Banana Pi (going mobile)

[Philip Prindeville]

Hi,

My wife got a Starlink Mini (I’ll forgive her… Kuiper isn’t sufficiently launched at this time), so I want to build a small all-in-one router w/ WiFi to connect to her antenna.

I’m considering the Banana Pi.  Does anyone else use this, and if so, what configuration do they use?

I’d probably want to tunnel through the home network so that streaming services don’t give me a hassle (even if the hair-pinning doubles my data usage).  I’d want to use it in the RV so that it would cover tablets, iPhones, etc. inside the vehicle as well as a 16m radius when parked at a campsite.

Low power consumption is always a win, as is interoperating with the broadest number of devices including 802.11b/g/n and 2.4GHz as well as 802.11ac/ax.

Running off of either vehicle 12VDC or 110VAC with different cables/bricks is fine.  Straight wire to 12VDC would be the most efficient, since there would be less conversion loss.  And we like to camp in the desert, so good passive heat dissipation is also a win.

Was looking at this, but 8GB seems pretty anemic:

https://www.amazon.com/youyeetoo-Banana-BPI-R4-Router-Development/dp/B0F4KJVT7W/

or maybe with 5G to prioritize that and fall over to Starlink when 5G isn’t available:

https://www.amazon.com/BPI-R4-Wireless-Tri-Band-Router-OpenWRT/dp/B0F2MT51XQ/

What do you all think?

Am I missing anything?

Thanks,

-Philip