Failure Report 01-10-2026
Anthony Cooper
These failures were some head scratchers. First the list of failures.
1.Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
Batteries
We had to start swapping battery due to low voltage.
2.Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
Pads 13-18
Started alarming and showing continuity on all igniters. None were installed.
3.Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
Pad 30.
Repeat offender. Mike Parker complained about it last March. I could not
duplicate at home.
Details
1.Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
Batteries
We ended up finding a bad battery and think that it prevented all the other
batteries from fully charging. Next launch I will bring a backup set of LiPo batteries
just in case we did not find the issue.
2.Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
Pads 13-18
Nothing made any sense about this failure. I ended figuring out that every IC
in the relay box failed including the LM7805 5-volt regulator and that
destroyed our ESP32 microcontroller. It happened during one of the battery
swaps. Only way I can imagine that happening is if the battery were plugged in
backwards which should be impossible.
Then to just add a little insult to my life, my soldering iron failed while
replacing the ICs. Fortunately, I had a spare one. A replacement spare is now
on order.
3.Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
Pad 30.
When I got it home, I could see the symptoms. Like last time, when I touched it,
the symptoms went away. Doing a lot of testing, I found that the relay was a
Sanyou. When I tested its pickup voltage, it was about 11.5 V-dc. With a full
12v battery it worked fine. Get a little low, and it would fail to pick. I tested
all the other brands of relay I have and they all picked at about 6.5v. I threw
away all the Sanyou relays. Hopefully we wonāt see this problem again.
srkendal
--
This list is moderated. Your first port will have to be approved prior to being posted. Feel free to chat about anything your fellow rocketeers would find interesting.
For that latest information be sure to subscribe to LUNAR Announce list at http://lunar.org/docs/lists/lists.shtml#announce
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "LUNAR General" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to lunar-genera...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/lunar-general/CAM899rO%3DjAhvzvQfkfS%3Dif7D1%3DgNYBOsPj0ud%3DnKf%3DU-fKOZ4w%40mail.gmail.com.
Anthony Cooper
Last spring we had trouble reaching the high power pads after I moved the wireless receivers into the relay boxes. I figured out that the lids on the electronics were too thick to allow the antenna to screw down inside the antenna jack.
Similarly, we had problems reaching out to the away pad. I figured out that I bought female high gain antennas for the away pad and launch control. They were missing the center pin. I put center pins in.
Both fixes were proven last launch.
srkendal
I actually missed two issues from last year..
Last spring we had trouble reaching the high power pads after I moved the wireless receivers into the relay boxes. I figured out that the lids on the electronics were too thick to allow the antenna to screw down inside the antenna jack.
Similarly, we had problems reaching out to the away pad. I figured out that I bought female high gain antennas for the away pad and launch control. They were missing the center pin. I put center pins in.
Both fixes were proven last launch.
On Tuesday, January 13, 2026 at 5:54:24āÆPM UTC-8 SKendall wrote:
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/lunar-general/c4a76ec8-83b1-460e-a21c-11e3d3dc174fn%40googlegroups.com.