Used Replacement Battery Kit
We need to be able to replace the battery. It will not last forever, and then the units will be dead. Please make this high priority, it should be. Offer us instructions as to how to get inside the unit, and what battery is required. This is the worst point of the entire set. The other thing that is needed is a mic support, maybe a wire type like some aviation mics use, the spiral wound mic boom always turns itself, it trys to unwind like a spring. Every few minutes it must be repositioned. These two physical improvements would make it a perfect set for me. I am hoping the qualitiy of these units will last alot longer than the short life of batteries. Thanks, Woody King
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I meant USER replacement battery kit, so it does not have to be returned. As it stands now, I don't believe there is even the chance to return them for new batteries. Please let me know if there is. Thanks again, Woody King
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Thank you for your feedback. We are doing the feasibility study for battery replacement pack. But we are worried about the difficulty of reassembly, water resistance, and deterioration in quality. Any good idea from you?
We will keep you updated later.
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I understand your concerns, but regardless, any hope of successful battery replacement is better than no hope and a dead unit. Most bike riders can do a little mechanical and soldering, turn a screwdriver, etc.. It is nice to know where the latches are before trying to open a unit, and knowing what battery is used also helps the process since it is taken down and put back together all at the same time, since the battery can be on hand. I replace batteries in my GPS units, etc., and they aren't supposed to "user" replaceable but not hard to do. The main thing, these are great units and should not be throwaways. Any hope is better than none. Even an external battery pack that can attach to the helmet is better than nothing. Thanks for your consideration, Woody King
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These are expensive bits of kit and should have the facility to replace the battery.
My SMH5 units are only a month old but already there is a difference in battery life between the two, the same one always gives the low battery warning and shuts down before the other. As Woodyking says, they should not be throwaway units......................if they are, then your customer base will fall becasue no one wants to lay out £170 for 2 years use.
Steve
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If people out there can find a way to make an ipod battery user replaceable, then surely this one can too. Maybe if Sena doesnt offer it, some enterprising other person can.
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That may be the case Bryan, but the volume sales will not be as high as the Apple range of products so finding someone ‘giving it a go’ may be slim.
If Sena do not have the facility to replace batteries in house then they should perhaps give information out to registered purchasers. Ideally basic diagrams of the internals, the location of the battery, its size, specification and some idea of how to take it apart would be a start.
I really like my Sena SMH5 unit and it gets regular use and on that aspect alone, the battery replacement issue should not have been an unexpected question / requirement. Sena should be preparing a method of doing it because after all it is an important component of construction and without a battery or one with limited capacity will render the unit useless for its existing customers.
If they don't, critical comments in the motorcycle press / internet forums will soon start to show up in search engines with the resulting downturn in demand for the product. It is a simple case of looking after your customers and they will look after your business. I will not buy another Sena unit if mine becomes unserviceable because the battery fails on day 731. On the other-hand I would though continue to openly recommend the unit providing its service life was not limited by its internal battery because it has worked almost faultlessly since we bought it and the wireless connection between my pillion and me is fantastic.
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Sena - you gotta get a way to "Replace Battery".
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This was raised over 2 years ago and still no answer ??? By now units like mine are out of guarantee and batteries will be failing before long. I for one will NOT be buying another Sena product costing so much £170 when the known to fail component i.e. the battery is non-replacable. Come on Sena, wake up and give the batttery spec, method of replacement and let the user chose self repair or scrap? 1 -
Yes, it has been a good bit over two years with NO help from Sena. What gives, Sena? Are you just throwing your customers to the side? I will not be buying again unless this is fixed soon, and not recommending your products either. A company should help their customers. How about some hope? Woody
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Two years for a Feasibility study, still with no response. Sounds like a customer blow off to me. Come on SENA, is that the best you can do????
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It’s approaching THREE years come February since this was first raised and its taken all this time for SENA to investigate a rather simple request. As far as I know they still have not tackled the issue and have burried their heads in the sand. They design and build the items after all so detailing the battery and a suggested method of replacement should not be a mammoth task.
It’s certainly left a sour taste in my mouth and a cheap replacement Bluetooth headset will be sourced from elsewhere because SENA are obviously not worth remaining loyal to and unless they get their finger out. They had a good product but have let themselves down by basic poor customer support when it comes to a consumerable part…i.e. the power source replacement
Will I buy another SENA product..........................No
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I too have encountered battery longevity issues with my SMH-5. No I only get about 30-40 Min of use out of it if I'm listening to Music. I've had it a little over 2 yrs.
Three T7 Torx screws out of the back and the case comes apart. It is using a 400mAh Li battery that connects to the PCB via a JST connector, similar to the Battery Pack in a wireless home phone. I referenced the model number (LP432543) via Google and found a company in China that seems the be the manufacturer http://www.lipolbattery.com/ . Their site says they'll sell single units. I Post an update here if I have any success.
~Trav
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Thank you for that information Trav, lets hope you have some success with a replacement. Shame Sena cannot formally advise especially if it’s such a simple job. :-(
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Yes, thanks very much. Sena really dropped the ball on this. It was my main concern years ago, and despite it being an obvious problem that their customers were worried about, nothing has happened. I seldom use mine anymore, but the day will come when I have to break into them due to batteries, and I really appreciate you doing the groundbreaking. Woody
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Looking back, I started this thread almost three YEARS ago. Will be next month. What a shame that Sena has not stepped up and helped us. Woody
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So I got a replacement battery from the manufacturer. The swap out wasn't hard and It seems to have worked. Here's a write up I did about it. http://www.theridingobsession.com/motorcycle-gear/smh5-battery/
~Travis
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The URL changed http://www.theridingobsession.com/?p=7537
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Travis, did your supplier provide the connector too? I am looking to replace a battery on a SMH10, and I'm hoping the connector is the same. I have a contact in China, and I'm trying to confirm for them that the connector on the SMH10 is, in fact a Molex (51021-0200) as you have stated for the SMH5.
Sena have been decidedly silent on this issue - deliberately, in order to have users purchase a new module. It's very poor form from the manufacturer and, now that the word is getting out, WILL cost them sales & repeat business. I for one will be making it known on some of the forums in Australia. Previously, I was a staunch supporter of Sena products.
They're sourcing the batteries from somewhere - if they don't want to sell them themselves, at least provide a contact for those of us who wish to replace the battery. The units are out of warranty, so their concerns about water ingress etc. are not applicable. In any case, a smear of rubber grease "should" help keep water out and, once I sort the battery issue, is what I'll be doing to mine. Again, anything I try is a step in the right direction to giving up and having a dead battery.
Does this look like a Molex connector to you? See attached photo. Hope you can see it. Also attached a photo of the battery in situ. It's smaller than the one for the SMH5.
Molex.JPG
E602248 battery.jpg0 -
Davis, It looks like a molex to me. Probably the same connector. I don't see why they'd solder on a different one to the PCB if they're making it in the same factory. 0 -
The batteries came with the connector. 0 -
Im looking at importing soem of these too. Since the lithium fire that brought down the airplane last year, the cost of shipping lipo has gone up. they are telling me for 1-5 pieces, its gonna be $40! So, I would not mind getting together on a group buy. Putting it here and on ADV rider in the vendor area. Anyone interested, LMK. Email is bryan@azzysdesignworks.com
Right now, they say $20 for a battery, plus crazy shipping. If i can bring that down for everyone, so much the better.0 -
I really didn’t fancy the battery cost and shipping charges from the original manufacturer. Doing some searching on 3.7v 400mAh, I found a very close replacement from a Robotics hobby store in Toronto Canada. This one: http://www.canadarobotix.com/battery-chargers/polymer-lithium-ion-battery-400mah
Dimensions are 35 x 24 x 5 mm (±1 mm) vs 43 x 25 x 4.3 mm for the original
The molex connector is not the same as in the SENA SMH5, so I desoldered the pigtail from the original battery and installed it onto the new one. Even though the dimensions are slightly different it drops right in without interference or modification other than the wire.
Best part is it only cost me $6.99 each plus shipping for a total of $22 CND. I received it within 24 hours of ordering. Now my units are both fully functional!
Once again, thanks for your tutorial Travis, I wouldn’t have tried otherwise!0 -
Wow! This just what I wanted to find. My SMH10 battery is toast (won't take a charge, period)
SENA: Wake up on this one! Buying a new SMH10 because the battery failed is a deal-breaker for many potential customers!
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Sena, please realize that some of us are VERY capable of replacing batteries in complex devices. I have done it in no less than THREE other devices so far that are small, and waterproof (one GPS and two phones). Yes, some people will screw it up, but that is their own fault if they do, since it won't be under warranty.
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Um, you're assuming anyone at Sena is listening. Given their present level of response - none, they all went away a long time ago. Pity, really...
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Can't complain of we don't try. Consider it my try. But yes, it appears they rarely respond to any of these threads. And even when they do, it doesn't mean much :(
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I managed to get batteries for my SMH10 from China in the end, but the shipping was ridiculous. So I ordered 50 of them b/c it was going to cost the same to ship 1 as it was to ship 100. I had them made up with the molex connectors.
The problem is that these batteries are considered dangerous goods, and it is therefore impossible to just post them in the regular post. Auspost in Australia won't put them on a plane, so the only recourse when sending overseas is to send by courier. Again, shipping is ridiculous - something like AUD$80 to the USA if I remember correctly. Within Australia, I can ship them by road, and I sell them for around AUD$50 each as a kit with all the bits, torx driver, grease, double sided sticky, instructions etc. etc. . I don't mind shipping to the USA, but not sure if I can ship more than a few at once, so it gets a bit exxy. Otherwise I'd suggest you guys set up a group buy.
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Too bad those batteries are a problem in Oz. In the US, at least when I bought my battery, the battery and shipping totaled ...wait for it... ...here it comes... $7USD. Give recent insanity about LiPo batteries, I have no idea what it now costs to buy one of these rascals. This summer, though, it was dirt cheap. The bad news there are no Molex connectors on these things, but then, that's why they made soldering tools. [/BIG GRIN]
Backing up... IMNSHO, trying to get Sena to even acknowledge anyone's existence, if this forum is any measure, is a real-life example of the tag line from the movie Alien: "In space, nobody can hear you scream". Sena doesn't seem to hear anyone here scream, do they...
Which raises the interesting question of where do they get the idea for something like the 20S?
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RBEmerson: Ironically, not long before your above posting about Sena not replying, they just replied to several thread postings I made just last night :)
Updates included threads on android app, firmware release dates, audio mixing, cheat sheet, and "audio mixing (esp. MP3/music &". So lots of threads are still unaddressed or under-addressed, but they do appear to be reading our messages...
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Straaaaange. Ah well, as I said, for a company all about communications, in their own backyard they don't seem to get it right.
Miserable as I think there comms are, the general build quality is quite good. Which makes the miserable comms even more frustrating; they get some stuff so right and some so wrong. [/vein-bulging rant]
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The comments from Davisward... If the batteries can still be bought from China for peanuts (OK, $7 peanuts), and a bulk order of, say, 50 would encourage the addition of a Molex connector and a T7 Torx tool, on one hand I'd say "Great! 50 units at $10 each, resold for $20... woohoo!" But I've been down that road before (bought out Iron Pony's Caberg Gara and Justissimo helmet spares for $100) and had my head handed to me. Unless someone is feeling really charitable, I'd stick with haunting eBay for a replacement battery.
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