Spencer for Hire
Active member
Great, looking forward to it since you have done so much with the Tramp. Hopefully it has a quieter ac.
Supertramp Flagship LT pop-up slide-in pickup camper
- Thread starter Chadx
- Start date
lucilius
Active member
I've found Starlink power consumption is mitigated when you use the ethernet connection and disable wifi.
DTAdventure
Active member
I switched to a small travel WIFI router, but my overall testing shows that the high-performance dish is just consuming a lot of power and there is no way around that. But I also turn it off more often now to reduce consumption a little bit (mainly during non-work hours that is). I did not test your recommendation, but will keep that in mind for my next rig.
For your next rig: forget the high perf dish. The new flat dish performs well and can be permanently mounted and converted to 12v in 10 minutes thanks to a neat all in one box. It even includes quick release mount.
Uses 50w instead of 150w and lets you turn off inverter to save even more power. The 12V conversion box which seamlessly attach to the dish includes its own router so you don’t need any router anymore, saving space.
The high perf is not needed anymore there are enough satellites to leave the new basic dish semi flat.
As of 2024, there is 0 reason to mount the high perf dish on a RV. Who would pay 3x the price for 3x more power consumption, and more space use?
SimplyAnAdventure
Well-known member
I’d somewhat agree with this… I’m running a converted standard dish not converted to 12V but wired into my inverter (not plugged in). That way when I want to use the Starlink I power up the inverter when I don’t it’s off. It works well for me but I’m not a heavy user.For your next rig: forget the high perf dish. The new flat dish performs well and can be permanently mounted and converted to 12v in 10 minutes thanks to a neat all in one box. It even includes quick release mount.
Uses 50w instead of 150w and lets you turn off inverter to save even more power. The 12V conversion box which seamlessly attach to the dish includes its own router so you don’t need any router anymore, saving space.
The high perf is not needed anymore there are enough satellites to leave the new basic dish semi flat.
As of 2024, there is 0 reason to mount the high perf dish on a RV. Who would pay 3x the price for 3x more power consumption, and more space use?
I will say @DTAdventure did his homework first and tried the other dish but found it limited his work abilities at times which is why he went to the more powerful dish to start with.
If there was no cause for anytime to pay 3X more it would not exist so there’s some need. I know Chris had connection issues and didn’t want to risk his livelihood for a few bucks increase which is why he went for the larger multi satellite version.
DTAdventure
Active member
You summed it up pretty good. I have a bit more time to do research on the newer residential dish to see if it works better for me, but for the moment I am planning to use the high performance dish again. But again, I have time until September.
Your roof looks great. Are these Seasucker suction cups that hold the dish? I am using magnets.
SimplyAnAdventure
Well-known member
Yes those are seasucker mounts 4
Of them holding the dish. Obviously you know my truck is parked right now for winter but they held in great for over 2,000 miles while I made my way back from CO. ST did send out a warning to check them (as it was getting cold) but so far so good.
SimplyAnAdventure
Well-known member
So i did some research on the new dish before we settled on this one. It’s larger by quite a bit and definitely draws more power than mine. The only added benefit I saw between mine and the newer larger one is slightly broader angle of operation. I liked the smaller footprint and lower power draw of this one and if this one woulnt work I was going to the one you use. The one in the middle seems a little superfluous to me.
DTAdventure
Active member
The 12V converted version is hard to beat from a power consumption perspective. And size of course matters as well.
SimplyAnAdventure
Well-known member
I wonder what the Watt difference really is on the 12V vs standard.
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Watts are watts, so the consumption watts of the skylink itself would be the same between 120v and 12v minus any internal skylink conversion efficiencies (I don't know it's native voltage, but by the comments, I'll assume it's 12v). So it's really just the efficiency losses of the inverter (usually 2% to 8%; not sure on the Supertramp Go Power inverter specs) plus ithe inverters overhead consumption of just being powered on. If the skylink internal voltage is 12v, then you are going straight from 12v to 12v. Rather than from 12v battery bank, to 120v inverter, to 120v skylink plug and then the internal conversion to 12v again. But if the Skylink was natively 12v, I would think it would come with a 12v plug and then those that wanted to run it off 120v (home use) would be using a 12v converter. So maybe they are not natively 12v internally. Or, have a wide range of allowable input voltages (12v - 240v). Can someone share Skylink specs that knows both the allowable input voltage range and the native/internal voltage?
SimplyAnAdventure
Well-known member
That was kinda my exact point. Also i think the Starlink operates at 48V for some reason though I could be wrong. So you lose 2-8% efficiency…. BFD lol. I don’t mind running the inverter and losing a fraction of my power….
Hey speaking of power. What do you know about external solar panels? Goal Zero has a new soft foldable 400W…. I was initially thinking of adding a second solar charger and and external port but now I’m thinking something like the two BC/DC chargers @DTAdventure uses is even smarter.. roof top solar into one, portable solar into the other and 50A charging DC/DC for both….
Chris. Does your external solar charge your house batteries or just your solar generator? Also I enjoyed your newest video.
His external solar plug ties into his REDARCS and so charge the house battery. Portable solar panels can plug directly into the "solar generator" because it has it's own built-in solar controller.
@Tramper Other than redundancy or capacity, there isn't really any reason to wire external solar plug to a different solar controller than your main solar controller. For many, the main use for portable is to allow parking the rig (and therefore, the roof-top solar array) in the shade and then set portable panels out in the sun. Or, if cloudy or low sun (early morning, evening, winter) and the rooftop panels are not maxing out your solar controller, one can add portable panels to collect more solar to max out your the existing solar controller.
It won't take much to hit the max on the stock solar controller, but if you replace it with a REDARD 50amp all-in-one, for example, you'd have a lot more ceiling. Then, you could be camped and run all your solar panels (roof and portable) through that one unit all the way up to 50amps. Or, while driving, it would combine the solar input from the roof array and then add in DC charging from pickup all the way up to the max combined charging of 50amps.
Another option, like you mentioned, is keeping current DC and current solar controllers and adding additional solar controller for portable solar. But then you'll get itchy for the sweet new Victron 50amp DC charger you mentioned and end up replacing the 30amp DC charger with the new 50amp DC charger and updating that cable anyway. but unless you like the idea of having separate DC and solar chargers, a combined unit might be a better use of space and easier wiring (roof solar, external solar plug, DC input, AC input all wire into one unit).
I know you had a decently-long shakeout trip on your way home from picking up your Supertramp, which gave you a little insight into your power needs, but you might end up needing to put the rig through it's paces on a wider variety of trips in order to determine where the deficiencies are. Then plan your charging upgrade from there. I'm a big fan of data-driven changes. Determine where you typically park (open sun or shaded where external panels would be your primary charging) and time of year (high sun, low sun, often cloudy/rainy or usually sunny) to see if rooftop gives you the input you need with stock controller or you want to wire in external plug to use additional panels to max out stock solar controller or you upgrade solar controller for higher max output. And, determine how long you stay in one spot. If you move every night or only once a week, etc. And, how long you are driving when you do move (I say how long and not how far because for DC charging, number of hour is important; number of miles is not). That will influence what you want for charging... Huge cables and huge DC chargers for 50 to 100amps of charging for short 1 to 3 hour runtime...or 30 to 50amps will suffice because runtime is 3 to 5 hours at a time.
@Tramper Other than redundancy or capacity, there isn't really any reason to wire external solar plug to a different solar controller than your main solar controller. For many, the main use for portable is to allow parking the rig (and therefore, the roof-top solar array) in the shade and then set portable panels out in the sun. Or, if cloudy or low sun (early morning, evening, winter) and the rooftop panels are not maxing out your solar controller, one can add portable panels to collect more solar to max out your the existing solar controller.
It won't take much to hit the max on the stock solar controller, but if you replace it with a REDARD 50amp all-in-one, for example, you'd have a lot more ceiling. Then, you could be camped and run all your solar panels (roof and portable) through that one unit all the way up to 50amps. Or, while driving, it would combine the solar input from the roof array and then add in DC charging from pickup all the way up to the max combined charging of 50amps.
Another option, like you mentioned, is keeping current DC and current solar controllers and adding additional solar controller for portable solar. But then you'll get itchy for the sweet new Victron 50amp DC charger you mentioned and end up replacing the 30amp DC charger with the new 50amp DC charger and updating that cable anyway. but unless you like the idea of having separate DC and solar chargers, a combined unit might be a better use of space and easier wiring (roof solar, external solar plug, DC input, AC input all wire into one unit).
I know you had a decently-long shakeout trip on your way home from picking up your Supertramp, which gave you a little insight into your power needs, but you might end up needing to put the rig through it's paces on a wider variety of trips in order to determine where the deficiencies are. Then plan your charging upgrade from there. I'm a big fan of data-driven changes. Determine where you typically park (open sun or shaded where external panels would be your primary charging) and time of year (high sun, low sun, often cloudy/rainy or usually sunny) to see if rooftop gives you the input you need with stock controller or you want to wire in external plug to use additional panels to max out stock solar controller or you upgrade solar controller for higher max output. And, determine how long you stay in one spot. If you move every night or only once a week, etc. And, how long you are driving when you do move (I say how long and not how far because for DC charging, number of hour is important; number of miles is not). That will influence what you want for charging... Huge cables and huge DC chargers for 50 to 100amps of charging for short 1 to 3 hour runtime...or 30 to 50amps will suffice because runtime is 3 to 5 hours at a time.
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It’s not because there was a need for a product to exist at a point in time, that it means it is still needed today when other products are available and the conditions did change.
There was a very clear need when it was released. Now, that need is less clear in my opinion for 2 reasons:
- There are many more satellites up than there were when the perf dish was released
- The new V3 dish has a larger field than the V2
The combination of those 2 factors makes the V3 working perfect for overlanding and the high performance dish less useful, at least as far as I am concerned. Now maybe I am wrong about saying there is “no need” because to each his own of course.
But It looks like none of you two tested the V3 so you can’t call the opposite either
A few people uncorectly reported during unboxings high power consumption. In reality it uses the same power as V2 or close to it. See one recent test here that reflects my own as well:
49W is a lot closer to the V2 than the high perf dish which in my opinion uses an unreasonable amount of power for overlanding.
So at the end of they, if you are both happy with the V2 and the high perf dish this is what matters.
But for people who might read this, I just wanted to clear out the fact that the V3 has equivalent power draw, better field and is performing enough for most overlanding use while keeping power in check. Your mileage may vary.
A Starlink mini dish is in the work and it will be interesting to see how that one turns out.
SimplyAnAdventure
Well-known member
That is good info thank you. I will note that both Chris and I have vehicles and have Starlinks that are in use so our feedback, while perhaps not what you want to hear is actual real world feedback. As I said Chris had connection issues and went to a better dish to ensure those were solved. Me I ran mine for about 2000 miles and my wife was able to video call and only lost the signal exactly 2 times. Both times in North Carolina and both times we were in a tunnel so I suspect no satellite dish would work in there. I’ll be very interested to hear your feedback on the new dish when you get it running. They all seem to work insanely well. The thought of high speed internet anywhere is amazing. It’s also horrible and I HATE it with my entire soul. I understand technology changes. I’m definitely waiting for a small mobile unit to be released to compare but right now I can’t see changing the unit I have as it works 100%. I do think if under tree cover maybe you’d start to see a difference. Everywhere I used it had a wide open sky view so I wouldn’t expect problems.It’s not because there was a need for a product to exist at a point in time, that it means it is still needed today when other products are available and the conditions did change.
There was a very clear need when it was released. Now, that need is less clear in my opinion for 2 reasons:
- There are many more satellites up than there were when the perf dish was released
- The new V3 dish has a larger field than the V2
The combination of those 2 factors makes the V3 working perfect for overlanding and the high performance dish less useful, at least as far as I am concerned. Now maybe I am wrong about saying there is “no need” because to each his own of course.
But It looks like none of you two tested the V3 so you can’t call the opposite either
A few people uncorectly reported during unboxings high power consumption. In reality it uses the same power as V2 or close to it. See one recent test here that reflects my own as well:
49W is a lot closer to the V2 than the high perf dish which in my opinion uses an unreasonable amount of power for overlanding.
So at the end of they, if you are both happy with the V2 and the high perf dish this is what matters.
But for people who might read this, I just wanted to clear out the fact that the V3 has equivalent power draw, better field and is performing enough for most overlanding use while keeping power in check. Your mileage may vary.
A Starlink mini dish is in the work and it will be interesting to see how that one turns out.
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