@PeanutButterandBacon Im looking for a case! Im new to the Foum, what the best way for us to make it happen?
Got mine this week and doing the initial test now. Power draw for me is 40-50 watts (3.5 - 4 amps) and this is going through my inverter.
Speeds are awesome so far, 150 Mbps and 50ms ping times. I got this in my back yard in salt lake and the same out in the mountains a couple hours away. I’ll be taking this on a trip through BC in a few weeks to really test it but so far pretty impressed.
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I love the starlink, but it sure is a power draw. working full time remote with meetings would be painful
I run starlink off my LiFePo4 batteries, and have the pivot mount on the peak of my GFC roof. It works great, I’ve never had any issues unless I’m in deep canyons with lots of obstructions. I’m usually in Utah and Idaho.
I have a 300W solar array on my roof and 1200Wh of battery capacity and have never had issues with the power draw. I chopped into the wiring harness on my tacoma inverter to power it from the house battery, so the starlink router cable comes out in the camper.
I just paused service because I’m going to be living in Texas for the next year, but I’m going to try re-mounting the dish like this guy: DIY Starlink Flat Mount RV Roof Adaptor Powered by 12 Volts - YouTube
Here’s a pic of the camper last week in Taos, NM, on my way to Austin, TX:
I’m considering revamping my whole electrical system (I’m an EE) with something small and custom made just for truck campers that can manage the solar, the alternator, battery charging, USB-C power delivery outputs to all the common, and take care of powering dishy from the battery without the inverter requirement. I’m just dreaming at this point, but I’ve been scheming about it for at least 2 months. I’ll add more details in another thread when I get around to formalizing my ideas.
Last note - there’s supposedly enough satellites in orbit now that the flat mount rectangular dishy (not the HP one) should work really well. There’s sites out there that will show you all the visible sats at a given location. It’s pretty nutty that there’s at least 5 or so even if you point the dish south. Most of the time in the US, the dish ends up pointing north (for orbital dynamics reasons that I don’t know much about)
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This is good info. I was thinking about the trade-offs last night of flatmounting Starlink with solar. My Starlink at the house always points north so I was thinking you could either have good service (pointing the vehicle north) or good solar (pointing the vehicle south).
Edit on what I posted earlier…So I have been doing a lot of testing lately. I just got back from 7 days of working remotely 8-9 hours a day with it. It works well. I have two mounts, one on the roof, and one on a small tripod that is awesome too if I am camped under trees, etc.
With my 200w of solar for my Inergy Flex, I get never drop below 70% of battery draw on remotely sunny days.
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Yea I was finding my renogy 175w flex panel was enough to keep my 500wh battery in the same spot/maybe gaining 1-2% of battery.
Going to be investing in a 200w portable panel though to help when I am not parked in the sun and need MORE juice.
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I’ve been running Starlink with the DC conversion, plugged into the 12v cigarette outlet on my Anker 757 battery with a little usb powered router. Seems to work really well. Not having to run the inverter does seem to be about a 1/3 gain in efficiency. With also charging my macbook (the M1/M2 has insane efficiency) I expect to get about 3, 8 hr work days. My battery is 1229wh and I don’t yet have solar panels.
As for storage, I bought a Husky weatherproof bin and used the cardboard the Starlink came with to have super cheap, water/dust proof storage. I did make a few modifications to fit more stuff. in the bin. Happy to post some pictures this week.
As for the internet quality of Starlink, it’s either great or gone. Mostly dependent on where you place the dish. In a pretty open area, you will get quality that can easily handle all video conferencing needs, but if there are some trees and obstructions (to your north) then you can expect it to drop in and out a lot. Otherwise, you’ll get a 30-sec drop every few hours. Very please with it so far.
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I thought about the DC conversion but not sure if I am ready to do so. Yes, it saves more power but I currently don’t see the need for my application.
I am eyeing the husky case. I saw folks make foam cut inserts for it also. Just using the original box to store and transport stuff in atm.
I think the Husky is an easy step to keep your Starlink safer in transit.
As for the DC conversation, I liked being plug-and-play with my conversation or the original hardware, no splicing of the expensive Starlink hardware (which I can still use whenever). The price for that though isn’t trivial, I think it cost me like $200 when it’s all said and done. If the power additional power consumption isn’t an issue, and the original router works for your needs, I don’t think the DC conversion is worth it.
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I have two ways I mount my Starlink, depending on whether I am in the trees or not.
Like many I have seen on here, I created a threaded bracket that is mounted on my upper tent and bolted the Starlink pivot mount mount to it. I use this for when I am in the open without obstructions.
When not in the open, I like the flexibility of moving the dish for an unobstructed view of the sky. I hated the huge base it came with due to size and found this super cool 3D printed mount for a tripod. Additionally, I use that same adaptor for transport. I mount it to an L bracket that is mounted to a small molle panel that is attached to my drawer system. I merely unscrew it from the molle when I get to my destination and mount it to the tripod below. It is secured further by this.
I bought this tripod, which breaks down into a small package for travel. It holds the weight easily, even in wind. I got the tripod and the mount in 1/4 inch.
Hope this helps. I have had zero issues even in pretty aggressive off-roading. Works great!
Sorry for the bad pic.
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I’m in the process of designing a simpler power supply plus router system for Starlink. Currently I’m in the schematics phase. My motivation is eliminating the big losses of Dc to Ac to Dc. I’d guess between 20 and 30 percent of power from the battery in is lost to conversion in the inverter and power supply in the router. More soon.
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You mean like one of these?
My peers are testing this unit right now at work. So far the feedback has been positive but they aren’t compatible with the HP dishy from my understanding.
I had the same thought about designing one for the same reasons you describe. Then my workmate showed me this!
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I was following the dishypowa guys, I hadn’t seen this one yet though. I am thinking about a larger system that manages battery charging, mppt solar harvesting, alternator and shore power input, USB phones/radios/etc and laptop charging, and also has a bunch of outputs on the back for both low power stuff like lights or higher power stuff all the way up to an external inverter. I was thinking the inside of the front wall of the GFC could be an awrsome place to stick it. Keeping it modular and extendable for the future is also key.
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OOOOOO that sounds like a complex design.
Yeah it’s going to take some major design time. I’m using it as a learning project, if it turns into a product later, cool.
Currently waiting on my USB powered router to come in (its supposed to today) so I can finish wiring my 12v set up. Im also waiting for a medium sized Apache case to come in from Harbor Freight that I will mount this all in, which I will mount to my molle panel inside the GFC. So when I use it, i’ll just pop the case open and plug in the dish and i’ll be ready to go.
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I’m pulling 35-40w now. I just got to test it.
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