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Starlink dishes go into “thermal shutdown” once they hit 122° Fahrenheit

arstechnica.com

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Re: Starlink dishes go into “thermal shutdown” once they hit 122° Fahrenheit

#91

Post by 8ytecoder »

edoceo wrote: post #82
newsclues wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not a safety issue like car regulation, engineering choices have costs. Just because it doesn’t work in your environment doesn’t mean that it’s not suitable elsewhere and the burden of spec changes for your climate may make the cost go up for people elsewhere who don’t have the same requirements

Why build a product for everyone you're marketing to when you can cheaply build a product that works for some but still sell to all. Caveat Emptor after all. Hit my OKRs for the quarter, I'm going to the pub.

Eh, every design choice is a compromise between multiple variables. The cost has to be reasonable for there to be someone to sell the product to.

Re: Starlink dishes go into “thermal shutdown” once they hit 122° Fahrenheit

#92

Post by colechristensen »

MattGaiser wrote: post #77
andrewmcwatters wrote: post #6

I’m always surprised how poor engineering gets exposed in products I purchase being an Arizona resident. No, failing at 122F is not acceptable. If your hardware is exposed to outside conditions, it should operate easily below 32F, and well above 140F. Considering that phones can operate below 0F and near 122F, that’s embarrassingly bad. Same thing in vehicles. If you’re driving consistently at interstate speeds, you…

122F is 50C. How much of the world actually gets that hot? AZ is currently the hottest place in the world at the moment. Not the upper range. The hottest place. https://www.wx-now.com/Weather/WxExtremes?hottest=true

A sizable portion of the world has reached 45 C or higher.

And you have to keep in mind the temperature is measured in particular ways, local temps near dark surfaces can get significantly higher.

Re: Starlink dishes go into “thermal shutdown” once they hit 122° Fahrenheit

#93

Post by jcrawfordor »

mjg59 wrote: post #83
MattGaiser wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

122F is 50C. How much of the world actually gets that hot? AZ is currently the hottest place in the world at the moment. Not the upper range. The hottest place. https://www.wx-now.com/Weather/WxExtremes?hottest=true

An object in direct sunlight is going to get hotter than the ambient air temperature.

especially when it's in direct sunlight sitting above roofing asphalt. Air temps can get up to 150 F without too much trouble on building roofs with a dark material.

Re: Starlink dishes go into “thermal shutdown” once they hit 122° Fahrenheit

#94

Post by zdragnar »

hulitu wrote: post #2

122 F seems to be 50 °C. Are those things designed for space or for home office ?

+100F in Sun isn't at all uncommon during a hot summer in the upper Midwest if the object is dark. Air temperatures of over 100 are a semi-annual occurrence, typically around August, so a dark object (such as a roof or blacktop) pushing 120 wouldn't be a surprise at all. Still not as bad as AZ, but it's not that much different.

We aren't even close to a desert or space either- forests, plains, lakes and rivers abound.

Re: Starlink dishes go into “thermal shutdown” once they hit 122° Fahrenheit

#95

Post by Aerroon »

1MachineElf wrote: post #75
andrewmcwatters wrote: post #6

I’m always surprised how poor engineering gets exposed in products I purchase being an Arizona resident. No, failing at 122F is not acceptable. If your hardware is exposed to outside conditions, it should operate easily below 32F, and well above 140F. Considering that phones can operate below 0F and near 122F, that’s embarrassingly bad. Same thing in vehicles. If you’re driving consistently at interstate speeds, you…

Interesting. What phone operates at 0F? A few years ago I was in 15F conditions, the batteries in both my phone and my hiking partner's phone would not work at all. Going out briefly in 0F weather and pulling the phone out of the pocket of a warm jacket might be fine, but I'm doubtful a phone could continue to function when thoroughly cooled to 0F. If there's been a recent shift in phone technology, then I'd like to…

My OnePlus One (old, I know) worked just fine this winter. I was able to read on my phone the entire 20 minute walk to the store and back. It's when I got home into the warmth that it would end up rebooting/saying the battery was empty.

It's possible that the phone generated enough heat to stay warmer though. The main problem with operating it was actually how cold my hand that's holding the phone gets since it doesn't move like the other hand does. I had to wear double gloves.

Re: Starlink dishes go into “thermal shutdown” once they hit 122° Fahrenheit

#96

Post by vxNsr »

kemonocode wrote: post #40
trixie_ wrote: post #18

All the comments on the article are really extremist. So I looked up Zerohedge and found it 'is a far-right libertarian financial blog' and 'is bearish in its investment outlook and analysis' .. so I guess that makes sense. Not sure why anyone would be bearish of a beta product that is only just scratching the surface of its potential.

It may be a libertarian rag, but the article is just about what it says on the title: thermal shutdown hitting Starlink users. In fact, I had tried to submit an article coming from Ars Technica [0] but I deleted it as I saw it gaining no traction and I noticed this one had a sizable amount of upvotes and comments already. [0] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/06/starl...

Appears source was changed to yours

Re: Starlink dishes go into “thermal shutdown” once they hit 122° Fahrenheit

#97

Post by colechristensen »

1MachineElf wrote: post #75
andrewmcwatters wrote: post #6

I’m always surprised how poor engineering gets exposed in products I purchase being an Arizona resident. No, failing at 122F is not acceptable. If your hardware is exposed to outside conditions, it should operate easily below 32F, and well above 140F. Considering that phones can operate below 0F and near 122F, that’s embarrassingly bad. Same thing in vehicles. If you’re driving consistently at interstate speeds, you…

Interesting. What phone operates at 0F? A few years ago I was in 15F conditions, the batteries in both my phone and my hiking partner's phone would not work at all. Going out briefly in 0F weather and pulling the phone out of the pocket of a warm jacket might be fine, but I'm doubtful a phone could continue to function when thoroughly cooled to 0F. If there's been a recent shift in phone technology, then I'd like to…

I’ve only had problems even well below 0F in Minnesota using old phones.

It’s just battery chemistry, current capacity and voltage are depressed by low temps.

Some phones aren’t engineered very well and regularly pull current near their battery’s capacity which is just poor design.

Re: Starlink dishes go into “thermal shutdown” once they hit 122° Fahrenheit

#98

Post by dylan604 »

turtletontine wrote: post #87
andrewmcwatters wrote: post #6

I’m always surprised how poor engineering gets exposed in products I purchase being an Arizona resident. No, failing at 122F is not acceptable. If your hardware is exposed to outside conditions, it should operate easily below 32F, and well above 140F. Considering that phones can operate below 0F and near 122F, that’s embarrassingly bad. Same thing in vehicles. If you’re driving consistently at interstate speeds, you…

I'd say maybe places where the air temperature regularly gets to >110 F aren't meant for human habitation

What's your definition of "regularly"? You're probably ruling out most of the US southwest. I made the same comment about people living in areas that are routinely >90% humidity, mosquito infested jungles and was totally slammed for it. People moving to those locations are the odd ducks to me. People born and raised there don't have a choice.

Re: Starlink dishes go into “thermal shutdown” once they hit 122° Fahrenheit

#99

Post by stu2b50 »

MattGaiser wrote: post #77
andrewmcwatters wrote: post #6

I’m always surprised how poor engineering gets exposed in products I purchase being an Arizona resident. No, failing at 122F is not acceptable. If your hardware is exposed to outside conditions, it should operate easily below 32F, and well above 140F. Considering that phones can operate below 0F and near 122F, that’s embarrassingly bad. Same thing in vehicles. If you’re driving consistently at interstate speeds, you…

122F is 50C. How much of the world actually gets that hot? AZ is currently the hottest place in the world at the moment. Not the upper range. The hottest place. https://www.wx-now.com/Weather/WxExtremes?hottest=true

Very few places have air temperatures that hot, but in most of the US the surface of a metal fixture right under the sun can and will exceed 122F.

Re: Starlink dishes go into “thermal shutdown” once they hit 122° Fahrenheit

#100

Post by forrestthewoods »

MattGaiser wrote: post #77
andrewmcwatters wrote: post #6

I’m always surprised how poor engineering gets exposed in products I purchase being an Arizona resident. No, failing at 122F is not acceptable. If your hardware is exposed to outside conditions, it should operate easily below 32F, and well above 140F. Considering that phones can operate below 0F and near 122F, that’s embarrassingly bad. Same thing in vehicles. If you’re driving consistently at interstate speeds, you…

122F is 50C. How much of the world actually gets that hot? AZ is currently the hottest place in the world at the moment. Not the upper range. The hottest place. https://www.wx-now.com/Weather/WxExtremes?hottest=true

Synthetic turf fields at your local park can get as hot 160 degrees pretty easily.
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