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Electricity

A simple demonstration of how electricity works in ARK. The cables near the activated generator glow yellow and transmit power to the outlets. Objects that require electricity near the outlet will automatically connect to it.

Electricity in ARK: Survival Evolved can be harnessed from Level 49 onward using the Electrical Generator Electrical Generator and Gasoline Gasoline. And exceptionally the Tek Generator Tek Generator with Element Element or Element Shard Element Shards by defeating the bosses, see Tek Generator for more info.

Benefits[]

Electricity is a major part of ARK's late game and is something that everyone dreams of having. Brighter Lights, a fridge to keep your food from rotting, an air conditioner to condition the house nice and cool in the heat or also to keep cozy in the cold.

Building[]

Required building materials:

Tips[]

Location[]

Assuming you have an Electrical Generator Electrical Generator present, place the generator in a spacious location that allows enough room for your other utilities. Make sure you hide it so no one breaks it in a raid.

Cablework[]

In most situations, the first cable to run from the Electrical Generator must be a Vertical Electrical Cable Vertical Electrical Cable (can be a Straight Electrical Cable Straight Electrical Cable). This cable can then become anything: an Electrical Outlet Electrical Outlet, an Electrical Cable Intersection Electrical Cable Intersection, or just another straight cable—but really, the cablework for each individual will vary with base design.

  • The only way to change directions is to connect a different cable type. That is, e.g. from a straight cable you can go vertical up and down, 45° inclined or declined, or use an intersection to go 90° in the same level. Also the vertical cable is unfortunately significant longer than one wall height. To keep your cabling in the ground and in the walls, hidden as best as possible, don't start with the generator but lay an intersection straight (not diagonally) into a foundation (or ceiling) so that the cable ends are at the edges of the foundation. The drawback is now you can only snap your generator at cable ends and maybe not where it uses the space optimally. If you don't see or remember where your cables end, pretend to place a vertical or inclined cable and see where it snaps to.
  • Because cablework is much like waterworks, it is easy to keep things plain and square. This means you don’t want funky angles running through the base. The simplest form of powering is to follow the walls of your base with the cables and make a square around the center of the base. This provides coverage to all corners of the base as well as a fair range into the center of the base.
  • Another form of cabling is called the "fish bone". This is simply running a straight cable through the middle of the base with splitters every second cable. This method provides more coverage to the center of the base and requires more tampering with to get appropriate coverage to the far outsides of the base.
  • Networking can be an effective cablework method. To do this you must run an outlet from the first vertical cable to leave the generator like so:
    • From the outlet you want to place a splitter with two Straight Electrical Cable running off the left, the right and the front pathways (make sure there are two straight cables going each direction, not one each direction). After doing this you will place splitters on the ‘’straight cables’’ branched left and right like so:
    • Now you want to bring your pathways forward to cover the area of your base. This is where the process becomes situational. Some people may have a small base and therefore they will only have one or two straight cables branching off their path. People with larger bases will have four to five straight cables running off their paths.
  • No matter how long or how small, it is important to lay a few outlets throughout the cablework to connect your utilities to.
  • Decay timer of electrical wires is 8 days.

Utilities[]

By far the best setup for your utilities is to keep square objects like Refrigerator Refrigerators and Air Conditioner Air Conditioners square to the walls of the base or near the center in order to maximize both space and keep them easily powered by your cable setup. The range of the outlets is four foundations which leaves some extra space for future planning or mistakes. The outlet will extend a thin grey wire to the machine once placed, and the machine's HUD will read ‘’unpowered’’ or ‘’powered’’ depending on your Generator status.

Lighting[]

There are two types of lamp currently in the game Lamppost Lamppost and Omnidirectional Lamppost Omnidirectional Lampposts. Lampposts only provide light in a specific direction and are only found well used when lighting a specific object. Omnidirectional lampposts light an area and are perfect for lighting up bases and dark areas. These are the best option for a new cable setup. Both types of lamps require an outlet that is connected to the wiring, and the lamps will connect to the outlet by themselves.

Items that require electricity[]

This list is items that can be hooked to Electrical Outlet Electrical Outlet

Video Tutorial[]

Notes[]

  • To make the cables less noticeable, you can place them on the ground then place floor foundations ontop of the cables.
  • Using the paint brush tool and dye you can change light color from lamps.
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