I should add, I can actually run the HP dish w/o the router using the same setup, but when it's obstructed it spikes to ~190W AC, which if it lasts more than 60s does trip my car E-Fuse. I'll be adding a small battery as a buffer, which should be able to pull 150W DC from my car, and handle the HP dish continuous draw of 65-95W. On Thu, Feb 16, 2023 at 3:12 PM Nathan Owens wrote: > I ran a Round Dishy in my car for a long time, along with the router, > using a 300W inverter. My car is rated for 12A continuous, 16A peak. Per my > Kill-A-Watt, it drew on the order of 30-50W, sometimes spiking to 80-90W > when obstructed/booting. My inverter is 90% efficient, and never tripped my > car 12v E-fuse. The V3 dish is more efficient, and uses less power. > > On Thu, Feb 16, 2023 at 3:08 PM Ulrich Speidel via Starlink < > starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote: > >> In the aftermath of our cyclone here, I got dragged out for a bit of >> media comment and, downstream, a few questions came up on dishy power use. >> Here's what I know and can glean - comments welcome: >> >> - Starlink's own specs say 50-75 W "Average Power Usage": >> https://www.starlink.com/specifications. But that's average, not >> peak, and peak is what matters when people start recommending that Starlink >> could be run out of a small inverter and a car battery in a disaster. >> - Small inverters usually come with cigarette lighter cables, and >> cigarette lighter sockets are typically fused with 8 or 10 A fuses. That >> puts maximum safe power outputs in the 96W to 130-something W range >> depending on battery voltage. >> - Our lab's "RV" subscription rectangular dishy & router regularly >> clocks in at around 80-100 W, and I've seen it go as high as 108 W on one >> occasion. I've also seen it go as low as 30 W for the first time last night. >> - I have a user report from an older round dishy owner having seen up >> to 200 W on occasion. >> - Assuming conservatively 90% inverter efficiency, that could mean up >> to ~120W and maybe more for the rectangular version and over 220 W for the >> circular one. >> - If dishy goes over cigarette lighter fuse capacity, people may lose >> their ability to charge phones from their car - also a critical capability >> in a disaster. >> - Not everyone takes kindly to the suggestion that advising >> inverter + car battery use could potentially be counterproductive. >> - So, what's the peak power use you have seen on your version of >> dishy? >> - It appears that the current mode of operation here is that dishy >> uses several satellites in parallel if these can all see a gateway and have >> capacity to carry traffic. >> - So for us in urban Auckland with few Starlink users in the cell and >> three gateways in the vicinity, our dishy is spoiled for choice and usually >> gets to use maybe three or more satellites at once. That takes a >> corresponding amount of power but also means great data rates a lot of the >> time. >> - For a rural user with more Starlink users in the cell and >> further away from gateways, the satellites that the cell can see and that >> can also see a gateway may be fewer in number. This means dishy only gets >> to talk to maybe one or two birds at a time and so uses a lot less power, >> and you get more average data rates there. >> - If this is so, then it begs a question: >> - If Starlink could cap the number of satellites dishy can use in >> an emergency area, they would be able to keep your fuse intact. Should they >> aim for that, even if it means that you might see lower data rates in a >> situation when many people depend on one unit? >> >> Starlink is currently being touted as THE comms solution for emergencies >> as large swathes of NZ's northern and eastern North Island remain without >> terrestrial or mobile Internet coverage after cyclone Gabrielle. This is >> the outage map of one of the larger mobile phone providers just for these >> areas: >> >> Most of these are due to power outages to sites, but there are quite a >> few backhaul cable issues as well. >> >> One of the biggest problems is that electronic payment systems don't work >> without Internet. In our largely cashless society, this is leading to >> situations where emergency services can't refuel their vehicles because >> their fuel cards won't work, supermarkets and other stores can't sell >> anything because customers have no means of paying, and the air force is >> flying in hard cash in order to help the locals buy food. >> >> -- >> **************************************************************** >> Dr. Ulrich Speidel >> >> School of Computer Science >> >> Room 303S.594 (City Campus) >> >> The University of Aucklandu.speidel@auckland.ac.nz http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~ulrich/ >> **************************************************************** >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Starlink mailing list >> Starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net >> https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/starlink >> >