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Starlink Mini
- Thread starter YellowJacket RV9
- Start date
You received a 120 Volt AC adapter to a lower voltage I am sure......Plugging a Mini into 120 volts your Mini will not be happy
They need 12 - 48 volts DC with 60 watts min.i used to be able to do that and really miss it. A couple of years ago, apple changed something and now the phone doesn’t even try to connect with a network once over 2000’.
Any tips for how to get that functionality back?
Larry,
Have you tried satellite messaging on your iPhone? If you have a iPhone 14 or newer, you're able to send and receive messages via Globalstar satellites. It's not perfect, but it does work.
HTH
Dave
I have an SE 2nd gen. Not big on upgrades, so don't know where that sits in their timeline. is this messaging built in or is it an app?
Bill Boyd
Well Known Member
Trying to do this math - are we talking current draw at 12V? Because 40W at 12V is going to mean 3.3A, correct?
The satellite messaging is built in, but only on the newest devices (I think 14 and newer)
No app required, you can select satellite messaging via the control panel when the signal strength indicator shows “SOS” and a satellite icon. Once you’ve gone through the connection process, you use iMessage as you normally would.
Dave
Last edited:
Exactly. The 120 volt wall adaptor drops it down to 30 volts 2 amps and it is happy. In our RV (Recreational Vehicle), boondocking (not plugged in) the 12volt adaptor we have for the mini will not reliably run it. But if we put a small inverter on it and run the 120 volt adaptor everything's fine. I've read some use a step up transformer to go from 12 to 24 and that cures the problem. I was hoping to hear how those using it in our airplane RV's are powering it reliably.
Correct, mine draws 3-4 amps on average, very reliable. Maybe because my main bus runs at 14.2 volts in flight while using. Also use 12 awg wiring to cigarette plug that is 9 ft. Not much voltage drop.
I have mine in the LH wingtip. It draws around 25Wcontinuous. Never seen it above 40W.
After some early experiments it was clear that it is sensitive to voltage drop so I’ve run 16AWG out to the tip and locally grounded it. The difference between 14.4v and 12.5v at engine shutdown is enough for the antenna to shutdown on occasion.
Generally speaking it works well in the LH tip but it has proven to be less stable (sometimes to the point of not working) the further north I fly (I’m in the southern hemisphere). For a fixed install where I live they suggest orienting 35-50degrees and to the south so this isn’t all that surprising.
After some early experiments it was clear that it is sensitive to voltage drop so I’ve run 16AWG out to the tip and locally grounded it. The difference between 14.4v and 12.5v at engine shutdown is enough for the antenna to shutdown on occasion.
Generally speaking it works well in the LH tip but it has proven to be less stable (sometimes to the point of not working) the further north I fly (I’m in the southern hemisphere). For a fixed install where I live they suggest orienting 35-50degrees and to the south so this isn’t all that surprising.
