I am adding Starlink to our 2022 Super Duty Platinum after have tire issues out in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming a few weeks ago. I do NOT want to use the existing inverter, but would rather run a couple of wires directly from the driver side battery to the inverter. Now I plan to use a pure sine wave inverter, probably 400 watts, similar to what is there. The reasons for the second inverter is I would "like" to be able to control power to it with an upfitter or separate switch. However, one that I have found in another thread is this wiring for the brown harness going to the existing inverter:

Ignore the wiring diagram. I was looking at the diagram for an older model and the colors are not aligning. I have the Ford Wiring Book, but cannot find the inverter in it, anywhere. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

**** It APPEARS from taking actual measurement of the wires on the brown connector, that the solid green wire is the on/off signal to the inverter. Can anybody confirm this?

I am thinking about putting in a couple of 40 amp relays to handle worst case current, although the only thing on this second inverter will be Starlink. Does anyone know anything about that ON/Off control wire? Is it powered? Will it drive two relays? If it does, it can be wired such that the relays turn OFF when the vehicle is off and not run down the batteries. Otherwise, I will need to find an ACC wire under the right front kick panel and run it to the back. I DO plan to run separate power cables from the driver side battery to the rear (fused, of course), where the new inverter will sit.

Any thoughts on that specific cable? I could put a meter on it, but it's hot outside, so I thought I would ask in the convenience of my office! Any help is appreciated.

Scott

 

Seems like a lot of work.

We run starlinks for hurricane work, we just plug it into the dash, easy peasy.

 

Run your second inverter off a LIPO battery that you mount in bed of truck. 100Ahr or 280Ahr, gives you 23 hours and 66 hours respectively, to operate starlink - I travel with about 900 Ahrs of LIPO capacity that runs my ICECO refrigerator and Starlink for up to 28 days (pushing it). I like to park in the shade in summertime so solar panels are not my thing, especially since some seem to catch on fire.

Truck and its power systems can completely fail, and with this arrangement you can easily still make calls or internet stuff.

LIPO is lithium iron phosphate battery....NOT lithium cobalt chemistry.

 

pretty much this. I just throw it in the cubby on the dash and plug it into the cig plug. Gets good reception and easy to move to another vehicle if needed.

 

I did a permanent replacement based on this thread.

Worked out very well.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...placement.html

 

Those are good solutions, but I don't want the cable plugged in to the power port (front or back) because we travel with 3 labs and there already is very little room. Those tend to pop out. I am mounting it to the roof using a mount that attaches to the third brake light assembly (between it and the truck), so it will NEVER be portable, plus I already have a Standard Starlink for my RV. I don't want to plug it in to the existing 110 VAC because that is a modified sine wave output, not a true sine wave. Seems like I always seem to get a lot of solutions I didn't ask for but NOT the solution I did ask for. Fortunately, I wound the inverter in my Ford Diagrams book. I will be tapping off of the green acc wire to drive a relay which, will in turn provide power to a separate (and very small) pure sine wave inverter. But I really do all the concern for how much work I must be doing to my truck and why I should go with a different installation method than what I asked about. Thank goodness for this wiring manual.

 

Why not just use a mini as it runs off 12 volt.

 

It is a roof mounted Mini. But the "12 VDC" from the truck is not exactly 12 VDC all the time. It can fluctuate wildly, dependent of many things going on at any one time. In my opinion, as a degreed EE, the best solution is a pure sine wave inverter off of the batteries, feeding the Mini power supply. That has the best overall power quality. The only issue is being able to turn it off when not in use and I think I have that taken care of with a relay tied to the ACC input of the existing inverter.

 

I’m a little bit confused. You said you want to control it with a upfitter but you’re triggering it with the control wire for the OEM inverter?

I have a starlink mini that I power with a 1500w inverter(among other things) activated with a upfiter switch. (Two upfitters actually, it can be either turned on with a switch power upfitter or a full time power upfitter).

How I went about it was bought an inverter with a manual on/off rocker switch to turn it off and on. I then tapped the upfitter wires into that switch so the inverter can be controlled with the upfitter.

I already had the inverter set up that way so I just plugged my Starlink mini into it, simple.

But if I was only looking to power only a Starlink I would consider having another look at just going with direct “12v” power from a upfitter.

I’m no EE but I recall reading that the Starlink mini can be powered with anything from 8-24v. Lots of guys run them off of 18-20v power tool batteries without issue. They aren’t fussy about the power source from my research.

I hope I didn’t venture too far from what you asked.

 

Actually, what I said was upfitter OR separate switch, which in this case COULD be a relay off of the ACC line to the existing inverter. You didn't venture too far. What I am trying to do is give it "clean" power. Power directly from the truck or, especially from the existing modified sine wave inverter is inherently nasty power. Yes, Starlink "Will" take a wide range of power, but like you, I have a spare 600 watt pure sine wave inverter that I was going to put in the back, near the existing inverter and use the ACC (green wire) to drive a relay, which will turn on/off the always on battery power. So, my first thought was an upfitter, but after closer inspection, those are all taken and really can't be combined. So, I was looking at the schematic for the existing inverter, trying to see how they turn it off and on. It's with that ACC wire that "should" be able to drive a relay to provide power. Even though it is a 600 watt inverter, Starlink uses far less and that is the only thing that will be on that inverter, so, I can get by with providing less than 50 amps to the inverter. I figure, since we NEVER use the built in power outlets, I should be able to tap off of those 12 VDC wires at the current inverter, run the positive to a relay, which is controlled by the ACC line. That will keep me from running my batteries down. My biggest concern is to have connectivity when we are driving out in the middle of nowhere like we were last month in Wyoming and I had a Goodyear G114 17.5" tire (new) explode on me. Fortunately, I had what I needed to get going again, but I could very easily have taken out a brake line or the adjacent tire and need to make a call. That really is the reason for the Mini. To always have connectivity, not to watch movies going down the road! Thanks for the ideas. I don't want to swap out inverters, just add in a small 600 watt PSW that will only power the Mini.

 

The Mini can accept any DC voltage from 12 - 48 volts. Your truck DC system does not "fluctuate wildly" outside of those parameters - if it does, you should spend money on getting it serviced, not adding a PSW inverter. Starlink offers a cigarette lighter power plug for the Mini. I guess their EEs decided they could engineer the power supply for the Mini to deal with the operating environment found in a typical, modern automobile - which, BTW, has dozens of CPUs and such - all powered by the vehicle DC system.

BTW - unless you are purchasing a high quality PSW inverter, it will subject the Mini to way more noise and whatever other gremlins you believe the Mini power supply brick isn't already subjected to, in a typical 120 VAC installation. Using the truck DC power system, you also remove complexity, increase efficiency and greatly simplify the installation. As a degreed EE, you should know that adding an inverter and relays is way more noisy, less efficient and potentially problematic than going with a straight DC / DC power system. Or at least that was the case when I received my EE, albeit that was in the early 80's...

When I first bought the Mini, I did a lot of field testing with it to see how feasible it is to use while driving. I powered it from the truck MSW inverter and it performed just fine. Once I determined it was a viable solution, I proceeded to create a more permanent power system for it.

I use a suction cup mount to hold my Mini to the panoramic sunroof. It stays perfectly, and since I rarely ever open the cover, you can't even tell it is there. I power it with a regulated 12V to 48V converter - nice, clean and stable. 48V means really small wiring is all that is needed to deliver the potential 60 watts the Mini might need (which it won't, because it never needs the internal heater when mounted inside the cab). I have never seen it draw more than 25 watts while in use, FWIW. I tied it to the 12V power port in the console, so it remains powered on without the ignition on. After the 60 minute timer expires, the truck switches off power and all is well. (I set the timer to 60 minutes with FORSCAN)

Sorry for offering a different way to power the Mini. You should remember that OTHER people will read this thread and may appreciate the information offered by others as to how they skinned the proverbial cat.

Suction cup mount for the Mini:
12V - 48V converter:
DC power plug for connecting the Mini power cord to the 12V - 48V converter:

 

I'll add something from my experience using the SL for phone calls while driving in areas with poor cell service. When I started using it I would have dropped called as the phone tried to go between the cell service that was coming and going and Wifi. Now I put my phone on airplane mode but enable wifi. I've had perfect calling using it this way. Just a heads up to others.

 

Good to know, thanks! Since my phone uses VOIP when WiFi is available, I plan to use the Mini when at the ranch for phone connectivity, primarily. Sure don't want to have phone disruptions, so good info.

Now, just have to remember to turn off Airplane Mode when packing everything up and departing for home... Which I will likely forget a few times, until it becomes habit.

 

This is great. Thanks for sharing. I have the standard dish currently and just throw it in a box in the bed but am looking at the mini so we can use it in other vehicles! So you can close the sunroof cover with this mount? How do you have the wires routed from the dish to the console?

 

You are correct, to a point. My point about varying wildly had to do with the initial startup. The 12 VDC directly off of the batteries is very often noisy and erratic as systems come online and CAN drop below 12 VDC at times when there is a very heavy load on already depleted batteries (as in a very cold environment). It is the primary reason that there is a "delay" line built into the inverter and other peripherals so that they are not subject to that. I did NOT want that power to hit the Starlink until it had stabilized. Now, my doctorate is in radar systems, not power supply design, so you may be correct. I cannot say unless I put a scope on the input of the existing inverter. What I am more likely to do, at this time, is to tap off of the power into the current inverter. I plan to fuse that at 10 amps (even though we NEVER use the other power ports) so that there is not some accidental short. That still leaves 50 amps available to the existing inverter (based on the existing 60 amp fuse) for the power ports, should I ever use them. I generally do not because my laptop power supply does not like the modified sine wave output (at all) and is a 240 watt power supply (Dell 18" Alienware). It just won't even power the laptop supply. Doesn't even try. I also plan to drop a small relay in, triggered by the accessory delay signal, so that the 12 VDC is "clean" before it gets to the Starlink. I am no longer planning to use a PSW inverter or the Starlink power supply. I do agree with you that noise "may" be induced by using a second inverter AND the Starlink power supply, but that is what the accessory delay line on the 12 VDC is intended to prevent. So, I sincerely hope that that answers the mail. I am well aware that these posts are read and often used by others for their own installations. It was never my intent to provide misleading information, but rather a solution that, while more complex, was almost guaranteed to provide clean power to the Starlink unit.

And I completely agree with the posts between yours and this one. Using a cell phone with the WiFi calling feature turned on can be a true lifesaver. In fact, two weeks ago, coming back to Dallas from northwest Wyoming, we had a catastrophic blowout on a NEW Goodyear G114 tire (a $500 tire). It was properly inflated, we were not overloaded, etc. But, it wiped out the faring on the side of the RV and "could" have taken out the trailer brake hydraulic lines (it did not). But, it did damage the tire behind it and we had to drive the remaining 70 miles to Rawlins, WY, where they luckily had a tire store with two tires that fit, at 55 mph or less. There was absolutely NO cell coverage where we had the blowout, traffic was sparse, but fortunately, I had a brand new aired up spare and we were moving again in about 30 minutes. If something worse had happened, I would have had no choice but to have dropped the fifth wheel on the side of the road and take both tires in to be replaced, then come back. And oh, by the way, we were on our way home early because my wife fell and broke her back, which was not properly diagnosed in Jackson. So, all, in all, we were lucky. But after we returned, I started looking at ways to mount the Mini. We already have the Standard in the RV, so technically, I could have turned that inverter on, set the antenna out and had coverage. But not everyone is that lucky. So, my lesson learned is that things can and will happen, even when you have new and well maintained equipment. Being able to reach out to the resources you need in an emergency when you are literally out in the middle of nowhere is vital.

Scott