What is the power consumption of Starlink in 12V DC?

We were really excited after installing Starlink on our sailboat at the prospect of having unlimited, uninterrupted internet! Once the initial excitement faded, we have been quite surprised by how power hungry Starlink is. During the winter season, we struggled to keep our batteries full only using our 400W solar panel and we didn't really like the idea of having to run the generator to get internet.

In an attempt to reduce Starlink high power consumption, we tried to find out more.

What is the source of Starlink power consumption (110/220V AC)?

Number 1: Dishy Antenna

The rectangular Dishy antenna ensures transmission and reception with satellites, and can be oriented using motors.

Number 2: the router

The Starlink router manages the antenna power supply (PoE) and the wifi network. It performs a conversion from 110/220V AC to 48V DC to power the antenna.

Starlink power consumption on a boat, van or cabin (12V DC)

In a boat, a van or a cabin, you will have to use a 12V-110V/220V inverter to be able to power Starlink .

To use Starlink with a battery system, you'll have to use a inverter (unless your battery bank is 48V). The most power efficient inverters, which are compatible with Starlink, have an efficiency close to 90%. These equipments also have a zero load power consumption to be taken into account, even if low (less than 10W).

The power consumption of these multiple current conversions (12V -> 110/220V -> 48V) eventually add up.

To avoid this overconsumption of up to 40%, we have built a 12V conversion kit for Starlink.

Our StarWifi Plug & Play kit contain all the necessary parts to power Starlink in 12V DC and avoid unnecessary current conversions.

Numbers

For the more curious, tucks' truck compared the power consumption of Starlink in 12V DC and 110/220V AC and his results are as follows:

He estimated a total load on the batteries of 52.5W when Starlink is powered by an inverter while he measures an average consumption of 31W after converting his Starlink to 12V. That is an energy saving of 40.9% .

What about you? Did you measure the power consumption of your Starlink? Feel free to share your results in the comments below!