Sirius Starmate AC Adapter - Milliamps?

[jdlinn]

Does anyone know the Milliamps necessary for an ac adapter for the Sirius Starmate? There seems to be no way to get to a customer service rep for StarMate ... everything sends you to folks who handle the Orbitor or the Sportster ... one fellow there actually told me (from Sirius) that there was "no such thing" ... funny, I have one!

Doug

 

[Sirius_Rich]

Wwelcome to the Satellite Radio form of Satelliteguys.us.

I'm looking for your answer now. I have researched the owners manual, but it does not give the information you want. Do you have the STH1 home kit? If so, what does the power brick say?

 

[jdlinn]

Thank you for the welcome, and the response. It is a brand new unit, (and I've very excited about it). The problem has been the "home kit" has not been available until today ... and I ordered it today. So I'll be OK soon. I wanted to be able to use it at home too. So not to worry about the answer, once I have the home unit, I'll be home free!

But another quick question for you. If you want to get ANOTHER car kit, or another antenna, will they be available? Does the antenna from the sportster fit the starmate? (that would work) ... but then again, we'd need the adapter.

Thank you for your response.

Doug

 

[Sirius_Rich]

It LOOKS like the antenna conncetion for the Starmate and Sportster are the same. The availabilty of the home kits will be better each passing day. While looking for the specs for you I came across several sites that were selling the home kit for the Starmate. Google or Yahoo "starmate STH1".

This LINK will give you the owners manual and installation manual. The latter is the home kit owner's manual.

 

[Sirius_Rich]

Does anyone know the Milliamps necessary for an ac adapter for the Sirius Starmate? There seems to be no way to get to a customer service rep for StarMate ... everything sends you to folks who handle the Orbitor or the Sportster ... one fellow there actually told me (from Sirius) that there was "no such thing" ... funny, I have one!

Doug

My favorite Sirius geek over at siriusbackstage.com says 600 ma is the answer to your question.

 

[fromplanetbob]

My favorite Sirius geek over at siriusbackstage.com says 600 ma is the answer to your question.

Rich- I thought you said Starbase, not the starmate. The starbase runs 600ma. The starbase should run the same as the starmate though as it runs the same Gen 2.5 tuner and an LCD of the same size (little smaller I think.) The starbase actually measured a bit less than 600ma on my meter and uses less power as the contrast and brightness get turned down.

As for the antennas. Yes, the antennas are directly compatable.

 

[jdlinn]

Ok, I was close. I tried a 500 ma, and it didn't work (wouldn't light it up). So if I can find a 600 ma power supply, and use the antenna that fits the Sportster, I should have a "home brew" extra home unit. (Probably won't need one now since I've got one being shipped to me as we speak).

Is there anything "special" about the cigarette lighter adapter? Will "any" one do or is that also "regulated" somehow in the adapter. This is probably the more important qustion now that the home units are in stock. I'm told there probably won't be a "car kit" since it comes with one. So here again, just another antenna (one that fits the Sportster), then a cigarette lighter adapter that would work. Seems like Sirius would sell just a cigarette plug adapter ... but I guess not. So will "any" one work, or is it special? In other words, is it "regulating" the ma's coming out of the lighter?

Then I'll leave you alone! You've been a great help.

Doug

 

[fromplanetbob]

Personally, I'd go for a 1A 12v source.

As for the differences, there is none, 12v from a car is the same as 12v dc from a DC power adapter. I'm not sure if an older adapter will work with the new Starmate though. I don't have a starmate. I know for most of the SIRIUS Radios, they use 12v directly from the car to the radio. With the exception of the Blaupunkt unit which uses 7.4 v. So there is an outside chance the older cig adapters won't work with the new starmate, but a good chance it will.

 

[Senior21]

Anything new on this ?

I just bought the starmate and want to use it in the boat and the truck. I will need to hardwire it into the boat because of the wire routing. So i want to get another car kit for the truck.....basically just another A/C adapter and antenna.

I've been looking all over for another kit and can only find the home kit. Is it confirmed that If i buy the sportster kit i just use the A/C plug and antenna from it ??

Thanks

 

[jdlinn]

Hi ... just be darned careful. I went over to Radio Shack, found a nice little power supply, 12 volts 1 amp and FRIED IT! Lots of smoke, and it "rattled" a little when the smoke cleared. I don't understand why Sirius doesn't come out with an adapter for the car that you could buy separately!

 

[SanDiegoFunkDaddy]

Starmate adapter

That line coming out the cigarette lighter is at least 1 amp. Its coming directly from the battery. I called Sirius and the Starmate takes 12VDC 1.5A. I went to Walmart and found a universal adapter for $15 and its working great.
Its the Powerline digital universal AC adapter #0900-33, 3-12 volts/1300 mA. It has a tip to fit the Starmate DC input. Its cheaper than buying that overpriced Starmate Home Kit for $40. Make sure you put the positive (+) at the tip because if its reversed, it could catch on fire at that current