Elon Musk has ever said, Starlink is awesome for RV’s, camping or any activity away from cities. That’s right! It’s 2024 and not 1980 anymore. Lots of people need wifi when camping or off gridding. And yes off grid people have jobs and work remotely.
You may be very excited after installing Starlink at the prospect of having unlimited stable internet. But soon, you would be quite surprised by how power hungry Starlink is.
Then, what’s the Starlink power consumption on RV camping or off grid living? I did lots of research about it.
What is the source of Starlink power consumption?
First, let's look at a quick overview of how Starlink works and its standard power requirements. Starlink has two basic components: the satellite dish, affectionately known as 'Dishy', and the router.
Number 1: the dishy
The rectangular Dishy antenna ensures transmission and reception with satellites, and can be oriented using motors.
the 'Dishy' connects to the router via an ethernet cable, which has two proprietary connectors. This cable uses something called 'power over ethernet' or PoE. It's supplying the necessary 48V power for the dish.
Number 2: the router
The Starlink router manages the antenna power supply (PoE) and the wifi network. It performs a conversion from 110/220V AC to 48V DC to power the antenna. That’s also the reason why Starlink router is the most power hungry.
The official power supply of Starlink requires AC 100V-240V access. While on a boat, van or cabin, we usually use DC 12V battery banks as the power source. In this way, we must use an inverter to step up the 12V voltage to 100V-240V to meet the Starlink power supply. Therefore, it forms a DC-AC-DC cycle.
However, even the most power efficient inverters, can lose at least 10% of power. The power consumption of these multiple current conversions (12V -> 110/220V -> 48V) eventually add up to at least 30%. A very big number. That’s the reason why lots of RVers are looking for Starlink 12V conversion kit.
How many power does Starlink really use in RV?
About the power usage of a Starlink, we checked the official data online. Here are the details:
Gen 2 Standard Actuated: 50 - 75 Watts
Gen 3 Standard new: 75-100 Watts
Gen2 Flat high performance: 110-150 Watts
Actually, there are several factors affect the Starlink's power consumption.
Network Activity
What the Internet is doing would directly affect Starlink's power consumption. The more data required, the more power the dish and router will consume. This means more power consumption would be taken on livestreaming, downloading large files, playing video games, and using video calls.
I find that with low usage (not heavy download/streaming/gaming) and clear skies it will often sit at less than 30 watts for the entire setup. Normal use it jumps between 30-45 watts, and snow melt it launches up to around 80-100watts.
Weather & Physical Obstructions
With rainy or heavy cloudy day, or under shade of trees or hills, the dish might have to frequently re-establish connections with satellites. So, the power consumption may increase.
We learned from some campers that, power draw from Starlink is typically 30-40 watts on a clear day, with no wind, airplanes, smoke, dust, or low flying owls.
If anything gets in the way, Starlink can and will ramp up to ~140-150 watts A/C intermittently, and if it's raining heavily, it will stay up there around 150W.
Also, the Starlink power consumption is different between the dishy sleep and active mode. Some campers also made tests. Here are some statistics:
- Dishy sleep mode (router & AP still on): 37-42W average
- Dishy in use: 40-130W
Conclusion
The Starlink power consumption can reach 40-130 watts in usage. If we use Internet for 8 hours per day, that means at least 320 watts is needed daily. This information is important. There are so many variables that will impact how much wind/solar you can generate on the go.
Therefore, the power consumption issue isn’t overblown for RV traveling or off grid living. The inverter is a large power draw through losses during conversion from dc to ac and back to dc. Now, it’s time to consider the Starlink 12V power supply to save energy!
