Jadzia Dax holding a depleted power cell
A 22nd century power cell
A power cell is the component, often removable or transportable, of a number of technological devices that supplies the energy necessary for the device to operate, on both small and large scales.
Power cells can be reconfigured to give off false dilithium readings. (VOY: "Ashes to Ashes")
Data was powered by power cells. When he seemed to be in a coma-like state in early 2368, his power cells were functioning properly and were not causing his unconsciousness. (TNG: "The Game") Portable lamps use power cells as did hyperspanners. (VOY: "The Haunting of Deck Twelve"; ENT: "Minefield")
The type 2 phaser has a small, removable power cell which generates enough power to activate a transporter. (TNG: "The Hunted") Hand phasers and disruptors alike are, however, unable to work with cracked or empty power cells. (DS9: "Second Skin", "Let He Who Is Without Sin...", "Ferengi Love Songs", "The Darkness and the Light", "Resurrection") Power cells may be organic, as in the case of the Xindi-Reptilian biorifle. (ENT: "The Shipment")
Chief Miles O'Brien once considered draining the power cells of phasers to provide a power source for a makeshift transmitter. He however realized that it could not be done because be did not have a converter to bridge the power cells from the phasers to his proposed makeshift transmitter (combadges tied into a sensor relay), nor did he have the ion exchange matrix he needed to build the necessary converter. (DS9: "Rocks and Shoals")
Large power cells are used to supply power to phaser arrays on starships. The crew of the USS Defiant made a ritual of displaying depleted power cells during the Dominion War. (DS9: "A Time to Stand")
The crew of USS Voyager used power cells to stockpile deuterium for their energy reserve. Additionally, they used a power cell to get emergency power online, which was accomplished by hooking it into to the ship's EPS manifold. (VOY: "Night") They can also be used to supplement the ship's power grid. (VOY: "Timeless")
Emergency power cells were used aboard Constitution-class starships when main engines were out. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
In 2370, Jean-Luc Picard found a power cell aboard a Terellian freighter that he thought he could use to reactivate his shuttlecraft's engines. Although the energy relays were corroded, he was able to use a tricorder to regenerate the cell, a process that took a couple of hours. (TNG: "Liaisons")
In 2374, a Hirogen hunting party set a trap for Harry Kim and Lyndsay Ballard in the Vyntadi Expanse by reconfiguring a power cell to emit a false dilithium signature. (VOY: "Ashes to Ashes")
In 2376, Tom Paris traded three used power cells and his jukebox to Abaddon for a sentient starship he would christen Alice. Under "her" influence, he would later take four power cells from Voyager's secondary warp assembly without authorization to repair her. (VOY: "Alice")
Types of power cells
- Krellide power cell
- Neodynium power cell
- Tetryon power cell
See also
- Field generator
- Power generator
- Power pack
- Fuel cell
- Storage cell
- Plasma canister
Additional references
Background Information
A couple of the phaser array power cells from DS9: "Behind the Lines" have appeared in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction. They sold for US $941, and $960. [1] [2]