7 Days to Die

7 Days to Die Electricity — Power & Wiring

ByYurii LuzhkoSource: 7 Days to Die V3.3 game files
3 power sources19 powered blocksElectrician skill · Wiring 101

Electricity in 7 Days to Die runs from 3 power banks — the Generator Bank (engines, burns gas), the Solar Bank (solar cells, daylight only) and the Battery Bank (car batteries, recharged by another source) — through wires you lay with the Wire Tool to switches, sensors, lights, doors and traps. Blocks draw the amount blocks.xml sets for them, from 1 for a switch to 20 for the Blade Trap.

Recipes unlock through the Electrician skill: read Wiring 101 magazines to reach 25, 45 and 55. Traps and turrets have their own skill — see the traps page.

Power sources

Per-unit output is OutputPerStack in blocks.xml; the six slots are the game's own journal tip.

Generator Bank

Holds up to six: Engine

Per engine
100
Fuel tank
1,000
Hit points
1,000
How to get
Craft · Electrician 25
From trader stage
1

The Generator Bank allows you to power your electrical components.

It requires at least one engine, expandable up to six. The maximum energy output is determined by the number of engines installed.

The generator bank uses gas for fuel which can be found in loot and crafted at chemistry stations.

Requires a wire tool to add and cut wires between electrical components.

In-game journal tip — Generator Bank

Crafted at the Workbench

Solar Bank

Holds up to six: Solar Cell

Per solar cell
30
Hit points
1,000
How to get
Buy or loot
From trader stage
55

The Solar Bank allows you to power your electrical components. It requires at least one solar cell to be installed, expandable up to six.

The maximum energy output is determined by the number of solar cells installed and their quality.

Solar banks produce power during the day when in direct sunlight.

Solar cells can be purchased from traders or found in loot.

Requires a wire tool to add and cut wires between electrical components.

In-game journal tip — Solar Bank
Solar Bank: cells, prices and where to buy →

Battery Bank

Holds up to six: Lead Car Battery

Per battery
50
Hit points
1,000
How to get
Craft · Electrician 55
From trader stage
25

The Battery Bank allows you to power your electrical components.

It requires at least one battery, expandable up to six. The maximum energy output is determined by the number of batteries installed and their quality.

An externally powered and turned on Battery Bank will recharge its batteries.

If there are no batteries installed it acts as a relay pushing power down the line.

Requires a wire tool to add and cut wires between electrical components.

In-game journal tip — Battery Bank

Crafted at the Workbench

Solar Cells cannot be crafted — the files give them no recipe; traders sell them in qualities 1–6 and they turn up in loot. The Engine and Lead Car Battery are the same items vehicles use.

How wiring works

Power flows from a source to its children. Wire the source first, then each part in turn — the first component a wire touches is the parent. A trigger (switch, trigger plate, tripwire, motion sensor) sits between the source and what it should switch on.

  1. Generator Bankpower source
  2. Switchtrigger · draws 1
  3. Industrial Lightconsumer · draws 7
  1. Solar Bankpower source
  2. Motion Sensortrigger · draws 5
  3. Blade Trapconsumer · draws 20

Use a wiring tool to connect electrical components. The first component you attach the wire to will be the parent component.

Focus on any electrical component and use the secondary action to add a wire to that component. Repeat to complete the connection to a second component.

Focus on any electrical component and use the primary action to remove or cut that components wire to its parent component.

With the wire tool equipped you can see many useful things including: a components power usage and current power status, the flow of power represented on the wires by moving pulse from parent component to its child component and the aiming and view cone angle of objects with motion sensing capabilities.

A component can only have one parent or input, but can have multiple children or outputs.

In-game journal tip — Wire Tool

Sensors are devices like trigger plates, motion sensors, and trip wires.

Like all components a sensor can only have one input and needs to be powered to work. If a powered sensor is triggered, all children attached to it will activate such as blade traps starting to turn.

Passthrough Triggering

Using this, multiple sensors can be used to activate the same component. To do this sensors need to be wired as a daisy chain, one sensor being connected to the next and the final sensor powering the device.

If the first sensor in a chain is powered all are considered powered. If any one sensor in the chain is activated then the signal is passed through and will power all consumers down the line.

Example: Generator -- motion sensor -- motion sensor -- door

The door will open if either one or both of the motion sensors are triggered.

In-game journal tip — Passthrough triggering

If you have a triggering component such as a trigger plate, motion sensor or trip wire you can customize the way it triggers.

Open it and you will see control options to manipulate Delay and Duration with a variety of options under each setting.

Power duration can be set to a time or triggered which only lasts as long as someone is standing in the trigger zone.

There is also an always setting which stays on until it is out of power or reset as well as options to customize the timing of the triggered event.

In-game journal tip — Trigger delay and duration

If you have an aim-able electrical item such as an auto-turret, motion sensor or spotlight you can set its default aim by opening it, clicking into the camera preview area, holding down your primary action and aiming to the desired position.

After this is complete hit escape and exit the component.

In-game journal tip — Aiming sensors and turrets

The Wire Tool itself is crafted at the Workbench from 9 Forged Steel and 3 Mechanical Parts, and sold by traders.

Power draw of every block

RequiredPower in blocks.xml, highest first. “—” = not set in the file.

BlockKindDrawUnlocks atHit points
Blade TrapElectric trap20Traps 252,000
M60 Auto TurretElectric trap15Traps 1001,000
Shotgun Auto TurretElectric trap15Traps 501,000
SMG Auto TurretElectric trap15Traps 751,000
Dart TrapElectric trap10Traps 252,500
Fluorescent LightLights & sound10Electrician 25300
Industrial LightLights & sound7Electrician 25300
Electric Fence PostElectric trap5Traps 25200
Motion SensorWiring & sensors5Electrician 45100
SpeakerLights & sound5Electrician 45100
Electric Timer RelayWiring & sensors1Electrician 45100
Electric Wire RelayWiring & sensors1Electrician 25100
SwitchWiring & sensors1Electrician 25100
Trigger Plate 1x1Wiring & sensors1Electrician 451,000
Trigger Plate 1x5Wiring & sensors1Electrician 452,500
Tripwire PostWiring & sensors1Electrician 25100
Basic Light BulbLights & sound—Electrician 25300
Industrial Light BulbLights & sound—Electrician 25300
SpotlightLights & sound—Electrician 45300

Switches, relays and sensors

  • Electric Wire Relay

    Draws 1 · Electrician 25 (Wiring 101 magazines) · Basic Electricity

    “Used to connect and extend wires between electrical components.”

    Workbench: 2 Forged Iron, 1 Electrical Parts

  • Electric Timer Relay

    Draws 1 · Electrician 45 (Wiring 101 magazines) · Sensors

    “Wire up one of these to trigger events based on time of day.”

    Workbench: 2 Forged Iron, 5 Electrical Parts

  • Switch

    Draws 1 · Electrician 25 (Wiring 101 magazines) · Basic Electricity

    “Used to trigger electrical events when activated.”

    Workbench: 2 Forged Iron, 1 Mechanical Parts, 1 Electrical Parts

  • Trigger Plate 1x1

    Draws 1 · Electrician 45 (Wiring 101 magazines) · Sensors

    “Used to trigger electrical events when stepped on.”

    Workbench: 10 Forged Iron, 2 Mechanical Parts, 2 Electrical Parts

  • Trigger Plate 1x5

    Draws 1 · Electrician 45 (Wiring 101 magazines) · Sensors

    “Used to trigger electrical events when stepped on.”

    Workbench: 50 Forged Iron, 8 Mechanical Parts, 6 Electrical Parts

  • Tripwire Post

    Draws 1 · Electrician 25 (Wiring 101 magazines) · Basic Electricity

    “Wire up 2 or more of these to trigger electrical events.”

    Workbench: 5 Wood, 1 Electrical Parts

  • Motion Sensor

    Draws 5 · Electrician 45 (Wiring 101 magazines) · Sensors

    “Used to trigger electrical events when motion is detected.”

    Workbench: 2 Forged Iron, 5 Electrical Parts, 1 Mechanical Parts, 1 Lens

Lights and the speaker

BlockDrawRecipe (Workbench)Unlocks at
Speaker54 Forged Iron, 3 Electrical PartsElectrician 45
Spotlight—1 Headlight, 8 Electrical Parts, 2 Duct Tape, 50 IronElectrician 45
Basic Light Bulb—2 Forged Iron, 4 Electrical Parts, 1 HeadlightElectrician 25
Industrial Light74 Forged Iron, 4 Electrical PartsElectrician 25
Industrial Light Bulb—4 Forged Iron, 4 Electrical PartsElectrician 25
Fluorescent Light102 Forged Iron, 4 Electrical PartsElectrician 25

Use the wiring tool to connect a power source to this light and you should be able to turn it on.

What unlocks when

Crafting-skill levels from progression.xml. Each Wiring 101 or Electrical Traps magazine you read raises its skill by one; both skills run to 100.

Electrician — Wiring 101

25Tier 1: Basic ElectricityGenerator Bank, Electric Wire Relay, Switch, Tripwire Post, Basic Light Bulb, Industrial Light, Industrial Light Bulb, Fluorescent Light
45Tier 2: SensorsMotion Sensor, Electric Timer Relay, Trigger Plate 1x1, Trigger Plate 1x5, Spotlight, Speaker
55Tier 3: Powered DoorsBattery Bank, Steel Door (Powered), Steel Door Double (Powered), Steel Hatch (Powered), Iron Garage Door 3x2 (Powered), Wooden Garage Door 3x3 (Powered), Wooden Garage Door 4x3 (Powered), Wooden Garage Door 5x3 (Powered), Steel Garage Door 3x3 (Powered), Steel Garage Door 4x3 (Powered), Steel Garage Door 5x3 (Powered), Reinforced Drawbridge (Powered)
55 (higher quality at 60, 70, 80, 90, 100)Tier 4: BatteriesLead Car Battery

Traps — Electrical Traps

25Tier 1: Electric Fence, Dart, & BladeElectric Fence Post, Dart Trap, Blade Trap
50Tier 2: Shotgun Auto TurretShotgun Auto Turret
75Tier 3: SMG Auto TurretSMG Auto Turret
100Tier 4: M60 Auto TurretM60 Auto Turret

Can't wait for the magazines? Every trader's general stock rolls from the same electrical list: Basic Light Bulb, Battery Bank, Blade Trap, Dart Trap, Electric Fence Post, Electric Timer Relay, Electric Wire Relay, Electrical Parts, Generator Bank, Iron Dart (Ammo), Lantern, Motion Sensor, Old Lantern, SMG Auto Turret, Shotgun Auto Turret, Solar Bank, Speaker, Spotlight, Switch, Trigger Plate 1x1, Tripwire Post.

Related

7 Days to Die electricity — FAQ

How do you get electricity in 7 Days to Die?
Place a power source — Generator Bank, Solar Bank and Battery Bank — and wire it to what you want to run with a Wire Tool. The Generator Bank needs engines and gas, the Solar Bank needs solar cells and daylight, the Battery Bank needs car batteries and is recharged by another source wired into it. Recipes unlock through the Electrician skill, raised by reading Wiring 101 magazines.
How much power does each block use in 7 Days to Die?
blocks.xml gives each consumer a RequiredPower: Blade Trap 20, down to 1 for electric timer relay, electric wire relay, switch, trigger plate 1x1, trigger plate 1x5 and tripwire post. 3 lights leave the field unset, so their draw comes from the game code. The full list is in the table above.
How many engines, cells or batteries does a power bank hold?
Up to six, in all three banks — the game's own journal tips say so for the Generator Bank, Solar Bank and Battery Bank. Each one adds 100 (engine), 30 (solar cell) or 50 (battery) to the bank's output, the OutputPerStack value in blocks.xml.
How do you use the wire tool?
Look at a component and use the secondary action to start a wire, then the same on the second component; the first one becomes the parent. The primary action cuts a component's wire to its parent. A component can have only one parent but many children (in-game journal tip).

Read from the 7 Days to Die V3.3 game files: blocks.xml, items.xml, recipes.xml, progression.xml, traders.xml and the game's own journal tips (Localization). Icons are the game's. PinDrop is fan-made and not affiliated with The Fun Pimps.