Starlink Flat Mount (Star-Mount Systems) (5 Viewers)

[swhme]

I got my dishy back from Star-Mount Systems yesterday, and threw it up temporarily on my roof basket to test it out before I hard mount it. So far, so good. Getting between 50 and 125mbps while driving at 50mph. Planning to keep it on for some more testing over the next few weeks, then it’ll get permanently mounted to my gamiviti rack when it goes on in January.

It takes about 5 minutes to connect once it gets powered up. Once it’s hard-mounted, it’ll be wired into my aux battery with a switch in the cargo area, so I’ll keep it on all the time unless I’m leaving my truck for multiple days.

 

[swhme]

Zoom from deep inside Big Bend Ranch interior district, 30 miles from the closest cell phone signal.

 

[skrypj]

Wish starlink would do a month to month or by the GB plan. Then I would actually invest in it.

Dont really wanna pay $120 a month to use it 4-5 days a month when I get 300 mbps fios at my house for $60.

 

[swhme]

Wish starlink would do a month to month or by the GB plan. Then I would actually invest in it.

Dont really wanna pay $120 a month to use it 4-5 days a month when I get 300 mbps fios at my house for $60.

$150/mo, and it is month-to-month. So I can turn it off when I don't need it, however, I just leave it on because there are a LOT of roads around me with no cell signal, and it's nice to be able to just turn on the wifi.

The biggest downside has been the power usage. I have 2x 135AH lithium batteries, and if I leave the starlink on it will drain them both in 24 hours

 

[skrypj]

$150/mo, and it is month-to-month. So I can turn it off when I don't need it, however, I just leave it on because there are a LOT of roads around me with no cell signal, and it's nice to be able to just turn on the wifi.

The biggest downside has been the power usage. I have 2x 135AH lithium batteries, and if I leave the starlink on it will drain them both in 24 hours

It quotes me 120. But I guess what I meant by month to month is not a million dollar a month plan for 3 days of use.

I have lots of roads with little/no signal as well but my Weeboost generally gets the job done. That is a heinous amount of power draw. ~150W continuous.

 

[rlynch356]

That's pretty high power consumption - I assume it's running through an inverter on 110V.. and everything is always on.
I know there are some 12v mods for it....

any issues with it just being flat mounted?

Its something on my list of potential things that could be useful..

 

[swhme]

That's pretty high power consumption - I assume it's running through an inverter on 110V.. and everything is always on.
I know there are some 12v mods for it....

any issues with it just being flat mounted?

Its something on my list of potential things that could be useful..

I’m running it directly on 12v using the starmount system.

No issues with the flat mount. Even when I camped in a deep canyon in Moab, I only had a short drop out once every 12 minutes (FaceTime calls would disconnect, but I could call back 30 seconds later)

 

[rlynch356]

That's really good to know, Re: reception even under cover I assume.

On power consumption: 135ah (you said 2 days to deplete both so I'll just compute for one day..) 135ah x 12v = 1620 watt hours /24 = 67.5 watts per hour consumption..

That makes sense as the Starmount has the Wifi router built in. So the dish from what I can find is about ~31w and the router accounts for the rest.

Not a problem with say 200w of solar and/or just driving it everyday with a DC/DC charger for the batteries.

just trying to gauge if say ~200ah Lithium is going to meet my goals for the power system in my truck and give me the headroom I want with battery capacity.
I'm trying to decide on doing an induction cooktop or not.. so computing my power needs and doing some testing.
induction can pull 15-1800w easy when boiling water for instance depending on the unit. Cooking a meal pulls about 100ah out of a battery, which makes it challenging if you are going to cook dinner and breakfast before the sun comes up.

 

[swhme]

Also, on the power front, I have it wired into my Switch-Pros, so I turn it off before bed at night, and

That's really good to know, Re: reception even under cover I assume.

On power consumption: 135ah (you said 2 days to deplete both so I'll just compute for one day..) 135ah x 12v = 1620 watt hours /24 = 67.5 watts per hour consumption..

That makes sense as the Starmount has the Wifi router built in. So the dish from what I can find is about ~31w and the router accounts for the rest.

Not a problem with say 200w of solar and/or just driving it everyday with a DC/DC charger for the batteries.

just trying to gauge if say ~200ah Lithium is going to meet my goals for the power system in my truck and give me the headroom I want with battery capacity.
I'm trying to decide on doing an induction cooktop or not.. so computing my power needs and doing some testing.
induction can pull 15-1800w easy when boiling water for instance depending on the unit. Cooking a meal pulls about 100ah out of a battery, which makes it challenging if you are going to cook dinner and breakfast before the sun comes up.

Yeah, after seeing the Starlink draw I decided against induction…

 

[rlynch356]

Remains to be seen for me... but propane is cheap and plentiful, and I'm not sure I can physically fit an electric water heater and the associated plumbing system which I would need to get rid of propane completely... or if its worth it really from a time and $ perspective.
Starlink would be more useful to me.

 

[prharper]

That's really good to know, Re: reception even under cover I assume.

On power consumption: 135ah (you said 2 days to deplete both so I'll just compute for one day..) 135ah x 12v = 1620 watt hours /24 = 67.5 watts per hour consumption..

That makes sense as the Starmount has the Wifi router built in. So the dish from what I can find is about ~31w and the router accounts for the rest.

Not a problem with say 200w of solar and/or just driving it everyday with a DC/DC charger for the batteries.

just trying to gauge if say ~200ah Lithium is going to meet my goals for the power system in my truck and give me the headroom I want with battery capacity.
I'm trying to decide on doing an induction cooktop or not.. so computing my power needs and doing some testing.
induction can pull 15-1800w easy when boiling water for instance depending on the unit. Cooking a meal pulls about 100ah out of a battery, which makes it challenging if you are going to cook dinner and breakfast before the sun comes up.

Induction is battery hungry, way more than the Starlink.

If you want to do the 12v modification to your dish, I put a post together that has all the parts. It uses the same Wifi router as the all in one kit Starmount sells.

Reception has been good on the roof. I'm not so sure it would get enough signal where we camped in the trees at Relic Run.

Link to parts:

Starlink RV roaming version, initial test

I just ordered the flat high performance. Anyone running it off the 110 outlet in the rear of their 200?

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[swhme]

That's really good to know, Re: reception even under cover I assume.

I live out west, so “cover” is minimal. Light tree cover seems okay. Coverage drops completely under a gas station awning.

 

[rlynch356]

@prharper - yep induction is power hungry... just did a trip where I was doing some feasibility testing (with a 100ah)... 200ah would be about the minimum of that setup, 300ah would give some head room...
and induction is not that much faster than my Partner stove.. (not to mention my MSR Reactor is faster boiling water)

In the trees is what I was wondering (and why I realized after I wrote that post)... here on the east coast we are constantly under tree cover...

so mounting may not make sense (at least permeant mounting to the rack) - I'll check out your post on the conversion.. thank you and see you at Relic

 

[prharper]

@prharper - yep induction is power hungry... just did a trip where I was doing some feasibility testing (with a 100ah)... 200ah would be about the minimum of that setup, 300ah would give some head room...
and induction is not that much faster than my Partner stove.. (not to mention my MSR Reactor is faster boiling water)

In the trees is what I was wondering (and why I realized after I wrote that post)... here on the east coast we are constantly under tree cover...

so mounting may not make sense (at least permeant mounting to the rack) - I'll check out your post on the conversion.. thank you and see you at Relic

yep, more challenges with tree's out east. My dish mounts to the roof rack with thumbscrews for this reason. If I'm camping where line of sight is blocked, I can quickly remove the dish, extend the cable with Anderson PP connectors and place out in an open space.

Heck, was camping last year in New River Gorge NP at a walk in tent site under trees - no signal. Took the Starlink down to the banks of the river with a battery pack and it connected. Checked in with wife and emails. There was no mobile carrier service reception in this area, people had to drive 45 mins one way to get signal.

 

[Sandroad]

If you don’t need to connect while in motion, the Starlink dishy for when you’re parked uses a lot less power. The flat high performance dishy for use in motion is rated at 110-150 watts on 120v. The standard gen 2 dishy I have for use when parked runs at a measured average draw of 45 watts on 120v.

 

[sogafarm]

It quotes me 120. But I guess what I meant by month to month is not a million dollar a month plan for 3 days of use.

I have lots of roads with little/no signal as well but my Weeboost generally gets the job done. That is a heinous amount of power draw. ~150W continuous.

The $120 is for stationary site and the $150 is for the mobile. We just got the stationary for the little cabin and it works ok but I'm surrounded by tall trees so it tends to disrupt signal every 56 seconds for live feed. Netflix's buffering overcomes this disruption pretty well. The star link is slower than the Viasat that I have on the bigger cabin though. Overall its better than the poor cell reception we have. The $700 initial equipment purchase is pricey though.