Free checklist ยท Two pages

Seven checks before a satellite terminal goes on your power system

A continuous load lands on a battery bank that was sized years before anyone thought about satellite. This is the list of things to confirm first, in the order a site operator would actually work through them.

  • What the terminal actually draws, by model and generation, from the published figures
  • How to turn watts into energy per day and compare it against your own bank
  • What the inverter costs you before the terminal has drawn anything
  • The readings to take on install day, so drift is visible six months from now

Built from published manufacturer specifications, with the source named on every figure. No estimates presented as measurements.

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What is in it

Seven items, three lines each. Tick every line you can confirm today.

01

Decide who watches the power system

A terminal runs all day and all night. Decide how you will see the battery bank, and who gets told when it starts dropping.

02

Confirm which terminal is going in

The kits draw very different amounts and take power in different ways. Get the model and generation in writing before you size anything.

03

Turn watts into energy per day

Your battery bank is sized in energy. Convert before you compare, and assume the link runs 24 hours unless someone has set up a sleep schedule.

04

Follow the power path

If the terminal runs from an inverter, the inverter has to stay on all night. Its own consumption comes out of the bank too.

05

Work out the reserve you have left

The number that matters is how long the site runs with no charging. Compare the new figure against how long it takes you to get there.

06

Check the worst week and the cold

The array was sized against an average. The week that takes a site down is the one with the least sun, and snow melt runs in the same season.

Who this is for

It is a power system checklist, not a comms guide.

Written for

  • Operators responsible for remote or off-grid sites
  • Anyone adding satellite to a solar and battery system that already exists
  • Field service and maintenance teams who get the call when a site goes quiet

Not written for

  • Choosing or aiming a terminal. Your comms integrator owns that
  • Grid-connected sites with mains power and a UPS
  • Anyone looking for a product comparison. There is no vendor pitch in it
Why we wrote it

Every number in it is one you can check yourself

The terminal wattages are published by the manufacturer. Your inverter's idle draw is on its own datasheet. The trend is already in your controller logs.

The problem is that nobody reads them. A failing bank shows warning signs for weeks before a site goes quiet, and those signs sit in a controller that has no way to tell anyone.

Get the checklist

Two pages. Seven items. Free, and yours to take to a site.

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