Starlink officially launched their Mobile (also called Roam) service tier way back in May of 2022, but the lack of official accessories made for RV’s continues to baffle me and many of my readers. The most requested accessory for Starlink Roam is a 12V DC power supply. So far, Starlink hasn’t delivered in that area. Thankfully, 3rd party companies have answered the call, and there are several ways to create your own Starlink DC power supply.
With a few supplies, and basic electrical skills, you can build your own DC power supply for Starlink. It can be powered by your existing 12V, 24V, or 48V power system. If you don’t want to deal with inverters, and wish to run Starlink directly from your battery system, this is the guide for you.
In this tutorial, I will show you two popular methods to build a 12V DC power supply for the Standard (rectangular) Starlink dish. I will first explain why you would even want one. Then I will talk about all the supplies needed for this project. Finally, I’ll walk you through the process step by step.
Warning: Use this guide at your own risk. Electricity can be dangerous if proper safety precautions aren't followed. Modifying any of the Starlink hardware will void your warranty.
Table of Contents
Why DC Power?
RV’s, vans, overlanding rigs, and even off-grid cabins use batteries for electricity. Efficiency is extremely important to maximize the amount of energy available. The Starlink router doubles as a power supply for the dish. It converts AC power from the wall plug into usable 48V DC power for the dish.
That’s fine for residential applications, where you are connected to the grid and have AC power readily available. But with an off-grid battery system, you need an inverter to get AC power. So you would be going from DC to AC, and then back to DC in the router. That extra conversion to AC creates an efficiency issue, and wastes precious energy.
Two Methods To Build A DC Power Supply
This guide is on its second version. When I first wrote it, Yaosheng wasn’t making their Starlink cable adapter or POE injector. If you wanted to build a DC power supply for Starlink, you had to be comfortable cutting the cable in order to install an RJ45 connector.
Now, building a 12V power supply for Starlink Roam is a lot easier. Using a special adapter, you can avoid cutting the Starlink cable. No more worrying about wiring pinouts or damaging your hardware. It’s virtually plug and play these days.
So, just pick one method below to see how I built my own DC power supply:
Method 1 – The Easy Way – This method doesn’t require any modifications to the Starlink equipment. No cable cutting, no RJ45 connectors. This method is more expensive, and recommended for people without electrical skills.
Method 2 – The Cheap Way – This is the older method, which involves modifying the Starlink cable with an RJ45 connector. This way is much cheaper, but involves more electrical work.
Method 1 – The Easy Way
If you want a plug and play DC power supply for Starlink, the easy way that follows is for you. With just a few components, you can run the Standard Starlink dish from your RV/van/off-grid battery system.
Supplies Needed
Note: This article may contain affiliate links for the products mentioned
48V DC-DC Converter – #CommissionsEarned
Yaosheng Dishy Cable Adapter – #CommissionsEarned
Yaosheng POE Injector – #CommissionsEarned
- 48V DC to DC converter – This DC/DC power supply takes either 12V or 24V from your battery and converts it to the 48V required to power the Starlink dish. If your battery system is already 48V, you can skip this.
- Yaosheng Dishy Cable Adapter – This adapter accepts the Starlink cable on one end, and has an RJ45 connector on the other end. This is the key component that lets us avoid cutting the Starlink cable.
- Yaosheng Passive POE injector – A POE (power over Ethernet) injector takes the 48V from the DC power supply and sends it to the Starlink dish. It has 2 Ethernet ports, one for the dish, and one for the Wifi router.
- Wifi router – You can’t use the Starlink router with this method, so you’ll need an aftermarket router. Almost any of them will do, but make sure it uses 12V like the one I linked, so it can be hooked up to your battery.
- Screwdriver – You will need a small screwdriver to connect the power supply leads to the POE injector.
- Crimp/splice connectors – For connecting your power supply wiring to your battery system.
- Crimp tool – To crimp the electrical connectors, some pliers would also work.
- Ethernet cable – You will need a Ethernet patch cable to go from your router to the POE injector. Usually the aftermarket router will come with one.
Step 1 – Mount The Components
In order to mount all the various components in my RV, I just screwed everything to a scrap piece of wood that I had laying around. You can be as creative as you wish here. Personally, I just needed something clean and functional.
There are a few considerations to think about when laying out your components. The Yaosheng adapter and POE injector are connected with the included Ethernet cable. You’ll want to align the components so that the connectors are easily accessible. As you can see in the photo above, I oriented the adapter and POE injector so that the POE ports faced each other.
Also, keep in mind that the output leads from the power supply need to be routed into the POE injector. I avoided having to splice in additional wire by installing the POE injector close to the power supply.
Finally, think about how your enclosure will mount in your RV/van/cabin/etc. The Starlink cable comes out of one end of the cable adapter. You also have the router Ethernet cable coming out of the POE injector. Lastly, you will have the power supply input leads going to your battery system. Figure out the best way to lay out the components so that you can easily route all the cables, and access the connectors in the future if needed.
Step 2 – Connect The Components
After you’ve assembled all the components, it’s time to hook everything up. Without any DC power applied to the power supply, make the following connections:
- Power supply 12V output to POE injector input – Connect the white (+) wire from the power supply to the positive (+) terminal of the POE injector. Connect the black (-) wire from the power supply to the negative (-) terminal of the POE injector.
- Cable adapter to POE injector – Use the shielded Ethernet cable included with the Yaosheng cable adapter to connect the adapter to the “POE” port on the POE injector.
- Starlink to cable adapter – Connect the Starlink cable to the Yaosheng cable adapter.
- Router to POE injector – Connect the router Internet/WAN port to the POE injector “Data” port using an Ethernet cable.
Step 3 – Create The Router Power Supply Cable
Before you modify the router power supply cable, it’s a good idea to go through the router setup and configuration. It’s just easier to do this now rather than worrying about it later. The specifics will depend on your router model, but follow the manufacturer instructions for how to perform the initial setup. You should set up a Wifi name and password on your router before continuing, so that when it comes time to test your power supply, you can connect and test it right away.
Most household routers plug into the wall socket with a power adapter. The output of the power adapter is usually 12V DC. If you purchased the TP-Link router I linked above, all you need to do is cut off the AC-DC converter, and wire the 12V DC plug to your RV/van/etc. battery system.
For the TP-Link router power supply, the black lead with the white strips is positive (+) and the plain black lead is negative (-). If you are using a different router, double check the specifications to be sure it can be wired up to a 12V source. Be sure to also check the polarity of the power plug leads.
Step 4 – Plug Everything In
Now it’s time to make the final power connections and install the power supply in your RV/van/cabin/etc. Supply 12V/24V DC to the input leads of the DC to DC power supply. Connect the positive (+) battery lead to the red (+) input wire from the power supply. Connect the negative (-) battery lead to the black (-) input wire from the power supply. It’s best practice to place a fuse on the positive (+) lead going into the power supply.
Supply 12V DC to the router power supply (if using the TP-Link router mentioned in the supplies list). Again, it’s best practice to install a fuse on the positive (+) power leads. Typically, you are going to tap into your RV/van fuse block for 12V power, which satisfies the fuse requirement. But if you are doing something else, be sure to follow best practices.
At this point, the power supply is ready to test. If you decided to build the power supply “the easy way”, go ahead and skip down to the testing section.
Method 2 – The Cheap Way
When I first wrote this article, the Yaosheng adapter didn’t exist. The only way to build a DC power supply was to cut the Starlink cable in order to install an RJ45 connector. The RJ45 connector was necessary to be able to plug into the POE injector.
The cheap method involves more work, but the tradeoff is huge cost savings. The Yaosheng POE injector and cable adapter combo is about 7 times more expensive than the POE injector used for the cheap method. If you’re comfortable cutting the Starlink cable and installing RJ45 connectors, you can save a lot of money by building this version of Starlink DC power supply.
Cheap Method Video Tutorial
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The video is also available on our YouTube channel if you prefer to watch there.
Supplies Needed
48V DC-DC Converter – #CommissionsEarned
POE Injector – #CommissionsEarned
Shielded RJ45 Connectors – #CommissionsEarned
Before you can get started, you need several supplies to create the DC power supply:
- Starlink Ethernet Adapter – In this tutorial I am modifying a Starlink Ethernet Adapter instead of modifying the Starlink cable directly. I prefer this method because I can easily move my dish back to my home and plug it right into the Starlink router. If you prefer, you can skip the Ethernet Adapter and just modify the Starlink cable instead.
- 48V DC to DC converter – This DC/DC power supply takes either 12V or 24V from your battery and converts it to the 48V required to power the Starlink dish. If your battery system is already 48V, you can skip this.
- POE injector – A POE (power over Ethernet) injector takes the 48V from the DC power supply and sends it to the Starlink dish. It has 2 Ethernet ports, one for the dish, and one for the Wifi router.
- Wifi router – You can’t use the Starlink router with this method, so you’ll need an aftermarket router. Almost any of them will do, but make sure it uses 12V like the one I linked, so it can be hooked up to your battery.
- Wire cutters/strippers – You need something to cut the Starlink cable and to strip back the wire on the PoE injector/power supply
- Screwdriver – A small flat head, eyeglasses screwdriver would work fine
- Crimp/splice connectors – For the battery, DC/DC converter, and POE injector wiring
- Crimp tool – To crimp the electrical connectors, some pliers would work
- RJ45 crimp tool – We will be installing our own RJ45 connectors, so you will need a tool that can crimp them on the cable.
- RJ45 shielded connectors – We’ll be replacing the proprietary Starlink connector with a shielded RJ45
- Ethernet cable – You will need a Ethernet patch cable to go from your router to the POE injector. Usually the aftermarket router will come with one. We will be modifying one end of the Ethernet cable.
Step 1 – Modify The Starlink Ethernet Adapter
The first thing we need to do is replace the proprietary Starlink connector on the Ethernet Adapter with a shielded RJ45 connector. This will allow the dish to be powered by our own power supply, instead of the Starlink router. If you have opted to skip the Ethernet Adapter and modify the Starlink cable directly, the steps are the same. I’m modifying the Ethernet Adapter so I don’t have to cut into my Starlink cable, but it works fine either way.
Converting To Starlink POE
There is one caveat, though. The POE (power over Ethernet) pinout used by Starlink is different than the standard POE pinout. To solve this problem, we just need to wire our RJ45 connectors a bit differently from the T-568B standard normally used when terminating RJ45 connectors. Here is the pinout that you need to use for the shielded RJ45 connector on the Starlink Ethernet Adapter (or Starlink cable):
Prepare The Cable
Use wire cutters to cut the Starlink router connector off the Ethernet Adapter (or Starlink cable). Then, strip off about an 2 inches of insulation to expose the conductors and shielding. Most crimp tools have a wire stripper blade just for this job. Peel back the shielding foil and fold it back down the cable, we will deal with that later. Also find the drain wire. It’s the bare conductor. Fold that back out of the way for now. You should now be left with 8 twisted pairs, 16 wires total. 4 of the pairs are larger gauge wire, the other 4 are smaller in size. Trim back the smaller pairs, we won’t be needing them.
Untwist all 4 pairs and do your best to straighten out each of the 8 wires. Once they are straightened out, hold the cable in your left hand, with the wires pointing across your body to the right. Arrange the wires according to the pinout above. When they are in the correct order, do your best to flatten and straighten them out, using your left thumb and index finger to hold them flat, tight together, and in the correct order.
Install The RJ45 Connector
Keep holding the wires with your left thumb and index finger. With all 8 conductors in the correct order, flat, and straightened out, make a flush cut across all the wires with wire cutters, taking off about a half inch. With a clean, straight end, now take your RJ45 connector and insert it onto the wires. Tab side down! After you do this, triple check that the wires are still in the correct order. As you hold the cable in your left hand, the order from top to bottom should be: White/Orange, Orange, Blue, White/Green, Green, White/Blue, White/Brown, Brown.
The foil and drain wire should be folded back along the cable at this point. Slide the RJ45 connector back so that as much of the cable jacket, foil, and drain wire are inserted into the connector as possible. Then, use your crimp tool to crimp down on the RJ45 connector to terminate the cable. Trim off any excess wire that remains. Also trim off any foil and drain wire that extends out past the connector.
Step 2 – Build The Power Supply
Mounting Method
In this tutorial, I’m just building the power supply by screwing the components to a scrap piece of wood. For your own power supply, get creative if you want. I’m just using wood screws to secure the POE injector and DC-DC converter to the wood. Eventually, I’ll mount this in my RV in a utility cabinet.
Assemble The Components
First, take a look at the DC-DC power converter wires. They should be labeled for voltage in and voltage out. The voltage input wires, red (positive) and black (negative), will hook to your battery system. We can set these wires aside for this tutorial. Identify the voltage output wires. White for positive, black for negative.
Route the voltage output wires into the DC input of the POE injector, making sure to match white to positive, and black to negative. You may need to strip about 1/4 inch of insulation off the wire if it doesn’t already come stripped. Use a screwdriver to secure the exposed part of the wire into the terminal, double checking that you have the correct polarity.
At this point, the power supply part of this project is complete. Like I mentioned before, the two other wires on the DC-DC converter connect to your battery system. How that looks depends on your individual application, so you’ll need to figure out the best way to supply DC voltage from your battery to your Starlink DC power supply. In my case, I have a fuse block in my RV with an unused slot. I ran some wire from the fuse block to where my power supply will mounted. Then, I connected the wires with butt splices. I went ahead and removed the fuse beforehand, so that power is not being applied to my project until I’m ready to test.
Remember, practice electrical safety! Don't hook up to your battery until you are ready to test! Please consult an electrician if you are not comfortable and knowledgeable working with your RV/cabin/van/etc. electrical system.
Step 3 – Modify The Router Cables
Before we begin to modify any of the router cables, it’s a good idea to go through the router setup and configuration. It’s just easier to do this now rather than worrying about it later. The specifics will depend on your router model, but follow the manufacturer instructions for how to perform the initial setup. You should set up a Wifi name and password on your router before continuing, so that when it comes time to test your power supply, you can connect and test it right away.
Router Ethernet Cable
Next we need to reconfigure one end of an Ethernet cable. This cable will be what we plug our router into the POE injector with. Remember how I said the Starlink POE pinout is different? Since we had to modify the dish side of the connector, we also need to modify the router side connector to match. We only have to modify the end that plugs into the POE injector, not both ends. Your aftermarket router probably came with an Ethernet cable that you can use. Otherwise, you can find a 6ft, 12ft, etc. Ethernet cable at any electronics or home store.
Repeat the process that we used in Step 1 on just one end of the Ethernet cable. The pinout will be the same. The Ethernet cable won’t be shielded, so it won’t have the foil or the drain line conductor. But you can still use the shielded RJ45 connectors, no worries there. The modified RJ45 connector end of the Ethernet cable plugs into the POE injector. The other end of the Ethernet cable plugs into the Wifi router.
Router Power Supply
Most Wifi routers, including the one example in the supplies list in this article, run off DC. The power cord has an AC to DC converter built into the part that plugs into the wall. If you are using a different router, it might have a power brick that sits in between the wall plug and the router. Since we want the router to be powered only by DC, we can simply cut the wire after the power brick, so that we can utilize the same DC power connector that comes with the router.
For the TP-Link router I’m using, the wire with the white strip is positive, and the one without is negative. Verify the polarity for your router if you are using a different one. Connecting to a DC power source with the wires reversed can result in damage to the router!
Now we just need to connect the 12V battery system to the power wire from router. In my case, I ran a wire from my RV fuse block to the router location. That gives me 12V DC power, and I just connected the wires with butt splices. I’m mounting my router in the same location as my power supply, so routing the Ethernet cable that connects the router to the POE injector isn’t difficult. If you are going to mount the router in a different location, you will need to plan how to route the Ethernet cable back to your new Starlink DC power supply.
Step 4 – Plug Everything In
At this point in the process, all of the following should be completed:
- An RJ45 connector has replaced the Starlink connector on the Ethernet Adapter (or Starlink cable)
- The output from the DC-DC converter has been connected to the input of the POE injector
- The Ethernet cable from the router to the POE injector has a new RJ45 connector on one end that is using the modified pinout shown in the previous section
- The router power supply has been modified to wire into the battery system of your application
Apply Battery Power
If all of the above is done, now we can test it out! Apply battery power to the input of the DC-DC converter, in whatever way you have decided to hook it up. In my case, I just need to reinsert the fuse on my RV fuse block to apply power to my Starlink DC power supply.
Connect The Dish And Ethernet Adapter
If you are using the Ethernet Adapter in this tutorial, plug the Starlink dish cable into the Ethernet Adapter. Then, plug in the modified RJ45 connector on your Starlink Ethernet Adapter (or Starlink cable) to the power POE port on the POE injector.
Plug In The Router
Next, make the connections on the router. There should be an Ethernet cable connecting from the data port on the POE injector to the WAN or Internet port on the router. Also, plug in the router power supply to DC power. Verify that the router turns on. If you didn’t already go through the router setup before, now is a good time to do it. You’ll have to reference the instructions for your particular router.
Test The DC Power Supply
Whether you chose the easy way or the cheap way, your power supply should be built at this point. Everything should be hooked up and ready to test.
Set up your Starlink dish nearby with a clear view of the sky. The first thing to check is your aftermarket router. Make sure it’s powered on and broadcasting a Wifi signal. Grab your phone and connect to the Wifi network of your router.
Check to make sure that the Starlink dish is powered on. There are no LED’s or indicators, but the dish should move itself into a vertical position within a several minutes of power being applied to the Starlink cable. It searches for satellites in the vertical position, and then it will aim itself in its ideal direction. You can verify the dish is on by opening the Starlink app on your phone (your phone needs to be connected to the router Wifi network). Alternatively, you can use an internet browser on a device connected to your Wifi network and browse to http://dishy.starlink.com/
It may take up to 10-15 minutes for the dish to boot up and become available to view on the app or website. The app will let you know if the dish is working or not. If you have an active subscription, the status should change to Online after several minutes of booting up and searching for satellites. Check for internet connectivity by performing a speed test. Speeds with this setup should be similar to what you get with a normal setup.
I was able to connect using my TP-Link router right away. If the Starlink app keeps saying Disconnected, even though your setup is working with internet, you might need to create a static route to the dish.
The Results
I tested my new Starlink 12V DC power supply for about an hour to verify that it stayed connected to the internet. I performed several speed tests, watched a video, and checked email. I kept an eye on my battery monitor (I’m using the EcoFlow River 2 portable power station) throughout the testing to check power usage.
As you can see from the screenshot above, the power supply was drawing around 40 watts while streaming a 1080p YouTube video. The 40 watts includes the power needed for the dish, as well as the Wifi router.
Now take a look at how much power the same Starlink dish uses when plugged into AC power via the Starlink router. I streamed the same 1080p YouTube video for this test as well, so that the comparison was as fair as possible.
I consistently saw about 45-50 watts when streaming the YouTube video on AC power. This wasn’t a scientific test, but I think it’s safe to say I saw a roughly 15% reduction in power when using DC power, compared to using the Starlink router and AC power.
Saving 7 watts might not seem like a big deal. For people connected to the grid, it really isn’t much. But for those of us trying to use Starlink off-grid, 7 watts is pretty significant when you think about hours and hours of use each day. Even if I were to be conservative, and call it a 10% improvement by powering Starlink from DC, I call that a success.
Final Thoughts
This isn’t the easiest project to do, especially if you chose the cheaper method involving cutting the Starlink cable. If you decide to tackle this yourself, I hope you find this guide helpful. As you found out by reading, I was able to improve my energy usage by about 15% by building my own DC power supply to run off 12V.
Just make sure to exercise caution when working with electricity. And also keep in mind that modifying how your dish is powered can result in damage that won’t be covered under your warranty. With all that said, let me know if you have any feedback or questions in the comments below!
Hey there
I’ve had the setup up and running with 12v using the DC-DC Converter, the Yaosheng POE Injector together with my Teltonika RUTX50 router for around 2 months. But from day to day it stopped working.
On the roof of my camper I have a RJ45 coupler, so in the morning I put up the dish and connect my modified SL cable with a RJ45 to the coupler, that runs over the roof and down to the POE Injector. From the POE Injector I have a cable to the router into the WAN port.
The router LAN is running with 10.10.1.1 fixed and I’m using the DHCP service using addresses from 10.1.1.100 to 10.1.1.200. There should be no conflict with default Starlink IP’s doing this.
The dish seems really fine and startup / stow / unstow moves as expected. The connection into the dish is pushed all the way to the end.
I can not acces the dish using neither http://dishy.starlink.com nor 192.168. 100.1.
I can access the dish using remote connection from the Starlink App, and it’s stated as online. When I use local wifi, then it’s not connected.
I can see in the router interface, that neither WAN nor WAN6 interface gets an IP. I guess one of those are supposed to get an IP, right? The LEDs on the WAN interface on the router are not lit nor blinking.
I’ve inspected all cables and connects. All seems fine.
Any suggestions here?
Thanks in advance!
You might need to create a static route to the dish IP if you can’t get it to connect to the app:
Network destination: 192.168.100.0
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.100.1
Interface: WAN
Hey
Thanks. Unfortunately it’s not only connecting to the app but also the entire internet connection in general that’s not working.
I made loads of testing yesterday in the end original router with (coupled) cut and rj45’ed cables works, original router in bypass mode + ethernet adaptor works, and poe injector is 56v (fluctating between 46v and 49v when dish is connected), so must be data part of the poe, I guess. No sure how to test poe injector in any other way.
After loads of testing I’ve identified the POE to be the issue as it get generate the power but not the data. So nothing bad on the Teltonika part of this setup at all 🙂
Hi Noah. Thx for detailed explanation of easy setup. I do well with cookbook instructions. 😂 I set up my Starlink system as a “normal” system first, using AC power at house and a third party router to prevent configuration issues later. Then I set up all equipment to test, plugged into my batter, and everything worked fine! I have connectivity and my app shows connected to system. I wanted to test to see if the 12 volt system I have would re-align the dish. So I manually rotated the dish (just by lifting it up by base and turning it). Still have connectivity and all is good. However, the dish has not re-aligned itself to where it was before (facing north). I turned it about 180 degrees. My app said checking for obstructions and will take another 5 hours! Is this normal? Can/should I speed up this process? Many thanks.
Stow the dish using the app, and then un-stow. Or reboot the system. When it powers on, the dish will point straight up, and then align itself within about 15 minutes.
Great article! I went the easy way and bought the Yaosheng adapter and POE injector, with their cable.
I have hooked everything up correctly and it’s not working. I’ve got 48 V coming out of my power supply put the dish just sits there and the router never finds a WAN.
Did she still works perfectly if I use the 110v setup.
Any ideas how I can decipher what’s wrong here?
I’ve also verified there’s power out of the poe interface and it’s cable
Does the dish ever move? Can you access the Starlink app to see what the status says?
The dish never moves and the starlink app doesn’t work, since it’s not connecting up. I also tried a second router and multiple cables, that didn’t work either.
I did stick the WAN cable directly into my laptop instead of the router, and set up a static IP to match the dishy subnet, and could then get directly to the dishy page from there. 192.168.100.1
I even bought a new Starlink to RJ45 unit, thinking maybe I got a defective one. But nope, still no movement or internet. I’m just baffled at this point. Help me, obi wan kenobi. you’re my only hope. 😉
If you used the Yaosheng adapter, and their POE injector, it has to be one of those that is defective. Since there is no cable modification, there is only hardware that could be malfunctioning. I would start with requesting a replacement for the adapter. Even the POE could be defective, even if you measure power coming out.
welp, I must be the only person on earth that this doesn’t work for 😉 I’ve used two POE injectors, and two cable adapters, and two of their cables, with all combinations. Still no dice.
Still works plugging into an inverter, so I guess I’ll stick to that.
Nice write up! If you’re cutting the starlink cable for the cheap method anyway, is there a reason you can’t simply re-terminate the router-end with male CAT-6 and use the stock starlink router?
The only possible WAN connection to the Starlink router is through the proprietary Starlink connector, so you would need to save the connector and patch the cable back together with an RJ45 coupling of some sort.
That’s what I’m thinking. I recently had to repair my cable anyway, so I’ve already got an RJ45 male/female in the mix.
Anyway, excited to get this done and get my starlink ready to roam.
Struggling to find the Yaosheng Starlink adaptor. Showing as unavailable from Amazon with no restock date. Anybody know of any other sources.
Great information! The Yaosheng POE Injector looks great, but pricy. To save a few $$ can you use the Yaosheng Dishy Cable Adapter with the Tycon Systems POE-INJ-1000-WT High PoE 4 Pair Injector you use in the “Cheap Method”?
Yes you can do that. The adapter flips the pairs for you, so just use the included Ethernet cable to connect the POE injector and the adapter. Still need the modified router cable though.
has anyone tried running this set up off of a Cigarette light outlet using an adapter? – just wonding id that would work – thx
I run this setup from a portal power bank, which has a 12V car style outlet that feeds the DC-DC converter. It should work fine as a power source, but you need to check the specs on the car power outlet to see how many amps and watts it can provide. If it is only rated at 12V and 3A or something like that, Starlink will pull too much power and blow a fuse in your car.
If you don’t want to build the DC power supply you could also just buy an inverter that plugs into a car 12V outlet. Again, match the power requirements of the Starlink dish to the inverter, and make sure the car outlet can supply the inverter with enough power.
Greetings, thanks for the guide.
I got the Yaosheng PoE injector and the cable to RJ-45 adapter, and this 12-48VDC, 5A, 240W step up transformer from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3qVrDRj
Hooked it all up with a router and it worked great. Took it on our first camping trip and at some point the Starlink app started reporting the Dishy as being disconnected and offline. After multiple power cycles & experiments I still could not get it to come back. Fortunately I was smart enough to bring the stock Starlink router. After a factory reset I am back online with the stock router, but I’m not really wanting to run my AC inverter all the time.
I suspect the failure occurred after the Dishy decided to turn on its heater. There is a light on the PoE adapter showing that it’s getting power from the transformer. My multimeter reports 12v in, 48v out of the transformer and 48v at the PoE injector. I don’t have any way to measure what’s coming out of the injector or into the RJ-45 to Starlink connector.
Anyone ever seen this before? Ideas for testing what’s wrong? Should I open an RMA with Amazon/Yaosheng? Is there a fuse somewhere that I might have blown?
I recommend the step up converter linked in the article (it is rated at 8A compared to the 5A on the product you linked). Like you mentioned, the heating cycle may have overloaded that power supply. 5A would be cutting it close for heating operation. I suggest keeping that heating setting turned off for DC operation. Amazon makes returns/replacements easy, so I would start with POE injector first since you are getting 48V from the converter.
Would the 6amp still not be enough?
6A would likely work, but it’s right on the limit. It’s best to just use what I have listed, I can’t recommend anything else as I don’t have experience with it.
It looks like you mention that this is for the standard model of starlink. Has anyone tried this with the high performance model designed for rv use?
I haven’t seen a comprehensive DC conversion for the Flat High Performance model yet. I don’t personally own that model at this time. The power consumption is too high for most people, whether running on DC or not. The 50 watts on the Standard antenna is much more battery friendly than 100+ watts for the Flat High Performance.
Thank you for this step by step power conversion. Very helpful! I made some slight changes to my build so that I can use the set up in multiple places, like either my truck, or my camper without having to run the inverter in my truck. I elected to utilize the cable adapter so i can use either this power source, or still use the Starlink gear when I have 110 power available. I added a second deck to the mounting board so I could mount my router and keep everything easily portable and together. I also fed the power for both units with a fused accessory plug that can plug in to the power port of either the camper or the truck. As I use my Starlink on the go and leave it in the truck most of the time, I added a power switch behind the router to easily turn everything on or off as needed without having to unplug it. The whole thing is easily portable and sets on rubber feet. You can see photos of the build at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14wGmUp5IIK0Sbdv9i55wnsMMAAN6Z1Mh?usp=sharing
I had the problem the connection to the Starlink breaks after a few seconds in the app. The reason for that was the TP Link Router always try to get the new “Dynamic IP”. Solution was to set it to “Static”.
My way to ddo that Network -> Internet:
Internet Connection Type: Static IP
IP Address: 192.168.100.100
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.100.1
Primary DNS: 192.168.100.1
Secondary DNS: 192.168.100.1
MTU Size: 1500
Great tutorial, this has been a lot of fun.
I followed everything for the cheap method (cut the factory cable and put a shielded RJ45 with the wire diagram posted here), BUT I only get 2-5mb download speeds.
Items I used:
ROUTER: GL.iNet GL-SFT1200 (Opal)
POE: Tycon Systems POE-INJ-1000-WT
DC-DC: Eagwell 12v > 48v
Everything powers on and works fine, just slow connections.
I ran it for 6 hours and the Starlink app said I had a great view of the sky, no obstructions.
I took the factory ethernet cable that I cut and the piece I did’t use, the one that used to go to the Starlink router, I crimped on a shielded RJ45 with the same modified Starlink wire diagram from this tutorial. I used an ethernet coupler and coupled this cut wire back together and successfully have 100mb+ download speeds. Same time of day, location, weather situations, everything. Just minutes timing different.
So begins the troubleshooting. I took my TP-link Archer A6 router from my house and tried that with my 12v setup instead of the GL.iNet router above (I just kept the TP-link plugged into 120v AC). Using this router the Starlink app could not see Dishy at all. I really don’t know why this router didn’t seem to work in the 12v setup, yet the GL.iNet did.
I took the short ethernet cable from the POE to the router and put a new RJ45 on that (with the special wire diagram here). No luck. I also put a new RJ45 on the factory Starlink cable, even though I verified that cable works fine when coupled back to the end I chopped off.
I don’t have any other routers, POEs, or DC-DC converters laying around so I thought I’d get suggestions on:
1) did I miss something else?
2) which of the above 3 components would you replace first?
Thanks everyone, this seems like a great community I stumbled upon!
I had the same issue and have found it to be the power supply. I was using a 3A 48V unit but I was getting really poor performance so I tried using a 56V battery from my mower and success, so I am now in the process of ordering a 56V converter.
if I am going straight through a connector , do I need to modiify the pin out on my RJ45 connector?
No, if you are doing a coupler, you can wire it up to T568B.
Is it possible to use lifepo4 battery with 48V setup with actual output of 51.2V to directly power the starlink dish ?
Yes, the POE injector will be able to handle that voltage. Double check specs if you are using different ones than listed in this article.
Amazing writeup. I did the whole thing today. Extensive testing tells me that all voltages are right from inside out. But when I connect the modified data cable from the PoE injector back to my router’s WAN port, I’m getting weirdness. The lights flash for a few seconds, then stop. Wait roughly 20 seconds, and then it happens again. I can’t pull down an IP address on the router console or receive any real confirmation that the Starlink likes what it is getting for power and data.
Here are my notes and verifications of all of the steps: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ENzy-cqPMf1bwonwPXNrYndVMbRXxI9xzna5bJ_1kKo/edit?usp=sharing
When I hook up the network tester to the data side of the injector, I see the same thing. It might even be grabbing an IP address for a hot second before the connection goes dark again. It almost acts as though Dishy fires up, tries to do something, then decides to power off and wait. I didn’t see the 48VDC cycle like that when monitoring the output of the converter or the injector. The tester’s lights and display can see something happening, it tries to test that connection, but then it goes dark before any real data comes back.
Have you seen Dishy behave this way at all? The only thing I really can’t test is the pin continuity on the modified Starlink cable. I might re-crimp my end as a next step, but I don’t know what else to try at this point.
FWIW, I hooked everything back up to the stock router and got a connection again, so Dishy appears to be unscathed and ready to continue working.
I’ve had several people comment and email me with weird results like this. What they have all boiled down to is defective equipment, usually the POE injector or the power supply. But I would first start with re-crimping everything because that’s pretty easy and cheap to do. Then move on to returning/replacing the components, I would start with the POE injector first.
Thanks for the detailed notes and pictures! I hope you are able to nail down the issue that is preventing your setup from working. I am currently testing some new components for a review, hopefully of higher quality that will be more consistent for people.
I went ahead and ordered a new PoE injector since that seems the flimsiest and it’s the hardest thing for me to test. With my voltmeter on the power supply output pins, I never saw the voltage fluctuate. What I can’t easily do is monitor the voltage and current draw once the Starlink tries to fire up.
Instead of relying on a Linksys router that can be finicky to configure, I hooked up a wired laptop to the data port and set a fixed IP. I added a screenshot and this paragraph to my notes doc I linked above:
I didn’t try recrimping the Starlink cable yet, but I’ll probably do that tomorrow while I’m waiting for the new injector to arrive.
Ugh! My bench power supply couldn’t handle the amps needed. When I put my ammeter in series with the circuit, I could see it ramp up and then drop to nothing. When Dishy tried to spin up its motors, it was starved for power and then stopped.
I switched to an old battery charger (which I should have used from the start), and everything worked. I ran some wire to some unused fuse blocks on the camper, and we are in business. Just in case, I ran it in two circuits so the router gets one 15A path, and the step-up/injector/Dishy combo gets the other.
Thanks again for this amazing tutorial and for the troubleshooting thoughts.