burning all my rcs fuel

[JMAN72]

Sorry if this is a double post but I didn't see my first one go up on the forum.

I have been having a problem with rcs. Whenever I turn sas on it automatically starts burning all of my rcs trying to hold it's vector. I have to turn rcs off in order for this not to happen. I am also running mechjeb 2 and I only use it occasionally when I get frustrated but this problem is even worse with the docking autopilot or the smart a.s.s. Is this a ship balance issue or is there a way to make the use of rcs more efficient that I don't know about?

[PaleoGamer]

Make sure your ship is balanced properly. Once you have your orbital stage set up in the VAB, turn on the center of gravity marker and put your RCS thrusters equidistant in front of and behind it. That will reduce "twisting" whenever you fire your thrusters.

And Mechjeb is really inefficient with RCS on docking.

[RocketPilot573]

Last I checked not even perfectly balancing the RCS stops the ASAS from burning it all...

[AndrewBCrisp]

It does sound like it could be a balancing issue. Could you put up a picture of the ship in question?

[superm18]

Last I checked not even perfectly balancing the RCS stops the ASAS from burning it all...

Correct! ASAS is trying too correct the smallest error. BUT i have found that having a relative small/short craft can eleminate the problem

[falofonos]

Place 4 x unidirectional RCS jets at top and bottom of your vacuum craft facing outwards.

Place 4x symmetry 4 way clusters around the center of gravity.

Use action groups to enable and disable the 4 way clusters and unidirectional jets.

The unidirectional jets will steer well enough and use less monopropellant than the clusters to do so as long as you use them sparingly.

If you have a command module with kerbals in it, the "torque wheels" can rotate the thing for free so using ASAS can be used with the rcs system off.

Docking is still going to burn a lot of monopropellant unless you do it manually, sorry.

[Vanamonde]

Even if you had the thrusters placed perfectly, ASAS is currently not tuned well and would blast them all in a frenzy anyway. It's kind of a pain, but I just make sure to never have both RCS and ASAS turned on at the same time.

[sal_vager]

Turn off RCS when you don't need it