Starlink: The Ultimate Mount Solution!

[hemiarch]

Yep. Kinda hard to waterproof but it can be done.

Was thinking maybe something like this.
thoughts?
https://a.co/d/4WkVDxq

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[ABILISK]

Was thinking maybe something like this.
thoughts?
https://a.co/d/4WkVDxq

That one says max voltage 24V in the product specifications, I wouldn’t risk it. But something like that would be perfect. I’m assuming the plan is to cut it to size?

I still can’t get over one aspect. The thought of people cutting your cable. I know it’s not a huge risk, but if they do it’s a lot of work. Buy a new cable, cut and re-strip the power feed (which you’ll eventually run out of if it happens enough), splice them together, waterproof the new setup. It’s peace of mind knowing if someone cuts mine, I grab a new cable and plug it in. Easy peasy.

 

[hemiarch]

Won’t be the case in mine. The cutting problem. Good catch on the voltage. It’ll be running off the frunk feed and still in the cabin on mine.

 

[mongo]

That one says max voltage 24V in the product specifications, I wouldn’t risk it. But something like that would be perfect. I’m assuming the plan is to cut it to size?

I still can’t get over one aspect. The thought of people cutting your cable. I know it’s not a huge risk, but if they do it’s a lot of work. Buy a new cable, cut and re-strip the power feed (which you’ll eventually run out of if it happens enough), splice them together, waterproof the new setup. It’s peace of mind knowing if someone cuts mine, I grab a new cable and plug it in. Easy peasy.

Could put a connector under the top trim and make the short run to Dishy replaceable also.

 

[ABILISK]

Could put a connector under the top trim and make the short run to Dishy replaceable also.

This is true

 

[ABILISK]

Won’t be the case in mine. The cutting problem. Good catch on the voltage. It’ll be running off the frunk feed and still in the cabin on mine.

How do you route the cable to the frunk through the cabin? I guess that’s one thing I never explored. And I thought my Starlink had seen every possible scenario lol

 

[jjban]

This is awesome! I have that exact battery. Do you know how long it lasts? What adapter are you using?

About 4.5-6.5 hours.

Adapter made by 3d printer and some parts on Amazon.

 

[hemiarch]

How do you route the cable to the frunk through the cabin? I guess that’s one thing I never explored. And I thought my Starlink had seen every possible scenario lol

So right under the passenger side mirror on the inside of the door jam is a grommet. If you pull that out it’s a through and through hole from the space between the inside and outside of the cabin under the front fender. That’s a straight shot to the area behind. The frunk tub.
Addendum: Here you go @ABILISK , didn’t have time to dig up a photo earlier but here is one.

That brings you out basically in the dash

 

[HaulingAss]

Yep. Kinda hard to waterproof but it can be done.

Use some marine grade heat shrink tubing with sealant inside:

 

[hemiarch]

Use some marine grade heat shrink tubing with sealant inside:

That’s some cool stuff. Ordering for my toolbox. Thanks @HaulingAss

 

[JCERRN]

I just wish i had a reason to justify a starlink mini purchase. It seems like such a good deal, but i live in an area with great 5g cell service almost everywhere i go, and otherwise have gigabit internet and LTE everywhere else. I suppose if i traveled up to the northern mountains more id find myself less connected…

 

[hemiarch]

I just wish i had a reason to justify a starlink mini purchase. It seems like such a good deal, but i live in an area with great 5g cell service almost everywhere i go, and otherwise have gigabit internet and LTE everywhere else. I suppose if i traveled up to the northern mountains more id find myself less connected…

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.

 

[JCERRN]

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.

I like your rationale- what do you mean standby gives you low speed connection? Can you still access the internet despite it being on standby?

I also understand that the security of having that connection is essentially priceless, especially for remote areas… its one of those things that i think about and say “what else would i use this for?” And i cant really come up with a great answer… i thought briefly that it would be a really good way to get internet on a cruise without paying their outrageous fees but apparently theyve caught on and banned them and some even confiscate them if they are found during boarding.

yeah the hardware price isn't egregious, the service of having it on standby and ready to activate at a moment’s notice for $50-60 for the month is a good deal… as with all of the CT accessories ive bought so far ill probably waffle about it for a few more weeks then likely just buy it… i even went on ebay to see if i could find one, but i guess they lock them to accounts which make sense…

 

[sys700]

@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!

"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."

Not true. I mounted mine to the inside of the sunroof. I ran the cable down behind the back middle seat, under the floor mat, and used a 3 way outlet adaptor under the mini display. Much better solution, and nobody can steal your mini.

 

[mongo]

I like your rationale- what do you mean standby gives you low speed connection? Can you still access the internet despite it being on standby?

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

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