12V DC Power Supply For Starlink RV: Here’s How to Power

Since the inception of Starlink, it has changed the face of the entire internet industry. Moreover, it offers a lot more features and plenty of plans to suit anyone. However, there are many digital nomads who are living with a Starlink RV. Now, when the RV is stationary, the usage of Starlink can take a toll on the battery if not on the generator. That’s why a lot of people want to know about a 12V DC Power supply for Starlink RV. Here’s our guide to help you do that in an easy-to-understand way.

How Does Starlink Work on 12V DC?

A Starlink will work as usual on 12V DC, just as it would with normal house electricity, whether it is 110V or 220V. Depending on your country of residence, you may have anything starting from 110V to 220. We strictly recommend that you follow this guide if you don’t want to use an inverter or anything of that sort.

Batteries in general are used to power everything from RVs and vans to overland rigs and even off-the-grid cabins. However, efficiency is very important to make the most of the available energy.

The Starlink RV router itself can power the Starlink dish because it takes in electricity from a standard wall outlet and changes it to 48V DC power for the dish. For home use where AC power is readily available from the grid, that’s perfectly fine.

In contrast, an inverter is required for AC power when using an off-grid battery system. Thus, in the router, DC would be converted to AC and then converted back to DC. Having to convert to AC a second time is inefficient and wastes power.

How to Power Starlink RV Internet Using 12V DC Supply

Now that you know why DC is important during your off-the-grid travels, you might want to use the 12V DC supply in your setup. Here are the necessary steps that you have to take in order to power Starlink RV using 12V DC. But before, let’s look at the prerequisites:

Prerequisites:

1. Starlink Ethernet Adapter: This is a must-have component if you wish to use a 12V DC Supply to power your Starlink. We have created a dedicated guide to help you purchase Starlink Ethernet Cable and set it up.
2. 48V DC to AC Converter: The Starlink dish runs on 48V power. This DC/DC power supply accepts 12V or 24V from your battery. You can skip this product if your battery setup already operates at 48V.
3. WiFi Router: You cannot use the original Starlink router for the 12V power supply method. Instead, you will need to bypass your Starlink and use a third-party router.
4. Splice Connectors: This will be used for wiring the POE injector and DC – DC wire.
5. POE Injector: The 48V from the DC power supply will be transferred to the Starlink dish via a POE. POE stands for power over Ethernet. Both the satellite modem and the wireless router can be connected to its two Ethernet ports.
6. RJ45 Crimpt Tool / Wire Cutters: Used for cutting wires. Usual pliers cannot be used.
7. RJ45 Connectors: Used to connect ethernet ports and router to the dish.
8. Ethernet Cable (Preferably CAT 6): This will be used to connect your router to the POE injector, you will need an Ethernet patch cable. One is typically included with the aftermarket router. Make sure the cable is CAT 6 compatible because of high speed internet.

Once you gather all the components, you are ready to start.

Step 1: Modification of Starlink Adapter

Once you have collected all the materials required for the conversion task, you are ready to start. So, starting off, we need to replace the Starlink connector on the Ethernet Adapter, which is proprietary, with a shielded RJ45 connector. This modification will enable the dish to be powered by our own power supply, rather than relying on the Starlink router.

If you decide to skip the Ethernet Adapter and directly modify the Starlink cable, the process remains the same. We recommend that you don’t cut the Starlink cable that to avoid warranty issues.

Starlink uses a POE (power over Ethernet) pinout that differs from the standard POE pinout. However, this issue can be easily resolved by adjusting the wiring of our RJ45 connectors, which varies from the T-568B standard conventionally used when terminating RJ45 connectors.

Step 2: Prepare the Cables

Using wire cutters, remove the Starlink router connector from the Ethernet Adapter (or Starlink cable). Next, strip off approximately 2 inches of insulation to expose the conductors and shielding. Most crimp tools have a wire stripper blade specifically designed for this task.

Peel back the shielding foil and fold it down the cable; we will attend to this later. Locate the drain wire i.e., the bare conductor, and fold it out of the way for the time being. This leaves us with 8 twisted pairs, totaling 16 wires. Four of the pairs have larger gauge wire, while the other 4 are smaller in size. Discard the smaller pairs as they are not needed.

Untwist all 4 pairs and straighten each of the 8 wires to the best of your ability. Hold the cable in your left hand with the wires pointing towards the right. Arrange the wires in the order specified in the pinout provided above.

Once they are in the correct order, use your left thumb and index finger to flatten and straighten them out, ensuring that they are tightly together and in the right order.

Step 3: Installation of RJ45 Connector

Continue holding the wires with your left thumb and index finger, ensuring that all 8 conductors are in the correct order, flattened, and straightened out. Make a flush cut across all the wires with wire cutters, removing about half an inch. This leaves you with a clean, straight end.

Take your RJ45 connector and insert it onto the wires, making sure the tab side is facing down after inserting the connector, make sure that the wires are still in the correct order. When holding the cable in your left hand, the order from top to bottom should be as follows: White/Orange, Orange, Blue, White/Green, Green, White/Blue, White/Brown, and Brown.

At this stage, fold the foil and drain wire back along the cable. Slide the RJ45 connector back, ensuring that as much of the cable jacket, foil, and drain wire are inserted into the connector as possible. Use your crimp tool to crimp down on the RJ45 connector to terminate the cable. Trim off any excess wire that remains, and also trim off any foil and drain wire that extends past the connector.

Step 4: Building Power Supply for Starlink

The Starlink power supply must now be built. First, check out the DC to DC converter’s wires. Input and output should be clearly labeled on these cables. Put the voltage input wires somewhere safe because you’ll need them to link your battery system in a bit. Keep your attention on the voltage output wires. White is for positive and black is for negative.

The DC input of the POE injector must be connected to the voltage output wires with the white wire connected to the positive terminal and the black wire connected to the negative terminal. Before securing the wire with a screwdriver, it may be necessary to remove about a quarter of an inch of insulation. Make sure the polarity is correct by checking it carefully.

Connect the DC-DC converter’s final two wires to your battery system once the power supply phase of the project is finished. Find the best way to feed DC voltage into your Starlink DC power supply, which will vary depending on your use case. In an RV, for instance, you could install a fuse block and splice the wires together. In order to avoid accidentally powering on your project too soon, remove the fuse first.

You should finish the router’s setup and configuration before touching the cables. To avoid problems in the future, it is best to perform the initial setup now. To set up your router properly, you should refer to the documentation provided by the manufacturer. If you want to test your power supply as soon as you connect it, set up a Wifi name and password on your router.

Step 5: Prepare the Router Ethernet Cable

Now we are proceeding towards the end of this complete setup. We now have to connect the POE injector to the router. For that, we need to modify one end of an Ethernet cable. If you purchased an aftermarket router, it probably came with an Ethernet cable you can use. If not, you can easily find one at an electronics or home store.

Similar to what we did before, but now we only need to modify one end of the Ethernet cable to match the Starlink POE pinout. The pinout will be the same as the modified end of the Starlink cable. Unlike the shielded Starlink cable, the Ethernet cable won’t have a foil or a drain line conductor, but you can still use the shielded RJ45 connectors.

Attach the modified RJ45 connector end of the Ethernet cable to the POE injector, and connect the other end of the Ethernet cable to the Wifi router. With this, the POE injector is now connected to the router, completing the setup process.

Final Step: Plug Everything In

If you have carefully followed the above steps, then you can now begin testing. Connect the battery in whatever way you’ve decided to the DC-DC converter’s input. Putting power back into my Starlink DC power supply is as simple as replacing the fuse in my RV’s fuse block.

Connect the Starlink dish cable to the Ethernet Adapter if you’re following this tutorial. After that, connect your Starlink Ethernet Adapter (or Starlink cable) to the POE injector’s power port via the RJ45 connector you modified.

The next step is to set up the router. The POE injector’s data port must be connected to the router’s WAN or Internet port via an Ethernet cable. Connect the router’s power source, as well. First, make sure the router powers on. You should go through the router setup process now if you haven’t already. To do this, consult the manual that came with your router.

Test it Out

Now the time to test the setup comes. Make sure that you lay the Starlink outside. Don’t forget about the setup instructions.

Next, make sure the Starlink dish is turned on and receiving a signal. Moreover, there are no lights or other indicators, but after plugging in the Starlink cable, the dish should automatically rotate to an upright position unless you put it into a stow position.

It looks up for satellites and then points itself in the right direction. The Starlink app, accessed on a smartphone (connected to the router’s Wifi network, of course), can be used to check whether or not the dish is active. Alternatively, you can access http://dishy.starlink.com/ from any device on your WiFi network with an internet browser.

The Bottom Line

Well, that’s all we have here about how you can power Starlink RV using a 12V DC supply. We hope this guide has helped you. If you still have any doubts or queries, you can comment below for help.

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