kbeefy
Senior Member
I recently decided to get myself a Starlink Mini. I have been relying on Cell reception while camping for 14+ years, and ironically in the last few years I have found myself without service more and more. I finally bit the bullet.
I spent quite a while figuring out what sort of pass-thru fittings would be appropriate for the starlink power cord to mount it on the roof. The roof is fiberglass, so all the magnetic mounts won't work. Suction cups won't work either. Some sort of 'bolt thru' mount was required.
Somehow I eventually figured out that Starlink can function thru some materials. One of those materials is fiberglass. My van has a pop up fiberglass top. Will it work mounted under the top instead of on top? That would solve a dozen logistical issues....
YES. It will, and it does.
Mounted it inside under my not SMB pop top, works great. Better than the internet at my house (which is terrible, BTW).
Wired it on a switch, it's actually quite noisy. I plan on using it when cell service is bad, so it won't be on all the time.
If you plan on having it on all the time, I'd position it with other noisy equipment or where you don't care about noise. Ours is mounted right above our bed, but since we don't need interwebs while we sleep, and I wired a switch into the circuit, we can shut it off whenever we want.
It looks to pull about 2Amps while operating. That number fluctuates, but not a lot. I've heard it will be higher in colder climates. Being ADHD about energy consumption, I don't like it but I'm totally OK with it as it's satellite communication. Messages going to frikin space and back. For 2Amps. From a frisbee sized piece of plastic. Not just messages. Internet. TikTok or YouTube. Whatever you want.
EDIT: And WiFi calling. And it has a built in router!
Speedtest was 50 up/20 down. From inside my van 5 minutes after powering up, without positioning at all. Haven't checked while moving.
I spent quite a while figuring out what sort of pass-thru fittings would be appropriate for the starlink power cord to mount it on the roof. The roof is fiberglass, so all the magnetic mounts won't work. Suction cups won't work either. Some sort of 'bolt thru' mount was required.
Somehow I eventually figured out that Starlink can function thru some materials. One of those materials is fiberglass. My van has a pop up fiberglass top. Will it work mounted under the top instead of on top? That would solve a dozen logistical issues....
YES. It will, and it does.
Mounted it inside under my not SMB pop top, works great. Better than the internet at my house (which is terrible, BTW).
Wired it on a switch, it's actually quite noisy. I plan on using it when cell service is bad, so it won't be on all the time.
If you plan on having it on all the time, I'd position it with other noisy equipment or where you don't care about noise. Ours is mounted right above our bed, but since we don't need interwebs while we sleep, and I wired a switch into the circuit, we can shut it off whenever we want.
It looks to pull about 2Amps while operating. That number fluctuates, but not a lot. I've heard it will be higher in colder climates. Being ADHD about energy consumption, I don't like it but I'm totally OK with it as it's satellite communication. Messages going to frikin space and back. For 2Amps. From a frisbee sized piece of plastic. Not just messages. Internet. TikTok or YouTube. Whatever you want.
EDIT: And WiFi calling. And it has a built in router!
Speedtest was 50 up/20 down. From inside my van 5 minutes after powering up, without positioning at all. Haven't checked while moving.
Last edited: