Static radiator panels shouldn't draw electric power when idle

[Snark]

One change that happened in 1.0.5 is that the "static" (non-folding) panels now draw electric power.

I think that's a good change... except that they draw power [I][U]all the time[/U][/I] even when nothing's hot and there's no work to do. And there's no way to turn them off; they're a constant power drain, like a probe core except thirstier.

The folding panels draw power, too, except that there the player has control: when you retract the panels, they stop working [I]and[/I] they stop drawing power. But there's no similar option with the static panels.

I'd love to have a way to turn the static panels on/off (i.e. give them a right-click "toggle" button, which you can put in action groups).

(Alternatively, they could be tweaked so that their power consumption is tied to the amount of active radiating that they actually do: i.e. when nothing's hot and there's nothing to radiate, they don't take electricity. But I kinda prefer the toggle option myself.)

Thoughts?

[HR][/HR]
Also: Would love to know how moddable this is. I tried looking at the part config for a folding radiator versus a static one. Here's what I found:


[LIST]
[*]All radiators (static and folding) have a [B]ModuleActiveRadiator[/B] that specifies the behavior, including the amount of electricity it draws. But there doesn't appear to be any property that specifies any way to turn it on or off.
[*]The folding radiators (but not the static one) have a [B]ModuleDeployableRadiator[/B] that just has the folding-related info in it.
[/LIST]

I note that the active radiators have actions available: "Extend Radiator," "Retract Radiator"; plus "Toggle Radiator" in the action-group UI. Those strings don't show up anywhere in the config files. So my hypothesis is that ModuleDeployableRadiator is hard-coded to behave that way, and influences the behavior of ModuleActiveRadiator? Are there any flags that would allow me to alter ModuleActiveRadiator to make it toggle-able? Or, alternatively, any flags on ModuleDeployableRadiator so that I could apply it to the static panels with different language (e.g. "activate" rather than "extend")? Or is this all very hard-coded and there's nowhere to get a toehold? Edited November 16, 2015 by Snark

[tater]

Something is always hot. Is the spacecraft crewed? Then it is room temp inside, which is pretty hot.

[sal_vager]

Actually Snark [U][URL="http://bugs.kerbalspaceprogram.com/projects/ksp/issues"]I'd file this on the tracker[/URL][/U] as a bug...

[Snark]

[quote name='tater']Something is always hot. Is the spacecraft crewed? Then it is room temp inside, which is pretty hot.[/QUOTE]

My definition of "hot" is "something that's warm enough that you actually need a radiator to help with it." I should only need to pay electricity for radiators when I actually have a need for them. There needs to be a way to pull the plug.

Hell, even if it [I][U]is[/U][/I] hot-and-getting-hotter, I should still be able to turn them off. What if I have a ship that's [I][U]both[/U][/I] running out of electricity [I][U]and[/U][/I] starting to overheat? I, the player, should be allowed to make the decision about which is worse (my electricity problem or my heating problem), and decide whether or not to run the radiators based on that.

[COLOR="silver"][SIZE=1]- - - Updated - - -[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[quote name='sal_vager']Actually Snark [U][URL="http://bugs.kerbalspaceprogram.com/projects/ksp/issues"]I'd file this on the tracker[/URL][/U] as a bug...[/QUOTE]

Great idea, [URL="http://bugs.kerbalspaceprogram.com/issues/5959"]done[/URL]. :)

[Claw]

Yes, constant draw radiators are no good. They were passive, but now are "sort of active." I agee with sal that this is buggy behavior.

[mattinoz]

[quote name='tater']Something is always hot. Is the spacecraft crewed? Then it is room temp inside, which is pretty hot.[/QUOTE]

This is why we have thermostats!

[Snark]

Okay, I couldn't stand it any more so I wrote a mod.

[B][URL="http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/139818"]RadiatorToggle[/URL][/B]

Enjoy! :)