Destiny's power issues after Light

[YutheGreat]

I don't think anyones asked this yet.

Why is it that Destiny is only up to 40% power? It was swimming in a star why didn't it stay in longer to go up to 100% Of course scriptwise so the crew will have an excuse not to dial earth. Storywise what could be the reason?

1. Damage to the storage systems?
2. Energy leak?

[jelgate]

old age.

[Col.Foley]

Simple wear and tear systems. She has probably been out there longer then anyone predicted for her, the Ancients probably would have dialed in eventually with a bunch of spare parts, or used some in the cargo crates on board the ship, and then fixed her and bought her up to specs, and then everything happened and she probably got lost in the streams of time.

[The Prophet]

She was only in the star for a brief period of time too. Probably for a full-charge, she'll need to stay in there for a while.

[Replicator Todd]

Its as old as....um, well its reallllly old.

[The Prophet]

Its as old as....um, well its reallllly old.

Old as her tongue. Little bit older than her teeth.

Wait, what?

[Nemises]

plot device.

[jds1982]

It's like any rechargeable battery, after awhile it starts degrading and won't hold a full charge.

[IcarusAbides]

Perhaps the shields can't hold for that long against the heat and radiation.

[Avenger]

It's unknown according to what Rush said in the episode.

[Eternal Density]

NiCad batteries?

[Sonicbluemustang]

It's like any rechargeable battery, after awhile it starts degrading and won't hold a full charge.

Yeah I think that too or ship damage. Maybe even the bug pod thingy had somethin to do with it. :)

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oopps now I did it, merge alert! :o

[YutheGreat]

Perhaps the shields can't hold for that long against the heat and radiation.

If it can drain enough when power was near zero it should transfer power automatically and make the shield stronger the longer it is in there. There are damages to the ship so it is possible. Radiation was leaking in.

[2ndgenerationalteran]

possibly it runs half on a rechargable system and the other half ZPMs, not too farfetched

[Sim]

Plot Device.

They don't want to give Destiny full power else people will complain like they did with Atlantis.

[IcarusAbides]

Plot Device.

They don't want to give Destiny full power else people will complain like they did with Atlantis.
Everything is a plot device but why can't the destiny fully recharge.

[Cecil Brax]

Yeah,

I think these are all good points. Damage being the most likely. If it sucks up star matter to use that for energy, then whatever holds that matter is probably damage. I doubt it is a battery, since Star Matter would be more like Gas then a battery. Maybe it didn't scoop up enough, or there are anywhere from 5-10 tanks and only some of them are working. (5 tanks meaning 2 are working thus filling up to 40%, or 10 tanks meaning 4 are working, etc etc.)

Looking back at the screen captures I see 8 tanks (I am calling the little scoops that came down out of the ships 'tanks' for now) , which would mean if three were working that would be 37.5% full or "Around 40%".

Just a theory, but I think it would be more damage then anything. If your car has 3 fuel tanks, and only 2 are working, ... yeah you get the idea.

Now, the damage could be from old age .... hehe

- CB

[Nemises]

Plot Device.

They don't want to give Destiny full power else people will complain like they did with Atlantis.

It seems you and me have the same opinion regarding the various aspects of stargate universe.

[talyn2k1]

I'm not convinced they would be able to dial Earth, even with a full charge.
The Ancients intended to come and occupy Destiny a million years ago (give or take), they were never expecting it to go this far out, especially not in the condition it is in.

Also, the Stargates seem to have a limited range, which suggests to me that even with full power, they wouldn't be able to dial out to Earth.

[thekillman]

maybe it can only dive in a star for so long before it starts suffering serious damage?

[malfunction]

I think that this method of powering Destiny isn't the primary method, Destiny is a huge ship. We don't know how big it is compared to Atlantis, but it is a large ship. It probably originally had it's own power source that has since been depleted and the Ancients designed the ship to be able to partially power the ship through this method.

[Helmar]

Perhaps it has some normal solar collectors for the normal energy uses too.

[ronin36]

There's been thought's that solar power collection is NOT the Destiny's main source of power.

Actually, I think it is.

It doesn't make sense to try to develop a ship that has all the fuel it will ever need at launch time. Any type of deep space probe, which the Destiny essentially is, would have to fend for itself. Collect resources as it goes.

My thinking is, that not only does the Destiny refuel itself as it goes along. But it must also be able to repair itself. Now.. Maybe the power capacity and/or repair capacity is damaged after all this time.. But it makes sense that those capabilities exist.

[Duke Flipside]

(Assuming this is the main method of refuelling, which I think it it is) it would make sense for the Destiny to remain in the star until its power reserves are fully replenished. Since it didn't, it's likely there is a reason for it. We've seen that the hull is riddled with holes, and the shield patching these holes is flickering. If the flickering isn't a power issue, but is instead due to damage or overstretching of the emitters, there would definitely be a limit to how long the Destiny can remain in the star without cooking the inside of these damaged rooms.

[bisontrooper78]

I figured it was like an old iPod battery, lasts you days without recharge but nowadays you get about 2 hours before you need to plug it back in!

[Cory Holmes]

It's entierly possible that the ship only refueled to 40% power because it's still in lock-down mode. Could be that the Ancients designed it that way with every intention of taking full command when they boarded, including unlocking all those pesky main systems that Rush and Eli keep complaining about.

[wargrafix]

all those shields over the ship suck power. That and power retention degradation.

[BrianD]

At this stage it's tough to know the exact reason but I would say damage and old age probably add up to why it could only go up to 40%.

[Mongoletsi]

possibly it runs half on a rechargable system and the other half ZPMs, not too farfetched
I think it's safe to assume then, that if there were ZPMs involved (which I doubt), they've run out of juice now.

[Captain Obvious]

I think it's safe to assume then, that if there were ZPMs involved (which I doubt), they've run out of juice now.

Wouldn't it be hilarious is the ZPM's we have believed to be powered by " zero point energy" for years actually just use a type of rare particle found only in suns to power themselves?

Man would Mckay be ticked if he found out!

[Mongoletsi]

I don't think anyones asked this yet.
It's been discussed to death already, although it hasn't stopped anybody repeating themself in this thread anyway ;)

[jrd231]

(Assuming this is the main method of refuelling, which I think it it is) it would make sense for the Destiny to remain in the star until its power reserves are fully replenished. Since it didn't, it's likely there is a reason for it. We've seen that the hull is riddled with holes, and the shield patching these holes is flickering. If the flickering isn't a power issue, but is instead due to damage or overstretching of the emitters, there would definitely be a limit to how long the Destiny can remain in the star without cooking the inside of these damaged rooms.

There is zero reason and zero evidence to suspect it is not the main method of refueling or that what it gathers is not the source of power the ship uses. People make this way more complicated than it is with wild eyed theories based on zero evidence.

Rush said the ship is only capable of recharging to 40% of the original capacity. There you go. That's all the information you need. The Destiny uses matter from a sun to power the ship. It collects matter when the tank is on E and is only capable of refueling at 40% of original capacity at this point in time.

End of story.

Also - I'm not singling you out or saying that you believe it's not the source. I just used your quote as a point.

[daedalus91]

Well isn't it just the power reserves that were reacharged?
Not the entire power supply.

[creed462]

It could be damage, but I wonder a ship like that should have self-repair abilities. It could also be that it can only take in so much power at a time. Another possibility is that a second power system is used and currently broken

[Mongoletsi]

Wouldn't it be hilarious is the ZPM's we have believed to be powered by " zero point energy" for years actually just use a type of rare particle found only in suns to power themselves?

Man would Mckay be ticked if he found out!

Erm, it wouldn't be hilarious, it would a terrible piece of retcon.

[Joey]

Perhaps it is not optimal as far as time goes to fill to 100% on that one star. A red dwarf is a relatively cool star. Perhaps there is a better, hotter star on the way that has been picked up by long range sensors.

I wonder if it's kind of like this:
If I was almost out of gas near a gas station in the country that charges $4.00 a gallon and knew that there was another gas station 30 miles out that was selling gas for $2.00 a gallon, I would not fill up at the more costly one.

[Automission]

Old age. Think of it like modern day Batteries. A Rechargeable battery can recharge to full power when its new. After years of use, it can only hold about half of its original contents.

Basically the ship needs a new battery!