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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

#231

Post by zaroth »

tyingq wrote: post #189
aaomidi wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your engineering team had to wait for a product failure to realize an item that's going to be outdoors in the sun is going to get hot, what on earth else are they missing?

They put a non-automotive grade LCD in Teslas. I assume because they thought they knew better. I suspect hubris is at play more than full-on incompetence.

The put a non-automotive grade LCD in the original Model S because it was that LCD or nothing.

The automotive screens didn’t exist in the size they needed and they weren’t at a stage in their company where they could design their own.

They took a risk to achieve the product vision that they were determined to bring into the world given the technical constraints of the age. I’d say overall it paid off.

IMO it wasn’t arrogance.

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

#232

Post by Johnny555 »

failwhaleshark wrote: post #166

It should work at an extension of military temperature ranges for global use indoors, outdoors, and in odd semi-indoor scenarios like the back of a hot truck: -75 to +125 C / -103 F to 257 F. Treating it as retail consumer electronics shit isn't rugged enough for real use.

Treating it as retail consumer electronics shit isn't rugged enough for real use.

But it is retail consumer electronics and it should be able to handle temperatures commonly encountered for a retail electronics satellite dish, which includes a hot roof in Arizona, but does not include the back of a hot truck where a consumer shouldn't expect his home dish to operate.

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

#233

Post by shadowgovt »

newacct583 wrote: post #217
verytrivial wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I couldn't agree more. But it seems some people are reading my comment literally.

(HN really, really doesn't like sarcasm. But this particular story just absolutely drips with irrational hate and really deserves some. Good grief, new product has correctible flaw!)

Always worth remembering that HN has an international audience.

English is terrible enough before we start butchering it by playing with intent.

(Said with love and encouragement; I've forgotten about not using sarcasm here too).

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

#234

Post by throwaway69123 »

tptacek wrote: post #220
stagger87 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it even fair to call it a 'flaw' or 'broken' if they advertise the limitations? Almost all electronics will have some operational temperature range depending on power consumed and cooling available. Is there even active cooling on the unit?

Yes? If you advertise a flaw, it remains a flaw.

Hard to call this a flaw no product ever invented isn’t without limitations

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

#235

Post by tzs »

tyingq wrote: post #189
aaomidi wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your engineering team had to wait for a product failure to realize an item that's going to be outdoors in the sun is going to get hot, what on earth else are they missing?

They put a non-automotive grade LCD in Teslas. I assume because they thought they knew better. I suspect hubris is at play more than full-on incompetence.

I wonder if they are doing that for other components too, or just the LCD?

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

#236

Post by tyingq »

driverdan wrote: post #224
tyingq wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They put a non-automotive grade LCD in Teslas. I assume because they thought they knew better. I suspect hubris is at play more than full-on incompetence.

SpaceX and Tesla are separate companies with different employees. "They" did not put anything in Teslas.

Separate companies with the same CEO, (some) shared board members, joint projects, cross sales of services and equipment, loans of employees, etc. Surely there's significant culture bleed.

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

#237

Post by user3939382 »

brianwawok wrote: post #159
user3939382 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Palm Springs CA gets that hot, especially inside a vehicle.

You don’t put a star link inside a vehicle

That's true, but also -- an object sitting outside in the sun is going to exceed, or greatly exceed depending on the materials, the ambient temperature.

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

#238

Post by squarefoot »

The problem is not the outside temperature, but the small difference from the inside one preventing the circuitry inside the dish to cool down. Also the way it is engineered doesn't help: it draws about 100 Watts of power, but the entire circuitry is enclosed in a plastic container with no way to exchange heat with the outside, and the heating parts are kept in "contact" with the metal plate working as heatsink through thermal pads which seem just too thick to me to transfer enough heat. The metal plate should be helped to dissipate all that heat, but that would require flowing air, which is not an option in a closed box. According to a teardown video, there's no way to remove the metal plate without destroying the device, but one can still reach it and that would make possible for example thermal-gluing a metal pipe to it, then build a liquid cooling system by pumping the liquid through a better external heatsink with real fins.

Teardown article with photos and video:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/12/teard...

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

#239

Post by Johnny555 »

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…

Same thing in vehicles. If you’re driving consistently at interstate speeds, you should be able to cool a cabin down below 72F while driving through 120F weather. Too many vehicles fail this, and frankly it’s repulsive for something you buy for 5-6 figures.

You're driving what is essentially a greenhouse, I don't want to pay extra for a cooling system that's designed for temperatures up to 150 degrees. Though also I wouldn't pay 6 figures for a car.

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

#240

Post by sfblah »

squarefoot wrote: post #238

The problem is not the outside temperature, but the small difference from the inside one preventing the circuitry inside the dish to cool down. Also the way it is engineered doesn't help: it draws about 100 Watts of power, but the entire circuitry is enclosed in a plastic container with no way to exchange heat with the outside, and the heating parts are kept in "contact" with the metal plate working as heatsink throu…

100 watts seems like a lot for a receiver. Any idea where all that energy is going? Signal amplification?
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