Redstone circuits

Redstone circuitry is a feature that was added to Minecraft in the first Alpha update. The concept allows for advanced, more-complicated mechanisms to be created by players. Redstone circuitry is commonly compared to WireMod (a widely-used addon from Garry's Mod).

How it Works
Placing Redstone on a block creates a wire. Every "wired" block has two possible states: 1 (powered) or 0 (unpowered). A wire can be powered by any lever, pressure plate, stone button, or Redstone torch. Placing Redstone on top of a block that is adjacent to a powered block causes the newly wired block to become powered as well. Powered Redstone will always glow red, and will cease to flow after moving 15 blocks from its source. However, the range can be extended without limit by chaining Redstone torches (but will result in a delay).

If all wires adjacent to a torch are unpowered, the torch will provide power to them. However, if a wire connected to its block is powered by another source, the torch itself will cease to generate power and its flame will go out.

You can also watch this video tutorial. It is about making a minecart station, but also has a great introduction on how redstone circuits work.

Redstone Facts

 * Wires transmit their power state to adjacent wires at the same level or up or down one level, except if the destination wire is separated from the source wire by a block above.
 * Wires only transmit their power 15 blocks from the source.
 * Active torches, switches, and buttons; blocks directly above active torches; and blocks with active switches or buttons attached to them will power any adjacent wires in any direction (including above and below).
 * Switches attached to the top face of a block may or may not power the block, since they can face either of two directions on the ground. Switches which face east (when on) and west (when off) will power the block below them; those which face north (when on) and south (when off) will not.
 * If a powered wire is adjacent to a block and it is pointing at the block (there are no other wires, torches, etc. to the left and right), or if a powered wire is on the block, or if the block is otherwise powered directly by torches or controls as described above, any torches attached to the block will go out.
 * If any blocks adjacent to a door are powered this way, the door will open (clockwise).
 * Although wire power states are updated instantly, torches only acquire a power state based on incoming wires after a "tick". If you get upwards of 100 FPS while playing Minecraft, a tick should equal about 1/16 of a second. If you have a lower framerate, your tick speed will be correspondingly slower. (Keep this in mind, because it affects the speed of clocks and related objects built from redstone.)
 * Circuits that are more than ~300 blocks away from your current position will cease to operate due to being on unloaded chunks.
 * Rapidly turning switches on/off will eventually "burnout" the circuit, preventing any connected redstone wire/torches from activating unless left alone for ~1 second. A hiss, similar to when water touches lava creating cobblestone, can be heard when this occurs.

Logic Gates


To use a Redstone torch as a logic gate, the source(s) should be connected one block behind the torch itself. To use the torch's state as an output, connect a wire at-level with the torch. A wire placed directly below the block a torch is on will not connect to the torch. However, another torch placed in the same position will.

Below is a list of some of the basic gates along with example images (a top-down layout overview image can be found to the right). There are many different ways to construct them other than those shown below, so use them as guidelines for creating one to fit your needs.

The NOT (¬) gate
Also known as an inverter. A device that inverts the input. It can also be used as a signal light which is on when no input is detected.



Repeater
Using two NOT gates in series can extend your running wire length past the original 15. As of 1.0.2 (the July 6th update), there must be a strip of wire between the two NOT gates. This makes it possible to send long-distance signals to doors, tracks, gates, etc. To reduce delays, you can place one inverter per 15 blocks. If the input is inverted at the other end, just add another inverter.



Delay Circuit
Using repeaters to extend the length of your wires also adds delays. While using several inverters in a string is the most straight forward method, delay circuits aim to be the most compact. These two gates utilize torches heavily in favor of compactness but in doing so also implements the "quirk" with the game where a torch on a block powering a block above it with a torch attached results in BOTH torches changing state faster. Also, depending on their direction (North/South, West/East) the delay alters by 1 or 2 ticks... West/East being the longer delay.


 * Depending on the direction of the torch blocks the delay alters slightly as described above.

These delay circuits are easily stringed together for longer delays but there comes a time when using a T Flip-Flop would be better as it effectively can double the delay that is sent to it. Using 2 T Flip-Flops you can quadruple it. For every T Flip-Flop added you can say that the delay is ((d*2)+(f*n))^n where d is the delay added by the "clock" or delay circuit and n is the number of T Flip-Flops you have after it and f is the delay present in the actual T Flip-Flop. (Needs to be checked, editors mathFU is not that strong)

The OR (∨) gate
A device where the output is on when at least one of the inputs are on.

Note that design B is a simple inversion of a NOR gate.

A simpler version of the OR gate is design A: merely a wire connecting all inputs and outputs. However, this causes the inputs to become "compromised", so that they can only be used in this OR gate. If you need to use the inputs elsewhere, version B is necessary.



The AND (∧) gate / Tri-state buffer
A device where the output is on when both inputs are on. This behaves in a manner equivalent to a Tri-state buffer, where input B acts like a switch, so that if it is off, input A is disconnected from the rest of the circuit. The discrepancy from real-life tri-state buffers lies in the fact that one cannot drive a low current in Minecraft. (See the Wikipedia article for details.)

This is useful in building a locking mechanism for a door, requiring both the activating button and the lock (typically a lever) to be on.

The NOR (⊽) gate
A device where the output is off when at least one of the inputs are on. In Minecraft, this is the basic logic gate, represented by a torch. A torch can have as many as 4 mutually isolated inputs (design B), but 3 can fit comfortably (design A), and all are optional. A torch with 1 input is the NOT gate, and with no inputs is the TRUE gate (i.e. a power source). If more inputs than 4 are necessary, one must resort to the non-isolated OR gate with a NOT at the end (at expense of isolation), or multiple NOR gates, according to the formula A ⊽ B ⊽ C = A ⊽ ¬(B ⊽ C) (at the expense of speed, due to the nested gates).

The NAND (⊼) gate
A device where the output is off when both inputs are on.

The XOR (⊻) gate
Pronounced "exor". A device which activates when the inputs are not equal to each other.

Adding a NOT gate to the end will produce an XNOR gate, which activates when the inputs are equal to each other.



The XNOR gate
A device which activates when the inputs are equal to each other.

The IMPLIES (→) gate
Represents material implication. Returns false only if the implication A → B is false, that is, if the conditional A is true, but the consequent B is false.

Latches and Flip-Flops
The common feature in every latch or flip-flop is the RS NOR latch, which amounts to two NOT gates whose inputs and outputs are connected (see below). This allows circuits to store data and deliver it at a later time, rather than acting only on the inputs as given. In other words, functions built from these components can give different outputs in subsequent executions even if the inputs don't change. This allows for the design of counters, long-term clocks, and memory, which cannot be created with logic gates alone.

RS NOR latch


A device where Q will stay on forever after input is received by S. Q can be turned off again by a signal received by R.

This is probably the smallest memory device that is possible to make. Note that ~Q means the opposite of Q, e.g. when Q is on, ~Q is off and vice-versa. This means that in certain cases, you can get rid of a NOT gate by simply picking the ~Q output instead of putting a NOT gate after the Q output.

A very basic example of use would be making an alarm system in which a warning light would stay turned on after a pressure plate is pressed, until you hit a reset button.

In the truth table, S=1, R=1 is often referred to as forbidden, because it breaks the inverse relationship between Q and ~Q. Also, some designs where the input is not isolated from the output, such as B and D, will actually result in Q and ~Q both apparently being 1 in this case. As soon as either S or R becomes 0, the output will be correct again. However, if S and R both become 0 on the exact same tick, the resulting state could be either Q or ~Q, depending on quirks of game mechanics. In practice, this input state should be avoided.

RS NAND latch
When ~S and ~R are both off, Q and ~Q are on. When ~S is on, but ~R is off, Q will be on. When ~R is on, but ~S is off, ~Q will be on. When ~S and ~R are both on, it does not change Q and ~Q. They will be the same as they were before ~S and ~R were both turned on.

Since NOR is the basic logic gate in Minecraft, a design for an RS NAND latch is just an RS NOR with inverters applied to the inputs and outputs.

D Flip-Flop
A D flip-flop, or "data" flip-flop, sets the output to D only on certain conditions. The basic level-triggering D flip-flop (design A), also known as a gated D latch, sets the output to D as long as the clock is set to OFF, and ignores changes in D as long as the clock is ON. Design B includes an edge-trigger, and will set the output to D only at the moment the clock goes from OFF to ON.

In these designs, the output is not isolated; this allows for asynchronous R and S inputs (which override the clock and force a certain output state). To get an isolated output, instead of using Q simply connect an inverter to ~Q.

Design C is a one block wide version of A, except for using a non-inverted clock. It sets the output to D as long as the clock is ON (turning the torch off). This design can be repeated in parallel every other block, giving it a much smaller footprint, equal to the minimum spacing of parallel data lines (when not using a "cable"). A clock signal can be distributed to all of them with a wire running perpendicularly under the data lines, allowing multiple flip-flops to share a single edge-trigger if desired. The output Q is most easily accessed in the reverse direction, toward the source of input; ~Q can be inverted to keep information traveling in the same direction and isolate the latch's R line (the ~Q wire serves both purposes, as in design A).

JK Flip-Flop
An unclocked JK Flip-Flop works a lot like a RS NOR Latch. When the input J is ON and the input K is OFF, the output Q is ON. It will then hold that state until only K or both is ON. When only K is ON the Q is OFF. When both inputs are on they will start a race condition. This means that the output will keep changing until one of the inputs is turned OFF (It doesn't race fast enough to burn out the torches).

''NOTE: Some of the illustrated JK Flip-Flops to the right don't include the typical inverse Q output. If you want to use the inverse Q then just add an inverter to the Q.''

T Flip-Flop
T Flip-Flops are also known as "toggles". Whenever T changes from 0 (off) to 1 (on), the output will toggle its state.

A useful way to use T Flip-Flops in Minecraft could for example be a button connected to the input. When you press the button the output toggles (a door opens or closes), and does not toggle back when the button pops out. (Design C does not have an incorporated edge trigger and will toggle multiple times unless the input is passed through one first.)

It is also the core of all binary counters and clocks, as it functions as a "period doubler", turning two input pulses into one output pulse.

Design A (and B, which is a slightly compacted version of A) is essentially a JK flip-flop with the inputs for J and K removed so that it relies on the edge trigger (right side of the diagram) to keep it in the stable state and only allow a single operation per input.

Design C has a smaller footprint and an easily accessible inverse output, but requires a brief pulse of 'high' input in order to operate reliably, whether by routing input through a separate pulse generator to create an edge trigger (design B' seems to work best), or by some other means. If the input is kept high, it will repeatedly toggle on and off, cycling quickly enough to burn out its torches. For example, if the button mentioned above is wired directly to its input, the device can cycle several times before the button shuts off. Even a 4-clock is too slow to reliably result in only one toggle.

''NOTE: Some of the illustrated T Flip-Flops to the right don't include the typical inverse Q outputs. If you want to use the inverse Q then just add an inverter to Q.''

Clock generators
Clock generators are devices where the output is toggling on/off constantly.

The simplest stable clock generator is the 5-clock (designs B and C). Using this method, 1-clocks and 3-clocks are possible to make but they will "burn out" because of their speed, which makes them unstable. Redundancy can be used to maintain a 1-clock, even as the torches burn out; the result is the so-called "Rapid Pulsar" (design A). Slower clocks are made by making the chain of inverters longer (designs B'  and C'  show how such an extension process can be achieved).

Using a different method, a 4-clock can be made (design D). A 4-clock is the fastest clock which will not overload the torches.

A 4-clock with a regular on/off pulse width is also possible as seen in design E. This design uses five torches, but has a pulse width of 4 ticks, to do this it utilises a quirk in the game whereby if two torches are placed above one another on alternate blocks facing in a North/South direction they will both change with only a single tick delay (normally there'd be a two tick delay, one per torch). Because of this it is important that the orientation of this design be North/South, South/North.

The customary name x-clock is derived from half of the period length, which is also usually the pulse width. For example, design D will produce a sequence  on the output.

Pulse Generators
A device that creates a pulsed output when the input changes.

Design A will create a short pulse when the input turns off. By inverting the input as shown in B, the output will pulse when the input turns on. The length of the pulse can be increased with extra inverters, shown in B'. This is an integral part of a T flip-flop, as it prevents the flip-flop changing more than once in a single operation. Designs A and B can be put together to represent both the increase of A and the decrease of A as separate outputs, these can then be ORed to show when The input changes, regardless of its state.

A device which causes a short pulse of low power instead of high can be made by removing the final inverter in design B' and replacing it with a wire connection. This is the type used in designs A and B of the T and JK flip-flops (when J=1 and K=1) to briefly place these devices in the 'toggle' state, long enough for a single operation to take place.

Binary to Decimal
A series of gates that convert a 3bit binary input from inputs into a decimal output from 0-7. Useful in many ways as they are compact 5x5x3 at the largest.

These can be linked in a series from one input source but it is recommended to place an inverter before each input into the circuit to keep them isolated from interacting with the other circuits since some drive a combination of High and Low current.

Need clarification but some of these may also work as Tri State buffers or as close as possible with redstone depending on your setup.

Computation
Using logic gates, we can arrange them to make binary calculations, like in a computer. When using the gates below, mind the inputs and outputs. You may be wondering why there are so many inverted signals being used instead of the regular signal. The adders below use XNOR gates rather than XOR gates because they are more compact. As a result, IMPLIES gates must be used instead of an AND gate, which also happen to be more compact. Therefore for the most compact adder, inverse signals must be used. These adders are too complex to be easily deciphered with 2 layers per square, so each single layer has been drawn separately to ease the building process.

Half Adder


Gates: XNOR, IMPLIES

Torches: 12

Redstone: 7

Blocks: 19

Size: 5X4X4

This adder will take 2 bits and add them together. The resulting bit will be the output of S (sum). If both bits are 1, there will be a carry over, and C will become 1 (~C will become 0). This half adder can be modified to create a non inverted C output, but this configuration is used so that it can be implemented as the start of a chain of full adders.

Full Adder (1 Bit Adder)
AS A FOREWARNING THIS DESIGN IS WRONG! It uses an OR instead of an AND to combine the two half adders.



Gates: XNOR (2), IMPLIES, NOT, OR, AND

Torches: 16

Redstone: 32

Blocks: 48

Size: 6X12X5 Ceiling to floor, including I/O spaces.

This adder will take 2 bits and a carried over bit (actually ~C, rather than C, a value held in the redstone in the bottom left corner on layer 1) and add them all together, producing a sum (S) bit and a carry (actually ~C rather than C).

4 Bit Adder


'''Note! The least significant digit ("ones" digit) is on the left of the diagram so that the progression from half adder to the full adders can be seen more clearly. Reverse the diagram if you want a conventional left to right input.'''

Gates: XNOR (7), IMPLIES (4), NOT (4), OR (3), AND (3)

Torches: 56

Redstone: 108

Blocks: 164

Size: 23X12X5

This adder will take 2, 4 bit numbers (A and B) and add them together, producing a sum (S) bit for each bit added and a carry (C) for the whole sum. The sum bits are in the same order as the input bits, which on the diagram means that the leftmost S output is the least significant digit of the answer. This is just an example of a string of adders; adders can be strung in this way to add bigger numbers as well.

Cables
Sometimes it is necessary to carry lots of data compactly (width wise) with a cable. This cable can carry 11 wires with a width of 7 and height of 4 (including floor), which amounts to a cross section of 28 blocks. Using wires running on the ground would have required a width of 21, with a cross section of 32 blocks.



Affected Objects
Objects receiving power are affected in the following ways:


 * Doors
 * Doors open and close. This is the only method of opening iron doors.


 * Tracks
 * Tracks will change direction, though always to a turning track.


 * TNT
 * TNT will have its charge set. A few seconds of delay should be expected (TNT is not instant).


 * Water and Lava
 * Water and Lava will flow in a different direction when the source block is updated. This can be achieved by, for example, placing a torch next to it. By using Redstone, you can update the block remotely and use it for traps. For help on how to do this look at this video tutorial by Kiershar and the original thread.

Using Redstone Circuits in Multiplayer
As of v1.2.0, redstone circuits work in multiplayer. However, varying depending upon the latency between your client and the server, redstone circuits may take additional time to complete than they would in single player. Also creating Clock generators can sometimes crash servers, be careful with them.

Related pages

 * Redstone
 * Redstone (wire)
 * Redstone (ore)
 * Redstone (dust)
 * Redstone Torch
 * Mechanisms
 * Traps

Redstone-Schaltkreise