Running out of power alarm?

[Invader Jim]

Is this any way to set an alarm to warn you before you run out of electricity?  On several occasions over the time I have played KSP, I forgot to deploy solar panels and did not discover it until I had no power so I could either abandon the mission, revert, or edit the save file to give me enough power to deploy the solar panels.

Wish I had a low power warning or could deploy solar panels with 0 power.  Anyone else run into this issue and how do you handle it?

[SelectHalfling0]

For the timer: Kerbal alarm clock.

There was one mod that monitored your electricity usage... can't remember the name...

On my probes I always have a spare battery set so that it doesn't draw power from it but I can selectively turn it on and off in emergencies, even if there is no more electricity in the main batteries.
 

This is not my image, but next to the fuel supply (you can get this by right clicking) there is a sideways green triangle. If that is clicked it turns red, which stops the usage of that particular resource from that container.

Edited March 24, 2016 by SelectHalfling0

[FullMetalMachinist]

9 minutes ago, SelectHalfling0 said:

For the timer: Kerbal alarm clock.

There was one mod that monitored your electricity usage... can't remember the name...

On my probes I always have a spare battery set so that it doesn't draw power from it but I can selectively turn it on and off in emergencies, even if there is no more electricity in the main batteries.
 

This is not my image, but next to the fuel supply (you can get this by right clicking) there is a sideways green triangle. If that is clicked it turns red, which stops the usage of that particular resource from that container.

^Very much this. 

I usually just disable the small battery on the probe core/command pod, and operate off any other batteries I have on the ship. 

I got into the habit of making that one of the first things I do when I start building a new craft, so I pretty much never have to worry about it. 

[Anquietas314]

13 minutes ago, SelectHalfling0 said:

There was one mod that monitored your electricity usage... can't remember the name...

Maybe AmpYear or Fusebox? Those are the only two I know of.

[FancyMouse]

Or alternate resource panel

[hurric]

46 minutes ago, FullMetalMachinist said:

^There was one mod that monitored your electricity usage... can't remember the name...

It's called the MK 1 eye-ball

[Draco T stand-up guy]

Mods are fine but for basic functionality such as this it should be on the main HUD. Something that shows, visually, whether power is charging/draining and what the stored power level is.

[SelectHalfling0]

2 hours ago, armagheddonsgw said:

Maybe AmpYear or Fusebox? Those are the only two I know of.

I'm pretty sure it is one of those.

[StrandedonEarth]

4 hours ago, FullMetalMachinist said:

I usually just disable the small battery on the probe core/command pod, and operate off any other batteries I have on the ship.

I did this. Then I forgot to deploy panels on my Eve probe after it had detached from the mothership and landed. It died while transmitting science back. When I reactivated the tiny battery on the okto2 core, the 10ec got sucked out the antenna before I could deploy the solar panels. So make sure you have a decent size reserve battery.

[NecroBones]

 

Moved to Gameplay Questions.

 

[Norpo]

You can configure Danger Alerts to do just that, and you can disable the collision alert if you want. (Note: I made Danger Alerts, so I may be a little bit biased.  ) To be absolutely, completely sure you won't run out of electricity and always have a way to deploy solar panels, the "disable a battery" trick is probably your best bet, though. Works 100% of the time, and then you always have a backup. Either that, or quicksaving before every long time-warp, though that can be hard to remember to do.