Circuit lamps, coal lanterns, and permanent lights

Choose between switched lighting, a fueled lantern, and materials that glow without a power network.

BuildXD has several different light systems. A circuit lamp needs a powered network, a coal lantern burns its own fuel, and an amberlight or copper lantern emits light without a machinery fuel interaction. Their similar names do not make their controls interchangeable.

Circuit lamp

The lamp recipe produces two. It uses glass in the four corners of a 3×3 grid, copper ingots along the four sides, and an amberlight in the center. Place a lamp as a block, then connect one of its faces to a powered conducting path. A minimal arrangement is Dynamo — Lever — Conduit — Circuit lamp.

An unpowered lamp is dark. A powered lamp switches to a lit world state that emits voxel light at level 14. The lamp itself conducts, so lamps can be part of a continuous chain; each powered lamp also adds load to the generator. Put a lever in the only route to a group of lamps when you want to switch that group together. See power and switches if a lamp remains lit with a lever off.

Coal lantern

A coal lantern is independent of the power graph. Its 3×3 recipe uses iron ingot / glass / iron ingot across the top, glass / coal / glass in the middle, and three iron ingots along the bottom. Coal used in crafting the block is an ingredient; after placing it, right-click with Coal to add operating fuel.

Each operating coal unit burns for 180 simulation seconds. The lantern stores up to 99 unburnt coal. Select a non-coal item and right-click the lantern to read its stored fuel and remaining burning reserve. It emits level-14 voxel light while burning, then becomes unlit when the reserve is gone. It cannot power a conduit, piston, or circuit lamp.

Household lanterns inside a settlement can replenish from that settlement's actual stored Coal. Outside settlements, a lantern close to a witch's home can draw from that witch's coal inventory. This consumes real stored resources; it does not create free fuel. Do not rely on household refueling for an isolated player workshop.

Copper lantern and amberlight

A copper lantern is crafted from four copper ingots, one glass, and one coal in a 3×2 pattern. It is a permanent level-15 emitter in the lighting table, with no operating-coal refuel handler. An amberlight is also a permanent level-15 emitter. Two amberlights are crafted from copper ingot / glass / copper ingot in a row.

These blocks are useful for a build that should remain illuminated without checking a generator. A lever touching either permanent emitter will not switch it off. Use circuit lamps for switchable rooms and coal lanterns when you specifically want finite household fuel.

Placement and recovery

Place independent lights near the surfaces you want lit and test at night or inside an enclosed room. Existing voxel geometry and occlusion affect what a light illuminates. Bright daytime scenery is not a useful check for whether a switched lamp actually changes lighting.

Stored coal in a broken dynamo or coal lantern is dropped back into the world; already-burning reserve is not returned as a fresh coal unit. Device reserve and stored fuel are saved, so reopening a world is not a free recharge.