Stracom 1

[Imp]

We bought 2 StarCom units about one and half years ago. We both have FJRs and ride rarely 2 up. The units came with radios that where useless, ie we could not hear each other if we where farther than 20 feet appart and when traveling we could be no farther than 10 feet appart. Jeff suggested Kennwoods which solved that problem.

So we have these units for 1 1/2 years or about 37,000 miles and during out last rip (2,500 miles) my unit started to act up, ie I could hear great the next minute all we could hear was grugle. I could hear the i pod for 2 to 3 seconds and then it would get muted for 30 to 40 seconds, this would happen with or without a noise trigger. I could hear periodic crackilng, metrinome like ticking, and engine whine, but this would happen for only 5 to 10 seconds and then nothing... no noise no music except for gragled or clear bike to bike communication.

I attempted to adjust the Starcom but it would not cycle out of the volume controll. I called Jeff and he sugested resetting the thing. After the reset it would cycle through all the settings but now I can't make adjustments.

I contacted Starcom (by e-mail) and the reply was "connect the unit directly to the battery and use the PTT". I have been using the PTT ( push to talk) and had it wired through a switched fuse block that is connected to the battery. Both the Starcom and the fuse block live under the seat. I can't see that the fuse block would make a difference after doing ok for the last year and 1/2.

I need help. What should I do next??

I know what I want to do ........ :angry:

 

[WRichStrom]

I'm not going to be able to help here except to tell you my experience. If you had the StarCom's working for 30,000+ miles and now they don't work, I doubt it is anything you are doing. Grounding to the battery sounds weird, I bet your setup is fine.

In my experience I took my Starcom worked great for three years and then with similar symptoms as your I took it apart and found the "electrical connection port" for the MP-3 was intermittent. I did a work around and soldering and it worked again for awhile, then kaput. Very similar to what you are experiencing.

I think these just go bad afterwhile. I ride with some guys who have these and it seems after two years or so we are all taking the things apart and working on the electrical connections. I just think these have a weak link.

Only my opinion from a non-technical guy. But after my experience from my Starcom and what I hear from other's I may be going to a Bluetooth type of set up. I think the Starcom's are great but have a reliability issue after awhile.

WRichStrom

 

[Aasland]

My riding buddy has a Starcom 1 which regularly refuses to transmit from his microphone. A techy friend figured out it was a bad potentiometer - something about carbon buildup - and electrical cleaner or jiggling it seemed to help. More recently he couldn't get any comminication with his cobra CB, but figured out if he turned on the CB before the Starcom then it would *sometimes* work.

So you're not alone in waiting for the Bluetooth solutions to become viable.

 

[HaulinAshe]

Hope this helps you somehow...

I've logged some serious Starcom1 Advance miles, and had more than my share of component failures.

#1 on my list is their headset microphone. ANY moisture on the mic and it will stop working. Typically, a good drying in the sun will restore operation. On one rare occasion I had to replace the headset.

#2 on my list, and what sounds like the problem you are experiencing, is failure of their isolated cables. I chased intermittent audio failures for months, even bought a new unit, only to find out it was the damn isolated audio cable from the Zumo to the Starcom unit. I've also had one isolated RD cable on the Escort to Starcom cable. Their cables are expensive, yet not all that rugged IMHO.

#3 on my list is the Bike2Bike radio connector on the core unit. The Bike2Bike Radio cable has a fairly large plug on the Starcom end. That plug produces a lot of physical force against the female jack on the circuit board. The jack is not very rugged. If you aren't extremely careful about how you tie down the B2B cable, you can induce strain on the PC board and fracture connections. PTT is usually the first thing that goes when that jack fails. Intermittent B2B and unreliable PTT is a sure symptom of PC board damage.

HA

 

[Imp]

Thank you all for the info.

This is what I got from Starcom on my second and not so nice e-mail........

!0 is the unit connected directly to the battery? If not it could be resistance build up on the fuse unit which could reduce current to the unit.

Of course you can return the unit for checking. From your symptoms it sounds like either the non direct battery connection or dampness has penetrated the connections.

But of course by email its impossible to tell. WE have very few problems with Starcom 1 products so there is no regular faults.

Regards

Tony Starling