helicopter to stabilize roll and pitch helping with stable hovering.
• Use in a car to reduce the bounciness over bumps.
• Use in a boat to reduce the bounciness over waves and to help against flipping.

Inputs

• Logic - A number sent and received by parts that use logic.
• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.

Properties

• Always spin when powered - If this option is checked, the gyro will always spin while it has enough electric power to do so, regardless of logic inputs.
• Watts Drain - The amount of watts required for the part to work. Also, the higher the drain, the more powerful the part. Can be set anywhere between 1kW and 500kW.

Outputs

• Rotational Force - Dampens rotational force of the vehicle across all three axes of rotation.

Notes

• When placed on a vehicle, the location and orientation to not matter. The gyroscope will prevent the entire vehicle from rotating.
• When placed after a hinge, it will only prevent the hinge from rotating, not the entire vehicle.
• If placed on the main body of a vehicle, or after a servo, it will have no effect on hinges.

Rotation Gyro

The Rotation Gyro applies a rotation force (called or "torque" or "moment") along one axis. Those big orange caps are the pivots through which the rotation axis goes through. It applies force in the opposite direction that you see it turn, so if it turns clockwise, what it is attached to will be rotated counter-clockwise. How much force is applied is defined by the power you give it (electricity), the force you define in it's settings, and the value you input to it.

Examples

• Use in a boat to mimic a rudder.
• Use to make any hovering device pitch, yaw and roll without any other means of propulsion (apart from what makes it hover).
• Connect to Gyrometer's pitch, yaw, roll outputs to keep a vehicle from rotating, or to self-stabilize when you need it.

Inputs

• Logic - A number sent and received by parts that use logic.
• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.

Properties

• Watts Drain - The amount of watts required for the part to work. Also, the higher the drain, the more powerful the part. Can be set anywhere between 1kW and 100kW.
• Invert Rotation - When checked, it makes the gyro spin in the opposite direction, thus causing the force to rotate stuff in the opposite direction.

Outputs

• Rotational Force - A type of force that is purely in the rotational axis. Causes the vehicle to rotate along a specified axis of rotation.

Lights

These parts provide luminant effects and can light up terrain, vehicles, players or really anything. They can be used for all kinds of eye-catching special effects, light shows, or just headlights for cars. There's no limit to the fun these parts can make!

Light

Generic round light to brighten your nights. If white is too plain for you, you can also change the color. You can use 3 separate logic inputs to change the color. Alternatively, if you don't want to wire up inputs, you can use the property settings instead. They both use the same values.

Inputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.
• Red Input - A number between 0 and 1 that determines how red the light's color is.
• Green Input - Affects how green the light will be. Uses decimals between 0 and 1.
• Blue Input - The amount of blue color the light has. Requires a number between 0 and 1.

Properties

• Red Property - A number between 0 and 1 that determines how red the light's color is.
• Green Property - Affects how green the light will be. Uses decimals between 0 and 1.
• Blue Property - The amount of blue color the light has. Requires a number between 0 and 1.
• Watts Drain - The amount of watts required for the part to work. Also, the higher the drain, the more powerful the part. Can be set anywhere between 27.5W and 220W.

Outputs

• Light - An ambient effect that increases the brightness of nearby objects. In some cases it can even be colored.

Notes

• Lights mix color in a different way from pigments. This means do not expect mixing blue and red to make purple. Instead they make magenta.
• Whenever the same number is used for all 3 colors, the resulting light will be white.
• Lights use the inputs' values if there are values present. If there are no wires hooked in, it will instead use the properties.

Search Light

Bigger than the basic light, the Search Light is also much more powerful, with all the same features.

Inputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.
• Red Input - A number between 0 and 1 that determines how red the light's color is.
• Green Input - Affects how green the light will be. Uses decimals between 0 and 1.
• Blue Input - The amount of blue color the light has. Requires a number between 0 and 1.

Properties

• Red Property - A number between 0 and 1 that determines how red the light's color is.
• Green Property - Affects how green the light will be. Uses decimals between 0 and 1.
• Blue Property - The amount of blue color the light has. Requires a number between 0 and 1.
• Watts Drain - The amount of watts required for the part to work. Also, the higher the drain, the more powerful the part. Can be set anywhere between 27.5W and 220W.

Outputs

• Light - An ambient effect that increases the brightness of nearby objects. In some cases it can even be colored.

Notes

• Lights mix color in a different way from pigments. This means do not expect mixing blue and red to make purple. Instead they make magenta.
• Whenever the same number is used for all 3 colors, the resulting light will be white.
• Lights use the inputs' values if there are values present. If there are no wires hooked in, it will instead use the properties.

Strobe Light

A custom-colored light that can strobe on and off, at a rate determined by its Flash/Seconds property. The strobe function is disabled by default, but is easily enabled by ticking the EnableStrobe property.

Inputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.
• Red Input - A number between 0 and 1 that determines how red the light's color is.
• Green Input - Affects how green the light will be. Uses decimals between 0 and 1.
• Blue Input - The amount of blue color the light has. Requires a number between 0 and 1.

Properties

• Red Property - A number between 0 and 1 that determines how red the light's color is.
• Green Property - Affects how green the light will be. Uses decimals between 0 and 1.
• Blue Property - The amount of blue color the light has. Requires a number between 0 and 1.
• Flash/Seconds - The amount of times the light will flash on and off in a second.
• Watts Drain - The amount of watts required for the part to work. Also, the higher the drain, the more powerful the part. Can be anywhere between 27.5W and 110W.
• EnableStrobe - Check this to have the strobe light active.

Outputs

• Light - An ambient effect that increases the brightness of nearby objects. In some cases it can even be colored.

Effects

Fountain Fireworks

Lights are too boring? Then you need the fountain firework! It will either shoot sparks, colored smoke, or fire depending on the effect you choose.

Inputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.
• Fire Input - A number representing the intensity of the effect.

Properties

• Effect - Choose between a fountain of sparks, a flamethrower, or one of many different smoke colors.

Outputs

• Either flames, bright sparks, or smoke, depending on which effect is chosen.

Radios

Radio Transmitter

Simply put, the Radio Transmitter allows you to transmit any logic inputs you give it off to another vehicle. It does this by broadcasting the current logic input out into the world. You must set a channel for it to broadcast on as well though. So it broadcasts the current input along whatever channel you set in the properties. Anyone with a receiver on the same channel, as long as they're within range, can then receive this input. The transmitter and receiver pair basically allow you to send inputs into another vehicle that is patched into your channel. This allows for remote control, exchanging GPS coordinates, you name it! The options are as endless as the tuner!

Inputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.
• Logic - A number sent and received by parts that use logic.

Properties

• Watts Drain - The amount of watts required for the part to work. Also, the higher the drain, the more powerful the part. Can be set anywhere between 0W and 1000W.
• Channel - A setting used by communications parts. Receivers on the same channel as a transmitter will receive data from that transmitter.

Broadcast range

As a general rule of thumb, a transmitter can broadcast the signal up to roughly 7km per Watt. For more precise values, refer to the graph below.

Watts vs Distance (kilometers)

In the graph above, the horizontal axis represents the Watts Drain setting, while the vertical axis represents the power of the signal and the maximum distance it can travel.

Notes

• An Electric Switch can be used to modify the number of Watts entering the Transmitter. This can be used to reduce the range, or even to turn off the transmitter entirely.
• Transmitters can transmit to vehicles owned by other players in multiplayer
• A transmitter's signal can be picked up by multiple receivers at the same time.
• Transmitters owned by other players can be received by players in the builder.

Radio Signal Negotiation

When there are multiple Radio Transmitters on the same channel, the Radio Receiver must decide which one to listen to. It does this via signal negotiation. Depending on the Watts Draw on the transmitter and the distance between the transmitter and receiver, the receiver will decide which transmitter to listen to. The higher the Watts Draw on the transmitter, the more "power" it broadcasts with. However, the signal degrades over distance in a non-linear fashion. This means that if two transmitters on the same channel have the same Watts Draw, the receiver would listen to the closer one. But if one transmitter is 10 meters away on 1W drain, and a second is 50 meters away on 5W drain, the receiver will then listen to the second transmitter, since the signal has not had enough distance to become weaker than the 1W signal, and started with 5x the power.

Radio Receiver

Useless without a transmitter, the Radio Receiver picks up signals sent by the Radio Transmitter. Both the transmitter and receiver are required to be on the same channel though, and the receiver must be within range of the transmitter.

Inputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.

Properties

• Channel - A setting used by communications parts. Receivers on the same channel as a transmitter will receive data from that transmitter.

Outputs

• Logic - A number sent and received by parts that use logic.

Notes

• The Receiver can be turned off just like a light by using an electric switch. While turned off, it will always output 0.
• Receivers can receive transmissions from vehicles owned by other players.
• Each receiver can only receive signals from one transmitter at a time.
• Transmitters owned by other players can be received while in the builder.

Receivable Range Calculations

These are calculations for advanced users. The formulas listed here let you find a required number of Watts for a receiver to operate below a specified distance, or to find the maximum distance a transmitter of given Watts can broadcast. Conveniently they are formatted for use in an equation box, just replace the arrows with an equals sign. Strength = (0.9 * Watts) / (12.56 * Distance^2) Receivers output 0 if Strength is less than 10^-9. The following inequalities are derived using these two pieces of information: Distance <= 8465 * pow(Watts, 0.5) Watts > 0.00001396 * pow(Distance, 2)

CCTVs

CCTV Camera

The CCTV Camera is a device that can transmit video feed to CCTV Displays, just like Radio Transmitters do with Radio Receivers. Unlike the Radio Transmitter, the camera constantly requires 60W of power while activated and can transmit video instantly across any distance without changing how the number of watts it uses. Though just like radios, will not transmit video if not activated and can only be received by a CCTV Display with a matching channel.

Inputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.
• Activate - Keeps the part activated as long as the input is at least 0.5.
• Zoom - Values between 0 and 1 will zoom in the camera; 0 will set the FoV to the maximum value (not zoomed in) and 1 to the minimum (max zoom).

Properties

• Channel - A setting used by communications parts. Receivers on the same channel as a transmitter will receive data from that transmitter.
• Field of View Min - The value, in degrees, that describes how wide the field of view will be when totally zoomed in.
• Field of View Max - The value, in degrees, that describes how wide the field of view will be when not zoomed in.

Notes

• Transmitters (including CCTV Cameras) can transmit to vehicles owned by other players in multiplayer.
• A transmitter's signal can be picked up by multiple receivers at the same time.
• Transmitters (including CCTV Cameras) owned by other players can be received by players in the builder.

CCTV Display

This part picks up signals from a CCTV Camera and displays their video feed. Its size is adjustable, but will always be a square display. The display drains 60W of power while active, and will only function while both activated and receiving power. Unlike the Radio Receiver, CCTV Displays do not worry about the strength of the signal and instead will always receive video feed from the closest CCTV Camera matching its channel.

Inputs

• Electricity - Connects engines and electrical parts to batteries and generators.
• Activate - Keeps the part activated as long as the input is at least 0.5.

Properties

• Channel - A setting used by communications parts. Receivers on the same channel as a transmitter will receive data from that transmitter.

Notes

• The display can be turned off by cutting its power or by having the "activate" input at 0. While turned off, it will always show "NO SIGNAL".
• Receivers (including CCTV Displays) can receive transmissions from vehicles owned by other players.
• Each receiver can only receive signals from 1 transmitter at a time.
• Transmitters owned by other players can be received by players in the builder.
• Receivers can receive signals from transmitters on separate assemblies when in the builder.
• It is possible to change your displays' resolution in the Options menu. Screen resolution = (2^N)^2, where N is the "CCTV Quality" selected.
• The screen's display cannot be obstructed by rain, fog, smoke, or water, and is not affected by light sources.
• CCTV Displays on vehicles owned by other players in multiplayer require a setting in order to display.