Shield cells, do they keep charging?

CMDR ONI Vox

CMDR ONI Vox
Ello fellow CMDR's,
Quick shield cell question: if I were to power on my shield cell booster and then use a cell, and then power the shield cell booster down, would the charge/cell still be used fully? Like 100% effectiveness?
more simply I want to do this:
.
1. Hardpoints deployed - shield cells OFF
2. Retract hardpoints - shield cells ON
3. Use shield cell - shield cells ON
4. Deploy hardpoints - shield cells OFF
.
Wondering if powering it down would stop the cell from being fully used.
.
Godspeed CMDR's o7
 

ocflyer

ocflyer
CMDR ONI Vox said:
Ello fellow CMDR's,
Quick shield cell question: if I were to power on my shield cell booster and then use a cell, and then power the shield cell booster down, would the charge/cell still be used fully? Like 100% effectiveness?
more simply I want to do this:
.
1. Hardpoints deployed - shield cells OFF
2. Retract hardpoints - shield cells ON
3. Use shield cell - shield cells ON
4. Deploy hardpoints - shield cells OFF
.
Wondering if powering it down would stop the cell from being fully used.
.
Godspeed CMDR's o7
Click to expand...

I'm in a Vulture where I don't have enough power to keep the SCBs powered. So, when I need one, I power something off, power the SCB on, use it, then switch stuff back. So, to answer your question, an SCB needs power to control the relays that transfer the energy. The capacitors in the SCBs don't need power to keep them at 100%.
 

CMDR ONI Vox

CMDR ONI Vox
Ello CMDR ocflyer!
So when you use a cell and then turn the booster off, the cell continues to charge your shield?
My understanding is that cells recharge shields over a short time. Not instantly.
So I wanna now if the booster itself needs to be ON to keep the used cell active.
 
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Schmack

Schmack
ocflyer said:
I'm in a Vulture where I don't have enough power to keep the SCBs powered. So, when I need one, I power something off, power the SCB on, use it, then switch stuff back. So, to answer your question, an SCB needs power to control the relays that transfer the energy. The capacitors in the SCBs don't need power to keep them at 100%.
Click to expand...
Switching relays use very little power since they are inductive loads and typcially driven by low voltages. I'd hope that in 1K years from now we aren't still using even solid state relays.

There's simply no reason for SCBs to consume power, other than their effect on the mass of the ship. There are plenty applications where backup batteries are used IRL and rely on a static switch to switch over to them. A UPS couldn't work if it needed external power to switch to backup, as it's sole purpose is to provide backup power when main power is dropped. Same should be the case for shield cell banks. The "cell" and "bank" refers to several cells, and cells are power cells.

I suppose it's possible that the SCB needs to keep it's charge topped off, and that's draining on the power plant, but it's self defeating and poor technology if that's the case.

You get one charge per unit on the SCB. You cannot use half a charge. Also, it doesn't recharge, it's a one shot device that has to be replaced/reloaded.
 

CMDR ONI Vox

CMDR ONI Vox
Ello CMDR Schmack,
Yes shield cell BANKS. Sorry for calling them boosters considering there is an item with that name.
My question is: when you use a cell and then turn the bank OFF, do you still get full use out of the used cell?
If I turn the bank OFF during the cells Recharging shield time, does the cell cut out? Like you use a cell, it starts refilling your shield, you turn the bank off, the cell stops filling your shield at the time you turned the bank off.
So only using like 50% of the cells total potential.
Godspeed CMDR's o7
 

Yodafone

Yodafone
CMDR ONI Vox said:
Ello CMDR Schmack,
Yes shield cell BANKS. Sorry for calling them boosters considering there is an item with that name.
My question is: when you use a cell and then turn the bank OFF, do you still get full use out of the used cell?
If I turn the bank OFF during the cells Recharging shield time, does the cell cut out? Like you use a cell, it starts refilling your shield, you turn the bank off, the cell stops filling your shield at the time you turned the bank off.
So only using like 50% of the cells total potential.
Godspeed CMDR's o7
Click to expand...

I suppose it's a good question, during the few seconds it takes for the charge to actually affect and re-charge your shield, will turning the bank off during this "few second charge period" stop the charging. I don't know, but I have a question for you. Can you not test this yourself? There is the audible 'up the scale/frequencies' whine as the cell's charge is being consumed, have you heard this noticeably cut out if you turn the cell bank off? (or switch your hardpoints)
 
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CMDR ONI Vox

CMDR ONI Vox
Ello CMDR Yodafone,
I do intend to try it out. Was just thinking maybe somebody had the #s. If it is just the duration of the tone when using one then maybe I'll just leave them on till its done.
I was thinking it was more like 5-10 sec for a cell to be finished adding its capacity to your shield. Hoping to be able to retract hardpoints, use a cell, then redeploy hardpoints as quickly as possible.
Godspeed CMDR's o7
 

M. Grey

M. Grey
I did test it and they stop charging once there is not enough power for this module. So when you deploy hardpoints after using the shieldcell, the shieldcell will be deactivated and stop charging your shield.

Better to deactivate shieldcells and set module priorities so not so relevant modules get deactivated (KWS, 1 weapon, maybe even a booster, ...) when you active the cells.
 
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CMDR ONI Vox

CMDR ONI Vox
Ello CMDR Mr. Gr3y,
Well I guess that answers my question. Thank you very much.
Any idea if the time is tied directly to the tone? Or what the times are for the different types?
Godspeed CMDR's o7
 

Yodafone

Yodafone
CMDR ONI Vox said:
Ello CMDR Yodafone,
I do intend to try it out. Was just thinking maybe somebody had the #s. If it is just the duration of the tone when using one then maybe I'll just leave them on till its done.
I was thinking it was more like 5-10 sec for a cell to be finished adding its capacity to your shield. Hoping to be able to retract hardpoints, use a cell, then redeploy hardpoints as quickly as possible.
Godspeed CMDR's o7
Click to expand...

It may work this way, as the cell is consuming power from your power plant one still needs the bank itself ON throughout the entire charge period. Others have suggested that the bank simply switches a relay to then charge your shield from the power source so perhaps the bank doesn't need to be on throughout. I suppose take note of the audio and then fitting the highest bank available, de-activate shields (or just switch SR on and off), then as soon as your shields have encompased your ship (first blue ring), fire a cell see how much of the rest of the remaining two shield rings charge up completely. Then do the same but turn your bank OFF immediately after you've fired a cell and see the difference (in effectiveness and audio).

I might have a go myself as it will be useful to know! Thanks for bringing the subject up and flagging this to my attention :)

Edit: ninja'd. mr.Gr3y seems to have tested this already.
 
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CMDR ONI Vox

CMDR ONI Vox
Ello fellow CMDR's,
Thank you all for your input. It's been most helpful. Hoping to kit out a FDL as follows:
[Fer-de-Lance]
H: 4B/G Cannon
M: 2F/G Pulse Laser
M: 2F/G Pulse Laser
M: 2F/G Pulse Laser
M: 2F/G Pulse Laser
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster
BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 5A Power Plant
TM: 5E Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 4D Life Support
PC: 6A Power Distributor
SS: 4D Sensors
FS: 3C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 8)
5: 5A Shield Generator
4: 4A Shield Cell Bank
4: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)
2: 2A Frame Shift Drive Interdictor
1: 1A Fuel Scoop
---
Shield: 1,045.22 MJ
Power : 16.61 MW retracted (81 %)
20.04 MW deployed (98 %)
20.40 MW available
Cargo : 0 T
Fuel : 24 T
Mass : 423.5 T empty
447.5 T full
Range : 12.94 LY unladen
12.94 LY laden
Price : 77,153,857 CR
Re-Buy: 3,857,693 CR @ 95% insurance
.
Obviously I have turned nonessential modules off, and have shield cell bank off.
Should be fun.
Godspeed CMDR's o7
 

CMDR ONI Vox

CMDR ONI Vox
Ello CMDR's,
Okay so maybe a Python kitted out as follows would be better:
[Python]
L: 3E/G Pulse Laser
L: 3E/G Pulse Laser
L: 3E/G Pulse Laser
M: 2F/G Pulse Laser
M: 2F/G Pulse Laser
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster
BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 7A Power Plant
TM: 6A Thrusters
FH: 5A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 4D Life Support
PC: 7A Power Distributor
SS: 6A Sensors
FS: 5C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 32)
6: 6A Shield Cell Bank
6: 6A Shield Cell Bank
6: 6A Shield Generator
5: 5E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 32)
5: 5E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 32)
4: 4E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 16)
3: 3E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 8)
3: 3A Frame Shift Drive Interdictor
2: 2A Fuel Scoop
---
Shield: 726.27 MJ
Power : 25.69 MW retracted (86 %)
29.65 MW deployed (99 %)
30.00 MW available
Cargo : 88 T
Fuel : 32 T
Mass : 745.0 T empty
865.0 T full
Range : 15.85 LY unladen
14.24 LY laden
Price : 173,998,585 CR
Re-Buy: 8,699,929 CR @ 95% insurance
.
with 2 shield cell banks that's a potential 2770 MJ vs the FDL 2067 MJ. Obviously there is some wiggle room in there for shield regeneration via the ship systems naturally, but trying to figure worst case scenario. Having to spam cells the python would be better. Can run both cell banks and guns with only fuel scoop off. So maybe the Python will run cooler given I can still turn some systems off during combat. IDK lulz this is going to take some in game testing. Just trying to get some good shield tankyness. ( :
Godspeed CMDR's o7
 

M. Grey

M. Grey
Got a similar setup but with 2x 5A cell, PvE. I deaktive one cell else both will be used, unless you want a double charge. ;)
 
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