Starlink Mini interior mount

[GladiatorPilot23]

I was thinking about getting one and installing on the rack with security hardware and use it for trips. Is it mount inside because you use it regularly?

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[Moabite]

Show us the mount in the bed

It's just another C-size RAM ball on the chase rack:

 

[Moabite]

I was thinking about getting one and installing on the rack with security hardware and use it for trips. Is it mount inside because you use it regularly?

I didn't want a permanent exterior mount. But that is certainly an option on a roof or full rack on the Gladiator. There are a lot of aftermarket exterior mounts available for the Starlinks. The Mini's permanent home is in the Jeep.. I can easily move the RAM arm it is mounted to onto the ball on the chase rack when I want to perfectly tilt and align the dish for maximum speeds.

I used it for communication purposes for several hours on a rescue last week. We had horrible radio coms and absolutely no cell service at the site. I was at the staging area and was able to maintain excellent phone contact with the Incident Commander who was at our headquarters 30 miles away in town. The Mini worked great inside the Jeep, even though it said it was partially obstructed. I simply maneuvered the Jeep until the app indicated the dish was aligned. My other options were to loosen the RAM mount and move the dish into alignment, or transfer it to the chase rack.

The road out to the rescue site was extremely rough and washboarded for many miles. The mount held the dish perfectly in place. The original B-sized balls would not even hold the dish in place on relatively smooth paved roads.

 

[Hammer]

That's awesome. I'd love the stl for that 3d print file. And yeah the clearance is my biggest concern. Where are you pulling your power from? I was thinking of going off of aux 4 and wiring it in at the footwell of the passenger seat.

I am currently printing the 3rd iteration of the mount in CF-ASA filament; really good stuff for interior vehicle use. I do not use 3D printed parts for anything external on my Jeep, I live in the Vegas area and the temps can get pretty ridiculous. This is just a personal choice, I do not want to cause any potential safety issue for other drivers should the print fail; the mount is secured by a tight fit and friction alone. The first two versions of the mount worked as designed, but I wanted to make a couple changes to make my life easier when moving the mini around from the Jeep to the house. I made it "shorter" so there is more wiggle room for clearance and I also "relocated" the ethernet port and power port so I wont have to continuously remove the mount from the mini while unplugging it. I simply added a female-female ethernet adapter as well as a 5.5 x 2.1 power jack. This allows me to plug the mini connection ports to the adapters incorporated to the 3d printed mount and position those adapters open ports not connected to the mini into a much more accessible location.

Fairly simple design and use of off-the-shelf components. I'll be uploading the files to GrabCad when the final print is completed and I can verify it works as advertised.

 

[Moabite]

I simply added a female-female ethernet adapter as well as a 5.5 x 2.1 power jack.

Does your power jack make a good connection? The Mini's specifications list the power cord connection as 5.5x2.5. I picked up a short male-female 5.5x2.5 extension so I won't have to remove the pipe adapter to unplug the cord when moving the dish to the exterior mount on the chase rack. The extension arrived after I mounted the dish, and I haven't yet had any reason to move it, so I have not yet attached the extension.

Edit: Hmmm....I just tried plugging the unused Starlink power cord into the short extension. It would not fit. It looks like it is indeed 5.5X2.1 so the specs listed on Starlink's site (Starlink Mini specifications) for the connector are incorrect. I just ordered this instead: Starlink extension cable . I'm glad you posted those dimensions and prompted me to double check!

 

[Hammer]

Does your power jack make a good connection? The Mini's specifications list the power cord connection as 5.5x2.5. I picked up a short male-female 5.5x2.5 extension so I won't have to remove the pipe adapter to unplug the cord when moving the dish to the exterior mount on the chase rack. The extension arrived after I mounted the dish, and I haven't yet had any reason to move it, so I have not yet attached the extension.

Edit: Hmmm....I just tried plugging the unused Starlink power cord into the short extension. It would not fit. It looks like it is indeed 5.5X2.1 so the specs listed on Starlink's site (Starlink Mini specifications) for the connector are incorrect. I just ordered this instead: Starlink extension cable . I'm glad you posted those dimensions and prompted me to double check!

Glad I could help; I came across a post stating stating the size they used when doing some research on Reddit r/Starlink and did not think to check the actual documentation...got lucky I guess.

 

[moabtj]

American adventure labs makes a molle mount .
https://americanadventurelab.com/product/starlink-mini-overhead-molle-mount/

 

[moabtj]

I've had Starlink residential service for 3 years and it has been flawless. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to take advantage of the rare sale on Starlink's new Mini dish. I've lived about 30 miles outside of Moab for more than 50 years and, as many of you are aware, cell phone service (and internet) is simply not available in much of this area because of the rugged topography. I've carried inReach devices for many years.

I mounted the Starlink Mini dish in the Gladiator last week. It works great inside the cab and while driving. However, it hates wearing a tinfoil hat. When it was turned on for the first time, it refused to locate any satellites. Turns out the HotHeads headliners and Sound Assassin strips that I installed a few years ago have a layer of tinfoil-like material. Once I trimmed the rear passenger side HotHead, Starlink connected immediately.

My drive to town takes me down the winding Highway 128 deep in the narrow canyon of the Colorado River where there is absolutely no cell service. With Starlink, I've been able to maintain a cellular connection all the way to town, even in an area where SiriusXM radio always drops out. I've been able to walk at least 100 feet from the Jeep and maintain a solid wifi signal. Speeds have been at or over 100Mbps when stationary and about half that when driving.

I've attached a few photos of the installation. I still need to clean up the cable routing and the adhesive residue left from the HotHeads. The dish is connected to the keyed 120V outlet on the back of the center console via a 100-watt USB-C charger/adapter. The Jeep's USB-C outlets do not provide sufficient power to run the dish. When the Jeep is not running, the dish can be plugged into a 100-watt USB-C port on the Jackery.

The Mini is mounted to a conveniently empty hole in the sport bar with a C-size RAM Mount ball and arm. I initially mounted it with the smaller B-size RAM Mount gear. However, it would not stay in place on rough roads. The B-size mounts are only rated to hold 1 pound under heavy-duty use while the C-size mounts are rated at 3 pounds for heavy duty use. The C-size mount is extremely sturdy and has not moved at all since installed. I've also mounted a ball on the DV8 chase rack so the dish can easily be moved out of the cab if necessary.

What’s size stud did you buy on the size c ball/ and looks like you used washers to space it from the sport bar?

 

[Moabite]

What’s size stud did you buy on the size c ball/ and looks like you used washers to space it from the sport bar?

The parts:

Tripod adapter for Starlink

RAM ball attached to tripod adapter (1/4"-20 x .50" threade stud)

RAM ball mounted to sport bar This ball is a female. It is mounted with a 1/4-20 bolt. I don't remember the length...maybe 3.5". I picked up several different lengths at the hardware store. There's plenty of room above the sport bar to insert the bolt from above. Yes, there are washers between the ball and sport bar for spacers, probably more than I needed. The washers total 5/16" in thickness. I'd recommend a 1/4" spacer rather than a stack of washers. I had to really crank that ball down to keep it from rotating.

Spacing the ball below the sport bar allows the arm to be tilted farther up. If I want the dish to be flat against the roof rather than tilted, I can angle the arm more toward the roof, which would raise the dish a few inches above where it now sits. But all the "headroom" I needed was enough to open the fridge.

I already had a bunch of RAM arms and assorted parts laying around. The arm I used is the long C arm.

Since I have the Bestop Sunrider on most of the year, I did not want to mount the dish over the front seats where it would block the view of our spectacular cliffs.

 

[Rubclt]

I use a Molle rack, go to post 55 at this build link: https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...r-build-and-travels.75531/page-4#post-1418420

 

[moabtj]

Awesome idea thanks for the links, ordered the parts

 

[vanhjd]

I've had Starlink residential service for 3 years and it has been flawless. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to take advantage of the rare sale on Starlink's new Mini dish. I've lived about 30 miles outside of Moab for more than 50 years and, as many of you are aware, cell phone service (and internet) is simply not available in much of this area because of the rugged topography. I've carried inReach devices for many years.

I mounted the Starlink Mini dish in the Gladiator last week. It works great inside the cab and while driving. However, it hates wearing a tinfoil hat. When it was turned on for the first time, it refused to locate any satellites. Turns out the HotHeads headliners and Sound Assassin strips that I installed a few years ago have a layer of tinfoil-like material. Once I trimmed the rear passenger side HotHead, Starlink connected immediately.

My drive to town takes me down the winding Highway 128 deep in the narrow canyon of the Colorado River where there is absolutely no cell service. With Starlink, I've been able to maintain a cellular connection all the way to town, even in an area where SiriusXM radio always drops out. I've been able to walk at least 100 feet from the Jeep and maintain a solid wifi signal. Speeds have been at or over 100Mbps when stationary and about half that when driving.

I've attached a few photos of the installation. I still need to clean up the cable routing and the adhesive residue left from the HotHeads. The dish is connected to the keyed 120V outlet on the back of the center console via a 100-watt USB-C charger/adapter. The Jeep's USB-C outlets do not provide sufficient power to run the dish. When the Jeep is not running, the dish can be plugged into a 100-watt USB-C port on the Jackery.

The Mini is mounted to a conveniently empty hole in the sport bar with a C-size RAM Mount ball and arm. I initially mounted it with the smaller B-size RAM Mount gear. However, it would not stay in place on rough roads. The B-size mounts are only rated to hold 1 pound under heavy-duty use while the C-size mounts are rated at 3 pounds for heavy duty use. The C-size mount is extremely sturdy and has not moved at all since installed. I've also mounted a ball on the DV8 chase rack so the dish can easily be moved out of the cab if necessary.

Looks very nice! Where did you get the hardware from?

 

[khoop9]

So currently away will take more pictures and update when I'm back. But if you have the hard top and the crow molle rack you can just fit the starlink underneath. It pushes against the starlink and the molle panel but actually reduced the wind noise in my case. I'm concerned about the reception though being mounted in such a thick area. It does connect when at a stop and also randomly while driving. But I have hot head headliner and sound assasin strips along side it and I'm going to remove the foil and strips when I get back to see if that fixes it. I really hope it does because it's a very clean install.

 

[khoop9]

So currently away will take more pictures and update when I'm back. But if you have the hard top and the crow molle rack you can just fit the starlink underneath. It pushes against the starlink and the molle panel but actually reduced the wind noise in my case. I'm concerned about the reception though being mounted in such a thick area. It does connect when at a stop and also randomly while driving. But I have hot head headliner and sound assasin strips along side it and I'm going to remove the foil and strips when I get back to see if that fixes it. I really hope it does because it's a very clean install.

Wanted this molle panel because it imop looks the nicest. Also it has the most head clearance and me being 6'3" I need the space. Already working on a 3d print to keep it mounted when the panels are off. It's just not a priority because I never remove the freedom panels. But I've taken 4 people for a drive since installing and no one has yet to even notice that there is a starlink above them. Except for a faint blue light when I hit the aux switch to power it on.

 

[tylercranston]

Can you list the parts you used for this installation? Ive been looking for something exactly like this.

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