Technology · Item
Sensors and buttons
Buttons, relays, presence and chunk sensors, meters: the senses and switches of an automatic machine.
In the game
How to get it
Each one at the grid with iron sheets, a coil and a glowing dial (or a spring for buttons and relays); wire it with signal cables and, for sensors, a power cable.
What it is for
Detect a player, a tank's level, the temperature, the wind, a shaft's speed or a voltage; switch power with a signal; press a button to start a machine.
Why it exists
A machine that senses can act alone: these are the inputs of every automation.
The same text the game shows in its progress tree and on the item's sheet (I).
A signal is a number from 0 to 255, "on" from 128; every component adds one turn of 50 ms; an unplugged input reads 0. Logic boxes need no power cable: the signal cable feeds them.
| Device | What it does | Power |
|---|---|---|
| Button | sends 255 for 1 s when pressed, and lets power through | none |
| Electric relay | closes a power line while its signal is on | 2 W |
| Presence sensor | full signal while someone stands in front (1 to 8 m) | a few W |
| Chunk sensor | full signal while the land around is loaded and settled | a few W |
| Sensor | a tank's level, the temperature, the humidity or the wind | a few W |
| Meters | a shaft's speed or torque, a voltage, a current | a few W |
The signal cables
Signals travel on Signal cables (256 m) or Optical fibres (10 km): see Signal cables and fibres.
On the progress path
EL3Simple electronicsMain path
- BeforeEL2 · Circuit board
- This stepEL3 · Sensors and buttons
- NextEL4 · Antenna and dish
Items of this step
Sub-actions (counted in your progress)
- Signal cables — Signal cable (256 m), Optical fibre (10 km), Optical coupler