Sena S20 'machine gun' noises?

[Tiltcylinder]

Anyone using the Sena S20's / S10's experiencing the 'clack clack clacking' in the background when paired up with more than one other unit? I ride with 1 to 6 more people all using Sena 20's or 10's and the last update made the noises worse. We went backwards to an earlier OS and it helped but still doesn't alleviate it. Everyone in the group is using Garmin GPS units, bluetoothing to the Senas. When all the GPS units are turned off the noises go away. Any ideas would be helpful, I'm willing to try most anything... except giving up the Sena's (20's are just amazing) or GPS' as music, crazy downloaded routes and breadcrumbs have simply become part of how I ride now.

 

[Don in Lodi]

The only RF clicking I've ever come across is leaking ignition cables. If none of the bikes are running and you still have the click with just the GPS's fired up, I'm out.

 

[Millman]

When I pair my Garmin to my senas, the voices come across quite staticky. Maybe an update to the Garmin ? The iPhone comes across clear and distinct. I have the Sena 10s units.


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[Brick]

I've been using an SMH 10 for years now and also love it. I don't pair it with my 660 Garmin only my iPhone. The most we have been able to pair with is 4. Never heard that problem. We have had many combinations of Sena in riding groups from the 5 to the 20s and never heard this noise.


Let's Ride!
Brick

 

[Gigitt]

I have a sena s20
i ride with a mate that has a sena 10.
We cannot join in VOX mode (i dont know if his sena 10 supports it)
when we join it is live comms mode....pretty painful as the s20 is a multitaking headset

when i connect to him i always get a clinking of metal sound coming through. clink clink...clink...clink clink... ... ...clink...
maybe it is the same metalic sound you get.

Our audio connection is quite clear and no static, but the clink clink noise I hear is crystal clear. it is random and not in a morse code rhythm.
it is the same sound and loudness and does not vary due to him talking or his mv august butal winding out that i can hear.
I only hear while we are riding. when we are waiting at lights etc no clinking. It is like the noise cancelling circuits are introducing some feedback maybe.

 

[JRE]

When I pair my Garmin to my senas, the voices come across quite staticky. Maybe an update to the Garmin ? The iPhone comes across clear and distinct. I have the Sena 10s units.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

This is a limitation of the unit. If you just pair the Garmin with the Sena it will sound perfect. The Sena only supports one high bandwidth BT device via A2DP at a time. When paired with the phone and the GPS, the phone gets the A2DP connection and the GPS the crappy HFP connection. Supposedly, there is a way to connect the GPS through the phone to the Sena (or the other way around, I forget since it's been awhile) but I have never been able to get it to work properly. It may be also due to the GPS. I recently read from Sena: "For example, the audio on all Garmin Zumos use HFP for transmitting audio to a Bluetooth headset and the music on all Zumos are using A2DP for transmitting stereo audio."

To the OP, I have not experienced that noise when connected to another rider but I've never connected to more than one at a time.

 

[Tiltcylinder]

Gigitt, you are describing the problem exactly. Initially we thought someone had a chin strap loose and flapping about. I wondered if it has something to do with the Sena 10's, but it goes away when I turn off the Garmin 765... so, as most of the others are using newer (much newer Nav IV, V's) Garmin cycle specific units, I've broken down and purchased a 660LM.
When I get enough seat time, I'll report back if it's 'solving' the issue. At least one of the people I ride with is pretty tech savy and I'll be spending ten days on the road (and off the road too) with him, we'll try adjusting all the settings I can have him think of. The 660's interface, look and features are very similar to the 765, so operation for me is pretty easy. The whole group hears the noises, then they go away when either of my 765's are powered off. Both have current updates, but as they were never designed for bikes, I'm hoping it's an internal or software compatibility issue. Too bad, as I think it's actually a better laid out interface.
Anyone with a known fix... please chime in

 

[Davesax36]

I don't know if this helps, but sometimes my Garmin will "take over" the audio in my smh10r. It's like it keeps giving instructions, but there's no audio attached.

 

[Gigitt]

I don't know if this helps, but sometimes my Garmin will "take over" the audio in my smh10r. It's like it keeps giving instructions, but there's no audio attached.

On my s20 each media has it own volume.
I have 2 helmets with cradles, and each time I swap the s20 unit the media audio levels need to be readjusted.
This is especially true with the GPS audio... I noticed that I was not hearing speed camera bing bing alerts... I had to wait till there was an alert break in my radio/mp3's to turn the volume up... once I turned the alert volume up the gps audio for directs also returned. volume for radio/mp3's was not affected.

maybe try turning up the volume when you hear the break for gps audio.