Been watching Starlink from the beginning, the power draw for the first couple of generations is a bit steep for RV off grid and required more $$$ thrown at the set up for off grid in the way of batteries and stuff ....................... Once ROAMing became available I was most interested ,so I watched , researched waiting till things looked good for RV's and then along came the Mini, a 12v unit, more research and the actual power draw is less than my Foxtel iQ4 box, need a power boost though as 12v the power loss seemed to be too great over any distance, easy fix with a 12/30v converter but the price of the Mini was up there, so I laid in wait, Starlink became available from Harvey norman, Bunnings etc and in June 25 the price dropped,saving $150, I was on the road so pounced on one from Bunnings ...
Over the last few weeks the grand plan has been unfolding to have a set up built on the KiSS principle, so no stuffiing around, first off a stand /pole for it, no way I was going to spend $300 for a shop bought pole, I rumaged in my shed and found some alloy tube off cuts, and a irrigation coupling to experiment with, in the end a trip to Mitre 10 for a length of 32mm tube, 1 x 32mm joiner and a 32mm 1" female adapter, it has a stainless steel ring which is ideal for locking the dishy onto...
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..32mm alloy tube...................
......32mm-1" female ...................................
........... mounted ..
Mail delivered a 12/30v convertor,3.6amp, again the Starlink shops want $150 or even more, I bought mine from a supplier I have used often over the years for aerial parts and bits, $44, this is hard wired into my vans 12v Media circuit which I set up to power the TV/VAST/Foxtel as the Foxbox was having supply problems so a dedicated circuit fitted direct from the load Buss and is switchable from inside the van so I can power it down, the Starlink plugs into it via an Anderson plug on van side, I wasn't keen on the dicky 5.5/2.1 sockets, no power drop at all, if there is my meters don't see it and finally a bracket and fitting welded to Sat Dish bracket for the mast to slip onto with the 32mm joiner which once Starlink is pointed south can be locked in position, it can also be fitted to the rear Sat dish mount on the rear if needed or sat on the ground away from the van..... Time will tell but if I park with a clear North/South view all should be good ............. Sat dish needs due North and Starlink needs due South, though I can aim over trees with the Sat dish, Starlink need a bigger clear view......
pole ........................
..... pole direction adjuster ...................
... with sat dish,..
So the set up has come in under $550 so no more than a decent Mobile Broadband router ie: Nighthawk, subscription cost is bit exxy but with the mini I can pause it when not needed and we don't stream much so no need for huge data , $80 for 50gb, we have Foxtel to cover viewing shows, mostly I want it for the phone connection, not on the phone much, ask anyone who has tried to cal me how hard it is to catch me, but nowadays I find it comforting to be able to ring an Ambo or RFDS if we need it, even the RACQ so the $80 for a month not a biggy especially as only for when touring ...............
Set up should be a couple of minutes as its just plug and play and should be much quicker than my Sat Dish to lock on.............. Time will tell, so I'm itching to get away but thats not till Sept................. surely will be a few mods to it I imagine ....
So while I had looked at loads of Starlink stuff I thought I was doing really well with my set up, a mate just pointed out some Faceache post with similar ideas, though mine is set up without the need for spanners and no ginning around, he reckons mine wins, Im happy either way as it means the grey cells have had a good bit of exercise ............... He's interested, I hope he doesn't want me do his the same way .........................
Over the last few weeks the grand plan has been unfolding to have a set up built on the KiSS principle, so no stuffiing around, first off a stand /pole for it, no way I was going to spend $300 for a shop bought pole, I rumaged in my shed and found some alloy tube off cuts, and a irrigation coupling to experiment with, in the end a trip to Mitre 10 for a length of 32mm tube, 1 x 32mm joiner and a 32mm 1" female adapter, it has a stainless steel ring which is ideal for locking the dishy onto...
.
..32mm alloy tube.........................32mm-1" female ................................... ........... mounted ..Mail delivered a 12/30v convertor,3.6amp, again the Starlink shops want $150 or even more, I bought mine from a supplier I have used often over the years for aerial parts and bits, $44, this is hard wired into my vans 12v Media circuit which I set up to power the TV/VAST/Foxtel as the Foxbox was having supply problems so a dedicated circuit fitted direct from the load Buss and is switchable from inside the van so I can power it down, the Starlink plugs into it via an Anderson plug on van side, I wasn't keen on the dicky 5.5/2.1 sockets, no power drop at all, if there is my meters don't see it and finally a bracket and fitting welded to Sat Dish bracket for the mast to slip onto with the 32mm joiner which once Starlink is pointed south can be locked in position, it can also be fitted to the rear Sat dish mount on the rear if needed or sat on the ground away from the van..... Time will tell but if I park with a clear North/South view all should be good ............. Sat dish needs due North and Starlink needs due South, though I can aim over trees with the Sat dish, Starlink need a bigger clear view......
pole ............................. pole direction adjuster ................... ... with sat dish,..So the set up has come in under $550 so no more than a decent Mobile Broadband router ie: Nighthawk, subscription cost is bit exxy but with the mini I can pause it when not needed and we don't stream much so no need for huge data , $80 for 50gb, we have Foxtel to cover viewing shows, mostly I want it for the phone connection, not on the phone much, ask anyone who has tried to cal me how hard it is to catch me, but nowadays I find it comforting to be able to ring an Ambo or RFDS if we need it, even the RACQ so the $80 for a month not a biggy especially as only for when touring ...............
Set up should be a couple of minutes as its just plug and play and should be much quicker than my Sat Dish to lock on.............. Time will tell, so I'm itching to get away but thats not till Sept................. surely will be a few mods to it I imagine ....
So while I had looked at loads of Starlink stuff I thought I was doing really well with my set up, a mate just pointed out some Faceache post with similar ideas, though mine is set up without the need for spanners and no ginning around, he reckons mine wins, Im happy either way as it means the grey cells have had a good bit of exercise ............... He's interested, I hope he doesn't want me do his the same way .........................
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