Starlink RV roaming version, initial test

[prharper]

Put this back on 2 weeks ago. Did 3 days of off road trails in TN and another 2 in VA this past weekend. It's a game changer when you don't have cellular coverage . People often ask how I like my Weboost - which I can't remember the last time I used it. I posted up a 12v conversion overview in another thread.

I just suspended the Starlink service now that season is winding down. It takes me about 5 mins to remove dishy and cable from the rack.

 

[MCtree]

Put this back on 2 weeks ago. Did 3 days of off road trails in TN and another 2 in VA this past weekend. It's a game changer when you don't have cellular coverage . People often ask how I like my Weboost - which I can't remember the last time I used it. I posted up a 12v conversion overview in another thread.
View attachment 3766048View attachment 3766049
I just suspended the Starlink service now that season is winding down. It takes me about 5 mins to remove dishy and cable from the rack.

Is that the mini?

 

[prharper]

Is that the mini?

No. That's the gen 2 modified w a Starmount kit.

 

[Artie]

I was talking about the standard residential ..

Check this mini one out.

View attachment 3766022

Bulky but definitely not going anywhere. I may be looking for a unicorn setup, idk. I wonder what my reception would be if this is mounted on my camper and I’m driving? I would be about 15 feet away inside my cruiser.

Out west, roof mount is fine because it’s so wide open, here in the south east I might need to move this around on the ground for signal if I need it at camp.

 

[Fisher23]

I'm in the SE frequently and the overhead trees definitely interfere with the signal. Usually works but sometimes week do to interference.
BTY .. on the Starlink recently it says "For those impacted by Hurricanes Helene or Milton, Starlink is available in affected areas with free service through the end of the year. Enter an address in the affected areas to qualify."

 

[gasman4u]

I'm in the SE frequently and the overhead trees definitely interfere with the signal. Usually works but sometimes week do to interference.
BTY .. on the Starlink recently it says "For those impacted by Hurricanes Helene or Milton, Starlink is available in affected areas with free service through the end of the year. Enter an address in the affected areas to qualify."

That was a class act from Starlink IMO. They were the sole source of reliable internet for a while in some of the hardest hit areas.

 

[Artie]

I'm in the SE frequently and the overhead trees definitely interfere with the signal. Usually works but sometimes week do to interference.
BTY .. on the Starlink recently it says "For those impacted by Hurricanes Helene or Milton, Starlink is available in affected areas with free service through the end of the year. Enter an address in the affected areas to qualify."

I think my county is part of this but I didn’t know if I needed to do anything or not, I’ve had a dish for over a year or so. We weren’t really impacted so I’d feel icky trying to take advantage of it. We only lost power for a couple hours.

 

[gasman4u]

I think my county is party of this but I didn’t know if I needed to do anything or not, I’ve had a fish for over a year or so. We weren’t really impacted so I’d feel icky trying to take advantage of it. We only lost power for a couple hours.

Agreed. I'm on the map I saw from them, but all we got was a LOT of rain and some intermittent power fluctuations. I'll keep paying as to do my part in supporting a solid private sector business providing vital services to seriously impacted people.

 

[Julian73]

Nice!
Have you tried it while driving? How is the signal?

Though if it’s going to be mounted to the roof like that, what’s the gain in using the mini over the larger one?
(Since it’s already out of the way)

Lower profile, lower power drain 25 - 40 watts, 60 peak, built in router, already configured for 12VDC

 

[Artie]

Lower profile, lower power drain 25 - 40 watts, 60 peak, built in router, already configured for 12VDC

How are you connecting to 12v? I have a 12v cigarette port but have read in some other Starlink groups that the 12v USB C adapters should be 100W minimum to run the Starlink mini… I’m trying to find the lowest possible wattage to keep heat down to a minimum. Currently just running on my inverter, max amps has been around 3.5 which is a massive improvement over the dishy I was running previously but I’d love to ditch the inverter consumption and go the 12v route.

 

[Artie]

Artie,
If you get to mess around with yours soon, would you give your opinion?
Like you, I’m looking to downsize my current Starlink. It’s too bulky for most of my trips.

I worry that without ability to orient itself around, the mini won’t acquire the satellites as well when in the mountains.

Ok, I have some drive time with the mini and also some roof mount data to share with you.

Driving around with mini has been fine, connection with satellites has been solid, a few drops now and then followed up with quick reconnects. I can see how this would be a problem depending on use case. Driving while streaming or video calls would potentially be frustrating but I can’t say as I did neither. I streamed podcasts and manipulated maps, both worked flawlessly. Random speed tests were anywhere from 18mbps to 100mbps. These test had the mini on the dash of my minivan looking through the windshield.

Roof mount test was a mag mount on top of my camper. Dish to drivers seat is about 20 feet (pic 1). Speeds at drivers seat fluctuated between 20-50mbps. Signal strength to dish is shown in pic 2, red dot is me in drivers seat, Blue dot is dish. Check red square for signal strength graph, I’m in the middle of that graph while sitting inside. A roof mount on the Cruiser would be solid near 100% of signal strength and should produce similar performance as I found sitting inside camper, speeds constantly approaching 100mbps.

Orientation of the dish (pic 3) was crap for these test. I did this to see what poor orientation would produce as I imagine most driving conditions would result in less than ideal orientation.

These initial tests exceed my needs. My main use case is maps, weather radar, and messaging while driving remotely where little to no signal exists. I am typically towing my camper in these situations so this is why I’m mounted there. The nice thing about the mini is moving to the cruiser when needed is easy with the mount that I have. Here is the mount that I am using, it is low profile yet robust. It’s also 3D printed which seems to keep popping up more and more, another reason to consider one for projects like this…like a need a reason to buy more tools but for some reason I’ve been reluctant to jump on this bandwagon…. I digress.

I hope this info helps.

Pics:

1.

2.

3.

 

[Julian73]

How are you connecting to 12v? I have a 12v cigarette port but have read in some other Starlink groups that the 12v USB C adapters should be 100W minimum to run the Starlink mini… I’m trying to find the lowest possible wattage to keep heat down to a minimum. Currently just running on my inverter, max amps has been around 3.5 which is a massive improvement over the dishy I was running previously but I’d love to ditch the inverter consumption and go the 12v route.

Well a bit of a setback that I haven't delved into yet, I was planning on cutting the power cord and connecting to a 12VDC 13 Amp power source that I already have on my rooftop. I just received my Mini and notice that the 120VAC power brick output is 30VDC @ 2 amps; while suppling a 5 amp load is fine or even 8 amps, I'm not sure if the input voltage margin of the electronics can support only 12-13.8 VDC. I'll have to look into it, .. worst case I run the power brick off the AC outlet in the cargo bay.

*** EDIT *** further reading claims that input voltage range for the Mini is 12 - 48 VDC. Of note is that the supplied cable is very small gauge (i measured 18 AWG), thus voltage drop would be significant if running 40 watts at close to 12 voltage supply, it may well dip below the minimum if using the full 50 ft cable length. This will not be a problem for me as the length will be cut down to about 5 ft.

 

[MCtree]

Ok, I have some drive time with the mini and also some roof mount data to share with you.

Driving around with mini has been fine, connection with satellites has been solid, a few drops now and then followed up with quick reconnects. I can see how this would be a problem depending on use case. Driving while streaming or video calls would potentially be frustrating but I can’t say as I did neither. I streamed podcasts and manipulated maps, both worked flawlessly. Random speed tests were anywhere from 18mbps to 100mbps. These test had the mini on the dash of my minivan looking through the windshield.

Roof mount test was a mag mount on top of my camper. Dish to drivers seat is about 20 feet (pic 1). Speeds at drivers seat fluctuated between 20-50mbps. Signal strength to dish is shown in pic 2, red dot is me in drivers seat, Blue dot is dish. Check red square for signal strength graph, I’m in the middle of that graph while sitting inside. A roof mount on the Cruiser would be solid near 100% of signal strength and should produce similar performance as I found sitting inside camper, speeds constantly approaching 100mbps.

Orientation of the dish (pic 3) was crap for these test. I did this to see what poor orientation would produce as I imagine most driving conditions would result in less than ideal orientation.

These initial tests exceed my needs. My main use case is maps, weather radar, and messaging while driving remotely where little to no signal exists. I am typically towing my camper in these situations so this is why I’m mounted there. The nice thing about the mini is moving to the cruiser when needed is easy with the mount that I have. Here is the mount that I am using, it is low profile yet robust. It’s also 3D printed which seems to keep popping up more and more, another reason to consider one for projects like this…like a need a reason to buy more tools but for some reason I’ve been reluctant to jump on this bandwagon…. I digress.

I hope this info helps.

Pics:

1.View attachment 3773308

2.View attachment 3773311

3.View attachment 3773309

Wonderful!
Thank you for the review.

 

[Artie]

Well a bit of a setback that I haven't delved into yet, I was planning on cutting the power cord and connecting to a 12VDC 15 Amp power source that I already have on my rooftop. I just received my mini and notice that the power brink output os 30VDC 2 amps; while suppling a 5 amp load is fine, even 8 amps, I'm not sure if the electronics input voltage margin can support only 12-13.8 VDC. I'll have to look into it, .. worst case I run the power brick off the AC outlet in the cargo bay.

*** EDIT *** further reading claims that input voltage range for the Mini is 12 - 48 VDC. Of note is that the supplied cable is very small gauge, thus voltage drop would be significant so if running close to 12 voltage supply, it may well dip below the minimum if using the full 50 ft cable length. This will not be a problem for me as the length will be cut down to about 5 ft.

The USB C power cord is thicker than the AC cord but idk if it’s enough to hold voltage over the distance you need. I need about 10 feet to get to my 12v cig plug but I’m wondering how much power I’ll save doing cigarette versus inverter. It may not be worth the hassle for me and I have a AC plug much closer to where the mini is mounted.

Let me know how your 12v route shakes out as I’m open for both.

 

[Julian73]

The USB C power cord is thicker than the AC cord but idk if it’s enough to hold voltage over the distance you need. I need about 10 feet to get to my 12v cig plug but I’m wondering how much power I’ll save doing cigarette versus inverter. It may not be worth the hassle for me and I have a AC plug much closer to where the mini is mounted.

Let me know how your 12v route shakes out as I’m open for both.

Starlight DC power cord is an 18g conductor with ground run as a shield on outside (also twists up to about 18g equivalent. I cut the length down to 43 inches and installed a Delphi DT connector on end to connect into my preexisting 14g 13 amp roof power supply. Created a 14g Delphi to Delphi 30 inch temp jumper. Just finished the cable up tonight and it's raining cats and dogs, so will be a while to test out.

 

[Julian73]

Placed temporarily on roof rack and powered it on, I'm still awaiting my Savage mount. I'm able to handle a video internet call and video download streaming services both on battery power (12.6 v) and with engine running (13.8v), system is averaging about 21-22 watts with a 40 amp peak.. so 1.7 amps to 3.2 amps draw max at the lowest voltage.