How Much Power Does Starlink Use? [Numbers]

written by

Doug Stevenson

updated September 23, 2023

Lately, I have been monitoring the power consumption of my Starlink setup and have come to some very interesting conclusions.

Given below is the power consumption of various Starlink dishes:

	Power supply specification	Idle Power consumption	Average Power consumption
Rectangular Starlink	100-240V~ 2A (AC) 50-60Hz	20W	50-75W
Circular Starlink	100-240V~ 2.5A (AC) 50-60Hz	40W	65-100W
High-Performance Starlink	100-240V~ 6.3A (AC) 50-60Hz	45W	110-150W
Flat High-Performance Starlink	100-240V~ 6.3A (AC) 50-60Hz	45W	110-150W

Starlink Power Consumption Data

The rectangular Starlink dish consumes the least power at about 50-75W average power consumption, followed by the circular dish at 65-100W and the high-performance Starlink dishes rated at 110-150W.

How Much Power Does Starlink Use? Explained

Starlink primarily provides the following dish models for their subscribers, depending on the plan that they choose:

Starlink Rectangular dish.
Starlink Circular dish.
Starlink High-Performance dish.
Starlink Flat High-Performance dish.

Note that the power values discussed below are rated and tested using a Starlink setup with the antenna, cables, power supply, and router all connected.

Power Consumption of the Rectangular Starlink Dish

The rectangular Starlink dish is provided to subscribers of Starlink Residential as well for Starlink RV.

Given below is a brief chart of how much power is consumed by the rectangular Starlink dish for Starlink Residential customers:

	Power consumption
Power supply	100-240V~ 2A (AC) 50-60Hz
Rated idle power	20W (0.48 kWh/day)
Tested idle power	20-40W (0.48-0.96 kWh/day)
Tested peak power when booting	175W (4.2 kWh/day)
Rated average power	50-75W (1.2-1.8 kWh/day)
Tested average power	65-180W (1.56-4.32 kWh/day)

Power Consumption of Rectangular Starlink Dish

Given below is a brief chart of how much power is consumed by the rectangular Starlink dish for Starlink RV customers:

	Power consumption
Power supply	100-240V~ 2A (AC) 50-60Hz
Rated idle power	20W (0.48 kWh/day)
Tested idle power	20-40W (0.48-0.96 kWh/day)
Tested peak power when booting	112W (2.68 kWh/day)
Rated average power	50-75W (1.2-1.8 kWh/day)
Tested average power	65-180W (1.56-4.32 kWh/day)

Power Consumption of Rectangular Starlink dish for RV

During startup or boot, the power consumption usually peaks but this is temporary and stabilizes after a couple of seconds.

Being a second-generation or stable-release product, the rectangular dish consumes much less power than the previous circular dish.

The rectangular Starlink dish uses a 100-240V AC power supply at 50-60Hz that pulls a 2A current, which is pretty standard.

The idle power is rated at 20W by Starlink, but we found the real-world idle power consumption to be around 20-40W depending on variable factors.

The average power is rated at 50-75W by Starlink, which we found to be around 65-180W in real-world usage.

Booting the system is when the system consumes the most power, with power use reaching as far as 112W for RV users, but peaking at 175W for Residential users.

Power Consumption of the Circular Starlink Dish

The circular Starlink dish was provided to beta subscribers of Starlink Residential and is now discontinued.

But users can still use existing circular dishes without issues.

Given below is a brief chart of how much power is consumed by the circular Starlink dish:

	Power consumption
Power supply	100-240V~ 2.5A (AC) 50-60Hz
Rated idle power	40W (0.96 kWh/day)
Tested idle power	30-50W (0.72-1.2 kWh/day)
Tested peak power when booting	175W (4.2 kWh/day)
Rated average power	65-100W (1.56-2.4 kWh/day)
Tested average power	80-110W (1.92-2.64 kWh/day)

Power Consumption of Circular Starlink dish

The circular Starlink dish uses a 100-240V AC power supply at 50-60Hz and pulls in about 2.5A current, which is slightly higher than the rectangular dish.

The same can be said for the rated idle power and average power too, standing at 40W idle and 65-100W average.

The real-world usage stats vary similarly too, with idle at 30-50W and average at 80 to 110W.

But the peak power during boot is insane at times, at 175W, in most cases owing to colder environment conditions.

In conclusion, it is safe to say that the rectangular Starlink dish improves upon the circular dish with regard to power consumption, but it is not a huge difference.

Power Consumption of High-Performance Starlink Dish

The high-performance Starlink dish is provided to subscribers of Starlink Residential, Business, Maritime, and Premium.

It started off as exclusive to only Starlink Business users, then it made its way to the Maritime and Premium plan before slowly dripping down to the Residential plan as well.

Given below is a brief chart of how much power is consumed by the high-performance Starlink dish:

	Power consumption
Power supply	100-240V~ 6.3A (AC) 50-60Hz
Rated idle power	45W (1.08 kWh/day)
Rated average power	110-150W (2.64-3.6 kWh/day)

Power Consumption of High-Performance Starlink dish

Since this is a high-performance product, the power supply pulls in more current, at about 6.3A

This results in much higher idle and average power consumption, at 45W idle and 110-150W average.

With great power comes even greater utility, and therefore these kinds of dishes are usually restricted to professionals and consumers who want more out of their network.

Power Requirement for the Flat High-Performance Starlink Dish

The flat high-performance Starlink dish is a variant of the high-performance dish, specifically designed for subscribers of Starlink RV.

With this, Starlink RV customers can utilize two dishes: this and the rectangular one, as per their speed and utility requirements.

Given below is a brief chart of how much power is consumed by the flat high-performance Starlink dish:

	Power consumption
Power supply	100-240V~ 6.3A (AC) 50-60Hz
Rated idle power	45W (1.08 kWh/day)
Tested idle power	35-50W (0.84-1.2 kWh/day)
Tested peak power when booting	210W (5.04 kWh/day)
Rated average power	110-150W (2.64-3.6 kWh/day)
Tested average power	100-120W (2.4-2.88 kWh/day)

Power Consumption of Flat High-Performance Starlink dish

The bundled power supply is rated very similar to other Starlink dishes and also pulls in a higher 6.3A of current.

This is primarily owing to the nomadic nature of the product, where you are meant to go constantly off-grid with it and you need those extra performance numbers too.

The idle power is rated at 45W whereas the average power is rated at 110-150W, very similar to the high-performance dish.

The tested idle power though is about 35-50W, which is a very decent consumption for such a powerhouse of an antenna.

The tested average power is also pretty decent, at 100-120W consumption, but the tested peak power at times touches a massive 210W.

Factors Affecting the Power Consumption of Starlink

What many find surprising about power consumption, in general, is the variation of consumption depending on select external factors.

Users just tend to look at the rated power and assume that stays constant throughout the Starlink network's lifespan.

Here are a few factors that can leave a noticeable impact on your Starlink's power consumption, some controllable others not so much:

Ambient Temperatures

The temperature of the environment plays a key factor in the overall power consumption of the Starlink dish.

The colder the temperatures, the more power Starlink dishes consume.

Built-in Heater

Ever since the launch of Starlink, the existence of a heater on Starlink dish has been quite a (no pun intended) hot topic, to say the least.

Starlink has stated on its website that the Starlink dish has a heater inbuilt in order to melt any residue snow, thus removing such obstructions in its line of sight with the satellites.

But Starlink has not stated any specifications regarding this heater, thus sprouting the suspicion of if there is one.

This adds variability to the power consumption factor.

Sure, if the dish melts residue snow then there must be one, right? Well, yes and no.

A lot of users believe that instead of incorporating a separate heating unit inside, Starlink opted to jack up the usage of the Starlink thus producing heat from its internal components.

This generates enough heat to melt down snow from its antennas.

The delay in response from Starlink also affirmed such an implementation amongst the users, till some Starlink developers did respond unofficially.

On a Reddit thread, Starlink developers had to explicitly confirm the existence of such a heating unit on their dishes.

But they still didn't disclose any heater specifications, so analysis and the effect it has on the overall power consumption is very erratic.

The fact that the heater is programmed to kick in at very low temperatures, that too only with occasion proves to be as big of a hurdle as well.

Weather

This is a related factor to the ambient temperatures, but even rainstorms or foggy weather can affect the performance of the Starlink dish.

These weather conditions act as an obstruction to the communication between the dish and the Starlink satellite constellation.

This forces the dish to boost its Signal to Noise Ratio(SNR), thus resulting in more active power consumption.

Location

The location of your Starlink dish with respect to a Starlink satellite constellation above can play a huge role in higher power consumption by your dish.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites such as Starlink constellations, unlike Geostationary orbit satellites, do not orbit the earth and therefore do not have a relatively fixed position.

This effectively means that the Starlink constellations are always moving and your Starlink dish will frequently connect with the nearest Starlink satellite.

The frequency of such connections and disconnections can cause the Starlink dish to consume more power.

Fortunately, there are plenty of Starlink satellites in orbit.

But if you live in a remote area with not a lot of Starlink satellite coverage, expect a bit higher power consumption than average.

Usage

Finally, your usage also plays a key factor when it comes to how much power is used.

The more bandwidth you burn through, the greater will be the power consumption.

Final Thoughts

Factoring in 0.175USD as the average cost of 1kWh power, your Starlink should amount to about $77 to $230 a year in your bills, which is a pretty decent trade for a utility like Starlink.

I hope my article on how much power a Starlink network can consume and the various factors behind it has been a helpful read.

Have a good day!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Does the Starlink RV kit come with an external power source?

The Starlink RV kit does not come with any external power source or generator, but users are free to use their own external power sources for portable power, provided it is rated to provide the necessary power

Does Starlink need to be grounded?

Starlink is rated to meet all the requirements of the US National Electrical Code (NEC), so it is not necessary to ground the system.

But if the area installed is susceptible to frequent lightning storms and power failure, then it doesn't hurt to add an external grounded lightning protection system.

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Doug Stevenson

Hey! I'm Doug, My passion for tech started by fixing phones and computers for my friends and family.

I started Blinqblinq to give reliable tech advice to anyone who needs it, for free! If you have questions on anything tech-related, feel free to contact me.

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