Stationeers: How To Set Up Solar Tracking

In this series of "How To" mini-guides I show how to undertake some of the core tasks in PC survival game Stationeers.
These videos were made in August 2022 and show the mechanics and processes that are in the game at this time.
Each video is intended to be short and cover one specific topic. You may need to watch more than one to complete a construction project.
In this part:
How To Set Up Solar Tracking
You'll need to set your solar panels to track the sun in order to be able to generate sustained power during the day. This tutorial shows you how to set up dual axis tracking using early game components

[@MrAZulfadzli]

Yours was the fourth solar tracking guide I found, but the only one that's both useful and informative. Thanks a bunch!

[@GokouZWAR]

So glad this is so much easier now.

[@murk9111]

I agree! The conversion from degrees to percent used to just add a load of chips and they're so big that it got really annoying to place everything

[@TocYounger]

Super late to the party, but it might interest you to know that the "curvy end" of the daylight sensor is called a chamfer, when it has those symetric 45 degree tapers. Its a metal/woodworking term. Also, I enjoy your style of tutorial, well done!

[@iandaniel1601]

cool, didn't know that.

[@goldenerwolf91]

Thanks this short tutorials are great from you!

[@DiegoGCunha]

Very good tutorial .. it helped me a lot .. thanks ... I'm watching your tutorial now on how to make a functional greenhouse, I lost my potato and wheat seeds

[@54bear]

on the moon you can get by with one reader and one batch writer - just have to manually rotate the panels 90 after placing them.

[@true_octagone]

Thanks mate. This was actually very helpful

[@rondevrind7655]

Maybe something has changed but this method does not seem to work anymore. Or at least partly. When the sun is directly overhead, the vertical is 0. But the vertical does not become negative once the sun passes this point. Before and after reaching the zenith, the vertical is a positive number. For instance 10. So what happens is that the solar panels track the sun until it reaches overhead, but after that the solar panels track in the opposite direction.

[@nataniel2016]

Yes it seems it has changed with some updates. I'm new to the game so can't tell how it was before but it's really simple now. I'm using Solar tracking on the Moon so I only need to track vertical movement. You need only sensor and 2 i/o chips.. Put Sensor on The wall facing east (not on ground or flat roof but wall) connect sensor to logic reader, then connect to batch writer. Then. Simply run cables connecting chips to solar panels.. I think they changed how the sensor reads angles of the sun.. The way I described Sun will rise at 0 degrees and and hide at 180.. My solars horizontal are set to 90 and energy output is facing east (in case it's important).. Hope it helps..

[@GokouZWAR]

Oh one other point of note: the solar panel kit requires steel… so that point in your game it is not available.

[@murk9111]

Good point! I did that episode because someone asked for it, and they're meant to be standalone shorts but if you go through in order you'd need a furnace before the solar. I need to make the furnace tutorial next I think.

[@notean]

Very nice guide. However for beginners - solar panel automation is more like end-game project when you have nothing better to do, is not time-efficient thing. It is so much simpler to install 3 times number of flat panels in different angles and be done with it. Solar panels are poor choice in everywhere but moon, turbines are so much better choice and give you power at night too. Normal solar panels need constant repairing after each storm unless you encapsulate them in glass dome. Weird but in real life, solar panel do not need much maintenance and can last over 20+ years easily. Same glass when installed as window does not need any repairs.

[@raymondfoote6028]

I always thought you had to have the sensor vertically positioned. If it’s laying down aren’t you already facing the 90 degree position?…and is this why the value in the memory is 90?…kinda lost lol

[@wisnoskij]

Why do you add 90 to everything? Does the planet you choose effect this number? Does the orientation of the installed panel?

[@tacticaltaco7481]

Why do you need so many coil connections? Can you get away with one or two coils per logic unit?

[@Delphinus-Keya]

All of the logic chips have different amoun of connection spot and different amount of needed connections. Such as Logic Memory chips have 2 data connections but only one needs to be connected. But others like the Logic/Batch Readers have 3 connections, 1 power and 2 data that all need to be connected. Also to note most of the Logic processors have 4 connections, 1 power and 3 data. But some like the Logic Unary Math Unit has 1 power and 3 data spots, but only 1 power and 2 data spots need to be connected. Also as a side note, all of the data connections have to be connected on the same circuit as the devices that you are trying to control. But you are able supply power to the logic chips from a different circuit. Hope this helps.

[@EmolineFox]

I found this randomly