Repositioning RCS thrusters to correct orientation?

[macbates]

 

Is there a way to check or reset the orientation of the RCS thrusters? I had need of 4 thrusters on a vessel in orbit, so I used an engineer to move 4 thrusters from an adjacent and inactive vessel to the active one. When I used them in a subsequent docking maneuver, the I/J/K/L controls did not work as expected. For example, a “left” (J) thrust actually spun the vessel around, forward thrust (H) moved it sideways, etc.

I’m guessing that the issue is caused due to the thrusters having a default orientation when attached in the VAB, and when I moved them from vessel 1 to vessel 2, the fact that the vessels were (possibly) upside down and backwards relative to each other messed up the thruster orientation.

So, is there a way to do orient the thrusters to the way they would be if I had positioned them in the VAB? Working with an engineer in space where there’s no up, down, or sideways makes it difficult to figure things out. Trial and error might work, but the permutations of 4 positions on each of 4 thrusters would take way too long.

Any ideas much appreciated, and thanks in advance.

- Ken

[Scarecrow71]

I dont know much about EVA construction, but have you checked the vessel's control point to make sure it is oriented properly?

Edited January 18, 2022 by Scarecrow71

[Vanamonde]

When you apply attitude controls the craft should try to use any thrusters on the ship according to the orientation of the current control part. So the thrusters shouldn't be the cause of the problem you're seeing unless there's a mistake with the way the construction works, or I'm misunderstanding what you're describing. 

[macbates]

OK, my bad. The target ship has the docking port on the nose (top), while the vessel I'm maneuvering has a docking post down low on the side. Never had a problem with a 90 degree docking like this before, but for some reason I must have gotten disoriented while trying to maneuver. Going through it again, getting within 30 meters or so before switching to RCS, and taking a bit more time to see how the docking ports moved relative to each other was the key.

Thanks for the help, and apologies for what turned out to be an error on my part.

 - Ken