Solutions And More Problems
18 Jul 2020Gkar_falcon
[18 0724 Z JUL 3306]Found it! It has taken me most of today, but I have discovered that not one, but two, of the primary power feeder relays have failed. The third relay is all that is holding the Woomera together. That is why the thrusters were warming up but not completing the cycle. I'm extremely lucky the relays didn't fail during a hyperspace jump or supercruise. I would barely have had enough time to get to an escape pod before the Woomera exploded.
This is going to be an interesting job; it would be far easier to fix this at a station where I could shut the power plant down.
The first hurdle is going to be the life support. It is currently held online by the third feeder relay through the emergency circuits. However, it looks like I'm going to have to disconnect all the relays so that I can safely replace the two that have failed. I estimate it will take me about 15-20 minutes to replace them, which is a fair bit longer than 7 and a half minutes of life support I have available. I am going to have to jury rig a bypass for the life support. That way it can be powered directly off the power plant, so that I do not have to worry about time while installing the new relays.
Next, I must devise a way to safely disconnect and remove the old relays, then install the new ones, all while having live power wires nearby. One solution at a time.
I'm going to spend the rest of tonight planning out the bypass and preparing the fix. Who knows? It might be easier than I think.