Starlink Mini Power Setup Questions

[georgeofthedesert]

I have been going through everything I could find on YouTube and the googles and I'm not finding anything that really eludes to suggestions or a lot of info for what I'm looking for, I understand the Starlink Mini was released and that is probably the main reason along with my lack of knowledge to gleam the right information from the stats that were discussed. But I'm wondering for the folks that are using the Mini, what are you doing for a power source? My overall goal is working while in spots with no power/internet since my wife and I work from home. The technical goal is to have a power bank and solar panel that can run the Starlink Mini and recharge laptops a couple times a day (MacBook and general HP laptop), and that's all this power bank will be doing. I have a FourWheel camper to power/charge everything else and that power source can be used for the laptops/Starlink as well, it has a 160W solar panel to charges it's own 6vAGM (x2) batteries. However since that setup runs the fridge, lights, charges cell phones at night, etc. I would like to keep the laptops and Starlink off that source. Since this is mainly to use for work it will be used during the day, 8 am - 5pm, while the sun is out so I'm hoping solar would help keep the power bank from draining too much. With that being said my initial thoughts are a 1000w bank (Jackery, Anger, Bluetti, etc.) with a 100w portable solar panel. Does that seem reasonable for the goal? With the Starlink Mini using a bit less power than the full sized setup I'm questioning if that size of a setup is needed, or if I'm way off and it isn't enough.

I know the laptop side of the equation is the main power consumer in this situation. So it might be overkill for the Starlink side, but not enough for the laptop charging side, or it's OK for either but not for both. So I'm looking for a bit of insight to see if my plan should be adjusted.

 

[kga1978]

I would just use the FourWheel camper battery you already have since the Mini only draws ~25 watts when on. If you do want an external source, a portable station like the Jackery Explorer 500 should allow you to run for almost 24 hours before deplated.

 

[crazysccrmd]

Starlink Mini Portable Dish With Integrated Wi-Fi Router

Starlink Mini Portable Dish With Integrated Wi-Fi Router Soon https://www.autoevolution.com/news/spacex-to-launch-starlink-mini-portable-dish-with-integrated-wi-fi-router-soon-235510.html

expeditionportal.com

 

[georgeofthedesert]

I would just use the FourWheel camper battery you already have since the Mini only draws ~25 watts when on. If you do want an external source, a portable station like the Jackery Explorer 500 should allow you to run for almost 24 hours before deplated.

Thanks! I kept trying to figure out if I was way off but that's what I kept thinking. That original setup idea with the 1000w portable power station and 100w portable solar panel was the plan with the Gen2 (plus laptop charging). With the mini the power draw seemed way lower wattage wise, but no one really correlated it to how much battery it was using on things. It was always just it's pulling whatever watts, but I wasn't trusting my math without something to confirm it against (aka someone saying with this power source it uses this much percentage per hour to contextualize how that wattage is used).

Starlink Mini Portable Dish With Integrated Wi-Fi Router

Starlink Mini Portable Dish With Integrated Wi-Fi Router Soon https://www.autoevolution.com/news/spacex-to-launch-starlink-mini-portable-dish-with-integrated-wi-fi-router-soon-235510.html

expeditionportal.com

Thanks for that link, I'm following that thread now to see what folks are doing and how they are setting things up.

 

[rruff]

I know the laptop side of the equation is the main power consumer in this situation.

When I investigated the Mini, I saw that it draws ~30W in use. Even if your laptop is a large gaming beast like mine, it typically draws <20W unless doing heavy work.

Use auto adapters for your laptops, rather than the inverters.

With the mini the power draw seemed way lower wattage wise, but no one really correlated it to how much battery it was using on things.

You need the Wh capacity of the power station, or whatever you use to run it. Wh is energy. 1000 Wh will supply 100W of power for 10 hrs. Ah x V = Wh.

Frankly, I think this is a good time to upgrade your camper batteries to LiFe, and run everything off the same system.

 

[crazysccrmd]

Frankly, I think this is a good time to upgrade your camper batteries to LiFe, and run everything off the same system.

I agree with this. Rather than buying a portable power pack and solar panel buy new lithium batteries for the camper and either put another solar panel on the roof or plug the portable into the outside port (if your FWC has one).

 

[dstock]

We recently picked up a Starlink Mini and I am working on getting it setup on our FWC Project M.

For power, we have a 100ah Lifpo system for the FWC and 200 watts of solar on the roof. Additionally, we have a Bluetti AC70 and a 200 watt portable panel. I'm likely going to run the Mini off the Bluetti when parked, and leave the camper system to power fridge, lights etc. I do have the ability to keep everything charged up while driving.

I don't have much real use data yet, still getting all the bits together to get this setup. I can tell you the power draw from the Mini bounces around a bit, from 20-50 watts depending on how much you are using it.

I'm going to be flat mounting the Mini to the roof with a Striker Fabrications mount and some 80/20 bars, it will sit right next to the rear fan on the camper and I'm using a Scanstrut cable seal to go through the roof into one of the access panels on the FWC. It will also be fairly easy to remove when we don't want it up there or need to relocate it for reception.

I will get some pics posted when it's setup, hope to be able to knock it out this weekend.