4 ms·
If they made it possible to disable the heating element (ie. require a human to wipe snow off it) then it would be a lot more viable for hiking. The large vers
by teruakohatu 2y ago
If they made it possible to disable the heating element (ie. require a human to wipe snow off it) then it would be a lot more viable for hiking.
The large version draws 45-70w so a airplane carry-on legal USB-C powerbank could power it for 1-2 hours.
- iknowstuff 2y agoFairly sure the heat is just a byproduct of the phased array antenna no?
- teruakohatu 2y agoI think you may be right, I read a HN comment a long time ago saying that they had a heater but it seems they do not.
- lazide 2y agoThey do have a heater in some versions - uses another 30-50 watts and is for melting snow.
- gonesilent 2y agoIt's just running the chips hot.
- RockRobotRock 2y agoprevious HN thread on this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29943898 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29943898
- lazide 2y agoI guess any sufficiently inefficient computer is indistinguishable from a space heater.
- funcDropShadow 2y agoI thought it was for comforting cats.
- eDameXxX 2y agoThey have it. This is from the official docs [1]: Snow Melt Capability: Up to 25mm / hour (1 in / hour) [1] https://api.starlink.com/public-files/specification_sheet_mini.pdf https://api.starlink.com/public-files/specification_sheet_mi...
- mlindner 2y agoIt's not just a byproduct. There's a definite mode it switches into, that can be disabled, that draws additional power in order to heat the dish up. There is no heating element, but the community understanding is that the radio elements are themselves used to do the heating.
- felipemesquita 2y agoYou already can disable the heating element from the app on the current models