Annoying static with Starmate I did not have with Replay Sportster

[JeffRome]

Hi! I just switched from my Sportster Replay to a Sirius Starmate 5 in my car. The Starmate uses the exact same connections except I am using the power connection to the lighter instead of the direct power connection my Replay has. There is a FM Direct Adapter to my car radio.
But I get a low grade static--just enough to be annoying--no matter which channel on the Starmate and no matter which unused channel on my radio it is broadcasting to. My replay had absolutely no static. Any ideas?? It is frustrating. I'm afraid it could be the radio--if so not suer how I can test it or should I just take it back?

[SiriusBuzz]

A cigarette lighter (or any power source) can cause interference and static. This is why it is important to run your signal cables away from power lines to things like amps. Is the only difference is where it is plugged in? Try plugging it into another cars cigarette lighter and see what happens. Also, just do whatever you can to get that power cable away from the signal and output cables.

[JeffRome]

I had my stereo people hook my old Replay Sportster's power source directly--it did not hoop through the cigarette lighter. Can I do this with the Starmate 5 as well? Or does it have to use the cigarette light power connection. i don't see where I got any other power cable--and the power cable plug that fit into my old Replay does not fit into the power female plug in the Starmate. Thanks.

[SiriusBuzz]

Someone familiar with electrical could directly connect it to a power source. There is no reason you could do that for a sportster and not a starmate.

[regs222]

Was there ever a resolution to this issue? I also purchased the Starmate5 recently (replacing the sportster2) and am having a ton of static interference. I thought it may be the cigarette lighter so I hard wired it and picked up a new direct FM adapter. No change. It still has a low static hum in the background. When I hit the FM button on the Starmate it does make the static go away for a brief period of time (maybe 30 seconds) before returning. This has me hitting that button at least 100 times every morning during my commute. Any ideas on how to solve this?