Storage Sensor

Tier
 Crafted at

The **Storage Sensor** is an Automation item in Astroneer. It allows players to detect when there is a change in storage states of connected storage items and will send a signal to connected items.

## Uses

The Storage Sensor has three different settings, which are indicated by the green arrows on its side. The player can cycle through those by pressing the Use key (PC: , Xbox: , PS4: , Switch: ):

* Full or Empty: Sends a signal, when the storage is completely full and when its completely empty.
* Full or not Full: Sends a signal as soon as the storage is completely filled and as soon as at least one item is missing.
* Empty or not Empty: Sends a signal as soon as the storage is completely empty and as soon as at least one item is placed.

To use the sensor, the player has to attach it to any of the modules, listed in the next section, then grab the Pin and attach it to any kind of module, they want to control. The Storage Sensor can be used to limit the power consumption of the Auto Arm, turning it on and off as required (see example below). If the pin is attached to a platform, it will affect all modules installed on this platform. If the sensor is attached to a platform, it will check all storages there.

## List of Compatible Items

All Storage, which includes:

* Medium, Large, and Tall Storage
* Medium and Large Resource Canister
* Medium Fluid & Soil Canister
* Medium and Large Storage Silos (A and B)

All Platforms, which includes:

* Medium Platform A, B, C, Tall, and T
* Large Platform A, B, C, T, and Curved
* Extra Large Platform A, B, C, and Curved
* Figurine Platform
* XL Sensor Arch
* Large Sensor Hoop A and B
* Rail Station

Other items like:

* Tractor, Trailer, Buggy, Medium Rover, and Large Rover
* Crane
* Small, Medium, and Large Shuttles
* Auto Extractor
* Shelter and Field Shelter
* Rail Car

### Examples

The images above show a simple example how to wire up a  **Storage Sensor** located on the  Medium Storage to the left. The Pin is attached to an  Auto Arm to the right. The mode is set to empty/not empty. In the beginning, the Medium Storage is completely empty and the Auto Arm inactive. As soon as an item is placed, the Auto Arm grabs it and empties out the complete storage until it gets inactive after that.

There are three big advantages in using a Storage Sensor:

* It saves power, as active Auto Arms still use up power, while waiting for an item to grab.
* If set to full/empty mode, the Auto Arm waits for the storage to completely fill up and then move all the items one after the other.
* If the player walks into the target area of the Auto Arm, items might inadvertently be placed into the backpack, which can not happen, when the arm was turned off before.

There is also one disadvantage of this setup:

* As soon, as the storage empties out, the Auto Arm will be turned off. The last item gets stuck on it.

To avoid this, the player may insert a  Delay Repeater as shown in the image to the right. The Pin of the Storage Sensor is attached to the repeater, while the repeater's Pin toggles the Auto Arm. Set to a few seconds, this allows the Auto Arm to complete its task before going to sleep. As this delay affects all signals, it takes the same amount of time for the Auto Arm to wake up.