Very short and useful Tips

[Gus]

Batteries can be turned off for long voyages. Just right click, then click on that little arrow. So there's no need to wait for solar panels for interplanetary missions.

[Sirrobert]

You don't really burn energy while in proggres though right?

Except for probes, but if you shut down theyr power supply you can't turn it back on anyway.

Or am I missing something?

[Dillweed]

On probes I always like to have a couple of the "flat" single cell panels pointing all 6 directions. That way if there is some type of screw up I should still have a little bit of power coming in to, say, start the engines.

[Gus]

You don't really burn energy while in proggres though right?

Except for probes, but if you shut down theyr power supply you can't turn it back on anyway.

Or am I missing something?

I think the smallest kerbal capsule drains about 900 units/day, but doesn't really need it. I used about 50 batteries for a return trip to Minmus before I found out I could just shut them down.

[Kasuha]

Batteries can be turned off for long voyages. Just right click, then click on that little arrow. So there's no need to wait for solar panels for interplanetary missions.

No. If your probe runs out of electricity, you can't enable the battery again. Not sure about manned though.

Edit yes, with manned mission it is possible to enable them even after you ran out of other electricity. But with manned mission it is also possible to start an (electricity-generating) engine.

Edited October 25, 2013 by Kasuha