Underpowered Rovers

[Platofan2]

I Have Sent Two Rovers To The Mun And All of Them Were Underpowered How Many Solar Panels Do You Need To Make It Powerd

I Had 4

[blizzy78]

Well that depends on how much energy your devices draw, if the solar panels are pointed to the Sun, and if it's day instead of night (duh.)

[EvilotionCR2]

Pictures please.

Edited August 30, 2013 by stupid_chris
Please be nice :)

[Scarecrow88]

You did have batteries as well? Solar panels on their own won't be enough.

[Amoun]

your answer lies here (there is no sarcasm in it): 0 to infinity

Why?

Well:

1) Are you on the dark side of the Mun?

2) Do you have any generators?

3) Do you have batteries?

4) Are you moving?

5) How many wheels you have?

6) How heavy is it?

7) Do you have anything else that draws power?

8) Do you want to be driving it or will it be stationary?

etc..

etc....

etc.....

it all comes down to what you want to do and how you want to do it.

You may need no solar panels at all if you have generators. You may need tens of solar panels if it's a heavy rover. Possibilities are endless.

Main thing: Post pictures of you rover so we can tell better.

[DChurchill]

You don't necessarily need any solar panels:

[sagittary]

Were the solar panels opened? If not, they're not going to generate power.

[Rarity]

Can you post screenshots of at least one of the rovers? We could probably tell you what the problem is just from seeing them. Not a whole lot can go wrong with a rover that isn't visibly obvious (blown tires, lack of batteries, no solar panels, mass, etc.)

[astropapi1]

What solar panels did they have? Were they moving? Did the panels face the sun? Did the rovers have enough batteries?

Edited August 30, 2013 by stupid_chris
Please be nice :)

[Apature rocket science]

I use the isotope gen on my rovers so they can work at night and day

[Captain Sierra]

That still leaves a lot of variables. We really need pics if you actually want us to help you, it's the only way for us to get the info we need to give accurate advice.

F1 takes screenshots and they are located here:

<ksp_install_location>\KSP_win\screenshots\

Take one, upload it to some site like Flickr, Imgur, or Imageshack and post it here inside an image tag.

like this:

Basically, we need to know the type of wheels, how many, and a bunch of other stuff. If you want to be very helpful, click the resources button in the upper right corner before taking the picture so we can see your power levels.

[kahlzun]

Wheels on the rovers will consume about 2u/s of power.

Most of 'deployable' solar panels provide 2 u/s when facing the sun perfectly.

The stationary panels only provide 0.75U/s

Depending on the number of wheels, you may need more panels.

Or you can switch off the motor on a couple of the wheels.

Or, take some RTG's along. They provide power without sunlight.

Edited September 5, 2013 by kahlzun

[Dispatcher]

The above posts have information which is helpful. I'll not add anything new but will suggest ways you can help yourself. First, as mentioned above, a screen shot will help us if you want our help. Captain Sierra tells you how to get the picture to us. OK, this will be new. If you are using a Mac and access the game via Steam, go to Library (to the right of the Store tab). In the list on the left side, right click on Kerbal Space Program. Click on Properties in the new menu. Then the Local Files tab in the pop up menu. Then the “Browse Local Files ...†button. Find the Screenshots folder. Your screenshot(s) will be in there. Just drag the photos from within the folder to a folder on your desktop or in the Finder. Then proceed with Captain Sierra's instructions. Back to the not so new. When you are in the VAB, look at the parts you are using for your rover. Also look at batteries and the nuclear generator. Read what they do, how much power they use or generate. Remember to look at their mass. You will need to total up what your parts use in electricity and find the parts which will generate that total (per second or per minute). For solar panels, do they move or not? Do you need to open them or not? As said above, these only work in enough sunlight. Recommendations to add a battery or a nuclear generator are good suggestions. When you are ready, post your picture and we can help you if you still need help.

Edited September 4, 2013 by Dispatcher
Grammar.

[capi3101]

If you're using RTGs, you need to pack at least one per wheel plus an extra one or two for additional systems. You can have fewer but you'll want to pack batteries; I'd pack batteries anyway in case your power draw is higher than you anticipate (my Hellhounds have eight RTGs plus a couple of Z-100 battery packs, and six wheels). At least that way you can drive for a while on battery power, let off the gas when the batteries run dry and let the RTGs charge them back up - my mini-rovers work that way. Solar panels work well and weigh less for the amount of power they produce, but of course they only work during the day.

But yeah, it really depends on a large number of factors - for an exact fix, we'd need to see the craft in question.