If you’ve ever been 10 minutes deep into a cave hunting rare activated indium only for your mining laser to die mid-harvest, you know how frustrating dead tech can be in No Man’s Sky. There’s a simple fix for nearly all your power-related woes, and it’s far cheaper to make than to buy from space station vendors. Learning how to make ion battery in No Man’s Sky is one of the first core crafting skills every new player should master before they venture far from their starting planet. These compact power cells work for everything from recharging your exosuit’s hazard protection to powering your base’s signal boosters, so you’ll never run out of uses for them.
What You Need to Make Ion Battery in No Man’s Sky
The ion battery recipe is one of the most accessible in the game, and you won’t need any special refiners or advanced crafting stations to put it together. You can make these batteries directly in your exosuit inventory anywhere in the galaxy, as long as you have the two required basic resources on hand. The recipe to make ion battery in No Man’s Sky hasn’t changed much over the last few updates, so this guide will work no matter which platform you’re playing on.
You only need two core ingredients, plus one optional upgrade to make the process faster:
- Ferrite Dust: Mine surface rocks, pebbles, or small mineral outcrops on any planet, even the most hostile dead worlds have plenty of this resource
- Cobalt: Locate blue crystal deposits in caves, or refine condensed carbon and ionized cobalt if you have extra supplies sitting in your storage
- Optional: Use a cobalt mining upgrade on your multi-tool to double your harvest per deposit, cutting your farming time in half
If you’re struggling to find cobalt on your starting planet, you can buy it from most space station terminals for 52 units per piece, but mining it is far cheaper, especially if you have a multi-tool with a good scanning upgrade to spot deposits fast. You only need 25 ferrite dust and 10 cobalt per ion battery, so even a small stack of 100 cobalt will make you 10 batteries with extra left over for other crafting projects.
Step-by-Step Crafting Walkthrough for Ion Batteries
Crafting an ion battery takes less than 10 seconds once you have your resources gathered, and you don’t need any extra tools or stations to get it done. First, open your exosuit inventory menu, navigate to the crafting tab, and scroll down to the “Power and Industry” section. Select the ion battery option, and as long as you have the required resources, you can craft it immediately, no extra steps needed. Once you’ve made your first ion battery, it’ll automatically show up in your quick menu for fast recharging when you’re out in the field.
You can craft up to 5 ion batteries at a time if you have enough stockpiled resources, which is a good habit to get into before long exploration runs. I usually make 20 at a time before I head out to a frozen or radioactive planet, because my hazard protection drains fast when I’m hunting for rare resources, and I don’t want to have to stop mid-trip to farm more materials. If you have excess ionized cobalt from trading or frigate missions, you can refine it down to regular cobalt to make batteries, which is a great way to use up extra stock you don’t need for other upgrades.
That means you don’t have to go out of your way to farm cobalt if you already have a stock of ionized cobalt in your base storage. Just pop it in a portable refiner for a few seconds, and you’ll have all the regular cobalt you need to make as many batteries as you want.
Best Uses for Ion Batteries During Exploration
Ion batteries are far more versatile than most new players realize, and they’re the most cost-effective power source for almost all your portable tech needs. First, they’re the primary power source for your exosuit’s hazard protection modules, which keep you alive on toxic, frozen, radioactive, or scorched planets. If you get caught in a sudden storm, hazard protection drains twice as fast during storms, so having extra batteries on hand can be the difference between making it back to your ship and respawning without your hard-earned loot.
They also work perfectly for recharging your mining laser and terrain manipulator during long mining runs. You don’t have to trek back to your ship every time your tool runs out of power, just pop one ion battery from your quick menu and you’re back to harvesting in seconds. You can also use ion batteries to recharge your exocraft’s power supply if you’re driving across a large planet, so you don’t have to stop to find fuel every 20 minutes. A lot of new players make the mistake of using plutonium or uranium to recharge their tools, which is a huge waste because those resources are far more valuable for powering your ship’s launch thrusters or building advanced base tech. Ion batteries are cheap to make, so they’re the far more cost-effective option for all your portable power needs.
You can also use ion batteries to power portable tech like signal boosters, portable refiners, and exocraft summoning stations, so you can set up a temporary mining outpost anywhere in the galaxy without having to run power lines from a permanent base. That makes them perfect for players who prefer to roam instead of sticking to one base for long periods of time.
Pro Tips to Stockpile Ion Batteries Fast
Once you start exploring more dangerous planets and building larger bases, you’ll go through ion batteries a lot faster than you might expect. There are a few easy tricks to keep a steady supply on hand without having to spend hours farming cobalt every week. If you’re playing in survival mode, knowing how to make ion battery in No Man’s Sky is even more important, since you lose all your inventory if you die, so you don’t want to get stranded without power.
First, set up a small cobalt mining outpost on a planet with rich cobalt deposits. Place a mineral extractor directly on a high-density cobalt deposit, hook it up to a few supply depots, and you’ll have a steady stream of cobalt coming in even when you’re off exploring other star systems. Check back every few days, and you’ll have hundreds of cobalt waiting for you to turn into batteries. Second, send your low-level frigates on easy supply expeditions whenever you have open mission slots. Many of these missions reward stacks of cobalt or even pre-made ion batteries for almost no effort on your part.
Third, keep an eye on space station trade terminals for cobalt sales. Sometimes terminals sell cobalt for 30% to 40% below the regular price, so stock up as much as you can when you see those deals. You can also unlock a crafting upgrade that reduces the resource cost of ion batteries by 25% if you complete the early exosuit milestone missions, which is a huge saver once you’re making hundreds of batteries for your base and exploration runs. If you play with friends, you can also split cobalt farming runs to stock up twice as fast, since cobalt deposits are usually large enough for two or three players to harvest at the same time.
Even as you unlock more advanced crafting recipes and get access to rarer power sources later in the game, ion batteries will always be a staple of your No Man’s Sky inventory. They’re cheap, easy to make, and useful for nearly every activity you can do in the game, from casual planet exploration to building massive base complexes. Taking the time to learn how to make ion battery in No Man’s Sky early on will save you hours of frustration from dead tools and drained hazard protection, so you can spend more time exploring the galaxy’s coolest hidden spots. Next time you’re back at a space station, take 10 minutes to stock up on cobalt and make a stack of 20 or 30 batteries before your next trip, you’ll thank yourself when you find that rare S-class multi-tool in a cave on a dead planet and your mining laser has enough power to grab it.
