Test Results: Starlink on a Sailboat Underway

[Tenedos]

Originally Posted by Donnybrook

Seafarer--What's your observed power consumption? Do you consider it low enough to leave on all the time like a fridge or do you turn it on only when you need to access the internet?

Here is the rectangular dishy power consumption (circular dishy power consumption is reported to be higher) measured by a smart plug over 24 hours. Since then, I cut the cable and put a PoE injector to use it with a 12-48v upconverter, which is more efficient compared to an inverter.

[Tenedos]

I have been testing it for a while. It is an amazing technology. Mount options have been limited though, it is not officially supported on boats (or other moving things) yet so no not too many suitable mount options. I combined a couple of parts to make a custom marine mount and put it on the arch. I haven't extensively tested outside of marina yet but in my brief testing underway and random places, it has worked great. It truly is a game changer.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by redneckrob

What kind of mobile setup do you have to get that? I would love to get any mobile at all out to 12 nm, let alone reliable high speed internet!

Australia
Just use my $40 handset as a hotspot, have been living with that for 6 years full time

Doesn't work everywhere but near civilisation it's fine.

[sailcrazy]

following. For us electronically challenged....does this system only support WiFi? or is TV/streaming services also included? How about Cell phone text?voice? voice & pics?

[Tenedos]

Originally Posted by sailcrazy

following. For us electronically challenged....does this system only support WiFi? or is TV/streaming services also included? How about Cell phone text?voice? voice & pics?

This is only Internet. No TV, text, phone by itself etc. That being said, when you have Internet, all off these are easy to get (streaming TV and movies, imessages/whatsapp etc for messaging/texting and wifi calling) but then you need to pay for them separately when they are not free, there is no ‘Starlink bundle’ that has TV/phone/streaming/storage in it.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by sailcrazy

following. For us electronically challenged....does this system only support WiFi? or is TV/streaming services also included? How about Cell phone text?voice? voice & pics?

It's the internet
So whatever the internet does

[Seafarer7]

Originally Posted by Tenedos

Since then, I cut the cable and put a PoE injector to use it with a 12-48v upconverter, which is more efficient compared to an inverter.

Tenedos
How did you do this? Starlink v2 doesn’t have a separate wall “wart” charger, so 120v AC goes directly into the router, from what I see. How are you able to run it without an inverter? Did you open up the router to bypass the internal AC-to-DC converter?

[Tenedos]

Originally Posted by Seafarer7

Tenedos
How did you do this? Starlink v2 doesn’t have a separate wall “wart” charger, so 120v AC goes directly into the router, from what I see. How are you able to run it without an inverter? Did you open up the router to bypass the internal AC-to-DC converter?

It is quite a bit of hacking but once you get to it, not super difficult. Essentially you get rid of the router and use your own router and power with a PoE injector from whatever power source you want.

Starlink uses the standard ethernet cable with proprietary connectors. They also use reverse polarization on the cable. So you need to cut the cable and crimp your own RJ45 connectors with swapped green and blue wires. Then you can run it through a PoE injector (not all of them will work, you will need something like Tycon POE-INJ-1000-WT) and then can use your own power source for the injector. I used a 12-48V step-up converter for such purpose.

I am attaching the pinout that I used and the photo I took with my crimped cable. BTW, I wasn't the one who figured this out, nor was I the first one doing it. So full credit goes to some unknown person.

Also, in my case, cutting the cable was necessary even if I didn't need the custom router and DC power, since I routed the cable through the arch.

[Seafarer7]

Originally Posted by Tenedos

It is quite a bit of hacking but once you get to it, not super difficult. Essentially you get rid of the router and use your own router and power with a PoE injector from whatever power source you want.



Starlink uses the standard ethernet cable with proprietary connectors. They also use reverse polarization on the cable. So you need to cut the cable and crimp your own RJ45 connectors with swapped green and blue wires. Then you can run it through a PoE injector (not all of them will work, you will need something like Tycon POE-INJ-1000-WT) and then can use your own power source for the injector. I used a 12-48V step-up converter for such purpose.



I am attaching the pinout that I used and the photo I took with my crimped cable. BTW, I wasn't the one who figured this out, nor was I the first one doing it. So full credit goes to some unknown person.



Also, in my case, cutting the cable was necessary even if I didn't need the custom router and DC power, since I routed the cable through the arch.

Fantastic! With this “surgery” you should likely be able to further reduce the overall power consumption.

[heizer1]

These are amazing news that Roaming seems to be enabled - does anybody having experience crossing borders? We‘re in the meds here and do frequently cross borders.

[Tenedos]

Originally Posted by heizer1

These are amazing news that Roaming seems to be enabled - does anybody having experience crossing borders? We‘re in the meds here and do frequently cross borders.

We haven’t yet. But there are numerous reports from boaters and RV’ers that they have successfully roamed between US and Mexico and US and Canada with US and Canadian dishes.

[Drek4]

Originally Posted by Tenedos

This is only Internet. No TV, text, phone by itself etc. That being said, when you have Internet, all off these are easy to get (streaming TV and movies, imessages/whatsapp etc for messaging/texting and wifi calling) but then you need to pay for them separately when they are not free, there is no ‘Starlink bundle’ that has TV/phone/streaming/storage in it.

Once you're on the internet, you can do anything then, just need sufficient bandwidth to accomplish the task.

[HeywoodJ]

A Dishy firmware update on 9 February 2022 added the roaming capability. At about the same time Starlink changed their pre-order agreement to include the following language:

SERVICE PORTABILITY.
Secondary Service Locations. If the portability feature (“Portability”) is available in your region, you may relocate your Kit and access Services at locations outside your registered Service address on your account (“Secondary Location(s)”). Service at Secondary Locations will be best effort and users may see slower speeds during times of network congestion. Starlink does not support in motion or mobility Services. Using the Starlink Kit in motion will void the Limited Warranty of your Kit. Visit https://support.starlink.com/ to verify if Portability is supported in a region.

Limitations and Requirements. Starlink does not guarantee when or where Portability will be available. Portability is dependent on many factors, including obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals. You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for (a) understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations associated with your use of Portability Services and the Kit; and (b) stopping use of the Portability Services or Kit if you are in an unsupported geographic location. At its sole discretion, Starlink may update the primary address registered on your account along with invoicing requirements if you use Services at a Secondary Location for an extended period.

note the legalese, Starlink is CYA because they don't have licenses to allow mobile operation (other than a handful of test licenses assigned to the SpaceX recovery vessels).

[toddster8]

I wonder if mobile use will cause the positioning motors to work significantly more than they were designed for? Or if this was a trick that they always had hidden up their sleeve.

[Tenedos]

Originally Posted by toddster8

I wonder if mobile use will cause the positioning motors to work significantly more than they were designed for? Or if this was a trick that they always had hidden up their sleeve.

There are several schools of though on this one so far.

One camp (which I belong to) simply stow the Starlink while moving. We don't need Internet while moving so why risk it? I actually wrote a custom Signal K plugin to do this automatically. So when the boat starts moving, the dish gets stowed and it is brought back up when we anchor or dock. This is all automated so I don't need to worry about remembering it.

Another camp actually asserts that motors are no longer needed since there are enough satellites in the sky. So a few people have deliberately disabled their motors on the antennas and have them permanently point up in a horizontal position. The argument is that are are always enough satellites in the antenna's 100 degree coverage area and there will be more and more satellites, motors are redundant and will be removed in the official mobile solution. They report credibly that this has been working for them, even while moving. I am personally a little skeptical about this approach for the longer term though, since while it may be working now, I am not sure it will always work.