ION powered satellite not working?

[Deses]

I have a satellite on Kerbal orbit, and today I wanted to change the orbit, but when I give full thrust it's not doing anything, it consumes xenon and electricity but the engine is not glowing with that neat blue haze.

It's because the satellite is too big? I though it would be enough in space.

And thanks for the help!

Edited July 10, 2013 by Deses

[Nurph]

How many RTGs and solar panels do you have? Pictures are great if you can provide them.

[TMS]

Almost certainly not enough power supply.

Check the ion engines consumption rate compared to the RTG or solar panels supply rate.

[Sirrobert]

Right click the engine and check that it is activated.

A switched off engine still consumes fuel, but doesn't show animation

[1001sd]

If your graphics are too low, you can't see the glow, if I remember correctly. I can't remember which specific settings you need to change, though.

[cloudx]

One Gigantor XL Solar Array provides enough solar power to run one PB - ION at full thrust. If you're using smaller solar arrays, you can try messing around with the throttle until you hit the point where the engine quits. If you're in sunlight, have a Gigantor Solar Array, run the engine at full thrust and still don't see a velocity change, then, I dunno.

[Deses]

Pictures. Yeah, now I remember that I was forgetting something.

I have many solar panels, two 500u batteries, no RTGs and the graphic quality is set to maximum, the engine is set to ON and the blue glow is never seen, even at low throttle. So yeah, everything seems fine but it's not working. D:

Edited July 9, 2013 by Deses

[Deses]

[OffTopic]I would edit to add another photo, but I'm still with babysitter... errr, I mean, have to be moderated. How many post do I need to begin posting freely?[/OffTopic]

Here is a photo that shows the throttle to max, the resources (electricity is always topped, xenon is slowly depleting) yet the engine is not glowing! But the status says that has a little bit of thrust and fuel flow. Is that supposed to be right?

Thanks for the help!

Edited July 9, 2013 by Deses

[stupid_chris]

Dude you mounted you Ion engine backwards! It goes the on the other side! xD

The large side under the satellite, The small one sticking out, thrusting outwards!

Don't worry, I did the same thing two at first lol.

[Kimberly]

You broke the first rule of rocket science: point the correct end towards space! Though you did it in a very innovative way.

[Deses]

What, seriously? *facepalm*

Oh god, I feel ashamed. Well at least that sat is on its orbit and I should not be needing that Ion thruster...

Edit: Yup, just checked the sat build and, indeed, the thruster is totally wrong. Jeez...

Thank you very much for the help!

Edited July 10, 2013 by Deses

[TMS]

lol... we have a winrar.

Glad you got it sorted.

[Kialar]

This one is for the kronicals.

Don't be ashamed to long, there'll be a lot of fails on your path down the road.

- Landing on the Mün with chutes - facial palmier

- Where. Are. My. Landing. Legs. - doooh....

- Ah. Why didn't I check the staging BEFORE the launch? *getting coffee*

- Only 10 km left for hitting the atmo and initiating rentry.... *out of fuel, Jeb's heading towards the void*

- Who put that strut right in front of the hatch???

Lots of fails. Some of them epic. Construction glitches for the win!

[Umlüx]

hahaha i did the same thing on my first ion space probe

[Sirrobert]

This one is for the kronicals.

Don't be ashamed to long, there'll be a lot of fails on your path down the road.

- Landing on the Mün with chutes - facial palmier

- Where. Are. My. Landing. Legs. - doooh....

- Ah. Why didn't I check the staging BEFORE the launch? *getting coffee*

- Only 10 km left for hitting the atmo and initiating rentry.... *out of fuel, Jeb's heading towards the void*

- Who put that strut right in front of the hatch???

Lots of fails. Some of them epic. Construction glitches for the win!

Don't forget putting the landing legs on backward. I think alot of people did that one

It's a nice looking satalite btw

[Deses]

Thanks! It helps to know I'm not the only one that got it wrong.

The sad part is that I already made a tiny satellite with the ion thruster correctly mounted, I don't know what I did wrong the second time.

[TYRT]

I think you need a xeon fuel tank to run the ion powered. Maybe not.

[AndreyATGB]

In his defence, it makes sense to have the larger side pointing outwards, but this is KSP so..