I searched around a bit and saw a similar suggestion for a "circuit breaker" structure. Not quite what I had in mind, so I'll still post it.
What I suggest is a fuse. Because fuses are dead simple technology that the colonists could create without too much difficulty.
The way it works:
A fuse is like a normal power conduit except that when a short happens on one side of the fuse, batteries whose only power conduit paths to the short pass through fuses are not discharged, but the fuses are destroyed instead.
Balance considerations:
This does allow you to mitigate, depending on how many fuses you build, the negative impacts of shorts to a certain extent. Shorts can still happen on local segments, and after shorts, the fuses will be destroyed breaking your power infrastructure into multiple disjoint segments until a colonist gets to building another fuse, or at least some new conduit.
Example:
You have the following simple power setup
Two charged batteries B1 & B2, connected to turret T by power conduits '-'
B1--------------T--------------B2
In this scheme if B1 shorts, all of the energy from B2 will also be expended.
If however the mighty FUSE were used:
B1------F-----T--------------B2
When B1 shorts, B2 starts to short, but the sudden surge of current blows fuse F.
Leaving you with
B1------- ----T------------B2
The B1 to T connection is broken, but B2 can still power T because it did not lose its charge.
What I suggest is a fuse. Because fuses are dead simple technology that the colonists could create without too much difficulty.
The way it works:
A fuse is like a normal power conduit except that when a short happens on one side of the fuse, batteries whose only power conduit paths to the short pass through fuses are not discharged, but the fuses are destroyed instead.
Balance considerations:
This does allow you to mitigate, depending on how many fuses you build, the negative impacts of shorts to a certain extent. Shorts can still happen on local segments, and after shorts, the fuses will be destroyed breaking your power infrastructure into multiple disjoint segments until a colonist gets to building another fuse, or at least some new conduit.
Example:
You have the following simple power setup
Two charged batteries B1 & B2, connected to turret T by power conduits '-'
B1--------------T--------------B2
In this scheme if B1 shorts, all of the energy from B2 will also be expended.
If however the mighty FUSE were used:
B1------F-----T--------------B2
When B1 shorts, B2 starts to short, but the sudden surge of current blows fuse F.
Leaving you with
B1------- ----T------------B2
The B1 to T connection is broken, but B2 can still power T because it did not lose its charge.