Minecraft 1.5 Redstone Update Features - Confirmed at Minecon 2012

At Minecon 2012, the Mojang team confirmed that the next update will be called the 'Redstone update'. Minecraft 1.5 will contain new redstone logic to make circuits more predictable and consistent. It will come with the new capacitor block, daylight detector and other minecart improvements.

Jeb reassured fans that even though redstone is going through a major overhaul, existing redstone contraptions will not be affected. You can instead, look forward to some exciting new features and redstone devices.

Major features coming in Minecraft 1.5..

Capacitor block

The capacitor block is similar to the repeater because it has 1 input and 1 output but the big difference is that the capacitor only provides an output if its threshold is met. So, if you put the capacitor far away from the source it will not repeat the signal.

Essentially the capacitor paves the way for lots of new redstone uses including the new weighted pressure plates which vary their output signal depending on the pressure put on them. A good example is loading a minecart with enough items to trigger the output signal via the weighted pressure plate.

The capacitor will be crafted from a new ore which doesn't exist in the current game. The new ore will be located in the Nether dimension.

Improved Minecarts

Jeb confirmed that in 1.5, minecarts would be improved because they're rarely used by players. Nathan looked at a popular mod which adds tunnels to the game and a similar structure may be included in Minecraft 1.5.

Linking minecarts together will also become a new option along with new railtrack ejectors that eject unwanted passengers from minecarts.