Ive finally gotten around to getting Starlink hooked back up. When I got wind of the new(V3) dish essentially being flat, and "allowing" in motion use, and only costing $299 I decided to spring for it. I also decided to splurge on some aftermarket stuff to make the setup a little more modular. I was never able to get anywhere with the company that made the failed flatmount that fried my previous (V2) dish because they make a terrible product, have terrible(read: no) customer service and don't stand behind their products. That guys company is called Starmount Systems. I cant recommend them to anyone, their products are crap and they have no warranty whatsoever.
Anyway, the new mount I decided to go with is from a small outfit in Canada called Trio. They are much better to work with. I got their Starlink V3 flatmount and 12v conversion. When it showed up one of the pieces was broken in the box and they shipped a new piece immediately, no questions asked. Already better than the last guy. Nearly everything they make is 3D printed. The piece that was broken had cracked right along a print line, only time will tell how long this mount lasts. At least I didnt have to cut open the dish to make it work.
The coolest (and most expensive) part about this setup is the 12v all in one setup. It has an integrated router so you can run the flatmount/router as one complete unit and easily move it from vehicle to vehicle or to your house, or set it on the ground to get open sky etc. Thankfully the V3 dish uses standard ethernet cables now. (Im genuinely surprised Elon did this, knowing how he behaves.) Since the router is integrated all you have to do is wire up the 12v converter to your vehicle and run a power cable to it. Trio sells converters in various styles so you can hardwire it or just plug it into a cigarette lighter. I bought a couple hardwired converters, one for the RV and one for the Blazer and then a cigarette lighter version for whatever else we might want to use it on.
Trio sells a variety of mounts so you can make it work for any vehicle. There are also bolt holes in the corners so you can literally just bolt it onto something if you want. I chose magnetic feet that bolt to the flat mount which makes swapping the dish between vehicles super simple. The magnets are super strong and they even sell matching magnetic discs with 3M UHB tape in case you dont have a steel roof to mount the dish.
The flat mount is simply 4 pieces of plastic that form a square you bolt around the dish. You can leave the factory "kickstand" in place if you want, even when using the all in one 12v/router system, which is pretty slick. All the connections are IP67 sealed and standard ethernet ports.
The magnetic feet have a threaded bung in the center so you can bolt them to the flat mount. When using the all in one setup you bolt the router in place using two of the magnetic feet. I loctite'd them for obvious reasons. The system is very well thought out and really compact. The whole thing is less than 2" tall.
Here is the RV roof setup. I removed the old Starlink cable and ran the new 12v power cable through the same marine cable pass through. I simply cleaned the roof with alcohol and stuck the magnetic pads down. 3M tape is unbelievably strong. I had to use a large flat object to pry up the dish to remove it after the test fit.
Here I tested the dish with the cigarette lighter. Works like a charm. Only thing it cant do is power the snowmelt feature because a cigarette lighter does not have enough amperage. I got an extra 40' cable so the dish can be put just about anywhere to get a signal.
Quite happy with the results. Cant wait to try it in motion.
