Starlink, Mobile and Home Use

[Country Campers]

What I am trying to do is be able to use Starlink at home as well as on the road with the camper. What I have is the newest generation of Starlink, Gen 3 I believe. It has a kick stand and not the tripod mount as the previous version had. This is nice as there is less "parts" to move and store. The dilemma arises with the router and cable systems. The Gen 3 has a regular either net cable so that should be easy to get. The router is a different subject. I would like to obtain another router to leave in the camper and power it with 12 v dc. ncitro and I have talked a little bit about this. Hoping to get another router of some type. This is all beyond my knowledge and abilities to figure out.

Scott'n'Wendy has a congruent-similar thread going here Solar for remote camp - Grand Design Owners Forums (gdrvowners.com) but I thought I would pull this out of that thread for future searching.

So for anyone that has or is doing this help would be greatly appreciated.

Brian

[Reacher]

I believe an internet search for "starlink compatible routers" will provide a plethora of options.

Here's an example:

https://www.routerfreak.com/best-router-for-starlink/

[ncitro]

I know in mine (gen 2) the router also powers the dish. The dish uses POE, but its a non standard pin configuration due to the higher voltage it needs. So any router will work, but you will need a way to power the dish. What most people do is get a POE injector that either allows you to specify the pins to use, or one of the custom solutions for this that have emerged in the last few years since this modification became popular. I did a bit of digging and the gen 3 uses the same pinout as the previous generations, so you should be able to use any of the gen 2 solutions. That said it gets a bit convoluted because you need to power the injector then. In mine I use a 12 to 28v power supply, but you could also use a 120v supply.

All that is a long way of saying any router will work, but the Starlink router doubles as router and power supply, so you need to account for that.

I use a DishyPowa to power mine. https://dishypowa.com/

And This power supply: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/...20A-48/8591541

[Scott'n'Wendy]

And if you don't want to be cutting your starlink cable or ethernet adapter cable, you can use this.
https://www.amazon.ca/YAOSHENG-Recta...BYJTHX4P&psc=1
Which...I see won't apply to you Brian with the Gen 3 that uses RJ45. soooo never mind....lol

[ncitro]

Nice, that did not exist when I did mine. That said if you are at all comfortable terminating ethernet its nice to cut it and terminate it because then you can extend as needed with standard shielded cat 5 if you need to move it out from under tree cover.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

You have a choice of injectors
Passive like the one Neil referenced, or packaged like this one
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...f_=as_li_ss_tl. **EDIT** this one requires Special RJ45 terminating.
or this one
https://www.amazon.com/YAOSHENG-Pass...0-4513d670b6bc
Or there is the dual dishy board allen referenced.
https://boondocker.io/products/dishy...id=thingiverse
It has the POE injector and power supply all in one board.

I'm thinking I'll go the individual packaged devices rather than the cct board because mine won't be mounted permanently. It will move between cabin and trailer, so a more robust unit is (I think) important to me.
If it was going to be permanently mounted within the trailer, I think I'd go with the dishydually and pair it with a poe router and put everything behind the basement wall. Probably under the stairs.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Interesting tidbit I was unaware of...all the brains for the starlink are in the dish itself. I previously thought they were in the router casing.

[ncitro]

Interesting tidbit I was unaware of...all the brains for the starlink are in the dish itself. I previously thought they were in the router casing.

Thats correct, the dish is the modem as well. That is what allows you to connect it to any router you want. When I was testing mine I had it connected directly to my PC (through the POE injector).

[Scott'n'Wendy]

That said if you are at all comfortable terminating ethernet its nice to cut it and terminate it because then you can extend as needed with standard shielded cat 5 if you need to move it out from under tree cover.

Ya agreed. It's a bit tedious lining up the wires in the connector, but not really hard at all.

[TucsonJim]

Has anyone ever measured or calculated the power consumption difference between running the router via an inverter and 120VAC vs. converting to 12VDC?

Jim

[Country Campers]

My power supply states, 57 v , 3.42 amps, 195 watts output. Maybe a wash converting from 120 v ac.

Brian

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Has anyone ever measured or calculated the power consumption difference between running the router via an inverter and 120VAC vs. converting to 12VDC?

Jim

I think if your inverter is on all the time anyway....I wouldn't bother converting it unless you are pushing the limits of your inverter. The power saving would be in the losses converting 12vdc through your trailer inverter to 120vac, then starlink converting back to dc rather than just a dc to dc conversion.

Even the 195 watts Brian stated is when the snow melt mode is on. When it is not on, the gen 2 is more often around 70watts.

I don't have an inverter so it's not a power saving question for me....right now.

Country Campers ALL the campers I know around here just bring the stock system camping. Plug in and away they go. It's what I have done so far. Bought an extra cable to leave in the RV. But I want to be able to boondock off batteries.

[ncitro]

I agree with Scott, I did the 12 to 48 option because I wanted to remove the stock router anyway, so at that point either I needed a 12v converter or a 120v power supply. If I was running the stock router I would just run it through the inverter. The loss is pretty minimal.

Also agree that power rating is with snow melt on. Actual power usage is about 70 watts on mine as well, but its been a while since I checked it.

[Jsm180]

My solution to Starlink at home and the camper was to buy a second Starlink. I have the second dish set up as mobile on my account and switch it on and off when I need it. Starlink will prorate the charge depending on when you start it and the end date of your billing cycle.

I found a new, never activated system on facebook market place locally for $400.

I use a TP-Link router with the Starlink router and network adapter in the house https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1 and semi hard mount the Starlink router in the camper.

[ncitro]

This is expensive, but it popped up in my feed so I wanted to share it here. I have no experience with it and don't have a gen 3 so no help there but it looked interesting. Not a fan of not being able to pick my router, but it's clean, compact, and keeps everything stock. You'd be able to use this in the RV, unplug it and plug it into your other cable at home and use the stock setup easily.


https://star-mountsystems.com/produc...t-for-starlink