S20 battery life is pathetic
Had suspicions about that earlier but I was not sure about it. Yesterday I tested it: charged it fully and left standing by. Managed get ~24h in stand by mode and then battery just run out. Anyone experiencing the same?
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Battery life is weird, for sure. The four of us had trouble getting a blue "charged" indication when using the 20Ss daily for 10 days on a trip. On the first day, my battery went from absolutely fully charged to completely out in 11 hours. They advertise 12 hours. Mine didn't make it. The other's batteries did make the 12-1/2 hour ride.
After that, we had sporadic battery life (between the four of us). Our daily hours on the motors wasn't as long as that first day, but occasionally one of the Senas would just poop out with "Low battery". The Sena lady would say "low battery" and within 30 seconds . . . it'd power down.
We charged every night, usually 10 to 12 hours of charging. Some of us would occasionally get a blue "fully charged" indication, but usually not.
On the other hand, I've been playing with the 20S here at home a lot. Battery died while playing with it at my desk. Charged for about 45 minutes and played some more. The next day, the 20S was still going strong. (I had forgotten to turn it OFF). Now that's just weird!
Ken
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I'm not sure what battery life is on mine but I commute about 45 min a day total and after 10 days I was just at two flashes I think. As far as charging the 20S I find I need a higher output USB charger to get the blue LED to come on. I use iPad (or compatible) chargers that can deliver 2A and then it seems to take about 2 hours from 50% charge. USB ports or cell phone chargers take a lot longer... if you're needing 10-12 hours charging then consider testing with a higher output charger.
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Tested mine for good, seems that mine does not simply enter standby mode - I did get out more than 14h of music from it. The same time when I leave it just standing with no connection to any device it will sill run out of juice in 24h.
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I tested mine since seeing your original post, Olavi T.
In the garage, I put it on charge until the red light turned blue.
Then, I turned the Sena 20S ON. Then, I walked away. My Zumo is turned OFF. My iPhone has been with me, not in the garage.
Next day, still "charge is high".
Day after . . . . . dead! It didn't last 48 hours.
I've charged again and will test again.
Maybe I don't know how to get the 20S into "standby" mode. Scanned the manual. "Standby" is mentioned in several places, but haven't yet found how to go to Standby Mode.
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@ken, try again and turn off the Bluetooth on the phone (and any other BT devices that the Sena could be polling). For a short-distance protocol, Bluetooth can surprise you... my iPhone will remain connected to the Motorola hands-free unit in my car after I arrive home until the unit goes to sleep. Also I just tested the S20 in my office... my helmet is sitting in a wood and glass wardrobe in my office and I got about 40-45 metres down the hall before the connection was unstable. That said, I've never tried this Standby Mode myself... because my office and home both have several BT devices , I'm in the habit of just turning the 20S off.
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I did try it again. Charged until the light was blue (and them some). Turned the unit ON. The only thing that is paired to the Sena is my Bluetooth, but when I power up the Sena, it doesn't say "phone connected or device connected".
40 hours later, dead. Actually, I took the motor for a ride and the Sena lady gave her low battery alert within about 10 minutes. 30 seconds later de de do dum . . . . dead.
I'm not exactly sure what "Standby mode" really is. There are certain things that the Sena will do when in "Standby mode" (like respond to voice commands, double-tapping, etc.). So does standby mode really require that no Bluetooth devices be anywhere within range?
By the way, I ran an SMH-10R for almost 2 years. It was amazing how long it would stay charged, stuck to the side of my helmet hanging in the garage under the same conditions as my two tests above.
Ken
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I got a dual pack, one unit has great battery life and the other runs out of juice from a full charge (with blue charging light lit) before the end of a 7 hour ride. It gets to about 4 hrs then low battery alert and dead 30 seconds later. 0 -
my comment here is really about charging the unit.... even if the battery is on medium, I can leave it plugged into my bike overnight, 10 hrs or so, and it is not fully charged in the morning...
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dgreen, you may be right.
It's easy to forget to turn the Sena OFF when parking for the night. Other things grab my attention (opening/closing the garage door, getting the front wheel in my chock in the floor, someone greets me, etc. So often, the unit is left on overnight. NOW, this should not really be a problem, should it. The 20S is supposed to have over a week of standby without draining the battery.
I have my Zumo paired as a phone and my iPhone paired as the 2nd phone (not through the Zumo). I've been thinking about dgreen's comment about the Sena staying connected to my iPhone, even though the helmet is downstairs in the garage workshop and the phone is with my upstairs, usually 50 feet away. Maybe the Sena is using up its battery trying to stay connected.
I'm going to re-pair my Sena to the Zumo and the phone to the Zumo (instead of paired to Phone2) to see if battery life improves.
AND, I still don't know what "Standby" is on our Senas or how to get there.
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I am on my 3rd unit, 1st one was faulty, 2nd one the mount broke, now the 3rd one I get a false low battery and it shuts it self off. ran bunch of bench tests, nothing consistent except it says low battery and turns off, when I checked it the battery was full...also on the bench test I am only getting about 12 hours of stand by when it does work. very disappointed. the unit it self works very well when I can get it to work or just work long enough to use it.
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Same problem, bought a pack of two S20. They were working fine during 3 months without intense usage. Now, one of them gets "loaded" in a very short time, but the battery dies also very quickly, we're talking about 1 or 2 hours may be and then, I get the "low battery" and switch off.
Very disappointing for a first experience with such communication ways.
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Took my new 20s out for the first time today and the unit lasted a total of 5 hours connected after a full charge. Not impressed.
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Same issue here. Dual pack S20, latest firmware, fully charged. One died after about one hour, the second unit lasted for two hours and then the "battery low" warning came and it died also. Back home I put both of them on the (phone)charger and they turned from red to blue in about 30 minutes! WTF? Does this mean the batteries are not actually empty at all? Then why does the unit die on my after one hour? Come on Sena, I heard great comments on the smh10 so I figured the S20 should be even better but this?? What use is an intercom on a daytrip if it doesn't even last 2 hours? 0 -
I charged mine the other day, it ahs sat on my desk off (charged via my computer as OI did a firmware update. playing with it today (4 days I think since i charged it) battery still says high
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I got less than 24 hours in stand-by mode on both of my units after a full charge running version 1.2. I'm currently at the 24 hour mark running version 1.3 and it says the battery level is still high.
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Serial numbers 1500xxx and firmware 1.3 fix all of this guys. See my other posts. Sena sent me replacements and they work awesome. Battery life is MUCH improved and features work great. I think Sena released these way too early, before testing was finished or something. They work great now.
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Ok. With a full charge, my 20S shut down after 35 hours in stand-by mode running version 1.3. I got less than 24 hours running version 1.2. This is with the unit mounted on a helmet and sitting on a table the whole time. The ONLY operation performed with the unit during that time was to push the ambient mode button to issue the "check battery" command around 8 times. There were no intercom calls or anything else done with the unit. The battery appears to have fallen off a cliff at around 33 hours. It said "battery level is high" up to that point. Then went to "battery level is low" and shut down about an hour later.
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How did you get into "Standby mode"? I haven't found it defined anywhere. I've been told that if there are pairings, that battery may be consumed by the 20S trying to connect to them. Of, if your smartphone is within 40 or 50 feet, the 20S will use battery trying to stay connected. Don't know if that's true or not.
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Stand-by mode is nothing more than letting the unit sit idle without intercom calls, phone calls, FM radio on or any other operations being performed. It's just waiting to be told to do something. So, it's not what you do. It's what you don't do that gets it into stand-by mode :-)
I removed the Sena info on my phone to eliminate the possibility of them pairing and causing a bigger draw on the battery. The only thing the unit could be trying to connect to is my other 20S unit that was on the table next to it. I don't know if the pairing info is still on both 20S units after I upgraded the firmware to version 1.3. And I don't know how much they connect when no intercom calls are made. My guess is not at all while in stand-by mode. But, that's just a guess.
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Ok. I received the replacements for my two RMA'ed 20S units. They are both S/N 15XXXX units shipped running firmware version 1.3. And they both came with the new cradle that has the aluminum latch. The new latch should be more sturdy and feels easier to operate.
As for the battery life, I fully charged both units, mounted them in their cradles, turned them both on and let them sit on a table until they shut down due to low battery. They were not paired with anything. Not even to each other. They were simply powered up without any changes to their default configuration other than being upgraded to the latest firmware version 1.4, which was released on 4/19/15. One unit lasted approx. 50 hours and then shut down. The other unit lasted 57 hours and then shut down. This is still a far cry from the 10 day stand-by time advertised. But, it's about 20 hours longer than my two original S/N 14XXXX units running firmware version 1.3 that got 35 and 30 hours. The ony differences are the new units and firmware version 1.4. Again, this is just the units sitting in stand-by mode. There was no talk time, no commands issued and no FM radio use. It is pure idle/stand-by time. So, it looks like battery conservation is the name of the game if you don't want to or can't regularly recharge the units on a multi day trip. This means limiting intercom talk time, dropping intercom calls when not actually talking, limiting FM radio usage, limiting phone time and turning the units off as much as practical when not in use. Otherwise, if your batteries perform like mine, they will be dead within two days.
I also tested the "Hello Sena" command again. The "Hello Sena" command still stops responding after 60 second in stand-by mode. It works fine up until that point. After that, I have to use the ambient mode button to wake it up and give voice commands. So, that wasn't fixed in firmware version 1.4. It works fine in version 1.2. But, it appears that functionality comes at a battery life cost. I only got 24 hours of stand-by time with my original units running version 1.2 vs 30-35 hours running version 1.3.
Now for the main subject of this thread. I charged
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Hello,
I sent my battery life findings to Sena. Below is their response:
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As noted in the comparison chart from:
http://www.sena.com/product-comparison-chart/Talk time (hour) is 13 and standby time (day) is 10.
I apologize as our senior tech has reported that info has not been updated.
The R&D told me that the standby time of 20S is approximate 2 days now. Also, since the mic is always on they say 48 hours of stand by time.I'd say 50-55 hours that you are getting is good compared to the original S/N 14xxx battery time you had.
Just keep in mind that like all batteries, they will eventually reduce in power from overall usage and eventually wear out.
Another RMA perhaps may get you the same results but you are backed by the warranty period of 2 years from date of sale.Regarding the "Hello Sena" problem I hope as well it gets fixed in a later version without the reduction in battery life.
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Regarding their comment about the mic always being on, I don't think that's accurate. The mic acts
like it turns off after 60 seconds. I'm going to disable "VOX Phone" since it hasn't worked for me in
firmware versions 1.3 and 1.4. (even before 60 seconds has elapsed) just in case that keeps
something alive to make the unit think the mic is on. I'm not aware of a way to disable the "Hello Sena"
command, which isn't functional after 60 seconds of inactivity/stand-by mode.
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I couldn't care less about "Hello Sena". Nice idea, but it's a pain in the gazoo. So is the tap-tap. It'll drive you crazy! If the mic is always hot in order for the Sena lady to be able to hear the user say, "Hello Sena", they can turn it off (for all I care).
I'd much rather just tap the Ambient button to let the unit know I wish to "Say a Command".
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I'd actually prefer the "Hello Sena" command to work. It's a great feature that makes the unit completely hands free. Which is great on a bike. And it works fine for me.......with firmware version 1.2 or in the first 60 seconds in later versions. But, it's not a deal breaker for me. The only reason I bring up that feature in a battery life discussion is because, as my suspision was somewhat confirmed in the Sena response ("since the mic is always on they say 48 hours of stand by time"), they can be related. Anyway, I'll do what I can to get the most out of the battery between charging. Which means limiting talk time/intercom call duration, limiting radio use, limiting phone call duration and turning it off when not in use (gas stops, breaks and at night). Also recharging whenever practical.
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Ok. I know I'm beating a dead horse at this point, but I just wanted to report another finding.
After testing the battery life of my S/N 15XXXX replacement units, I fully charged both of them and put them back in their boxes. That was on 4/25/15. I finally got around to installing the clamps on two helmets this evening (5/3/15). I installed the first one, attached a unit to it and powered it on. It immediately said "low battery" and powered off. Then I installed the second one and attached the other unit to it. Same immediate "low battery" and power off. I experienced this with my original two S/N 14XXXX units as well. I fully charged both of them before putting them back in the box and, within two weeks, the batteries in both units were dead the next time they were turned on. It's because of my experience with the original units that I purposely stuck a dated Post-It in each box when I put them away. So, I'm sure of the date they were charged (the day after my battery test report above) and I'm SURE I powered both off before putting them in the box. So, it looks like whatever parasitic battery drain there is in the units is enough to kill the battery in about a week. Your mileage may vary, but this has been consistent across all four units I've had.
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Keith, am I reading this right? Sena advertised 10-day standby battery life, but in reality it's only 2 days (or 55 hours in your case) because the mic is always turned on and the unit is waiting for someone to say, "Hello Sena"?
I am all-to-often greeted by a dead battery when I put my helmet on. It's really easy to forget to turn the Sena OFF when I ride home and get distracted during the raising of my workshop door, getting back on the motor, riding it into the shop, talk with grandkid or wife, etc. The 20S should have 10 days of standby time. Mine never lasts that long; not even close. Maybe more like the two days as described in their reply to you. They should change their advertising and warn us.
By the way, my unit is not paired to my iPhone or any other device when the helmet is hanging in the workshop. I assume that it's in standby. If the circuitry that runs the "Hello Sena" function is all that is degrading our batteries, I wish they'd give us the option to disable it so we can enjoy the battery life that they advertised.
Otherwise, I still think that they can program the 20S units to auto power down after one hour of no connections and no activity like other Bluetooth helmet communication devices. Then, we'd enjoy much less required maintenance to keep our units' batteries charged.
Ken
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Hi Ken,
I don't know of any other way to read their response. From my experience, it appears that they are already turning the mic off after 60 seconds, which kills the "Hello Sena" command at that point. I gained 10 hours of stand-by time going from firmware version 1.2 (when "Hello Sena" consistently worked) to version 1.3 (when the 60 second "Hello Sena" timeout started). That was with my original S/N 14XXXX units. Maybe there is more related circuitry they can turn off to extend battery life. But, from their response, they appear to have resigned themselves to two days stand-by time.
Regarding what was originally advertised, I could have sworn that the 20S specific spec sheet listed 10 days stand-by time. But, the current spec sheet doesn't list stand-by time at all. It only lists talk and FM radio time. I can only find stand-by time in the comparison chart they gave a link to above. I didn't even know that chart existed until they pointed it out. So, I got the 10 day time from somewhere. Maybe it was from web sites like the following, who got it from *somewhere*:
http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/sena-20s-bluetooth-headset
http://www.twistedthrottle.com/sena-20s-bluetooth-communication-system-single-kit
http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-intercoms/sena-20s/review.htm
And now it turns out that my ***powered off*** battery life is only maybe a week....
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We should test the "Hello Sena" to see if it ever turns itself off (like after 60 seconds). There is much missing from their advertising and especially from their User's Guide.
Like you, I remember reading 10 days standby time and was impressed. But maybe it was from a different product. The 10R does have great standby battery life of 7 days or more. (I have one but upgraded to the 20S last June)
My first Bluetooth was the Uclear about 3 years ago. It had a standby time of something like 16 days and also an auto-turn-off after a period of time of no usage. I only had to charge the battery about once a month and that was simply for good measure! It never ran out of battery on me. (but never took it on a trip, either).
I pretty much have to discipline myself to charge the 20S ever day to make sure that I didn't leave it on or that the short 20S standby time has elapsed.
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Hi Ken,
I've tested "Hello Sena" enough. It's VERY easy to verify. Turn on the unit, do/say nothing for 90 seconds and then try "Hello Sena". It consistently worked for me with firmware version 1.2. But, the battery life was so short with that version (and there was reportedly some intercom reliability issue in 1.2) that I just sacrificed "Hello Sena" for 10 hours more stand-by time with 1.3. Thomashohl who has contributed to this thread, confirmed it for me and mentioned it in the following thread:
http://support.sena.com/entries/65384344-Replacement-20s-MUCH-BETTER
As for where the 10 day stand-by time came from, while it's not in the Sena spec anymore, it's still on the back of the boxes. Right under the talk time spec. I just looked at it.
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Regarding an auto-turn-off function. Even if my units had that function, I would still pretty much need to recharge every day or at the very least before every use. That's because the batteries drain within 8 days ***even when the units are powered completely off***. So, I'm getting 2 days on stand-by (sitting on a table) and 8 days or less when powered off and sitting in the box. The way mine are performing, I can't recharge them after a weekend ride and expect them to be ready to go the next weekend. I'll have to charge them again just before going out.
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All in short, THIS IS JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR A PRODUCT OF THIS PRICE AND WHAT THEY ADVERTISE IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE. I have just had my 20s's replaced under warranty and I have received the 1500xxx serial numbers. I have charged them but I haven't had a chance to test them yet. With this newly accrued knowledge I will check them for charge before I go to take them out and most likely charge them again the night before I test them. I hope all the problems I've mentioned in my earlier post have been addressed but after reading some of these posts I'm not holding my breath.
I'm so far disappointed in the new SENA's I've purchased. I had a pair of the orignal BLUEANT INTERPHONE intercoms and they worked a treat for 7years and still going strong. I purchased the 20s's due to the fact of the "CLAIMED" over 2000 meter range and the multi person intercom on top of the 12 hour operating and 10 day standby time which I have witnessed NONE OF THESE CLAIMS TO BE ACTUAL FACT under testing of the intercoms. (well the multi person intercom did work but only good for a range of about 100meters MAX)
For anyone interested in all the actual problems I've had with them, please read below...Stuntguy14, Feb 8, 5:23 AM:
Hi there, I recently decided to upgrade my intercom for my motorcycle from the original Blueant Interphone to the new Sena 20S due to the fact you can connect up to 8 people in a group chat.
Well after stuffing around for about 15 minutes we eventually managed to get the 3 units to sync up. Off we went and within 30 seconds of riding I already noticed a lot of static in my ears from the other units being about 250 meters away, this astounded me and I though we must have done something wrong. We checked that all antennas were up and kept going. Further down the same road I found that I was getting sound from only one ear and also we were dropping out intermittently, we did find that pushing the unit back down on the mount did solve some of the single ear speaker and intermittent drop out. This also doesn’t impress me that they don’t sit tight once clicked into position on the mount.
Now I've been used to the orignal Blueant Interphone unit easily getting 400-500 meters line of sight and even about 300 meters without being able to see the other rider around blind corners with crystal clear sound and then it would start to break up at about the 500 meter mark. Well to my surprise the 20S's started once again to crackle when one person would simple go round a bend perhaps 50 meters in front to the point where you couldn't understand them at all! What made it worse is when I was riding at the back of the group of 6 bikes, so I was about maybe 400 meters away from the two other 20s riders at the front everyone became inaudible. We figured out that if connections #1 and #3 were riding together and #2 was a fair distance back, riders #1 and #3 couldn't talk to each other until unit #2 got back in range with both of them!!? Here we are excited because the 20s is supposed to have a 2km range with that range being extended the more intercoms you have connected and it's struggling with 400 meters line of sight and 50 meters around a corner!
Then when we were going though some twisties, even though we were only about 200-300meters apart the connection dropped totally out, which then to my surprise the silence was replaced with an annoyingly loud double beep every few seconds which hitting every button couldn’t seem to turn off. Needless to say this was EXTREMELY distracting and DANGEROUS while trying to concentrate on riding a motorcycle on windy road. Is this supposed to happen?
Then to top it all off after about 5 hours of operation after a full charge my unit informed me of low battery and switched off within about 45 seconds of informing me. I thought these units were supposed to have a talk time of 13 hours!!?
On top of all that the double tapping the unit for commands hasn’t worked once, no matter how long or short my tap intervals are and the voice command literally works 5% of the time when I say hello sena, and in that 5% sena says hello back she never understands my next instruction.
Long story short this is very unacceptable for a unit that costs that amount of money! They say you get what you pay for and purchasing the top of the price range intercom I was expecting this unit to be awesome but instead it has totally let me down. Please get back to me with a solution to all these problems or the unit will be refunded and exchanged back to an Interphone which I know worked really well and still is 5 years down the track!
Not impressed
Chris Weir
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