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Freebooter's avatar
Freebooter
Explorer
Jul 24, 2013

Sirius satellite radio and low voltage

I bought my Sirius radio as part of the Starmate boom box package for camping in places so remote that regular radio was spotty or non-existent. I was puzzled to discover that the dc power (cigarette lighter) adapter for the radio did not fit the Starmate (socket too deep). No matter, I just plugged into the Sirius radio as I would if I were driving and into one of the dual cigarette lighter ports I had installed myself to my motorhome house battery and played it through a small portable stereo.

Yesterday, I visited an electronics store to try and get an adapter that would allow me to power the Starmate from my house battery (it takes 8 d-cells and they don't last long).

They told me that, if I did that, I could damage my equipment with too-low voltage since my house battery is almost never at full charge while camping and continues to be depleted the longer I camp. Ditto for running the Sirius radio from my house battery. It is designed to run only on a fully charged battery such as my engine battery would be when driving. Sirius tech support confirmed all this.

Of course, the Starmate will run on dc from a 110 volt transformer that comes with it but my inverter won't work from my house battery (low-voltage protection) as I learned when I tried to run my laptop from it. I have a generator but I don't drive 100 mi into the boonies to listen to a generator. Solar powerful enough to always keep the house battery fully charged is still an expensive solution even though it is slowly getting cheaper.

For those who are doing what I was with the Sirius radio, be warned. Any work-arounds would be welcome.
  • MEXICOWANDERER's avatar
    MEXICOWANDERER
    Explorer
    Jul 25, 2013
    My Sirius radio lasted 16 hours on one set of 8, 8-D batteries and when they were exhausted they were down to less than 1.1 volts.

    And no, you should not connect the radio to a 12 volt battery bank with 12 feet of 18 gauge wire.

    But to say a decently charged (above 40% SOC) 12 volt battery cannot operate a Sirius radio is absurd. Yes, given enough atrocities in the configuration of wiring and connectors, operation will fail. FUBAR is a word invented to describe something "failure resistant" that has been "in-witted" to the point of inevitable failure.

    But that is not a battery failing to make things work because the NORMAL discharging (decreasing) voltage of a car battery cannot support the radio. That tech should know this - it is not celestial mechanics.
  • Freebooter's avatar
    Freebooter
    Explorer
    Jul 25, 2013
    PS, the Starmate is a boom box stereo that has a mount for the Sirius radio.It is specifically made to make the radio portable. It has a dc input port for the 110v transformer.
  • Freebooter's avatar
    Freebooter
    Explorer
    Jul 25, 2013
    Thanks, you guys. The 'Einstein' wasn't some high school kid at Radio Shack but someone old enough to be his father at an electronics wholesaler. Still, I didn't just take his word for it, I called Sirius tech support and they agreed with him.

    Thanks smkettner, the wire is quite long (10' - 12') and may be causing my problem with the inverter. I will test the circuit and compare to battery output. Also, it is a pretty cheap plug-in inverter. If I wasn't such a cheapskate, I might not have had this problem, lol. I had assumed that the low-voltage disconnect was to save my battery from serious discharge so I was surprised when 'Einstein' told me it was to protect my equipment from low voltage damage. I had no idea that this was possible and, frankly, I still doubt it.

    As for solar, Princess Auto has a Coleman 80 watt panel on for $249.00 (almost half the price of the same thing at Home Depot). I am considering it.
  • pnichols's avatar
    pnichols
    Explorer II
    Jul 25, 2013
    Freebooter wrote:
    I was puzzled to discover that the dc power (cigarette lighter) adapter for the radio did not fit the Starmate (socket too deep).


    The OP was not clear as to what the "Starmate" package is/was.

    Since the Sirius battery plug did not fit the Starmate socket, it sounds like the radio MAY NOT have been designed to go with, and be powered by, the constantly declining voltage from D cells under use. Hence a lack of an Einstein IQ may have nothing to do with it ... perhaps some/all Sirius circuits indeed do not like to be powered too long from batteries not constantly pumped up by an alternator kept constantly spinning by an internal combustion engine.

    (Besides ... Einstein was a theoretical physicist - not an integrated circuit designer. Einstein was even perplexed by some theoretical physics - as his only very non-scientific explanation for one particular physics phenomenon was to call it "spooky".)
  • LittleBill's avatar
    LittleBill
    Explorer
    Jul 25, 2013
    MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
    Ask Einstein at the electronics store what happens when the alkaline D cells deplete? Charged and full 1.6 volts X 8 Discharged to the point of unusable 1.1 volt

    12.80 versus 8.80 volts total

    Tell him a hamburger flipping vocation may be in his future...


    i would listen to this man...

    some people have 0 common sense
  • StewB's avatar
    StewB
    Explorer
    Jul 25, 2013
    I have run mine till the voltage was to low to allow the sirus unit to work. Have not ideah how low it was , just dead.
  • MEXICOWANDERER's avatar
    MEXICOWANDERER
    Explorer
    Jul 24, 2013
    Ask Einstein at the electronics store what happens when the alkaline D cells deplete? Charged and full 1.6 volts X 8 Discharged to the point of unusable 1.1 volt

    12.80 versus 8.80 volts total

    Tell him a hamburger flipping vocation may be in his future...

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