Rust Power Usage Chart
Every electrical component's power draw in rW — from 1 rW lights and sensors up to the 25 rW SAM site — plus what solar panels, turbines, generators and batteries actually put out, so you can size a circuit before you build it. Every value is datamined directly from the game files.
Power consumption by component
| Component | Power draw | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Defense | ||
| SAM Site | 25rW | Anti-air defense against minicopters and balloons; tied with the Tesla Coil as the hungriest component. |
| Tesla Coil | 25rW | Damage scales with power supplied — the full 25 rW delivers its maximum 35-damage shocks. |
| Auto Turret | 10rW | Only fires while powered — the classic always-on defense load. |
| CCTV Camera | 3rW | Feeds a computer station; each camera draws its own power. |
| HBHF Sensor | 1rW | Detects players; the usual trigger for turret and light circuits. |
| Laser Detector | 1rW | Tripwire-style beam sensor — sends a signal the moment something crosses it. |
| Audio Alarm | 1rW | Buzzer for raid alarms, usually behind an HBHF sensor or laser detector. |
| Smart Alarm | 1rW | Pushes a notification to the Rust+ app when triggered. |
| Reactive Target | 1rW | Resets automatically when powered — a shooting-range convenience. |
| Lighting | ||
| Search Light | 10rW | Aimable beam; the brightest light and the most expensive to run. |
| Ceiling Light | 2rW | The standard indoor base light — cheap enough to wire everywhere. |
| Simple Light | 1rW | Small wall-mounted light with the smallest draw in the game. |
| Siren Light | 1rW | Rotating alarm light, usually wired to an HBHF sensor as a raid alarm. |
| Flasher Light | 1rW | Flashing alert light for alarm and trap circuits. |
| Farming & Water | ||
| Water Pump | 5rW | Pulls water from lakes and rivers into your irrigation system. |
| Powered Water Purifier | 5rW | Converts salt water to fresh without a fire under it. |
| Sprinkler | 2rW | Waters planter boxes; needs a water connection as well as power. |
| Base Utility | ||
| Boom Box | 10rW | Streams audio — as hungry as an auto turret while it plays. |
| Fridge | 5rW | Powered food storage that slows spoilage. |
| Elevator | 5rW | Powered lift between building floors. |
| Modular Car Lift | 5rW | Raises a modular car for repairs and module swaps. |
| Electric Heater | 3rW | Keeps nearby planters and players warm; common in greenhouse builds. |
| Electric Furnace | 3rW | Smelts without wood or low-grade — power replaces fuel entirely. |
| Igniter | 2rW | Lights furnaces, campfires and firework circuits remotely. |
| Storage Monitor | 1rW | Reports box contents to the Rust+ app; negligible load. |
| Door Controller | 1rW | Opens and closes doors on a signal; the heart of remote-access bases. |
Draw values datamined from Rust build 2631.286.1, correct as of Aug 4, 2026. Electricity values change rarely between patches.
Power generation
Per panel at midday, aimed at the sun. Output falls off with sun angle and drops to zero at night — size arrays at roughly 4x your load so batteries charge during the day.
Peaks at 150 rW in strong wind and generates around the clock, but output swings with wind and placement height — run it through batteries rather than straight into components.
Steady output for as long as it's fed low grade fuel (about 4 per minute) — the dependable option when solar and wind fall short.
Generates from flowing water, so it only works placed in a river current.
Fuel-free power, but it can't be crafted or researched in vanilla — an admin item you'll mostly see on modded and creative servers.
Stores 24,000 rWm and discharges at up to 100 rW. Batteries don't generate power — they store what panels and turbines feed in and carry your circuit overnight.
Stores 9,000 rWm and discharges at up to 50 rW. Mid-size storage for smaller circuits — same 80% charge efficiency as the large battery.
Stores 400 rWm and discharges at up to 15 rW. Enough to buffer a light circuit or a single sensor loop, not a base.
Wind turbine and water wheel output varies with conditions — the figures above are their game-file maximums. Run variable sources through batteries and treat the battery output as your dependable number.
Branches, blockers and sizing a circuit
Power in Rust flows from a source, through logic components, into consumers — and every consumer must receive its full draw from the chart above to work. An auto turret fed 9 of its 10 rW simply stays off. The Electrical Branch is how you split power deliberately: it siphons a set amount off to its branch output and passes the rest through, so you can peel exactly 10 rW off a main line for a turret without starving everything downstream. A plain Splitter, by contrast, divides power evenly three ways — fine for identical lights, wasteful for mixed loads.
The Blocker stops power flowing while its side input is powered, which is the standard way to build failover: mains through the blocker, battery on the side, so the battery only drains when generation dies. To size the whole system, add up the rW of everything in the chart you plan to run, then feed that number into the electricity calculator — it works out the solar panels and large batteries needed to keep the circuit alive through the night. For wiring diagrams and component-by-component setups, see the Rust electricity guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much power does a SAM site need in Rust?expand_more
A SAM Site needs 25 rW of power to operate — tied with the Tesla Coil for the highest draw of any electrical component in Rust. A single solar panel (20 rW peak) can't run one on its own, so SAM sites are usually wired through a large battery topped up by a solar array or wind turbine.
How much power does an auto turret use in Rust?expand_more
An Auto Turret uses 10 rW. It only targets and fires while powered, so turrets are the load most bases size their circuit around — four turrets alone need 40 rW of continuous power.
How much power does an electric furnace use in Rust?expand_more
An Electric Furnace uses 3 rW — the value datamined straight from the game files. Power completely replaces fuel: it smelts ore with no wood or low grade at all, and stops the moment the circuit can't deliver its full 3 rW. The draw is small — a single large solar panel (20 rW peak) covers several furnaces in daylight, and a large battery's 100 rW output carries a whole smelting bank overnight.
How much power does a water pump use in Rust?expand_more
A Water Pump uses 5 rW while running. It also needs to be placed in a body of water (lake or river) and connected by hose to your sprinklers or storage before it does anything useful.
How much power does a ceiling light use in Rust?expand_more
A Ceiling Light uses 2 rW, and the smaller simple, flasher and siren lights draw just 1 rW each. You can light an entire base for less than the cost of running one 10 rW search light.
How much power does a wind turbine make in Rust?expand_more
A Wind Turbine generates up to 150 rW — its maximum in the game files — but real output swings with wind conditions and how high the turbine is placed. Because it fluctuates, wind power is almost always run through batteries rather than wired straight to components.
What electrical components are in Rust?expand_more
Rust's electrical components split into power sources (solar panels, wind turbines, batteries), logic and switching gear (splitters, blockers, branches, switches, timers), and powered devices — the consumers in the chart above, from the 1 rW HBHF sensor up to the 25 rW SAM site. Logic components pass power through rather than consuming meaningful amounts of it.