Boost failed: insufficient energy in capacitor.

Sam13lfc · Dec 20, 2014

Hey, was just wondering how to fix this? I have a fairly good power distributor, and my powerplant allows for 9.00MW when my ship's deployed usage is around 7.7MW...what's going on? I can't boost when deployed or undeployed.

Also I get thermal overload when firing all four weapons (2 med lasers and 2 small multicannons) at once

Cheers for any help

Midnight_Sun323 · Dec 20, 2014

You need to wait for that little engine gauge to charge back up. Putting full pips to engine will help it charge.

Aewarin Jameson · Dec 20, 2014

check the pips and add some to ENG(ines) to charge up the boost capability.

(Default keys are the arrow keys)

alienw9 · Dec 20, 2014

I had the same problem in my Cobra today.... all was fine the ENG gauge was full and had 4 dots on it....but I was getting the same message over and over again... This occurred when I sold my weapons and left station....from that point boos was gooooone... -.-

had to sold ship and re buy....

Sam13lfc · Dec 20, 2014

Midnight_Sun323 said:
You need to wait for that little engine gauge to charge back up. Putting full pips to engine will help it charge.

It has a full bar and full pips that's the thing, and the Sys one won't recharge strangely

CMDR i Tetsuo · Dec 20, 2014

I had this problem in my Adder, I had the correct amount of power available but I just couldn't boost at all. Turns out I'd fitted a size 1 power supply to a size 2 slot (I was weight saving for jump distance) and once I fitted a size 2 unit I could boost again. Didn't make much sense from the stat readouts though, I was perfectly within parameters according to the buy/compare screen

Sam13lfc · Dec 20, 2014

CMDR i Tetsuo said:
I had this problem in my Adder, I had the correct amount of power available but I just couldn't boost at all. Turns out I'd fitted a size 1 power supply to a size 2 slot (I was weight saving for jump distance) and once I fitted a size 2 unit I could boost again. Didn't make much sense from the stat readouts though, I was perfectly within parameters according to the buy/compare screen

Yeah that was the problem, thanks

Yeah it doesn't quite make sense haha

Yubo · Jan 31, 2015

I had the very same issue on my Asp. Bought a quite fine power supply 1 size smaller than the bay allowed, and my top speed plummeted to 130ish, also couldn't boost any more. So apparently the bug is still there.

What solved it for me, was simply visiting the outfitters again. Didn't change my unit as this station had nothing better on offer. Still after next start, i could top 200, had double the number of bars on my gauge as well. Boost available again. Yay!

hoodini · Jan 31, 2015

I opened a ticket for this which was closed as "this is by design" and to take it in the forums...

sohara · Jan 31, 2015

CMDR i Tetsuo said:
I had this problem in my Adder, I had the correct amount of power available but I just couldn't boost at all. Turns out I'd fitted a size 1 power supply to a size 2 slot (I was weight saving for jump distance) and once I fitted a size 2 unit I could boost again. Didn't make much sense from the stat readouts though, I was perfectly within parameters according to the buy/compare screen

The reason for this is that your boost was taking more to trigger than your ENG bar can store @ max capacity.

Let's say boost costs 1.000 to fire.

If you fit a power unit that supplies a maximum 0.800 to the engines capacity bar, then you won't have enough energy to boost - even with full pips and a full bar!

What's lacking here is a value for 'boost cost' on the ship itself. That would solve the issue.

LeetNoob · Jan 31, 2015

mkten said:
The reason for this is that your boost was taking more to trigger than your ENG bar can store @ max capacity.

Let's say boost costs 1.000 to fire.

If you fit a power unit that supplies a maximum 0.800 to the engines capacity bar, then you won't have enough energy to boost - even with full pips and a full bar!

What's lacking here is a value for 'boost cost' on the ship itself. That would solve the issue.

but surely that would be a problem with your power distributor? It doesn't have enough capacity to store the amount of power your boost needs. It shouldn't be affected by your power plant. A smaller power plant would just mean the power distributor takes longer to build up. Or am I missing something?

Yubo · Jan 31, 2015

mkten said:
The reason for this is that your boost was taking more to trigger than your ENG bar can store @ max capacity.

Let's say boost costs 1.000 to fire.

If you fit a power unit that supplies a maximum 0.800 to the engines capacity bar, then you won't have enough energy to boost - even with full pips and a full bar!

What's lacking here is a value for 'boost cost' on the ship itself. That would solve the issue.

Wouldn't really explain why my boost worked again and my thrusters performed better after visiting the outfitter, but changing nothing.

Edit: That is the setup with wchich i had the glitch:

Aquamonkey · Jan 31, 2015

mkten said:
The reason for this is that your boost was taking more to trigger than your ENG bar can store @ max capacity.

Let's say boost costs 1.000 to fire.

If you fit a power unit that supplies a maximum 0.800 to the engines capacity bar, then you won't have enough energy to boost - even with full pips and a full bar!

What's lacking here is a value for 'boost cost' on the ship itself. That would solve the issue.

*Power Distributor, not power unit.

Also, higher grade (A, B, C, etc.) Thrusters require less amount in the ENG capacitor to boost.

edyrdery · Oct 3, 2015

Also having the same problems. Currently in a Cobra MK3, have the default E4 type thrusters. My max power is 9mW, and my deployed (and also retracted) power usage is 7.44mW. I'm unable to boost, with 4 pips in engine, and a full boost bar. I've only really been experiencing this when switching back to the E4 from an A2 power supply, due to upgrading to a nice B4 FDR drive. Contact me if you need screenshots, logs, or videos.

This seems to be an intentional feature, although I may be wrong.

andyraptor · Oct 3, 2015

Buy a better module or pop over to the Newb's boards for some advice

here

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=75

Cmdr Wullfen · Oct 4, 2015

When you fit a distributor too small for the ship to boost, the game tells you when you try to buy it.

Alex Brentnall · Oct 4, 2015

Cmdr Wullfen said:
When you fit a distributor too small for the ship to boost, the game tells you when you try to buy it.

This post is somewhat necroed. Back in January it did not do that but it does now so this should be somewhat irrelevant.

For anyone still wondering. Distributor size/quality determines how much charge your little bars of engine power can hold (lets say 2 mega joules). Each ship has a power requirement to boost (lets say 4 mega joules).
Since you can't store enough power you can never boost. Upgrade distributor to hold say 5 mega joules and it will work again. No other module affects this. Simples.

To see what will and won't work use a shipyard app or just fit the largest and downgrade until you get the warning message. On the shipyard below the EN/Sys next to distributor turns red if there is insufficient charge for boost.
http://www.edshipyard.com/

schuesseled · Oct 4, 2015

Have the same problem myself. I think it might be the power distributer. I'll have to have a look tomorrow.

I had installed small module when I stored it months ago.

Mugclubber · Aug 19, 2016

Thanks also. I just bought a python and fitted for jump. I cant boost at all. When I get home I will see what level my power supply is.
Mugclubber