[amsat-bb] Re: AO-51, is there an expected state when the voltage is high enough

[Andrew Glasbrenner]

It's not so much a problem of not enough illumination, but more that we 
are running on 3 or 3.5 cells, and we need ~4 to make the transmitters 
work. There may be some points during the orbit when the V gets high 
enough for the transmitter to come on at low power, but that is 
conjecture only. We don't know when or really even if that will happen.

If a cell opens up in the future, the IHU will immediately crash upon 
eclipse, and the battery voltage -may- rise to whatever the panels can 
provide. If this happens we may be able to restart the IHU and get a 
transmitter running, but it will only last until the next eclipse.

73, Drew KO4MA

PS. I note that the UK-DMC1 satellite was retired today after 8 years in 
orbit due to battery condition. We are almost as good as the mega-dollar 
pros!
http://blog.sstl.co.uk/archives/394-UK-DMC-1-to-take-well-earned-retirement.html

On 11/29/2011 3:49 PM, PE0SAT wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Thanks for reading.
>
> Is there an expected state when the voltage is high enough regarding AO-51.
>
> The reason I ask, is to listen and see if there is some life in the
> satellite when the voltage becomes high enough when there is full exposure
> after the coming eclipse periode.
>
>
> 73 Jan PE0SAT
>
>
>