Redstone · Mechanic · Java & Bedrock
How to Use a Redstone Repeater
The repeater is the redstone block that controls timing and direction. It holds a signal for 1 to 4 tickspushes a fading wire back up to full strength, and only lets power flow one way.
Delay1–4 ticks
Delay 1–4 ticksBoost back to 15One-way diodeLock = memory
A repeater delays a signal by 1 to 4 ticks, then sends it on one way at full strength. Watch the pulse wait, then fire down the fresh wire to the lamp.
The four jobs
One block, four uses. Most redstone builds need at least one of them.
DelayRight-click to add 1 to 4 ticks of delay (0.1s each). The movable torch slides back a notch per click. This is how you time circuits and stop them flickering.
BoostRedstone dust fades out after 15 blocks. A repeater resets the signal to full strength 15, so you chain them along long wires to keep power alive.
One-way diodeA repeater only passes power in the direction of its arrow and blocks anything coming back, so it stops signals leaking the wrong way through a build.
LockPower a repeater from the side with another repeater or comparator and it freezes its current output. That latch is the core of redstone memory cells.
Setting the delay
Right-click the repeater to step the delay from 1 tick (0.1s) up to 4 ticks (0.4s), then it wraps back to 1. Two repeaters back to back give a longer, adjustable timer, which is how clocks and pulse circuits are tuned. A redstone tick is two game ticks, so one repeater tick is a tenth of a second.
Quick answers
What does a redstone repeater do?
Four things: it delays a signal by 1 to 4 ticks, repeats (boosts) a fading signal back to full strength, forces the signal to travel one way only, and can be locked to hold its output.
How do you increase the delay on a repeater?
Right-click it. Each click adds one tick of delay, 0.1 seconds, up to a maximum of four ticks (0.4 seconds). The small movable torch slides backward to show the current setting.
How far does redstone travel, and how do repeaters help?
A redstone dust line carries power only 15 blocks before it dies. Drop a repeater in the line and it resets the signal back to 15, so you repeat them every 15 blocks to run power any distance.
Which way does a repeater face?
The signal goes in the back (the end with the fixed torch) and comes out the front, where the arrow points. It is strictly one-way.
What is a locked repeater?
If you feed a signal into the side of a repeater from another repeater or a comparator, it locks and keeps outputting whatever it was last sending. That held state is used to build latches and memory.
Repeater vs comparator, what is the difference?
A repeater delays, boosts and locks a signal and only moves power forward. A comparator reads container fullness and block states and compares or subtracts signals. Different tools for different jobs.
Delay, direction and the lock nobody uses
It restores the signal to full strength
Dust weakens over fifteen blocks and a repeater puts the signal back to fifteen, which is the reason long lines have repeaters in them at all. The delay is a side effect that turned into the more famous use.
Four settings, one to four ticks
Each click adds a redstone tick, so one repeater covers a short range of timings and a chain covers anything longer. Timing circuits are built by counting repeater ticks rather than by measuring, and a mechanism that is one tick out will look like a wiring fault.
A side signal locks it
Feed a repeater from the side with another repeater or comparator and it freezes on its current state. That is a memory cell in one block, and it is the tidiest way to latch a pulse without building a proper flip flop.
input
repeater
output
Redstone Block
Redstone Dust
Comparator