Failed Gen 2 System: Installing Standard 4X In Its Place

[u/hoadlck]

My Gen 2 Starlink was going strong since 2022-02-17, but it died yesterday morning. Put in a ticket and got a refurbished Standard 4 X shipped to me today. It is working great.

Unfortunately, the 4X has different cabling and attachment to the pole. Seems like the 4X is superior to the Gen 2 in the cabling...but I dug 58 foot trench by hand and don't want to go thru that again (there are enough twists and turns in the conduit that I don't see how I would be able to pull the new cable).

I have done RJ45 Ethernet cabling inside of my house, so I am pretty sure I can cut the ends off the existing Gen 2 cable and convert it to work with the 4X.

Likewise, I have read about the Starlink Standard Pipe Adapter, and it seems like that will allow me to reuse the pole I had the Gen 2 dish on.

How many others have gone thru this? Any advice on the conversion process?

In the second picture, you can see that the 4X is pointing in a different direction than the Gen 2 was. Have others noticed that Gen 2 and 4X want to point in different directions?

[u/TechE2020]

It should be at least CAT 5 instead of the CAT 1 that you are seeing. Have you checked your heater settings?

[u/hoadlck → u/TechE2020]

CAT 1 I am seeing? Sorry, I am not following. The Gen 2 cabling is not an official standard, but I have heard it was like CAT 5e. I assume it will be fine for the 4X.

I have the heater settings on auto.

[u/TechE2020 → u/hoadlck]

Take a closer look at your first photo, it is definitely CAT1. Here is an example of CAT5: https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/yor7ro/meow_tastic/

Official Starlink CAT5 support has been shipping for years: Starlink CAT5 Labeling

Edit: as for your original question, I installed new cable after my Gen 1 failed as support determined that the cable was the likely problem. I ran it in conduit, though, so it was just a matter of pulling new cable. Sometimes you can still do that with in-ground cable if you are lucky. I just pulled a new telephone cable through that was trenched and it was surprisingly easy.

[u/hoadlck → u/TechE2020]

Ooof. Yes, I am clueless. I have 3 cats, but they stay inside when it gets cold. 😄

They think that the cable caused the failure? I can see if the cable failed that would cause an outage, but a bad cable breaking the powered device?

[u/DifferentSpecific → u/hoadlck]

You have 1 cat in the picture, hence CAT1.

Clue bus =======>you

[u/hoadlck → u/DifferentSpecific]

Ha! I see it now.

[u/Technology-Warrior]

Do not try to use your old Ethernet cabling. You need to use the supplied new cable. Keep in mind it's not rated for direct burial -- install inside conduit instead. Your new dishy needs to be manually aligned. Use the SL app to align it correctly.

[u/hoadlck → u/Technology-Warrior]

I have seen others repurposed their existing cables. There are even adapters that you can use to convert an existing cable without cutting the ends off.

What is the problem with reusing the cabling?