I wanted to flat mount my Starlink Dishy without modifying it or cutting it open so I could use it mobile on top of my overland expedition truck. This is my story. Also includes in-motion (mobile) testing!
I was going to build a similar setup but went a different direction. I was going to get a hitch carrier and mount the box to it so it would be easy to install/remove from the vehicle and I didn’t want to roof mount. Be careful running the dish from stock twelve volt power may damage your standard vehicle battery if done for long. I built a AGM battery and power inverter setup. You could make a simple aluminum frame for the clear plastic that would help secure and give it strength. I like your custom router setup. Nice work. Thanks for posting.
You shouldn't even need to cut a hole in the box. Just mount the dish under the box lid. People mount them under fiberglass decks in boats and they work fine. Evidently the frequency it operates at goes right through fiberglass. Should go through a thin layer of plastic as well.
Thanks for your video. I was thinking about a similar approach but would cut off the post about 1 inch below the housing. To use the system in a standard way, the part cut-off would have to be put back into the unit (using some sort of inside tube). This would allow us to have a box with reduced height.
Ryan and Beatmeier, after watching the beginning of the video, I was thinking the same. Cut the post so you reduce the depth of the enclosure. Then can make an adapter to join the two pieces of the post again to restore original functionality. Then I don’t think you void your warranty or support. Thanks for the video and comments to spur variations of your concept. Now to find a Pelican type case that will fit the dish. Maybe something cheap from Harbor Freight will work.
When can we expect the breakdown of the router mod? I really want to see how you have done it as I want to hook up my SL direct to my 48v system in Mexico to avoid the conversion losses. Also, since you have been "Inside" the router, is it possible to power the dish using POE? I run Ubiquiti Unifi and have POE available and it would be awesome if I could power is using that. You'll earn my sub 😉
Have to remember satellites travel East to West as the Earth rotates, just like the sun. The array antennas are tracking then in that orientation so when you turn 90 degrees to the South the antenna are now angled to the North instead of to the East.
Details of your router mods would be great. I was thinking of taking a static SL system (being cheaper) on a Caravan trip around Australia but wasnt sure it would work. Not sure why you really need the mobile version? You have shown that it could work or is this the mobile version? Anyway, keep up the great videos.
Hi, I wonder, is it possible you just shorten the tube from the dish and fabricate a sleeve that connect the piece you cut off may you want to use the foot again? That way you can use a much lower box?
Yes as someone else mentioned, did you check if it works through one layer of blue plastic ? It works through the thick Perspex you used so should work through the blue plastic I would think. I put one of those thick orange plastic bags over my dish when it's outside and it made no difference to signal strength
Don’t get me wrong, your video is/was great. I just don’t get why everyone that’s gets the StarLink the first thing they do is cut it all up to “make it better.” Musk hires the top engineers in the world to design the components and hardware. Why is what you’re doing better then the top guys?
Elon has almost nothing to do with the products that spaceX is building and supporting within the StarLink line of products and considering how big the companies he is managing are, I would venture to guess he has very little to do with hands on hiring for the majority of staff. If his engineers were the top engineers in the world we would not have so many revisions in the hardware between the gen 1 and gen 2 equipment. It appears they are currently on revision 7. The world of modding opens up ways to better utilize and even repair products and that is almost always a good thing for the consumer. Elon had also claimed last year that the next major version update to StarLink is going to be able to beam directly to smartphones this year so if that is the case they may soon be rolling out a much smaller starlink dish without positioning motors and a rigid flat or near flat mount. But who knows since most of the time when Elon says something is going to come out in 1 or 2 years you have to expect it will really take 5-10 years in most cases. At the end of the day StarLink is still not profitable and is still losing money at a pretty incredible rate and they still have 7300 satellites to deploy of the original approved batch of 12000 that were approved years ago. So even though they have reduced the per unit BOM cost and increased prices they are still losing money on the overall system since putting satellites into orbit is far more difficult that they originally thought. On top of that, SpaceX plans to deploy an additional 30000 after the first 12000 but we will have to see how many years that will take but I would guess its going to be at least another 10-15 years and by that point they will have also replaced all of the ones currently in orbit since they only last about 5 years. If we have any more severe solar weather we can also expect delays as that weather takes out satellites here and there.
