Category:IC Wiring

The Cables are the primary means of transferring EU from one device to another. There are several different types of cable, each type made from different metals, and each type can tolerate a different maximum EUP, usually referred to as Voltage. If an applied Voltage exceeds a cable's maximum, the cable will instantly melt. This is NOT to be confused with (EU/t), usually referred to as Current; all cables can handle an infinite amount of current.

All cables suffer from energy losses over distance. Long cables will lose energy in the process of transferring it. There are several ways to reduce losses: Transformers, insulation, and daisy-chaining storage devices.

Uninsulated cables shock the player, NPCs and mobs.

Insulating cables with rubber reduces energy losses, reduces shocks, and allows the cable to be painted using the Painter. Painted cables will only connect to cables painted in the same color and unpainted cables. This also greatly reduces the strain on CPU, as large cable meshes with many intersections require the game to perform many CPU-heavy calculations.

Insulation
Cable can be insulated by adding Rubber to the cable. Insulation reduces the EU loss per cable length and reduce shock damage.

You can add insulation to cables in your inventory by placing it next to Rubber in your crafting area. Placed cable can have their insulation added or removed with a Insulation Cutters.

Tin Cable and Glass Fibre Cable cannot be insulated. This is not a problem, however, since neither type of cable deal shock damage and both types suffer very low energy losses.

Only insulated cables (with the exception of Glass Fibre Cable) can be colored with a Painter.

Cable Types
There are 7 different cable types, each with their own benefits and disadvantages. Crafting recipes and more detailed information is available at each cable's own Wiki page.

Tin Cable
Tin Cables (or Ultra-Low-Current Cable) can only tolerate Micro Voltage (up to 5 EUP) but they're very cheap to make and have extremely low energy losses. Since no transformer can "step down" voltage this low, Tin cables are only suited for lower-output generators like Solar Panels, Water Mills or Wind Mills.

Copper Cable
Early in the game, Copper cables are the most common cables used. While they are only capable of handling Low Voltage (up to 32 EUP), they suffer only small distance-related energy losses, even more when using insulated cables.

Gold Cable
Gold cables can transport Medium Voltage (up to 128 EUP) but suffer higher energy losses than Copper Cable. To remedy this, to some extent, Gold Cable can have 2 layers of isolation. When carrying full 128EUP, Gold Cable can even outperform Copper Cable on long distances (see Cable Efficiency).

HV Cable
HV Cables can handle the highest amount of current possible at Extreme Voltage (up to 2048 EUP OR higher) however it loses energy very quickly over distance. However, when moving energy over very long distances, HV Cable operating at 2048 EUP is actually more energy efficient than either Gold or Copper Cable (see Cable Efficiency). Only Glass Fibre Cable is more energy efficient over long distances (at 512 EUP), at the expense of a larger material cost.

Glass Fibre Cable
Glass Fibre Cable is a special type of cable capable of transporting High Voltage (up to 512 EUP). It does not shock anything standing too close and has only a tiny amount of energy loss, however it is very expensive to make.

Detector Cable
The Detector Cable is a special cable which outputs a redstone current when EU is flowing through it. They can handle up to High Voltage.

EU-Splitter Cable
The Splitter Cable is a special cable which prevents EU from flowing through it when a redstone current is applied. They can handle up to High Voltage.

Distance-Related Losses
All cables suffer distance-related energy losses, depending on the type and insulation of the cable. The general unit for cable efficiency is EU/block. It shows how much EU every EU Packet loses per block. The number is accumulated along the whole length of the cable, and then rounded down to the nearest integer. Therefore, if a distance is short enough, the EU loss will remain zero. For example, since Copper Cable loses 1 EU every 5 blocks, a 4 block long Insulated Copper Cable won't lose any EU.

Voltage Efficiency
Depending on the EUP traveling through a cable it may be more efficient to use higher voltage cables and packets. This is because EU/b isn't applied on the total EU/t that travels the cable but on every single EU-Packet.

For example a Copper Cable carrying 384 EU/t over 10 Blocks of insulated copper cable is really carrying 12*32 EU-Packets and instead of: 384EU-2EU=382EU you get: 32EU*12-2*12=360EU. But when using 128 EU-Packets and 2x Insulated Gold Cables you get: 128EU*3-4*3=372EU. In this example this is a difference of 12 EU over 10 Blocks.

What can be concluded from a cursory glance over the numbers is that, when using maximum allowable voltage, Copper cables are actually the most lossy cable type (at 25.0% per 40 blocks), followed by Tin (at 20.0% per 40 blocks), then Gold (at 12.5% per 40 blocks), then HV (at 1.56% per 40 blocks), and the most lossless is Glass Fibre (at 0.195% per 40 blocks). Remember, these values only apply if current is passed at the highest voltage available for that cable type.

The formula for overall EU/b is: Combined EU/t divided by Desired packet size multiplied by Cable's EU/b per Packet equals Combined EU/b

Below is an example of different EU/t packed into different EU-Packets and carried with different cables, cables are full insulated, EU-P equals EU-Packet, results are in Overall / Combined EU/b  (not EU/b per Packet), results can't be rounded down to nearest integer.:


 * Blue color indicates that EU-Packets under 32 EU can't be obtained by transforming. They can only be generated with generators as they always emit EU-Packages the size of their output EU.
 * Green color indicates the optimal EU-Package for that EU/t example. Blue fields are ignored.
 * Orange color and red color indicates sub-optimal EU-Packages.

Cable Splitting
Up to 6 cables can connect to one other cable (one on each side). Current will only flow through a cable if requested by a consumer and the loss from the cable length will allow some energy to get to the consumer. i.e. a Batbox (32EU) will send across Copper Cable to a Electric Furnace up to 155 blocks away (5x31). No energy will be sent to a furnace 156 blocks away.

Keep in mind, however, that an excessive number of cable intersections will increase strain on your CPU (and more importantly, the server, when playing on a multi-player server). Don't do things like having rows of adjacent cables with every block connected to every other block. Separate cables connected to an energy storage device (BatBox, etc.) or transformer do not count as a cable intersection, so take advantage of that when possible.

Video Tutorials
Basic Tutorials on How to Make And Use All Cables!