Solar panel design

[InvertedLanderOhNo]

Quick opinion question here.

I've built a space station in the style of the ISS with the truss structure to go with it, and I'm just in the process of putting together the solar arrays.

I'm aware that the ISS truss can rotate to angle the the solar arrays so that they can be anywhere from parallel to perpendicular to the station, and I'm also aware that Infernal Robotics can do a good job of making such a truss without using the community ISS mod one, but I've had some bad experiences with IR and phantom forces flipping my psuedo-shuttle right back into the space station it was docked to, so I want to avoid that.

I'm just wondering what orientation you guys think would be better to send them up, either parallel, 45 degrees or full perpendicular to the station.

[GoSlash27]

I always set my solar arrays at right angles to each other about the longitudinal axis. This assures a constant supply of charge regardless of angle to the sun.

Best,

-Slashy

[Kerba Fett]

It's been a while since I used IR but I've been thinking of trying it out again. Is the phantom force thing a common thing with the current version of IR?

I did have a station with a rotating solar array a while back and docked dozens of ships there with no problems. One thing you might do is attach your truss with docking ports.

If you were to sandwich an IR rotatron between a pair of docking ports then put that between the station and the solar array truss you could try the rotatron for a while. If you have trouble with it and want to get rid of the rotatron at a later time you dock with the truss with a station tug. Undock the truss and rotatron from the station. Then undock the rotatron from the truss and use a kerbal on EVA to push it away from the station. Then just redock the truss to the station.

While this suggestion would use 4 extra docking ports, you could also just use 2 and make the rotatron part of the truss and just change the whole thing in orbit if there's a problem.

I usually try to put modded parts on a station on removable assemblies like that in case a game update or conflict with another mod breaks them. I design the station so I can take it apart fairly easily, remove offending mods and put it back together.