Starlink

[sofmerc]

Originally Posted by kavm

Few pounds can mean a lot of things. Here are my numbers, directly from the references provided below:

• 13 lbs for the dish
• 15 lbs for dish with 25 ft cable. Now, of course, not all of the cable needs to be hoisted up.
• The wedge mount - the only one available for the flat high-performance dish - 4.4 lbs. This is attached to the dish and I presume would need to be hoisted up if on a pole/pipe.
• Pipe mount adapter - attaches to the wedge mount - 2.4 lbs.

So, I get 15 + 4.4 + 2.4 = 21.8 lbs. Let's drop it to 21 lbs, given that the entire cable does not need to raised up the camper roof. So, we have 21 lbs - without counting the weight of the pipe itself to raise it above the camper roof.

https://api.starlink.com/public-file...erformance.pdf

https://api.starlink.com/public-file...erformance.pdf

Please feel free to clarify where I have it wrong.

ours is the new version... Listed weigh is 9.2 lbs...we mounted it on an existing pole on our tugboat..

[kavm]

Originally Posted by sofmerc

ours is the new version... Listed weigh is 9.2 lbs...we mounted it on an existing pole on our tugboat..

New version of which dish? There are 3 -

1. Standard - weight with wire listed at 8.2 lbs, may be that’s what you have.
2. High Performance - Discontinued. Doesn’t look like Starlink is selling any, though it might still be available in BestBuy, etc. It comes with a stand - so I am considering going this route.
3. Flat High Performance - for which I gave the weights for. This is now the only high performance version that Starlink is selling directly.

[sofmerc]

Originally Posted by kavm

New version of which dish? There are 3 -

1. Standard - weight with wire listed at 8.2 lbs, may be that’s what you have.
2. High Performance - Discontinued. Doesn’t look like Starlink is selling any, though it might still be available in BestBuy, etc. It comes with a stand - so I am considering going this route.
3. Flat High Performance - for which I gave the weights for. This is now the only high performance version that Starlink is selling directly.

ours was purchased directly through Starlink last year at this time. We also got 4 nodes at the same time. I wasn't involved in the purchase....just enjoying the benefits of it

[EscapeBoulder]

Here's a good video about how Starlink works. There's some very smart folks out there!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs2QcycggWU

[kavm]

Just a quick note - we went with the smaller (and cheaper) standard disk - mainly because of weight concerns. And, it worked well for us.

I do have a question for the Starlink owners: How does power consumption works for you when not hooked up to shore power? I bought a 200 watt inverter and used that - instead of using the larger wattage inverter installed in the camper. It worked fine. But, when we left the whole setup on overnight - it discharged the batteries (2 100 Ah lithium) and we had to charge them from our built-in generator/invertor in F150. This is an area that we are looking to improve on.

[gklott]

Originally Posted by kavm

Just a quick note - we went with the smaller (and cheaper) standard disk - mainly because of weight concerns. And, it worked well for us.

Same here. Works well. Do you have Gen 1 or Gen 2 standard antenna and MODEM?

Originally Posted by kavm

How does power consumption works for you when not hooked up to shore power?

Watching the EMS, our Roam Gen 2 standard antenna seems to draw about 75W when active. There are a few higher wattages toward 120W, such initially as the antenna is moving or the antenna heater is on. You can turn off the heater, but I do not know what the performance impact is.[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by kavm

I bought a 200 watt inverter and used that - instead of using the larger wattage inverter installed in the camper. It worked fine.

200W inverter should be fine.

Originally Posted by kavm

But, when we left the whole setup on overnight - it discharged the batteries (2 100 Ah lithium) and we had to charge them from our built-in generator/invertor in F150. This is an area that we are looking to improve on.

To prevent this, reducing the idle power and other apps doing things at night, we invoke StarLink’s sleep schedule under SETTINGS-STARLINK to reduce nighttime consumption.

73/gus

[kavm]

Thank you so much for the quick response. We bought the equipment from Starlink in late November, so it should be the latest version.

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by kavm

...
I do have a question for the Starlink owners: How does power consumption works for you when not hooked up to shore power? I bought a 200 watt inverter and used that - instead of using the larger wattage inverter installed in the camper. It worked fine. But, when we left the whole setup on overnight - it discharged the batteries (2 100 Ah lithium) and we had to charge them from our built-in generator/invertor in F150. This is an area that we are looking to improve on.

Perhaps this could use a bit of elaboration:


The drain on the batteries, in this case from the Starlink device, is directly related to the wattage required by the device (75 Watts was mentioned above). The size of the inverter used to provide this power is more-or-less irrelevant. The larger installed inverter might pull a fraction of an Amp more than the smaller inverter but not enough to make a difference in 1 night. Probably the most important thing to remember is: Turn off the inverter when not in use.

[TranquiLiza]

Originally Posted by EscapeBoulder

We deploy the antenna on the ground where it'll have the best view of the sky, particularly the NW sky. We run the antenna wire out of a small hatch I put in the side of the Escape. The router sits on our dinette table.

Would you happen to have a link of the port that you used for the cable?

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by TranquiLiza

Would you happen to have a link of the port that you used for the cable?

Try this search text on Amazon. It comes up with a good number of generic cable ports, useful for a variety of cables.
"valterra White Electric Power Cord Small Round"


For a specific satellite input try this search on Google (not Amazon):
"RV Satellite and Cable Hookup Wall Plate"
You will get a number of hits that are for television cable input in addition to a few for satellites. Take a very close look and you will see that the cable fittings are not quite the same. There is a good reason - they are not interchangeable. Matching a fitting to your satellite cable is tricky and may take a number of attempts.

[John in Santa Cruz]

I think I would stow the cable in my exterior storage hatch and just leave the hatch loose when the antenna is deployed...