When redstone wire is used as a power conductor, it can take on one of two states – it can either be powered or unpowered.
Whenever the wire is unpowered, it has no effect on any mechanisms or redstone components connected to its input. When it’s powered, however, the wire will activate any connected devices and transmit power to these devices so they can function.
An interesting aspect of redstone is that it can transmit power over great distances. Redstone wire will transmit power, via a line of sight, up to 15 blocks (i.e., 7 redstone repeaters). In the diagram below, redstone wire is connected to the block marked with an X.
As long as there are no obstructions in between the input side of a redstone wire and the output side of a device, then there is no limit to how far a redstone wire can transmit power. If there is an obstruction, then the wire will lose power, and a loss in power has two effects.
Redstone Wire- As a Power Conductor :
1. It can cause channeling between the wire and the obstruction-
It can then allow power to flow through the obstruction (as long as it’s not air). This means that if a redstone wire is powering a redstone lamp, for example, with an active redstone torch in between them, then the lamp will still get power from the wire even though there is an obstruction (the torch) in-between them.
(It’s worth noting that a block of sand will block the channeling of power, so if there is an active torch in-between, then the redstone lamp won’t receive power from the wire.)
2. When a redstone wire loses power, it instantly breaks.
This means that if a redstone wire is placed under pressure (e.g., if it’s being crushed by an active piston), then it will break almost instantly. This occurs because when a redstone wire breaks, all of its energy is transferred to the point where it broke – in this case, at the point where the wire broke.
This means that if a redstone wire is placed under pressure and breaks, then it will release all of its energy at the point where it broke. If a redstone wire is being crushed by an active piston, then after the wire breaks, all of its energy will be released through the piston as long as it’s connected to something (e.g., another block).
As long as there is something else that can handle the high-powered signal being sent through that certain space, then there is no damage done to other blocks in between them.
3. If a redstone wire breaks, then the mechanisms and redstone components connected to it will be deactivated instantly.
If a pressure plate is under pressure, for example, when the redstone wire breaks, then any mechanism activating the pressure plate will be deactivated. This is because when a redstone wire breaks, it acts as if it were powered – whenever a powered redstone wire loses power, all mechanisms attached to it lose power too.
Also, if a redstone wire was powering an active piston head, then after it breaks, the piston will retract almost instantly. This occurs because when a redstone wire loses power, it also stops transmitting power to anything attached to its input. In this case, a pressure plate under pressure is connected to the wire’s input side.
If so, once the wire loses power, since there is an obstruction (the pressure plate) in-between them and the wire stops transmitting power to anything attached to its input side as a result of this obstruction (which is being crushed by an active piston), then the piston will retract almost instantly because it no longer has any power.
4. If a redstone wire is shorted ,then it instantly breaks.
If a redstone wire is being crushed by an iron pressure plate and loses power, then it will break almost instantly due to the pressure of the piston closing. Since all of its power was released in one instant, the wire will break almost instantly, which means that it immediately releases all of its energy in response to losing power – this causes an explosion at the point where the wire broke, which is at where it was crushing the piston.
Any mechanism attached to the point where the wire broke will also be deactivated because it’s no longer receiving power.
This is another example of a redstone wire being shorted and causing an explosion at its point of connection. This can also happen with a redstone torch, if it’s crushed by an iron pressure plate, when it loses power, which will cause an explosion at the torch’s point of connection with the pressure plate.
