Appliance Database
Starlink is not a 10-watt router. The dish is a phased-array antenna running warm around the clock — and in a snowstorm, it deliberately runs hotter. Size it for the conditions you actually expect.
Router / switch / mesh extras 10 W
PLANNING VALUE — THIRD-PARTY ROUTER, SWITCH, OR MESH NODE
Measured with a plug-in power meter? Enter the whole system's continuous draw — dish, power supply, and router together. Custom watts replace the presets above so nothing is double-counted. Useful for third-party routers, DC conversions, and future hardware revisions.
Assumes 90% system/inverter efficiency and a 20% Zaron Energy sizing margin — planning assumptions, not physical constants. The +50 W high-demand figure is a reported snow-melt allowance (Starlink does not publish an official heating wattage). Preset watts are the upper end of official average ranges.
Opens the full-home Zaron Energy Backup Power Calculator.
Official average draw
25–100 W
Starlink's own specifications: Mini averages 25–40 W; current Standard kits average 75–100 W, with roughly 20 W at idle.
Daily energy
0.6–2.4 kWh
What that means per day of outage: a Mini sips under 1 kWh; a Standard kit can consume more than 2 kWh — refrigerator territory.
Heating premium
+40–50 W
Reported added draw when snow melt activates — the dish ramps power to heat its surface. Official feature; wattage from user measurements and support reports.
The honest answer
Ask Starlink “how many watts?” and the honest answer is a range — because the dish adapts. Hardware generation sets the baseline; weather and snow-melt settings decide where in that range you land.
A Mini officially averages 25–40 W. A current Standard kit averages 75–100 W. Same internet, roughly 2.5× the energy — the bigger phased array simply draws more.
The dish raises power when rain, snow, or cold degrades its signal-to-noise ratio. Clear-sky averages are planning floors, not ceilings — winter storms are a different load profile.
Officially, current Standard-class hardware idles around 20 W. Starlink is an always-on appliance; “off” at the app level is not the same as unplugged.
The power chain
Your connection rides on a chain of powered equipment — and on infrastructure you will never own or control. Backup power covers one link: the hardware on your property.
Keep your terminal and router on a battery and your local network stays alive through a grid failure. But be straight with yourself about the rest of the chain: satellite service depends on the constellation, ground stations, and weather — none of which your battery can influence.
Satellite Network
Constellation & ground infrastructure — outside your control
Starlink Terminal
The dish — officially 25–40 W (Mini) to 75–100 W (Standard) average
Router / Network Hardware
Starlink router or third-party gear — typically 5–15 W more
Your Devices
Phones, laptops, cameras, smart home gear
Find your real number
Official averages are honest but broad. For a number you can bank a battery purchase on, measure your own setup — it takes one inexpensive tool and five minutes.
Starlink publishes average and idle figures for each kit — the right starting range and the authoritative reference when comparing hardware.
The brick's input rating (e.g., 100–240 V ~ 2.5 A) is a maximum — never the real draw. Useful only as a hard ceiling.
A kill-a-watt-style meter between the outlet and the whole system shows true AC watts. Measure during clear weather and, if you can, during a storm.
Running a Mini from DC? Measure on the DC side with an appropriate DC watt meter — you'll see exactly what the battery feels, conversion included.
TIP: In the Starlink app, snow melt modes are under Settings → Starlink → Snow Melt. “Pre-heat” runs the dish hottest — measure there for a true worst case.
Watts vs. watt-hours vs. ratings
Starlink power discussions get muddy because four different numbers all wear the word “power.” Here's the field guide.
| Term | What it measures | How it fits your backup plan |
|---|---|---|
| Watts (W) | Power — the rate of draw right now | The official “average 25–40 W / 75–100 W” figures. Sum everything running to get your continuous load. |
| Watt-hours (Wh) | Energy — watts held over time | A 100 W Standard kit for 24 h = 2,400 Wh. This is what your battery must actually store. |
| Kilowatt-hours (kWh) | 1,000 watt-hours | The unit power stations and home batteries are sold in. 2.4 kWh ≈ a mid-size portable station. |
| AC load | Draw through the wall outlet & power supply | Standard kits run on AC. Feeding them from a battery means inverting DC → AC — that's where the 90% efficiency assumption comes from. |
| DC load | Direct battery-side draw | The Mini accepts native 12–48 V DC. Direct DC operation with Starlink's official accessory can skip one conversion stage. |
| PSU rating | Maximum the supply can deliver | Not consumption. A supply rated for more watts than the device draws simply runs under less stress. |
Standard kits plug into a power station's AC outlet through their normal supply — zero modification, works with any hardware generation. You pay one conversion tax: the 90% efficiency assumption in the sizer exists precisely for this path.
The Mini's official input is 12–48 V DC, and Starlink sells an official USB-C PD accessory (100 W, 20 V/5 A minimum) for compatible sources. Direct DC can avoid inverter losses — but only with manufacturer-rated accessories, exactly matched voltage, and no improvised wiring.
Zaron Energy recommends manufacturer accessories and specifications only. Do not splice Starlink power cables, and do not assume third-party DC conversions are universally compatible — verify voltage, polarity, and connector against official documentation.
Live scenarios
Every row updates live from the sizer above. Watch how quickly a “small” load becomes a serious battery.
| Runtime | Continuous load | Energy required | System-loss adj. (÷0.90) | Zaron margin (×1.20) | Recommended |
|---|
At 100 W, the jump from 24 to 72 hours triples the battery — from about 3.2 kWh to about 9.6 kWh. Long outages are an energy problem, not a watts problem: plan recharging (solar, generator, vehicle) for anything past a day.
Operating conditions
Starlink officially documents how its hardware responds to weather. These are the documented behaviors that change your number — no speculation, no folklore.
| Condition | Documented behavior | Sizing impact |
|---|---|---|
| Clear weather | Dish operates at its official average draw (25–40 W Mini, 75–100 W Standard). | NORMAL mode — the planning baseline |
| Snow / ice accumulation | Official Snow Melt feature raises dish power to heat the surface and clear snow; app offers Off, Automatic, and Pre-heat modes. | HIGH-DEMAND mode — +50 W reported allowance |
| Rain / heavy cloud | Lower signal-to-noise ratio triggers increased transmit power to hold the link. | Draw rises above the clear-weather average — size with headroom |
| Idle periods | Official idle draw around 20 W on current Standard-class hardware. | Floor, not planning figure — outages rarely idle |
| Mini vs. Standard | Official averages of 25–40 W vs. 75–100 W. | Mini delivers the same runtime on ~2.5× less battery |
| AC vs. DC feed | Standard kits use AC supplies; Mini accepts native 12–48 V DC with official accessories. | DC can reduce conversion losses; the 90% assumption covers AC |
A Standard kit at its official 100 W average burns 2.4 kWh a day — the same league as a full-size refrigerator. Starlink's brilliant engineering trades constant, hungry power for internet anywhere. Respect the trade.
Real-world variables
The sizer uses official averages and clearly labeled allowances. Your true figure depends on the specifics of your hardware and sky.
Mini, Standard (Gen 3 / Std 4), legacy actuated, high-performance — each generation carries a different official average. Know which dish you own.
Off, Automatic, or Pre-heat — the app setting decides how readily the dish spends watts on heat. Pre-heat is the worst case worth measuring.
Storms raise transmit power to hold the link. A clear-day measurement can understate a stormy-night reality by tens of watts.
Starlink's router or a third-party mesh adds 5–15 W. Over 72 hours, an extra 10 W is another 0.86 kWh you must account for.
Every conversion costs energy. AC through an inverter costs roughly 10% in the planning assumption; official Mini DC accessories can avoid that stage.
Idle draw and power management evolve with firmware. Official idle is ~20 W today — re-measure after major updates if you run tight margins.
Methodology
Every step of the sizer's math is visible and reproducible. Swap in your own measured watts and audit the whole chain.
Total continuous watts
Official-range preset for your hardware (upper end), plus high-demand and networking allowances — or your own measured watts.
— W
Watts × runtime hours
Continuous load multiplied by the selected runtime (6, 12, 24, 48, or 72 hours). Result is energy in watt-hours.
— Wh
Convert Wh → kWh
Divide watt-hours by 1,000 to express energy in kilowatt-hours — the unit batteries are sold in.
— kWh
Account for system efficiency
Divide by 0.90 for assumed conversion/inverter losses between battery and hardware — the AC-path tax.
÷ 0.90
Apply Zaron sizing margin
Multiply by 1.20 — a Zaron Energy planning margin for battery aging, cold weather, and real-world slack.
× 1.20
Recommended battery capacity
Energy ÷ 0.90 × 1.20. Sized so your hardware runs the full runtime with headroom to spare.
— kWh
The 90% efficiency and 20% margin are Zaron Energy planning conventions — defaults, not physical constants. Official Starlink averages, your own measurements, and manufacturer documentation always take precedence.
Evidence
Every material figure on this page traces to one of four labeled categories.
Average and idle power for the Mini (25–40 W), Standard 4 / 4 X / Enterprise (75–100 W, idle ~20 W), and legacy Standard actuated (50–75 W) — from Starlink's own specification sheets and support articles.
Mini input rating of 12–48 V DC with a 60 W supply, and the official USB-C PD accessory (100 W, 20 V/5 A minimum) — from published Starlink hardware documentation.
Starlink officially documents the Snow Melt feature but does not publish its wattage. The +40–50 W allowance comes from user measurements and support reports, cross-checked against published summaries (kits range ~20–150 W). Labeled as reported — not official.
W × h → Wh → kWh → ÷ 0.90 → × 1.20 — Zaron methodology. And your measured watts: the single biggest accuracy lever in the whole sizer.
Zaron Energy did not physically test Starlink hardware. Presets are the upper end of official average ranges; the high-demand allowance is a reported figure; always verify against your own device and measurements. Starlink specifications change between hardware generations — re-check official documentation for your exact kit.
Straight answers
It depends on the hardware. Per official Starlink specifications, the Mini averages 25–40 W, while current Standard (Gen 3 / Standard 4) kits average 75–100 W with about 20 W at idle. Snow-melt heating and heavy weather can push draw higher — reported figures add roughly 40–50 W on top of baseline.
Divide usable battery watt-hours by the kit's continuous watts. A Mini averaging 40 W on a 1,000 Wh power station runs about 25 hours before losses; with a 90% efficiency assumption and 20% sizing margin, plan on roughly 18–20 hours. A Standard kit at 100 W on the same battery covers about 7–8 hours. Use the sizer to model your exact setup.
Yes. Starlink officially documents a Snow Melt feature that raises the dish's power draw to heat its surface and clear snow, with Off, Automatic, and Pre-heat modes in the app. User measurements and support reports put the added draw at roughly 40–50 W over baseline during active melting — so winter sizing should use a high-demand figure, not the clear-weather average.
Yes. Standard kits run from a power station's AC output through their normal power supply; the Mini's native 12–48 V DC input also allows direct DC operation with Starlink's official USB-C to barrel-jack accessory. Use only manufacturer-rated accessories, match voltages exactly, and never splice power cables.
If your hardware stays powered, Starlink can keep working through a local outage — but it is not guaranteed. Service depends on the satellite network, ground infrastructure, weather, and capacity in your area. Battery backup keeps your terminal and router running; it cannot promise network-side availability. That's the honest limit.
For battery life, the Mini is the clear winner: official average draw is 25–40 W versus 75–100 W for Standard kits — roughly 2.5 times less energy per hour. A Mini keeps the same runtime on a battery about 2.5 times smaller, which is why it dominates RV and off-grid setups.
A Standard kit at 100 W draws 2.4 kWh per day; after the 90% efficiency assumption and 20% sizing margin, plan for about 3.2 kWh of battery. A Mini at 40 W needs about 1.0 kWh for the same day. For 72 hours, triple it — and think about recharging. The sizer at the top of this page does all of it live.
Appliance database
Starlink is one critical load. Add the rest of your home to build a complete outage plan.
The whole-home view
This page sizes your Starlink load. The full Zaron Energy Backup Power Calculator combines it with your refrigerator, freezer, internet gear and every other essential device — into one number you can act on.
Open the Full-Home Calculator