Starlink Roam issues in the ocean

[smac999]

stowing just moves the pole down so it can fit back in the box. for "stowing in the box" there is no need to stow before shutdown if you are not boxing it back up.

[PNWSalmon]

If your finding yourself in this position often hack it to disable the motor and keep it level.

They updated the firmware around march to not unstow when the “sea state is rough” whatever that means and however that is measured. It’s a black box so the general public doesn’t know.

If desperate, hit unstow then manual point it the correct way , assuming you know, it will work, not great, but it will work.

Bottom line, don’t stow in rough conditions, or alternatively, disable motor.

[jordanbigel]

Originally Posted by PNWSalmon

If your finding yourself in this position often hack it to disable the motor and keep it level.

They updated the firmware around march to not unstow when the “sea state is rough” whatever that means and however that is measured. It’s a black box so the general public doesn’t know.

If desperate, hit unstow then manual point it the correct way , assuming you know, it will work, not great, but it will work.

Bottom line, don’t stow in rough conditions, or alternatively, disable motor.

Well this is bad. When sailing a long passage, I don't need to use the internet constantly. I shut it off to conserve power also, and then when I turn it back on, if the sea state is rough it won't connect?

I think this happened to me the other day and it wasn't even rough. I had to turn it off and on 3 times and finally it reoriented itself.

I may have to consider disabling the motors even though I don't want to risk messing it up.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by jordanbigel

Well this is bad. When sailing a long passage, I don't need to use the internet constantly. I shut it off to conserve power also, and then when I turn it back on, if the sea state is rough it won't connect?



I think this happened to me the other day and it wasn't even rough. I had to turn it off and on 3 times and finally it reoriented itself.



I may have to consider disabling the motors even though I don't want to risk messing it up.

Sometimes, but not all the time, we have to slow down to below 2 knots for a minute or two while Dishy searched, reoriented itself and finally grabbed a connection and went back online. Then we can speed up again.

Sometimes we can access the Settings menu when connected to our boat network. Other times we have to directly connect to our Starlink network for the app to display the Settings menu. In either case, if we swing at anchor or change course and Dishy doesn’t reorient itself in a timely manner (sometimes yes and sometimes no) then we stow and unstow. Connection re-established within a minute or two.

Best of all, again sometimes, Dishy orients itself horizontally! That keeps connection no matter how we turn. I really wish that was a setting, and I’ve asked Starlink support for that feature. No response, sigh.

Dishy started the day tilted 45* to the south. We sailed mostly north so it pointed east for a while, then reoriented itself to point south. Then we got hit by a knock and went NW for a while, before tacking and heading NE, then SE into an anchorage. Dishy didn’t do anything during the tacks, but just before we entered the bay it oriented itself horizontal. A steady connection was maintained throughout our sail.


I’m tempted to drill into it and disable the motors. But for now it works well enough so I’m not doing that. Before disabling the motors we will lift it out of the pipe adapter and build a fram to hold it by the edges. Then the motors can do whatever they want and Dishy will remain horizontal.

I’m very frustrated yet resigned to the randomness of the various events - note how I’ve prefaced almost everything I’ve written with ‘sometimes’.

We have the standard RV (now Roam) Regional service plan and the rectangular Dishy. We have enough power that the 30-40W that it uses is immaterial, so we leave it on all the time.

[markxengineerin]

Mine still hasn't un-stowed, suspect it is going to need an anchorage and more "flat+slow" time than I can give it in a seaway. I will for sure be disabling the motors- incomprehensible to me why the designers, with full control of the motors and full access to the live connection info, are so much less capable than me, a human, at an alignment procedure. Lame!

[JimStarkey]

Originally Posted by markxengineerin

I've had the system set up for about a month now
-No issues at anchor
-Initially no issues in the ocean, for a couple days
-I unplugged it to conserve power
-I tacked, changing the orientation of the mount to the sky
-There are no/were never any obstructions to seeing the sky
-Next morning I power back on, it won't connect
-Dish is visibly aimed wrong (no longer pointing north)
-I decide to choose the "Stow Starlink" option in the app, to see what happens, maybe get the motors to do something
-Dish goes into storage/shipping position as it should, so the motors work
-I select "Unstow"- no response, it never moves again
-The system won't connect by itself after an hour of waiting, multiple tries, but will connect immediately if I manually point it to the north (still in "stowed" position)
-Factory reset made no difference, it's still in stow position and will not move on its own.
-There is a note saying it can take 12 hours to learn about obstructions, etc, but I don't have 12 hours of power to wait for this thing, and no confidence it will work anyway.

My guess as to what the problem is: perhaps the alignment procedure doesn't like waves? In "debug data" I see "Attitude Uncertainty" and "Tilt" parameters hopping around a lot as the boat moves. Is it possible that it can't align itself until the sea state is calmer?

I have "opted in" for ocean data, not that I think this is related, just adding for completeness.

Any ideas?

You didn’t say which dish you had. If it’s the standard residential/roaming “dishy”, perhaps an internal motion sensor ratted you out to the microprocessor which decided you were in violation of the terms and conditions and gave you a timeout (aka TILT for pinball types).

[Farbrook]

I never stow, and almost always shut down by switching off the inverter. Sometimes when switching the inverter back on Starlink remains stubbornly 'Offline' or 'Not connected'. I then first (in Settings) 'Reboot Starlink' (if that is available - it isn't always), then 'Reboot Router'. This (so far!) has always cured the problem within 5 minutes. Good luck!

[suiramor]

Maybe, that's why some folks disable the tilt altogether, e.g.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i41M3aVaKNU

[markxengineerin]

Yes, I think disabling tilt is the way to go until Starlink figures out how to aim better/faster/more consistently. I will do it as soon as I have a chance.

[SailingInfidels]

Originally Posted by markxengineerin

-The system won't connect by itself after an hour of waiting, multiple tries, but will connect immediately if I manually point it to the north (still in "stowed" position)

Any ideas?

Interesting that it will connect in the Stowed position, I thought that was supposed to shut the whole thing down.



So, is it feasible to change your mount to aim the dish straight up at the sky while in the stowed position? I get service just fine aiming straight up.

[donradcliffe]

Brought a boat back from Hawaii in July with Starlink. It had the $2500 antenna, mounted horizontally with no tracking. The 250 watt inverter was toast, and the only thing I could find in Honolulu was 800 watts at We$t Marine. It took 5 reboots to start working, but then had no problems back to the mainland. Operating cost was $250 for 50 gb per month. Power hungry little sucker though.

Contrast that with the next boat, which had classic Iridium system. Owner is still bitching about the $3k I spent on 5 GB of data. I limited my usage to one cell phone with Predictwind downloads and a few texts, but the boat had a W10 computer also hooked to the system. I couldn't beat my phone into not updating (it was a brand new Android), and the W10 computer said it took 100kb to send an email with the word "test".

How do you guys without Starlink limit your bandwidth?

I have seen 3 separate strings of new Starlink satellites in the last month, and there are over 5,000 now operating. Why would you need a directional antenna?

[Rough Magic]

We put the marine antenna on our boat for the trip from LA to Honolulu. Worked very well, no connection issues. Yes, pricey at 2500 for the antenna plus 250/ month. But a FaceTime call to a Granddaughter for her birthday (700 miles from Honolulu) was worth it. And cell phone calls. And weather routing. And email. It's a great tool.

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by Rough Magic

We put the marine antenna on our boat for the trip from LA to Honolulu. Worked very well, no connection issues. Yes, pricey at 2500 for the antenna plus 250/ month. But a FaceTime call to a Granddaughter for her birthday (700 miles from Honolulu) was worth it. And cell phone calls. And weather routing. And email. It's a great tool.

Will Starlink let you change to a lessor regional/non-priority plan during months you are not crossing?

[Rough Magic]

As far as I know, no. But after you use up the 50 gigs, if you are in an anchorage close to shore, there is no additional charge.

[billdomb]

One trick we've tried is rapidly unplugging the system from power RAPIDLY three times, then it resets.

You MIGHT have to reattach to the signal if your app is not seeing it.