Breaker

A switch for electricity. Closed, it's a piece of wire. Open, nothing passes and the line is split in two.

Crafting

C L C
W I W
C C C

C is Ceramic, L is a Lever, W is Copper Wire and I is an Iron Ingot.

Using it

Place it in a line like a cable.

• Right-click to open or close it: "Breaker open" / "Breaker closed".
• A Controller can switch it with a Switch card, the same as any other switchable block.

It trips itself

If more than 4 A flows through it (a Copper Cable's rating), it opens on its own. Close it again by hand once you've dealt with the cause.

Arcing

Opening a breaker while current is flowing draws an arc that pits the contacts. Each opening under load costs condition, 1% per amp broken. A tripped breaker counts too.

Pitted contacts lose voltage: 0.02 V per amp, more as the condition drops. A worn breaker shows up as a sag on the far side of it. It bottoms out at 25% and keeps switching forever after that.

Opening it with no current flowing costs nothing. Switch the load off first, or open the breaker on a line that's already idle, and it lasts forever. A controller flapping a breaker on and off under load with no gap between "on" and "off" will wear it out. See Controller.

Breaker or fuse?

A Fuse blows at a rating you choose by its wire and is used up when it does. A breaker trips at a fixed 4 A and can be closed again, but wears every time it opens under load.