Редактирование: Solars (раздел)

===Calibrating the Arrays===

Once you have wired an array, you need to calibrate the tracking and power so that it actually produces energy. Apparently, our space station is rotating or in orbit around something (no one really knows for sure). This means that the solar panels need to constantly rotate to face toward the sun. Click on the [[Computers#Solars_Control|Solar Control CPU]] and set it to auto-tracking. You should see a degree displayed at the top ranging from 0 to 359; this is the current direction of the sun. 

(The consoles are a bit glitchy so you might have to turn off auto-tracking then turn it on again before the panels start to rotate). Note that auto rotation is not smooth, it jumps about every 20 seconds. Keep this in mind if it seems like nothing is happening.

You don't need to use manual tracking!! The only time you will ever need to manually calibrate a solar array is when a meteor or traitor destroys the tracking unit. When manually adjusting the angle, just keep adjusting towards the highest power you can find. 

It is important to note that '''THE SUN ISN'T ALWAYS VISIBLE!''' This is the biggest cause of solar failure known to spessmen. When the panels of an array face the sun directly (and are correctly wired) they produce about 90,000 Watts of power. However, this amount lowers as the station orbits or spins or whatever towards 0 watts. This cycle takes about 5 minutes, and poor timing can cause a poor innocent engineer to think that they messed up their design, "Because it's making 0 watts! Clearly it must be broken!" Just give it a bit and you'll figure out if it is broken.

Why is this important?

Because of the battery! See that big white thing in the solar control room? That's the SMES cell. It's a battery used for holding solar energy and transferring it to the station. Click on the battery and you get a window with input, output, and charging options.