[1.12] Solar Panel Degradation 1.0.0

[Martin80]

Hi everyone,

this is my first attempt for a mod. It provides solar panel degradation configuration. By default it makes your panels degrade to almost 0% efficiency in 10 years. If you have B9 Part Switch installed, then there are multiple variants to choose from (degradation in 10 to 200 years). 

Download:

• Spacedock
• CKAN

Supported mods:

• B9 Part Switch
• Kerbalism
• JNSQ

Conflicts:

• so far no conflicts found

Future plans: 

• improving degradation curves acc to real data

License:  CC-BY-NC-SA

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Martin80

[Stone Blue]

Nice! I'll have to give this a try...

Looking at the .cfg, my OCD applauds you on a very well formatted, clean, and easily understood file.

Very nice addition that you already have JNSQ support :thumbs_up:

You should add JNSQ as supported in the OP.... Peopple who also see that, but use other rescale/planet packs, may be encouraged to add community support

[darthgently]

On 1/29/2022 at 1:51 AM, Martin80 said:

Hi everyone,

this is my first attempt for a mod. It provides solar panel degradation configuration. By default it makes your panels degrade to almost 0% efficiency in 10 years. If you have B9 Part Switch installed, then there are multiple variants to choose from (degradation in 10 to 200 years).

Does the degradation occur while the panels are initally stowed or while in the retracted state for retractable panels?  I'm thinking a backup set of panels on long duration probes that wouldn't be deployed until the efficiency of the first set dropped below usability might be interesting

[lordcirth]

I assume the more reliable variants increase cost - do they also increase mass? Is any tech required to unlock them, or is it just Funds?

[septemberWaves]

BDB doesn't seem to like this mod. It throws a lot of errors on launch.

[Martin80]

On 10/13/2022 at 10:10 PM, lordcirth said:

I assume the more reliable variants increase cost - do they also increase mass? Is any tech required to unlock them, or is it just Funds?

no, only the cost is increased. Tech and a bit of funds is required to unlock the updates.

On 3/10/2022 at 3:35 AM, darthgently said:

Does the degradation occur while the panels are initally stowed or while in the retracted state for retractable panels?  I'm thinking a backup set of panels on long duration probes that wouldn't be deployed until the efficiency of the first set dropped below usability might be interesting

Yes, unfortunately with the current state degradation happens to all the panels at the same time (doesn't matter whether they are stowed or not)

[darthgently]

1 hour ago, Martin80 said:

Yes, unfortunately with the current state degradation happens to all the panels at the same time (doesn't matter whether they are stowed or not)

This kind of breaks the point of the coding for degradation.  I wonder if there would be some degradation when stowed from cosmic rays to a small degree, but I doubt if that would be more than several orders of magnitude below the degradation from actual use.   Like double digits of orders of magnitude lower.

Would most accurate degradation be based on watt hours produced such that use farther from the Sun would degrade more slowly than closer to the Sun?  I would think so, but don't know

[JoeSheridan]

6 hours ago, darthgently said:

This kind of breaks the point of the coding for degradation.  I wonder if there would be some degradation when stowed from cosmic rays to a small degree, but I doubt if that would be more than several orders of magnitude below the degradation from actual use.   Like double digits of orders of magnitude lower.

It does, but i don´t care. The idea behind the mod is still good and i will keep using it. Incase of Missions that go long enough to make that relevant i will either bring an RTG as a backup with me or there will be Kerbals on the ship that can go out and install new panels. Yes, that doesn´t really works for extremely large panels, but it should be enough to keep a crew alive until they return to Kerbin. So: There are ways to work around such problems.

 

@Martin80 Thanks for giving us this mod. Kerbalism already has many many features i love, but this one was still missing. I like to do such stuff real... it gives me another thing to plan around in the management of my project. I concentrate on building and managing, im a bad pilot, so i love everything that gives me a better immersion regarding to the aspects i love.

[JonnyOThan]

Hey it looks like this mod has issues with any part that has multiple solar panel modules (currently looking at Endurance, but sounds like BDB might be a similar problem).

[JadeOfMaar]

@JonnyOThan I was just now introduced to this mod by someone giving me feedback on my mods. In addition to what you've learned, this mod does not avoid parts that have a B9PS module already (namely, upgradeable solar panels such as in NF Solar). This leads to the error situation that multiple B9PS modules affect the stats of the same target module and B9PS doesn't like to do that.