Priorities
We had some very frustrating times while trying to use the new 20S units. (Four of us on a 10-day tour with mileages up to 750 per day). The GPSs (four of them, one for each rider) would constantly blank-out intercom communication. Sometimes intercom would come back . . . . . some times NOT. This particular problem is an issue every time the Zumo lady speaks, Zumo rain alerts, Zumo dealership nearby alerts, Zumo Sonic restaurants nearby, or when any of the four of us would tap a button on the Zumo. Any interruption by the Zumo would cause loss of Intercom. It happened dozens of times per day to each of the four of us. We called it "Being Zumo'ed".
The issue seems to be the priorities within the 20S. The phone has the highest priority (after Ambient).
In the manual's instructions, there are "Cases" for pairing to the Sena. In both Case #1 and Case #2, the Zumo 665 is paired as a phone.
So if the Sena thinks that the GPS is a phone, and phones have the highest priority, could it be that the GPS thus has the highest priority? If it does, this needs to be worked on. Many times, our group was in disarray when we tried to depart from a GPS route to go eat or get gas. Just when we needed intercom the most, the Zumo took priority and intercom was impossible.
Ken
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The other day, I started a new thread that's specifically about the new A2DP 2nd phone and GPS operation.
http://support.sena.com/entries/108795056-New-2nd-A2DP-for-2nd-phone
Maybe we should transfer this conversation there.
After making the first post to that thread, I've learned more about the functionality. Some of my original post there may be inaccurate due to my understanding at the time.
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I'm also searching and found http://support.sena.com/entries/55815280-Please-explain-Audio-Multitasking
that could be invited there.
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I think sena should opensource the firmware code. There isn't much to loose to start with... Sell us the hardware, we'll take it from here for the code...
I mean, it is obvious they coded a mixer for all the sources to have a volume... and there are priorities obviously, it's just hardcoded, but there is code to choose the source... why it is so hard to externalize the priorities...? I simply don't get it, this is probably a case of missing developers (the last guy who new the code went away or something).
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The priorities might well be subject to legislation for all we know. Or it might be impossible with the current hardware, or Sena might just have another opinion about it. Who knows ? I whish they would just communicate about it. It's not like we ask the impossible here !
It's remarkable that not only Sena uses these priorites. All brands use the same priorities. That would indicate that it has got something to do with legislation. I'm not sure.
Still, I say again: the priorities are not acually the problem here. The problem is that Sena doesnot (or didnot) recognize that NAV-equipment nowadays is also used for listening to music. Because of that we had no other option than to pair the GPS as if it were a phone. Hence the GPS would interrupt the intercom.
Sena made a special GPS-slot in which the NAV-instructions had a lower priority than the intercom (which is what we want), but then you couldn't listen to music !!So what I understand now, is that they made the GPS-slot so that it CAN receive music ! This is great (if it worked on a Zumo 590) !!
BTW: By "slot" I mean "a way of pairing". A bluetooth-slot if you like. A virtual plug and socket.
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By the way.... it just occured to me. In the 20S-manual, page 42, the priorities are listed. There is no mentioning of the priority of a GPS !
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Well said Mark.
I would be surprised that there would be any law to require a phone call to interrupt an intercom... I would want my phone to interrupt intercom too. That just common sense, hence the top priority seen on most headsets.
And you point the right issue with the NAV having a2dp.
But I will have to hear about more cases than Ken's GPS pairing to believe that the GPS pairing enables a2dp (because mine doesn't work)...
Anyone else got it working? (hope to see that on the new thread Ken opened).
Ken, if you dare clear all your BT pairings (on sena and on the zumo through the secret screens (hold a touch on the compass and flip many next pages to the bluetooth status screen)) and only pair once as GPS, that would eliminate ambiguity regarding the sena update 1.6 supporting a2dp in the gps pairing. I'm sorry in advance if you cannot reproduce your working setup!
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The foot note on page 16 (section 5.4.1) does say the GPS pairing will not interrupt intercom.
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OK I think I got it!
I a nutshell:
a) first pair the zumo (add audio) as a sena's "2nd mobile phone pairing" (section 5.2) (that hooks up the sena's 2nd a2dp slot I guess)
b) then pair again the zumo (add audio again) as sena's "GPS pairing" (section 5.4.1).
c) power off/on the zumo while the sena is on.
This got me a2dp music while the last zumo's audio pairing is a GPS pairing. I don't have the dreaded "Bluetooth device connection has failed" anymore.
I cannot test if the intercom would be interrupted, I don't have 2 units; I may schedule a friend soon just for testing!
Ken, I think you must have tried pairing the zumo as a second phone at some point in your tests, prior to finally pairing as a GPS. Given the zumo remembers too much about past connections, it seems to restore the a2dp connection behind the GPS connection.
Note: prior to this, the "pure" GPS pairing would NOT allow play/pause/prev/next controls from the sena. After this odd success, I can play/pause/next but NOT control to previous track.
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Marc, you hit the nail on the head a couple of posts ago. They didn't realize how we use our GPS devices; now they do. I'm really happy that it works for me. But I have no clue why not for anyone but me and two of my traveling friends. That's three of us that are quite happy with the new firmware.
I'm game to wipe out my Sena and start over to see if the new stereo from the GPS slot works. Mainly because I'm totally expecting it to work.
Ken
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@Dan: I tried your solution. Sorry, no go :)
When I have the Zumo 590 paired to the 20S as the second mobile Phone, I can't get it to pair again as a GPS.
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Ken, difference is that you use the Zumo 665. This is a pretty rare Zumo, only available in the US if I remember correctly. Here in Europe the Zumo 660 is pretty common, and Garmin's newest flagship, the Zumo 590 as well. However, different Zumo's seem to come from different planets, that's how different they behave. Let's not forget that Garmin also is making a mess of their gadgets (but that's for another forum). Perhaps not all faults can be blamed on Sena. I don't know, and it's not my duty to know. One thing I defenitely blame Sena for is their lack of communication.
I'm glad your units work though. I gives me hope that Sena is actually doning something. They just didn't expect the one Zumo to be completely different from the other Zumo I guess... :)
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Marc, did you reset to factory (12 seconds hold on phone button) and then delete all pairing (cfg menu)? Based on the strange sequence, that's could be important.
However, I can guess that zumo 590 has a stricter BT handling, and connecting old anterior a2dp pairing might not be possible anymore (old BT pairing might be properly erased, which is something to fear on the next 660 firmware, unless they solve something else).
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I didn't at first, but I tried that now.
Doesn't work. The Zumo just doesn't find the 20S to pair with. I guess it knows it allready paired with this device, so it will skip its handshake.
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You might want to read and follow http://support.sena.com/entries/25625524-Bluetooth-definitions-of-profiles-used-in-Sena-headsets-
Perhaps we will get an answer there. I'm just poking at various related threads, taking as many chances as I can...
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All further to this thread but for my SENA 10U which has the same problems as above. Following is my email back to Sena today.
Elson
I have replaced my Sena 10U with the warranty unit. It has solved some of the problems. The buzzing in the speakers seems to have gone away and one of the priority interrupt problems is fixed.I have:
Sena 10U paired with my Samsung Galaxy 6 as “Phone Pairing number 1”
Sena 10U paired with my Zumo 665 GPS as “Second Mobil Phone Pairing”When my Music is coming from the Samsung phone ...... the incoming intercom calls and phone calls will interrupt the music as stated in the Sena 10U manual. With the music from the Samsung turned off and music coming from the Zumo 665 (Navigation messages internal of the 665 on MUTE) either from the internal MP3 player or the XM radio...... NOTHING and I mean NOTHING will interrupt the music coming from the Zumo 665. I cannot receive or initiate a phone call or an intercom call. The 10U simply ignores the incoming phone call or the intercom call or an initiation of a phone call or intercom call.
---When I mute the music coming from the Zumo 665 all works normally according to 10U manual. I can receive and initiate phone and intercom calls normally.
(BTW muting or unmuting, internal of the 665, the internal Navigation voice/messages in the Zumo 665 do not change any of this)I believe the problem is in how the Sena 10U interprets the music from the Zumo. When a Zumo sends Navigation messages/voice it interrupts EVERYTHING. I believe the Sena 10U is also interpreting the music coming from the Zumo 665 as Navigation message/voice. These navigation type messages trump ANYTHING coming to the Sena 10U as Priority number 1.
There needs to be a firmware upgrade to fix this. I would be happy to discuss this further with one of your engineers. You have a problem, it is so distracting while driving it is going to cause an accident.
Thanks
GAryMarch 2, 2016, 9:20 AM0 -
Today I finally tested the firmware 1.6 on my 20s with a friend (who is on the smh10r)
The GPS pairing prevents correctly the GPS from interrupting the intercom as we all wanted.Thanks a mllion!
Also, the music sharing finally works too with the smh10r!
This firmware is a big win, guys.
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Dan, what GPS do you use ?
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Dan ---- Same problem on my end with a 10U as my comments above. The Sena will not let an SMH-10 interrupt music coming from a Zumo. However, a 20S can interrupt. But I still cannot initiate an intercom call with the music on the Zumo playing.
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Today I found 2 good news,
the 1.6 firmware allows intercom while listening to the aux input. I think this is new.
The june 6th 2016 firmware 1.6.1 seems to fix the formerly non-working "previous" track action when using the GPS pairing.
There is hope for the zumo 590 issues guys, try it!
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I wish that the Sena Tech Support had acknowledged that there was a problem and that they're on it; instead of telling me that they're engineers could not duplicate the issue and all we needed to do was a factory reset and a fault reset. Over several weeks, I insisted that the issue was 100% repeatable. That's when they went silent. I felt brushed off.
Now, because they didn't keep let me know that they'd experienced the issue and are working on it, my Sena 20S is in the box and no longer mounted on my helmet; replaced by another brand That's a shame.
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@Marc
i've just come accross this thread, hows your ticket comming along? Any progress or response? I was actually asking Sena for the same thing through Facebook i guess... https://www.facebook.com/SenaBluetooth/posts/1281361165238218?comment_id=1722300134477650&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R8%22%7D0
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