Starlink: The Ultimate Mount Solution!

[hemiarch]

Yep, you can switch from a normal plan to a $5/ month pause plan with 0.5Mb data rate.
https://starlink.com/na/support/article/37bb3b47-9525-7224-5f0a-6d016ce26975

As always…what he said.
Note though that this is at least marketing-wise for theoretically unlimited data, just downloaded slowly.
For five bucks!
Not really though…that’s under 30 gigabytes a month no matter how you look at it because of the limited number of seconds in a month but that’s not too bad at all. Unless you’re using the connection to stream, that is plenty for basic internet, email and device functionality.
For me, $60 a year is worth the insurance.

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[Hookalakupua]

I also live in an urban area. I get it. It’s like this though;
If for any reason I decide I want to take my children to the desert which is essentially what being outdoors means where I live, I’m assuming risk for them. Risk they might not have assumed without an idiot dad.
Risk of being stranded somewhere pretty hostile where water is scarce and help is far away.
The ability for me to place that one call for help or use navigation or the internet in general to find my way out of a stupid decision I might have made, that’s worth the price of admission to me.
It also means my wife feels pretty safe out there and is therefore willing to go more frequently.
I previously kept it on “standby” but now standby is a little different. It costs $5 a month but theoretically gives you infinite low speed internet. At first I thought I’d hate that, but it’s hella handy for me to do shit like monitor my power bank and fridge and portable ac on the car’s local WiFi. It also generally means there are almost zero dead zones media-wise in the car ever.
How much do you pay for Disney plus? Or Netflix? Or whatever? More than five bucks? do they actually help you do anything but access the product they sell? Not Starlink, that’s money spent on accessing basically anything.
Relatively speaking, a mini is a hardware investment that’s easily justifiable. It evaporates costwise over a very short period because the price isn’t outlandish but it’s a device that will allow you a lot of freedom you didn’t think you needed once you have it.
There is basically no place where you have no access to the modern age. Ever.
Do I think you should get one? Yes. I think everyone who can afford one should.
I know full well I’m being a terrible influence here and encouraging you to spend money you weren’t going to spend but in my opinion a CT without a starlink is kind of incomplete.

Just do what hemiarch says and buy one! Yes, he’s a bad influence but it’s so so worth it! Mine arrived the other day.

 

[hemiarch]

Just do what hemiarch says and buy one! Yes, he’s a bad influence but it’s so so worth it! Mine arrived the other day.

I should introduce you to my wife J. You two see eye to eye on a lot of things. lol

 

[Hookalakupua]

If I decide to run the Voltage Conversion System, does anyone know if that removes my ability to run and operate their curved lower lightbar from the frunk power feed? Thanks as electricity is far outside my area of expertise as I’m still trying to figure out when and why we switched from 110Vto 120V!

 

[4 SPACE]

@T Sportline to the rescue with, hands down, the best solution to date for mating a Starlink Mini and CT.

Their new Voltage Conversion System makes it super easy to hardwire directly to the frunk feed. It takes the 48V feed from the frunk and outputs 100W via USB-C (safe for Starlink). It also has a 36W USB-A output if you have a use for that.

They designed it to where you can drill a hole in the frunk tub and have the plug easily accessible if you have a need for that (USB speakers for tailgating, having a phone charger accessible as you chill out in the open frunk, etc). I didn’t go that route, as I wanted this for Starlink specifically, but there’s plenty of uses for it.

Here’s the unit plugged into the frunk feed. I ran the cable up the left side,

out the gap,

along the windshield,

to the dish on the roof.

Super easy install, took easily less than an hour. T Sportline has a great installation video on the product page. Just make sure you select “High-Output USB-C (100 W)” and not “12 Volt System (350 W)”

Is this necessary? Well after much research and much discussion on here with smart people, I determined I don’t know. The frunk puts out 48V but there’s a potential that it might put out 58V during spikes. Starlink can only handle 48V. It has safety measures in place that shouldn’t allow it to go over its max voltage but you never know with electricity. It’s a powerful force and one thing life has taught me up to this point is that it’s better safe than sorry. This system is a safe way to power Starlink while also offering a few other advantages.

Even if you take the risk of possibly frying your Starlink by hooking it up directly to the 48V power feed, you’d have to cut the end off your power cable, separate the positive and negative wires, and connect them to the frunk feed. It might work, but then what happens if a hater cuts your power cable while your truck’s parked? You’re in for a lot of work.

This system allows you to use a factory Starlink power cable ($31) while keeping Starlink mounted over the roof instead of over the bed. I had been running my Starlink on my crossbars mounted over the bed with the power cable running to the bed outlets. That worked just fine, but there were crossbars mounted over my bed - obviously not ideal for loading large items. I wanted the crossbars over the roof.

Some people run Starlink inside the cabin, mounted to either the giant dashboard or the roof with a suction cup mount. The problem with that is there’s extra cables in the cabin now and one of your outlets is permanently taken. Also, with the bed or cabin outlets, they disable if you ever plug the truck in to charge, which will kill your internet connection.

I’ve tried everything under the sun, and I can tell you the ultimate solution to all problems is mounting Starlink externally over the roof. No loss of power during supercharging (yes, I confirmed that today). I drove ~80 miles and had no outages other than the 1-2 second ones you always get while driving under overpasses and whatnot.

Great work by T Sportline. Always one step ahead!

I'm getting ready to do my starlink mini and noticed the way you mounted it on your rack, shouldn't you turn it 180 Degrees, so the wind is pushing the unit tighter into the wedge mount just in case it the little tabs pop loose.

 

[ABILISK]

I'm getting ready to do my starlink mini and noticed the way you mounted it on your rack, shouldn't you turn it 180 Degrees, so the wind is pushing the unit tighter into the wedge mount just in case it the little tabs pop loose.

I had the same thought and originally had it that way, but that puts quite a bit of tilt on the dish. Starlink ideally likes to point north, so when you drive north and the dish has a hard tilt south, you get poor connection. When driving around and going every which way, you want the dish as flat and level as possible, just to give you the best signal no matter which way you’re going. This setup is pretty close to level and I never get any interruptions. The tabs are secured with little hex bolts and I tried and failed to release the dish when it was secured. It’s a solid setup.

 

[ABILISK]

If I decide to run the Voltage Conversion System, does anyone know if that removes my ability to run and operate their curved lower lightbar from the frunk power feed? Thanks as electricity is far outside my area of expertise as I’m still trying to figure out when and why we switched from 110Vto 120V!

Any way to tell how much power the lightbar pulls? Volts/Watts/Amps? I don’t claim to be an expert either, but I know that nothing is free. The system only outputs so much. If you start plugging in multiple things, you need to stay within the confines of what the system can handle. It doesn’t output full power to all 4 feeds that it has - it starts splitting the power up as you plug more things in.

 

[txtravwill]

Why are folks mounting these. Have one and it gets much better speed when you angle and point it the right direction. I can't see moving my truck perfectly for that.

 

[ABILISK]

Why are folks mounting these. Have one and it gets much better speed when you angle and point it the right direction. I can't see moving my truck perfectly for that.

Yeah, when you drive around, your Starlink will be subjected to many different orientations and positions. That’s why you want it flat and level for a roaming plan. I know it performs best when pointed north at just the right angle, but that’s not realistic for a moving object. How does yours do on the speed test and stats? Care to compare numbers? This is while driving, btw:

 

[hemiarch]

Flat works better for me when moving too.

 

[hemiarch]

If I decide to run the Voltage Conversion System, does anyone know if that removes my ability to run and operate their curved lower lightbar from the frunk power feed? Thanks as electricity is far outside my area of expertise as I’m still trying to figure out when and why we switched from 110Vto 120V!

If that curved bar is 48v (which I think it is) I’d probably rather cowire it to the roof feed and leave all 350w of the 12v thing for frunk and other accessory use.
the question is, what’s the draw on each bar and is the total comfortably below 400w to avoid tripping the electronic fuse of the roof feed.
I’d be surprised if either of those drew more current than what equates to about 200w which would be just shy of 4.5 amps or so but I honestly don’t know but I know someone who likely has a much better scientific wild ass guess than me. You out there @mongo ?
In the state of Michigan, at lake level and moderate temperatures, what do you think one of these bars draws?
Also, at what altitude does a deer become an elk sir?

 

[Hookalakupua]

Any way to tell how much power the lightbar pulls? Volts/Watts/Amps? I don’t claim to be an expert either, but I know that nothing is free. The system only outputs so much. If you start plugging in multiple things, you need to stay within the confines of what the system can handle. It doesn’t output full power to all 4 feeds that it has - it starts splitting the power up as you plug more things in.

It pulls 200w and is the one from TSportline. https://tsportline.com/collections/...bumper-insert-led-off-road-light-bar-lightbar

I’ll give them a call tomorrow so thanks for the info.

 

[Hookalakupua]

If that curved bar is 48v (which I think it is) I’d probably rather cowire it to the roof feed and leave all 350w of the 12v thing for frunk and other accessory use.
the question is, what’s the draw on each bar and is the total comfortably below 400w to avoid tripping the electronic fuse of the roof feed.
I’d be surprised if either of those drew more current than what equates to about 200w which would be just shy of 4.5 amps or so but I honestly don’t know but I know someone who likely has a much better scientific wild ass guess than me. You out there @mongo ?
In the state of Michigan, at lake level and moderate temperatures, what do you think one of these bars draws?
Also, at what altitude does a deer become an elk sir?

Yes, it’s the one from TSportline and it’s 48v and 200w.
A deer only becomes an elk on the way home, as you’re telling the wife and kids about your amazing adventure as a hunter extraordinaire!

 

[hemiarch]

Yes, it’s the one from TSportline and it’s 48v and 200w.
A deer only becomes an elk on the way home, as you’re telling the wife and kids about your amazing adventure as a hunter extraordinaire!

Anyone know the draw of the oem lightbar when the ditch and floods are both on?

 

[mongo]

Anyone know the draw of the oem lightbar when the ditch and floods are both on?

Looks like under 60W (and that's operating off of ~30V)

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