Starlink mini cable install

I routed mine through the headliner and then out the little hole in the plastic trim just above the 12V outlet in the trunk. It's tight, but not too tight! If I remember correctly, I think I used fishtape to get it through the tight part of the headliner.

Seems pretty cool. Curious to know how well the signal holds up through the glass tho

Used starlink mini on my old car on the dashboard over a drive of 3000km and had no issue whatsoever (except in tunnels but that was pretty obvious)

What are the prices and speed like?

Had zero issues in my 2024 Model Y with no discernable difference in speed with or without a glass roof in the way. My new Juniper has a silver ish coating on the roof so i have had to resort to mounting it on the rear glass.

The prices differs per region. We use it for vacation 1-2 months a year (EU). With unlimited data we paid around 90€ per month that we use it. The rates were 100-200MBit/s

I just tucked it under the rubber of the door frame and then below the seats to the center console.

Question - why would someone want/need Starlink in the car? Not trying to be dense - just never thought about it before.


Sounds impressive i thought the glass roof weakening the signal a bit but good to know it works on 2024 model Y

Same reason anyone wants internet... But best reason is you are traveling somewhere without good cellular coverage.

Guess it happens that there is no cell coverage but starlink works.

When i had a 15 hours trip i also had similar setup. But i put it on the rear window. But don't use it too frequent it's not good for health.

Does Starlink even work when your are moving at 60mph??

Didn’t they install Starlink on commercial airliners?

It's awesome for roadtrips. My kids want to stream videos to watch, they just connect to it and off they go. Endless 'streaming' without relying on data plans. If you wanted to be niche you could also download Tesla updates while driving. Lol

If you tick it behind the trim just remember that your curtain airbag runs from the front pillar (just forward of the front roof speaker) to just behind the headrest of the rear seat. Don’t put the cable over any part of that or if the airbag deploys, there will be a risk the cable can damage the airbag and risk safety.

I’ve gotten a Starlink mini to utilize in Yellowstone. National park because there is no service.

Kids can look out the window too. Over stimulated generation.

Yeah. If you have the mini, you can get 100mbs+ in not ideal conditions.

Oh right they did.

Working on getting it roof mounted in my RV! On the road for weeks at a time, youtube while we drive (for the kiddos).. hey hey

Could just use phone hotspot

Sure they can but they also cannot look out the windows for many hours. Neither can adults. Some form of entertainment is needed.

I use it for my mobile business. It provides WiFi at the site (no cell service) and mobile data for the MY (streaming music).

I wonder how we survived without internet for so long.

True. But some remote places lack cell service.

USB-C power cable needs 70W+ to keep the SL powered - I do it in my CT and 60W ports don't have enough (it turns on but cycles availability), but powerbanks with 70+ do power it up fully.

It’s more he doesn’t want to deal with his kids so he sticks a screen in front of them.

Consumption of media entertainment is as old as humanity, either by books, song, storytelling, etc. Internet is just the modern form.

Dude, you are posting this on Reddit. The overstimulation champion website of the world.

How is it not good for health?

What cabling and mount did you use?

Mounted as you did but fed the cable inside the trims to the port

You survived because you used other forms of media consumption.

No, I think that's fapping. /s

I think tiktok takes that

I think I bought a long cable and coiled it under the rear carriage. This way I was able to put the antenna in the middle of the sunroof and I used clear tape initially. Currently I have the netted shades sold by Tesla so the wire is coming out on the edge of the seat, from there, I ran it flush with the pillars into the under carriage, coiled the excess and put out just the exact length needed to the cigar lighter.

Except a lot of the modern form of the internet is literally designed to capture your attention in ways other media prior has not. I get the point that we’ve used other forms of books, games, stories, etc, but none have the same impact on brain chemistry as the modern internet has. Granted, not everything out there is bad, but I have to imagine it’s really hard to regulate what your kids are watching on a road trip. But if you’re doing it only on road trips, not a big deal. But then you probably don’t need the Star link connection because you download pre approved shows ahead of time to the physical tablet jnstead of relying on a cellular connection

It won’t be fun when those suction cups give out and that thing drops on your head while driving down the road.

Back in the 70's we'd hop in the good old Ford Country Squire station wagon and do an annual summer trip from California to Indiana. As the youngest, I'd spend most of my time in the back with the luggage and I'd come up with weird games. Or we'd listen to dad singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" or "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly" and then move onto fighting with my brother and sister until the folks would threaten to pull over and drop us off in the middle of the dessert in Nevada or some godforsaken place. Good times. No, my dad wasn't Chevy Chase.

> Does Starlink even work when your are moving at 60mph?? Easily. Starlink satellites move at ~17,000 mph in low Earth orbit, a car doing 60 mph is basically standing still by comparison

I wouldn't say it's so different. It's an extreme opinion, but I'd use the various religions as counterpoint to that. Religion was the ultimate viral entertainment from the start, designed to draw you in. It evolved differently because of the available media, but the intent was the same. Make addicts of individuals, craving approval to a fault, spread through consumption of various "media" (spoken, written, song, print), ostracize non-adoptees from society, all for the benefit of an entity (the church, clergy). Government jumps on board later to ride the wave and to use as a tool to placate the masses. It's a stretch but I can draw many analogies. I agree anyway, my kids don't get devices or internet access on road trips, to each their own though. If it helps them relax and keep the parents from driving off a cliff, so be it

they used those for dash cams and almost never gives out. even more unlikely that all 4 gives out before he notices a loose one to reapply

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11236742/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4733342/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10779052/ I am definitely not an expert here, but the experts definitely show differences in the media you consume. I definitely think it’s all in moderation personally. So it’s not like starlink is going to corrupt your kids, but if folks give them constant internet connection with unbridled access, it could be a big deal. Definitely an intriguing conversation most parents should have to strategize how they approach a digital age with their kids. Definitely no perfect answer, but need to find your own limitations as a parent

It's like don't put any wireless equipments too close to your body. Form the pic it's almost just over the head. I'm getting downvoted, but still suggest anyone saw this comment can do some search or asking ai

Just got my starlink and that same suction mount lol can’t wait to use it on my camping trip coming up!

Not trying to be a jerk, but have you thought about the safety issues with doing this? Roof-mounted hardware can become a projectile. If that mount fails or loosens over time, the dish could come off and hit someone below — potentially a kid. EMF exposure in the vehicle. With the antenna sitting directly above the cabin, you’re essentially placing a transmitting device right over your head. I’d be curious what the electromagnetic field levels look like inside the car. Airbag interference. Running cables through door panels or interior trim can potentially interfere with side curtain airbags if they deploy. The setup is cool, but I’d personally want to be sure those risks are addressed before installing something like that.

Do you carry a phone with you throughout much of the day?

Ok seems i need to talk like a babysetter. So it's a wireless transmitter. do you carry a wireless transmitter with you throughout much of the day?

>babysetter lol you're full of gold

Too many naysayers in these comments. I've been doing this for years, and it is a *fantastic* idea, especially if you go on long drives potentially in rural places without internet.

most big national parks have little to none signals

I went on a roadtrip from texas to Connecticut then Florida and back. Most supercharger locations seemed to have poor cell coverage so streaming while charging was spotty. Would have liked to have starlink on the ready.

This is like watching a travel pov vlog sitting in your living room. Genius.

I have mine in the rear window. And even that makes me a bit uncomfortable to think about for the event of a crash.  But it’s 100% better than just behind/above my head imho.  If I’m in a wide open area I run the mini while it’s strapped to the rear trunk shelf.  When in a deep valley or in a downtown area with tall builders, it’s against the glass.   Idk maybe I’m paranoid but I’ve seen some wild things in crashes. That’s the best I could come up with so far haha

Can confirm.  Even in heavy rain in a city while facing the worst direction possible and passing under bridges you can get 40+ no problem.  I e had issues in heavy snow storms when ice builds up outside on the car.  Not much anyone can do for that haha

Part 1 valid.   Part 2 I suggest some YouTube physics videos.  You’re bathed in radiation all day my friend! If this was a microwave satellite setup I’d be worried as hell. But this part of the spectrum is benign for humans.   Just like any WiFi, 4/5/6g, and the weather satellite (eg goes16) Plus it’s facing the other way ;)  But using rear window and a safety strap or net is superior for physical safety.  No doubt.

1. No need for Tesla premium plan 2. No need for cell towers.. in urban areas, not a big deal, but leave a big city and you’re holding up your phone like a teen at a concert… Starlink eliminates this

Don’t put a passenger under that. I’m not kidding. The amount of emf that radiates from the bottom of the unit is staggering. Orders of magnitude higher than any cell phone emf or WiFi, dangerous amounts! Move it to the back window.

Uh, I thought so too on the emf. I generally don’t worry much about that stuff. This thing is way different, grab a emf tool and find out. You won’t find anything in your household that is remotely close to this thing in emf output. It’s orders of magnitude more leaky than any cell phone. And we are placing this close to our heads. It’s the bottom of the unit that is radiating emf, you should avoid the top of the unit too, but that generally is a reasonable.

I'd argue that a window+active brain is more "entertaining" than a screen+disengaged brain. But I'm old.

It’s all most like the fcc didn’t bother to test the bottom of the device. Or they are shipping units without proper shielding across the bottom of the unit.

Cell coverage has many holes.

I don’t know much about starlink, but I’ve been told that having that device inside your Tesla won’t work, it has to be mounted on the outside. Did they change something?

Love Starlink. My brother recently strapped it to his snowmobile so all the guys could have phone service while on the trails!

I rode novels in one sitting during the 12 hour summer road trips we used to take as a kid. Riding in a car is incredibly tedious and boring to me and I’m terrible at doing nothing. Eventually novels turned into laptops turned into tablets etc

I use a second unlimited cell for home service but it’s spotty. (I’m on the road all day long between client sites for tech work and have no need for home internet, just several devices all connected to my tools on the go.) Recently tethered it to a travel router that’s hooked up in my tesla and my home router auto connects when I pull up. Been thinking of upgrading that whole system to a Starlink after installing a few for clients. (All day long I’m dropping out of 5g to lte manually if I want service in spotty areas)

Thank you for that heads up! You rock!!

This is the reason we got it, so we can have cell service in the national parks and other places we visit.

Hell they use the big ones for roof mounted crossbars. I’ve seen the glass break before the suckers give way

I was thinking of the hatch glass too. I'll try that tomorrow and see how the speeds are while plugged in. Thank you.

I have terrible cell service in my area and am moving soon. So I don't know how the service will be during the move. Thank you!

I'm going to mount it on the hatch glass for more of an angle and without worrying about it dropping on someone's head. Lol. Thank you!!

If you have the silver lined Teslas it won't work on the roof glass, gotta stick it in the back. I have mine in my car at all times.

Have fun on your camping trip!

Just ordered the 5m USB C cable from Starlink and the suction cup mount from Amazon. LKSSBR Starlink Mini Mount -... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FL1Y1RMJ?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

That's awesome!

how to charge your car when youre there tho?

See, you went through all that bs and you were only at Nevada. The rest of the trip to Indiana would be even more drama filled.

what do you mean? Like when your out of the city and don't have signal? You just... don't charge? Most modern EVs get 300+ miles of range - you can absolutely get out to areas without cell coverage and back on that range with plenty of range to spare

Could you do a picture of where you installed it ? Ty

Thank you! I got the air mattress for the back and a tent that attached to the back of the car I’m excited!

Power adapter to plug in?

my model y performance lasts me about 180km full charge 150km 80% charge with 250wh/km consumed :)

Yes, the phone mentioned above. a mobile phone is a wireless transmitter. It functions as a transceiver, meaning it contains both a transmitter and a receiver. It acts as a radio station that constantly communicates with cell towers, Wi-Fi routers, and Bluetooth devices using radiofrequency (RF) energy.

Wanking while car's driving itself?

Shouldn’t put it there if anyone is sitting there. The back give off a small amount of radiation and the roof tends to have protection that blocks signal. I had mine in the back window with the Spigen mount and it gets a great signal and is safe for passengers. 

Plus if you do Tesla Camping, sometimes you’re way out where there is no signal and you can use WiFi calling to retain cell service. Plus software updates are much faster than pairing mobile hot spot.

I agree. What I am saying is, for multi-hour trip, you can’t expect anyone to just look out the window the whole time.

How? A model y performance has a 80ish kWh battery, and 250wh/km should net 320km at a full charge, 250ish at 80%.

If you have a juniper, the overhead glass actually is a bad idea. I took a 12 hour drive to some lakes in Canada and couldn’t get reception for the life of me from the ceiling. As soon as I placed it into the rear hatch window, instant strong connection. Plus also is that it’s also easier to route the cable to the rear outlet. I believe some Tesla models have some sort of metallic component of the overhead glass to reduce the energy from the sun but also it blocks satellite signal too unfortunately.

The 16v cigarette outlet in the trunk works fine. Straight dc connection no converter needed.

Why usb-c? Use the cigarette outlet in the back of the trunk and route the wire directly there. Straight dc connection no converter needed and actually more efficient (this is how I have it connect to my Anker power station too when camping, more efficient than converting to ac back to dc)

Surprisingly, there are other things to do, talk, play games, read, etc. People have done it for decades...

What’s the total cost of this set up?

You’re saying that books are the same as TikTok and YouTube videos?

Which is basically Reddit r/all

There are three groups of people who do this. 1. Live in or frequent areas with poor cellular reception. Think of national parks or areas like the national radio quiet zone. 2. Use their vehicle for business. Having great wifi at the job site without having to worry about how good cellular data is so that you can hotspot is great. 3. Just because you can and it's neat. Many other reasons people give that really just fall here into this category.

works fine suction cupped to the interior glass.

Try that with 2-4 year old toddlers for hours.

It sad Elon didn’t bring any official Tesla mod for starlink. They added grok so why not starlink

50% battery degradation??

Sounds like your battery is cooked.

I met a limo driver that goes off the beaten track, he has starlink for his clients to be able to make calls and use the internet.

I found out last year that in USA they only have cellular in the cities and when you drive out of the town there is usually no internet on the highways. Such a 3rd world country lol. Also you have to pay for faster streaming for your videos instead of having everything at maximum speed that you are already paying for.

Needed? Maybe you have a different definition of needed than me. I would say it makes long trips more tolerable. Need implies that you can't do without. I get motion sick whenever im a passenger and im not paying attention to the road(that means no phone, gameboy, books, nothing that takes my eyes focus off the road). I've gone on many long road trips and never needed entertainment. Would have been nice but I'd rather be bored driving down the road than puking on the side of it.

Ok, done.

So, if you have the starlink then you could, in theory, cancel your monthly connectivity subscription? How much is starlink?

I'm also curious on the costs

This is just not true lol? If it is, something is VERY wrong with it.

I'm ten replies into this thread and not a single one of those replies was an answer to OP's question lol

Teslas still have cigarette plugs? Lol CT doesn’t. AI says the USB-C port should be 140W which would be enough, but I pretty thoroughly tested. I just use the regular 120V plug inside currently, and 70+ power banks for potential ‘backpack satellite’. Good news for powering SL in my old M3 at least.

No need for Tesla premium, but instead pay another subscription for Starlink + a huge device inside the car. That makes perfect sense.

Maybe they’re a speed demon? I definitely get waay less miles in my YLR cause speed… Also v jealous, I wanted a performance soo bad.

There isn’t. It just adult money and adult toys. No harm no foul but it’s definitely not necessary lol

Well the only relevant number is the efficiency. Doesn’t matter if you are going 100mph or always up hill or whatever. The wh/km is the key number.  I have a 24 Model 3 LR AWD and I get significantly lower efficiency on load highway drives than I do just driving around town (air resistance is a bitch) but at the end of the day, range is a simple calculation of battery capacity and average efficiency per mile/km.

My thoughts exactly lol. Starlink is $50/month for the roam plan with 100GB. I pay $100/year for Tesla Premium Connectivity

I have the same mount in white ordered on Amazon. No matter where or how I mount it, it keeps falling off. Any advice?

Right. Isn’t Premium cheaper than Starlink?

Thats where my head went - but the answers here are helpful - looks like they are solving for different scenarios - camping, hotspotting, etc - I will say that for $50/month its not a bad solution to a portable internet solution.

I really like how you can barely notice it.

What suction mount did you use? Mine would not stick at all.

But why?

I get 250wh/mi and I drive fast. You definitely need to ease up on the accelerator. That's pretty high consumption.

never done it in a car but in my plane it’s just tucked behind all the trim pieces. You could probably pop the trim out or seperate it enough to fit the cable, just be careful of the curtain airbags.

Our annual trip from California to Florida was pretty chill. Slept. Listened to the radio looked out the window.... mostly slept on the long boring stretches. Hopped out at landmarks on the way.... not sure how we ended up at Niagara falls one year.... dad did like to detour! 😅

It'd be nice if Tesla had a native Starlink integration.

Here in Mexico is a great feature because in roadtrips there's zones without cell reception and having wifi inside the car. For example kids with iPad and wife with internet. Tesla premium connectivity loss intenrtet access in the same areas as the phones. So could be good to have. But not cheap for sure.

I drive the length of New Zealand regularly for work and having a Starlink mounted like OP’s in my Tesla, or on the roof rack of my work van is really nice! There’s often no cell phone reception, makes phone calls or the odd conference call impossible to join while driving. It’s even worse with patchy cell phone coverage where you keep joining and leaving the call … makes everyone frustrated. Being able to download stuff on the laptop (updates, new firmware for our devices, etc.) is super fast and reliable even in the middle of nowhere. Safety, too — if I get stuck in a gorge or out in the mountains I can make a phone call or message someone.

My 5 year old Model 3 gets 350 km on a full charge on the motorway. Your battery is rekt.

I use a starlink mini in my model s because as a rural first responder, a sizeable portion of our coverage area has no cell signal, and in many situations the phone is more appropriate than the radio or necessary for certain communications. Obviously a pretty niche case.

Does Starlink give cell phone service too? I thought it was just Internet.

I got mine because I do a lot of road trips with my family, including a camping trips with crap internet. It very inexpensive for me to turn on the Roam 100 then upgrade to unlimited once i reach the cap as. Last time i only ended up paying 36 bucks for all we needed for 4 days. We also do 2 long drives form NYC to Florida every year.

Actually does matter went from 1hr 30min drive going 85mph distance-145 miles. To 3hrs 30 min going 65mph distance-240 miles. Loaded up 2025 model x plaid. Drove over 5000 miles from Texas to Nevada and back.

I’ve been thinking about this setup. My daily commute consists of driving through the mountains with no signal for 65% of my trip.

That area works well for me. Camera open when needed lol

But you can't share it with anything else... only what Tesla does with it... can't Hotspot it, can't let the kids use it, nothing.

You can literally look this up on Starlink website. Everything is listed there.

You definitely missed the point of their comment. That wh/km value is the important value that accounts for all factors, including speed.

1. Tesla premium is $100 a year. Starlink is like $100 a month for internet slower than home internet

Elon maxing

Previously cigarette lighter outlets aka 12v outlets which are actually 16v outlets

"EMF is bad!!" meanwhile you're holding a cell phone with at least 3 radios or typing on a keyboard that's beaming "radiation!!!1" through your fingertips. My god people cannot think for themselves.

I don’t have my old Y anymore, but same location as you, cable to the door-rubber and tucked it under there.

In my case unlimited, proper fast internet all across the EU while travelling for a couple of weeks including spots with spotty cellular.

Most cell phone plans already have hotspot. Just use that...

"Most" doesn't include the ones I use, nor do all of them include unlimited data... unless you don't have to worry about finances. But even if one were to use their cellphone Hotspot, that eliminates the ability to use remote control of climate and/or view live cameras... good grief, I couldn't even make my car fart remotely!

A really good reason not to do this: [https://www.reddit.com/r/electricvehicles/comments/1pjj7hj/cybertruck\_roof\_glass\_spontaneously\_shattered/](https://www.reddit.com/r/electricvehicles/comments/1pjj7hj/cybertruck_roof_glass_spontaneously_shattered/)

I'm not using the normal size starlink, nor am I using tape/adhesive to mount it to my hatch glass. I appreciate the article and the warning. Again, thank you for the heads up and that sucks for that cybertruck owner.