Desperately need

[fragtzack]

A battery system for the deployed science Satellite Dish. 

So annoying to keep getting messages for half the day saying can't communicate because no sunlight on the solar panels.

No scientist would design electrical items to go in space without batteries. 

 

Major miss by squad on this design. Seems really simply to fix too.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, fragtzack said:

A battery system for the deployed science Satellite Dish. 

So annoying to keep getting messages for half the day saying can't communicate because no sunlight on the solar panels.

No scientist would design electrical items to go in space without batteries. 

 

Major miss by squad on this design. Seems really simply to fix too.

 

 WHAT? Your order of words make no sense please rephrase:

So is the problem that your solar panels are blocked even though they look like they are not? If mixture that they aren't place in a place were more than half of it is blocked by the antenna.

[fragtzack]

"Half the day" means the planet is rotating and half the planet does not have sunlight.

The problem in detail:

1. They developed fairly cool electrical parts that are intended to reside on a  planet surface.

2. A Planet's surface is subject to varying degrees of sunlight due to planetary rotations.

3. At the equator, a spot on the surface will mostly get half a day with sunlight and half a day without sunlight.

4. The deployed science controller is designed to send science(when the science is ready) back to Kerbin when communications(such as a relay) comes in range to the controller->satellite dish combo deployed science units.

5. If the relay comes overhead the deployed science during the dark side of the rotation, the solar panels of the deployed science parts do not have power to send the science.

6. This lack of communication from the deployed science due to the dark side of the planet not powering the solar panels causes message spam to the end user.

 

Again, NO electrical  parts have ever been designed or actually sent into space without a battery system that I know of. I am sure some smart alecs are going to come up with some witty work arounds, but the bottom line is that electrical equipment sent into space without batteries is a glaring design over sight especially for something seeming so simple to implement in code. Sure, only allow the experiment to run in the day light is fine. But sending the science collected through the relay systems should be able to happen during planetary day or night cycle. 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2019 by fragtzack

[mystifeid]

3 hours ago, fragtzack said:

Major miss by squad on this design. Seems really simply to fix too.

Try using the Mini-NUK-PD RTG's instead of the Ox-Stat-Pd Photovoltaic Panels. When set up by 5 star engineers, these deliver 4 power units each to your deployed science units and do not require sunlight. They are, however, more expensive and are near the end of the tech tree. If you are frustrated with the solar panels, it might pay to defer any deployed science until you have researched the RTG's.

Edited June 28, 2019 by mystifeid

[Foxster]

I see what you mean but it does make sense from a game progression sense. You get a reduced science rate until later in the game when you progress far enough to unlock the RTG part.

Also, it is only a reduction in the rate, you still get the same amount of science in the end. If you just leave the base alone to do its thing while you go off and do another mission, especially an inter-planetary one that takes years, then the science will all get done. 

Edited June 28, 2019 by Foxster

[jost]

2 hours ago, fragtzack said:

Again, NO electrical  parts have ever been designed or actually sent into space without a battery system that I know of.

Wrong. RTG powered probes usually doesn't have batteries.

[Aegolius13]

7 hours ago, Foxster said:

the science will all get done. 

And you make a neat gun.

But yeah, agree with the posters above, this is an intentional gameplay mechanic design.  If solar worked all the time, there would be no need for the RTG.  That said, since in-game time does not matter 99% of the time (i.e., unless you have some contract about to expire), time-based mechanics are more of a nuisance than anything.

[fragtzack]

RTG is considered a battery way I read things on the internet.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2019 by fragtzack
Pointless blabbering

[fragtzack]

Not to mention, multiple users have reported this bug and appears that  Squad had acknowledged the bug is "ready" to test a fix:

 

https://bugs.kerbalspaceprogram.com/issues/22757

 

Doesn't sound like even Squad agrees this is "Working as intended".

 

Edited July 1, 2019 by fragtzack

[Snark]

On 7/1/2019 at 1:14 PM, fragtzack said:

Not to mention, multiple users have reported this bug and appears that  Squad had acknowledged the bug is "ready" to test a fix:

https://bugs.kerbalspaceprogram.com/issues/22757

My reading of that bug is that it has nothing to do with providing batteries-- it's simply complaining that when the surface setup can't do things for some reason (due to lack of either comms or power), it tends to spam messages about it.  Nobody's talking about adding new parts there, sounds like just fixing the messaging.

Doesn't mean that they couldn't be looking at something like that, just that I've seen no evidence that they are.

[fragtzack]

Snark, agree. The "message spam" bug was the only reason that I originally thought of a battery. After thinking about a battery, started realizing how silly it is from a designer to send solar powered devices in space (or almost anywhere) without a battery. 

To the points about real world RTG: The way I read the specs available on the internet concerning RTG devices sent to space, they still include actual lithium batteries to handle peak electrical draw periods that the RTG cannot handle.

As for this game not including a battery as part of the design:

Seems  short sighted to say "we want these devices to only work in Sunlight and thus no batteries", yet somehow the deployed Controller unit tries to send data when it has no power (cause of lack of sunlight)