Redstone Wire

Redstone Wire is a type of tool used to connect items together that can be used to open doors or other items. This tool is only available in Alpha mode. To obtain Redstone Wire, you need Redstone Dust which can be found by mining Redstone Ore.

Redstone Wires will not carry their charge further than 15 blocks. However, it is possible to extend their range to a degree by making gates. The creation and use of gates are explained in Redstone circuits. Redstone Wire used to be "destroyed" when stepped on in-game, but this was changed due to an update, making the idea of "tripwires" no longer plausible.

Map areas generated before the Redstone update was applied, will not contain Redstone.

Basic Concepts
Placing Redstone on a block creates a wire. Every "wired" block has two possible states: true (powered) or false (unpowered). A wire can be powered by any lever, pressure plate, 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, but will cease to flow after moving 15 blocks from its source. However, the range can be extended without limit by chaining Redstone torches in a repeater fashion.

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.* 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 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.

Trivia
When redstone wire is placed on the ground, it always points the same way. Familiarising yourself with the pattern of "holes" in the wire, particularly the two parts highlighted in red in the image, will mean that you'll always be able to find North, even when underground.



Related pages

 * Redstone
 * Redstone (Ore)
 * Redstone (Dust)
 * Redstone (Torch)
 * Redstone circuits
 * Mechanisms
 * Traps

Redstone (Kabel)