Starlink Mini power

[Forester2]

I have been looking at adding the Starlink Mini to our arsonal and trying to decide best way to power it. We have a 2024 FC that has the outdoor hookups for regular Starlink but with the Mini I can run it on 12volt dc so don't have to use my inverter and don't have to worry about a indoor router. I have added cigar lighter outlets in that cabinet already to power Sirius radio and a dvd player so somehow using the existing outdoor hookups would be nice but worry about the distance using DC. Another thought was though was to use the Zamp plug on the tongue and make an adapter of an SAE plug to a female cigar lighter outlet then just plug Starlink in with the car adapter kit. Anyone see a downside to this?

[vanderwielen]

Originally Posted by Forester2

I have been looking at adding the Starlink Mini to our arsonal and trying to decide best way to power it. We have a 2024 FC that has the outdoor hookups for regular Starlink but with the Mini I can run it on 12volt dc so don't have to use my inverter and don't have to worry about a indoor router. I have added cigar lighter outlets in that cabinet already to power Sirius radio and a dvd player so somehow using the existing outdoor hookups would be nice but worry about the distance using DC. Another thought was though was to use the Zamp plug on the tongue and make an adapter of an SAE plug to a female cigar lighter outlet then just plug Starlink in with the car adapter kit. Anyone see a downside to this?

https://youtu.be/Ei5lNIH_1ro?si=AlCZCbyPmQFi7hkF

[3OnOurWay]

There a few threads in here is you search Starlink or mini that discuss DCDC inverters, alternate power sources and the distance from 12vdc power supply etc I think the discussions are helpful to read.

That being said it’s native cable is a 5521 and so likely easiest if you had a power in that form for shortest run.

We added a 5521 female port to plug into when stopped / parked and Mini works just fine of a 6-10 ft cable 13 volts There also discussion about using 100watt Pd on a USB -c cable etc on the threads I mentioned. We use the USB C for going down the road as temporary solution.

[Forester2]

Thanks. Trying to stay with the KISS principle to start; just getting simple cigarette light plug with 10 ft 16 gauge wire like Riveted has or a bunch of folks on Amazon. Don't need this for business, just to stay in touch or stream occasionally. Have watched a lot of Youtubes and looked at threads on here but didn't see anyone tap into Zamp plug so thought Id ask. Use it for Tire Pressure monitor and suitcase solar- proved to be pretty handy!

[3OnOurWay]

If you Zamp plug can supply 8 amps or more then “ should work “ From discussion threads here I mentioned and my usage mini usage, the mini uses about 60 watts and then settle down to 35-30 watts.

I shared the USB-C and the 5521 plug options as some don’t have a use for a CLA adapter for another 30 $40

We use our mini for the same, just to check some email. Watch TV for an hour at the end of the night. Stream data while driving on the road

Good luck

[Forester2]

Think Im buying car adapter from Starlink. Few bucks cheaper from Amazon vendors but think OEM is best choice in this instance.

[os1r1s]

I'm adding a DC-DC upconverter for it that will sit in my battery box. This will allow me to mount it under the propane cover (or on a pole) and not have to worry about it. To the extent that it works under the propane cover, it will be semi-permanent.

[Forester2]

Maybe once I use it Ill understand the advantage of increasing to 48volts

[Downsized]

We have the 12 volt cigarette car adapter. Works fine. When running on 12 volts the mini is notorious for making a buzzing noise. Ours is the same. Works well though. We leave it permanently attached via a suction cup mount to the inside of our tesla glass roof. Works great.

[JeffKim]

Not terribly elegant, but there are a lot of these battery pack adapters on Amazon, no cord to run.

More elegant and superior performance is this solution (which is roughly what I'm going to do converting from our Starlink V2 eventually):

Originally Posted by vanderwielen

https://youtu.be/Ei5lNIH_1ro?si=AlCZCbyPmQFi7hkF

It's a little buried in the video but the great advantage to running a POE and bypassing the Mini router is that the performance (speed and packet loss) is much better with your own router than using the Mini router positioned somewhere outside the trailer at a distance.

This means powering the Mini over a ethernet cable at 48V (so much better distance than 12V) and connecting it to your own modem on the other end, inside the trailer with no interference. I have a cellular modem with Starlink as the primary input and failover to cellular, but it doesn't have to be a cellular modem, any decent router will do.

I don't know where the SmartPlug ethernet terminates in your trailer (our 2023 didn't have it), but with ours the Airstream Connected terminates in the upper bedroom cabinet and has 12V power which I used to power our modem. I have a separate connection to power the POE converter that runs to our V2 Starlink.

Mobile Must Have has a great reputation, but I didn't see a lot of value added with their $150 solution. I have a 12V to 48V DC-DC converter that was pretty cheap and works just fine and POE injectors are pretty cheap too. I've found POE 48V splitters online as well for pretty cheap, so that's a lot of pretty cheap and all you need.

This is a outline of I think a better solution and something to think about if you want better performance than the default and still power via DC. But if you're just looking for the basic Mini and don't care (as you indicate), maybe this is overboard.

[thiel]

I doubled the AC outlet behind the fridge and also added a 12v tap there (pumped up to 48v). Now I can run the starlink cable out of the back of the trailer (fridge door access panel) on either DC or AC. No clutter in the front of the trailer. Works great.

[waninae39]

i have a std starlink and use 12v to 52v DC to DC inverter

the mini use 48 v thus get a std 12v to 48 DC to DC inverter
find a 12 v wire close to where you plan to install it

[MarkFranke]

Check out this YouTube video by full-timer 13Adventures. He reviewed the mini starling.

https://youtu.be/uvGfFDKU66k?si=LP5CZW99tWpQpyDY

[O-side Jimmy]

I just added a SAE splitter plug for the Zamp connection. We plug a USB-C converter into it and then a Starlink Mini into it with a USB-C cable. This allows us to continue to use the Zamp solar panel at the same time while powering the router.

[bdavies]

You can run it on a battery like this:


https://www.airforums.com/forums/f45...ml#post2770384

[Kodiak2006]

Originally Posted by Forester2

Thanks. Trying to stay with the KISS principle to start; just getting simple cigarette light plug with 10 ft 16 gauge wire like Riveted has or a bunch of folks on Amazon. Don't need this for business, just to stay in touch or stream occasionally. Have watched a lot of Youtubes and looked at threads on here but didn't see anyone tap into Zamp plug so thought Id ask. Use it for Tire Pressure monitor and suitcase solar- proved to be pretty handy!

I k now you said keep it simple, I am not familiar with the new starlink prewire AS installed. I gather it is just a cat6E input port.

In my case, I have a starlink mini and added a USB C and Cat6 input port to the “Smart Plug” that was formally wired to coax for satellite or Cable input. The change out is pretty simple for my case.

I purchased a power supply from moibile must haves and installed it in the warrope. This power supply provides a step up transformer to add a POE injection to the either net cable. The kit mobile must have sells has a “splitter” that attaches at the starlink mini. This allows you to run the data input to the internal router in the airstream and not require a separate USBC cable to power the mini.

https://mobilemusthave.com/products/...ut-for-peplink

[Life is a Highway]

I was all excited on the mini until I got the specs of what it can do. The Standard Dish is so much better but its up to you. Mimi was designed for a backpacker

I would give these people a call Elkhart Satellite/Starlink. 574-875-6890. They gave me lots of good education on StarLink at the Tampa RV show.

[JeffKim]

Originally Posted by Life is a Highway

I was all excited on the mini until I got the specs of what it can do. The Standard Dish is so much better but its up to you. Mimi was designed for a backpacker

I would give these people a call Elkhart Satellite/Starlink. 574-875-6890. They gave me lots of good education on StarLink at the Tampa RV show.

It can do about 80% of the V3 if you bypass the router, this video from Mobile Internet Resource has some data:
https://youtu.be/ZKrg7KByTWs?t=2007

Otherwise, the big advantage is that it consumes a lot less power and of course is very portable and can be mounted for use when in motion. If you don't care about these things, yes the V3 would have better throughput and reception. But I'd argue the Mini can be positioned much easier than a V3.

[daleyocum]

The wifi range of the mini also benefits tremendously from being mounted on a tripod rather than sitting on the ground.

The Zamp plug sounds like a good idea, being careful on the polarity. That's only good for around 10 ft, though. After that it really wants a 24v - 48v converter to make up for line losses.

[Forester2]

I habe already changed my polarity because I use that plug for my suitcase solar panel and power for my TPMS