Split: Sena Use

[FJRay]

I don't care about pairing with others. I just want to have tunes and communicate with my passenger. I double checked what I could today and no joy. The promised fix via email never showed which doesn't come as a surprise. My luck with their tech support has been dismal at best. I'll be on the phone first thing in the morning. I'll try a diplomatic approach for starters.

 

[Viper Pilot]

I've been using the 20's for quite awhile and it's worked perfect EXCEPT for the music sharing function. The music sharing does work however there are numerous 'dropouts' or 'breaks' in the music when in the sharing mode. The normal music listening mode works perfect. The music is contained in my smart phone and bluetooths to the SENA unit.

 

[BkerChuck]

Wife and I have the SMH10 units and used them pretty heavily for more than 5 years now. Worst issue we had was 1 defective unit, hers, that I didn't realize was bad until we swapped them. The original unit mounted to her helmet had sporadic, inexplicable popping and cracking sounds at high volume to the point where had it been on my helmet it would have been pitched into the woods somewhere in WV the very first rally we did. Sena customer support was.......okay. After doing hard resets and discharging, recharging battery, and dancing naked in the moonlight while facing south......okay maybe not that last part, they finally sent us a replacement. Replacement unit has performed flawlessly since receiving it.

Sena device manager software is.....okay. I had issues a few times with it and I don't understand this part. If I logged onto their sight using IE and downloaded it, it sucked. Freezing and acting stupid. Go to the site using Firefox, all is well. Laptop is about 5 years old running Windows 7 Pro. Whatever, I got it to work.

I recently replaced the battery in my unit as life on a full charge was down to only about 4-6 hours depending upon usage. Intercom use killed it fast. Riding solo listening to tunes with phone connected it was slightly better. Watched a video on how to solder in a new battery and for less than $15 and about 30 minutes of my time it's now better than it was new. Mixed use of phone, tunes from Ipod, and intercom is yielding a ridiculous battery life. I was charging mine about once a week and now it can go for almost 2 1/2 - 3 weeks between charges. Only drawback is that on the original battery I would get 3 or 4 "low battery" warnings but with the replacement battery it only goes "low battery, Goodbye".

Tried the "universal intercom" pairing with a friend's Scala unit once only to find it knocked out both of our phone pairings.Not bothering with that again. All things considered while not a perfect system I still find these units to be among the better ones I've been around

Sorry you're having trouble and hope you get it squared away..

 

[FJRay]

In theory they are sending a pick up tag so I can send the units back for repair or replacement. I'll know in 3-7 days. It shouldn't be this hard to get results but if it works right I'll quit whining .

 

[JasL]

Don't know about the Sena system,i've got a Viper RS-V151 helmet with built in bluetooth and absolutely love it,for music,sat nave etc on longer journeys

 

[FJRay]

Shipped everything back today and if their email is correct they are replacing the whole package with new. I hope there is light at the end of the tunnel and not another train coming.

 

[PhatAir4Me]

Shipped everything back today and if their email is correct they are replacing the whole package with new. I hope there is light at the end of the tunnel and not another train coming.

Same here, I sent them the radio units only and they sent me a dual radio pack NIB so I ended up with two extra of everything except the main units of course

 

[SacramentoMike]

Threads like this make me appreciate my own technological illiteracy. So I don't even bother to install anything that uses electrical power or involves connecting one wire to another. And the wireless stuff is worse. It's good to recognize your own limitations. Makes for a happier life.

I live by the simple rule: if it needs an instruction booklet of more than two pages, pass. Unless it's small print. Then just pass period.

 

[FJRay]

Just got the warranty replacement units. Now for the trauma of trying to make them work. Last time almost made me start drinking again.

 

[sapest]

In an earler post I think you (FJRay) said you had a Zumo 66x? If so, save yourself a bunch of drinking and delete the bluetooth pairing info from the Zumo and then do a reset. The one where you poke the lower right corner of the screen while starting the device. Yes you will loose a bunch of user data unless you back it up first. (Try JaVaWa for that). Just deleting the pairing info without the reset will cause you all sorts of grief. Most commonly, everything will work fine when you do the pairing to the new units. Then turn everything off, and back on again and nothing works. Repeat pairing and its working again, etc etc. FWIW, after you do get everything sorted out, in my case, turning on the Sena before the Zumo always gets me a rock solid connection. Shut down order does not seems to matter.

Good luck

-Steve

 

[FJRay]

Well things seem to be working for now. I'll try them tomorrow and see what happens.

 

[Kelvininin]

I have been using Sena's for several years, stated with an SMH10, now a 20S. Work great for me, music, comms, phone calls, no problems.

 

[FJRay]

With any luck I'll have the same to report soon. Waiting for the smoke to clear out of central Oregon so we can ride and breathe at the same time.

 

[FTL900]

I've purchased 6 or 7 Sena SMH10 units for various friends and family, and they all work pretty well. The batteries are shot on the oldest ones, after ~3 years, they'll only work for 30 minutes on a charge. So I took one apart (easy peasy, 3 screws) and looked at the number on the battery, then found a replacement battery on ebay for around $12, with an upgrade from a 560 mah battery to a 650. It still fits fine as long as it looks like it's shaped the same. Minor amount of soldering to fit the old connector onto the new battery.

I've installed new batteries in 3 units now, and it's great to suddenly be able to go all day with an open intercom and not worry about battery life again.

Of course, we still do the pairing dance at the beginning of the ride. 2 riders is pretty easy, 3 is sometimes tricky, and ONCE we have had 4 riders paired. It's half tech, half black magic. The only thing more fun than that is the Sena device manager and getting it to recognize devices, altho they may have made progress on that. I upgraded a new unit 2 weeks ago, and it was pretty painless.

 

[dcarver]

Well, I'm in the fray now. Sena20S, Zumo 550, Zumo 590LM.

1. Audio, music, sounds like crap blue toothed to Send from 550. Horribly bad. Starcomm sounds great.
2. Sena20s - no cloning feature? What up with dat? Get one set up, clone to another.. NOPE.
3. It's all confusing.. iPhone connected, Pandora going, iPhone to Zumo.. Zumo to Sena.. Results? Crappy audio, better than 550 but far far short of StarCom analog, Zumo550 with Sirius XM.

Not sure how this will end. May need to follow FjRays advice and put .45 in place.

 

[puppychow]

A .45 is a standard riding accessory... oops wrong thread...

I have had a Sena10u for almost a year now. Love it for music, V1, and GPS. Except I can't get the V1 and GPS when paired with another rider for intercom.

Still looking to find a solution to have everything paired in with V1 and/or GPS taking priority over intercom but haven't found it yet... Still looking

 

[Uncle Hud]

Trashed my Garmin. Never could get hi-fi sound through it. Now I listen to storyteller podcasts off the iPad in the topbox, and use Google Maps for nav.

Works great. Simple. Hi fidelity. And Mom can't tell I'm on the bike when we chat.

 

[FJRay]

So far my replacement units are working. I've only used them for tunes and intercom. Need to see if there is a way to increase intercom volume. May try pairing the phone just to see if it works. The .45 is allways ready just in case I have a bad day.

 

[FJRay]

Another question. How does one adjust the intercom volume. We hear music just fine and my wife can hear me ok over the intercom but I can barely hear her going slow and not at all at road speed. I'm sure there must be a way to set it but I haven't found it and their help desk isn't responding yet.

 

[Viper Pilot]

Ray, I'm assuming your using the SENA 20S. The volume for the intercom is the same dial control you use for the music. However, they both have to be set independently. I.E. , rotate the control for setting your music level and then while listening to some one talk on the intercom, rotate the same dial to set that level. Now music and intercom should both be set to the levels you want.