Chris's Sport S Max Tow - Boring Daily 'Build'

[WILDHOBO]

If only my wallet was shaped that nicely

Seriously.

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[Bandit’s Lair]

If only my wallet was shaped that nicely

I am ALWAYS here to help you spend your money. Even if you don’t actually HAVE that money. I’ll help you spend it anyway.

 

[RudeJeepin]

Starlink Mini came in. A bit unnecessary but I want to spend some time traveling again and this will be nice to have. We'll also be utilizing it as emergency backup internet for the house. Where we live internet can go out frequently during storms and phone service is poor without it.

Anyway.

This might be a little 'ghetto' but I will call it 'creative'. I didn't like some of the mounting ideas that had the Starlink using up the headspace above the back seat.

But guess where it fits perfectly? Above the sound bar.

So I dug some foam tape out of the collection and added strips to the top, bottom, and sides where it would contact the roof or sound bar.

The included kickstand stays on the Starlink. If I need to use it away from the truck I can just remove it from the truck and set it up elsewhere with the included cord and 115VAC brick.

And to remove it you just cut this one big ass zip tie that is looped through the kickstand and around the sound bar. It did not rattle or move on my 35 mile drive to work this morning. The top touches the roof and the bottom touches the sound bar. It is literally a perfect fit, and no cost.

I keep a few bags of enormous zip ties in the truck so re-installing it takes just a moment.

This wiring mess is temporary for testing only today.

It performed fine from the small inverter I had. I looked back and it claims to be a pure sine wave inverter. I'm sure that's debatable as it is not a particularly expensive product, but the Starlink worked fine and did not produce any electrical noise as some folks said they do with poor power supply.

I also found where a few folks claimed Starlink had documentation at one point that claimed a modified sine wave inverter was fine for the Mini, but that information is gone from the website.

Finally, the a consensus seemed to be that since it is converting 12VDC to 115VAC back to 30VDC that the 'noise' getting beyond the Starlink brick would be minimal.

In any case, I ordered a 5521 barrel plug pigtail (that's the connector that the Mini uses) and will likely wire it direct to the truck. I have a 10G hot wire in the center console and I'll break that with a relay (triggered by the aux ignition wire under the passenger side dash) so that the Mini only runs with the truck.

On the way to work this morning I had speeds between 40MBPS and 170MBPS depending on speed, direction, and tree cover. Nice.

I have some 36" zipties that would be perfect for that.

 

[ChrisNLA]

Update:

Starlink runs for about 30 minutes with the truck off before it doesn't like the voltage and shuts off.

Once it is direct to DC vs running through the inverter it may last longer. Less power waste.

But the morale of the story is if something happens to the truck and it won't run and I am in BFE with no cell signal - I have 30 to 45 minutes to communicate. We'll want to improve on that. We plan to buy some sort of power station at some point. That could solve that 'problem'.

Also, I updated the first post to contain my live 'Gladiator Tracker' - the Google Sheet where I keep all the mod info, in case anyone is interested.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Update:

Starlink runs for about 30 minutes with the truck off before it doesn't like the voltage and shuts off.

Once it is direct to DC vs running through the inverter it may last longer. Less power waste.

But the morale of the story is if something happens to the truck and it won't run and I am in BFE with no cell signal - I have 30 to 45 minutes to communicate. We'll want to improve on that. We plan to buy some sort of power station at some point. That could solve that 'problem'.

Also, I updated the first post to contain my live 'Gladiator Tracker' - the Google Sheet where I keep all the mod info, in case anyone is interested.

That’s what we’ve been doing with ours. Small power station powers Starlink, and it charges from the jeep while it’s running. Then Starlink stays on when I shut the jeep off, like you’re wanting. It’s cheaper to setup your own with a house battery, but I like the ability to move the power station around when camping.

 

[ChrisNLA]

That’s what we’ve been doing with ours. Small power station powers Starlink, and it charges from the jeep while it’s running. Then Starlink stays on when I shut the jeep off, like you’re wanting. It’s cheaper to setup your own with a house battery, but I like the ability to move the power station around when camping.

Yea, I reckon we will pick up a Bluetti or an Ecoflow for keeping things portable. All about flexibility - sometimes to the point where it's a pain in my ass.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Yea, I reckon we will pick up a Bluetti or an Ecoflow for keeping things portable. All about flexibility - sometimes to the point where it's a pain in my ass.

We have a bluetti, but I’m not a fan of their support. We also have a goal zero and they’ve been awesome. So many others as well.

 

[WILDHOBO]

We have a bluetti, but I’m not a fan of their support. We also have a goal zero and they’ve been awesome. So many others as well.

I forgot earlier, but their portable solar panels are also not waterproof. I know. I was shaking my head.

 

[ChrisNLA]

We have a bluetti, but I’m not a fan of their support. We also have a goal zero and they’ve been awesome. So many others as well.

I think I'll get one before we go back to the race track in February. I don't believe we are camping this time. We're gonna grab a hotel or ABnB since some non camping friends are coming - but we're gonna use my camp site at the track to tailgate all day. So having some power on hand will be nice.

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

Pay attention to IP ratings when you go to look at the power stations. I understand it can go in the Jeep if it rains. Shyte happens. Better to have one with a little better IP rating than you think you need. I’d also aim for something that can power a home fridge for a day or so. A piece of equipment that expensive should be able to pull double duty. It’s a game changer during power outages not having to run the gas generator all day every day.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Pay attention to IP ratings when you go to look at the power stations. I understand it can go in the Jeep if it rains. Shyte happens. Better to have one with a little better IP rating than you think you need. I’d also aim for something that can power a home fridge for a day or so. A piece of equipment that expensive should be able to pull double duty. It’s a game changer during power outages not having to run the gas generator all day every day.

We use ours for fridges in power outages. They work great.

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