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Sena 50S Battery and Network Problems

saintmice

May 21, 2020 22:02

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Hi,

I recently received a dual pack and decided to try it out with my partner. Here are the list of issues that I ran into while using the Sena 50s. For added context, I am not new to Sena or motorcycle comms in general. The battery level is the biggest issue at the moment because I rely on it quite a bit to tell me accurate info so I can plan my trips.

1. Battery life: After fully charging the device and leaving it for a week without charging it, one of the 50s got discharged completely (would not power on). The other would power on and show 30%. When charging the battery life would fill up to 60% within 10min but then if you unplug it would show that it's discharging around 1% every 10-20s on the iOS app. Luckily we thought this was a software bug and went out riding anyways. Device lasted for more than an hour even though we did get the warning pings suggesting it was low on battery. It fell to around 20% and wouldn't go down any further.

2. Audio bluetooth device switch constantly happen if I leave the device paired but use a different bluetooth speaker while playing music. My phone would constantly switch to the sena even though I was not doing anything and just enjoying music using my airpods.

3. Network range was very short. ~1000ft with clear line of sight and I constantly lost connection on bluetooth and ~1500ft on mesh.

4. No ping or alert when we lose connection so we didn't know when we lost connection without talking and hearing the audio cut.

5. If rider was playing audio while on intercom (mesh) the audio would constantly get interrurpted when there is strong wind noise coming from helmet. Dual sport helmet on Freeways would create a bit of wind noise inside and not allow the rider to enjoy the music.

6. There were music sharing issues but I see that maybe recently addressed in the recent firmware.

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17 comments

• 2
  
  Eugene Yuen May 26, 2020 22:49

  Have the same issue #5 - which style of microphone are you using?

• 1
  
  saintmice May 26, 2020 23:18

  I am using the boom mic that comes already installed on the mount.

   

  *UPDATE*

  1. Issue #2 appears to be fixed with a firmware update.

  2. Left both units for 4 days powered off after charging to 100% and when I came back to it the battery charge level was showing 54%.

• 1
  
  Eugene Yuen May 27, 2020 01:01

  Interesting, I found that with the boom mic/ hybrid boom, it didn't matter where you touched / rubbed along the stock it would capture noise and transmit over intercom, only the wired mic gave a little better performance but wind noise is the same. I'm currently waiting for a reply from Sena for a solution. (I'm coming from Cardo Q3's that are ancient with better wind noise performance than these brand new things).

• 1
  
  saintmice May 27, 2020 07:00

  Hey Eugene, how is your battery level when you don't use the intercom. Does it drop when the intercom is powered off and not in use for a few days?

• 1
  
  Eugene Yuen May 27, 2020 19:07

  My battery life does drop without use, I charge my intercoms removed from the helmet, to my understanding the 50S's might be in a 'standby' off mode when it says 'goodbye' similar to tablets/smartphones? (someone can correct me if I'm wrong)

• 1
  
  saintmice May 27, 2020 19:21

  Hey Eugene, so I am quite familiar with the 'standby' mode and usually it's there so that you can get some functionality (accept phone calls, listen for voice activation, accept incoming requests to join) as a user without needing to power on the device but for this intercom I would be surprised if there was any functionality that it could offer after I power it off. Additionally I am not used to that and did not have that issue with other intercoms (Scala Pactalk bold, Sena SMH-10). This discharging really concerns me, the rate at which it discharges suggests that your theory is correct, but what use is it discharging like that to me? I would rather have it completely off when I don't use it and not have to keep it on the charger all the time. Have you ever had this rate of discharging happen to any of your other intercom units?

  Edited by saintmice May 27, 2020 19:22
• 1
  
  Eugene Yuen May 27, 2020 19:37

  I understand completely where you're coming from with the parasitic discharge, quite concerning if you want to go on a ride spur of the moment without topping your intercom up. I come from the Cardo family as well, they had great shelf life. I used the Q1 with the girlfriend when she was riding pillion and when she got her own motorcycle we upgraded to the Q3's. I've had the Q3's sitting on the shelf since May 2nd when I purchased the 50S and I can confirm that they are still at 90%+ (the app doesn't give a exact %) - with the fast charging technology I'm not as bothered by it as with the highway wind noise when intercom channel is open (which I've always had with the Cardo's)

  I'll keep an eye on shelf battery life next time I do a full charge and let sit for a couple days.

• 1
  
  saintmice May 28, 2020 05:23

  Hey Eugene, I used the Cardo Q3 units for a couple of years (>50,000 miles) so I am familiar with that unit as well. I can tell you that my experience so far is that the noise cancelation on this unit combined with the speakers is much better than what I personally experienced with the Q3. If I keep the intercom channel open on the 50s and use an off-road helmet with goggles on the freeway (70-80mph) I and the other riders can hear every single word that's said through the 50s. I have no issues (I can here very very little wind noise) with keeping the channel open and just chatting away. The same cannot be said with my smh10 unit where the noise cancelation does not do as good of a job and I cannot hear most of the conversation (when using an off-road style helmet). Have you installed the boom mics with the arrows pointing the correct way? Is the mic rubbing on something? 

• 2
  
  saintmice May 28, 2020 05:29

  *UPDATE* I took the units for another test ride during the day and found that the issue with network range was no longer a problem. Perhaps the firmware update fixed that as well. Battery life is still the number one problem for me. I took many screenshots of the app. On my intercom it dropped 26% in under two hours. When we were close to each other it would drop by 1% every 5min. On the other intercom it only dropped 15% for the same time period.

• 2
  
  saintmice June 06, 2020 04:30

  *UPDATE* I installed the 1.0.3 firmware on my units and now it shows me battery life 110% after 30min of use from full charge. I have no idea what the 1.0.3 firmware means because there are no release notes. I know engineering getting out releases is challenging, but it would be great if the release notes at least appear the next business day to let us know what was actually released.

• 2
  
  robert v June 06, 2020 14:36

  I have not seen the battery issue but will keep an eye out as I do long day rides between 6+ to 9hrs. I normally charge the unit the day before long rides. When I'm doing rides around my home area for short 2-3 hour rides, my 50S seemed to be holding a reasonable charge between 60-80% and some days in-between I would not ride, so again I haven't experienced the battery drain with previous firmware versions upto v1.0.2.

  Just upgraded to v1.0.3 so we'll see if there's any improvement on battery and issues. Definitely will be more aware of battery charge as summer is here and doing consecutive long day rides. 

   

• 1
  
  bunpiv July 12, 2020 12:35

  i have problem same as number #1

• 1
  
  saintmice July 12, 2020 17:06

  bunpiv, from what I was told by customer service the solution for the battery issue is return the unit and get another one. That unit is defective.

• 0
  
  Allan Goldman August 17, 2020 22:43

  Experiencing #1 with one of the units in my dual pack.  Battery will indicate a full charge after being plugged in for seconds.  When I unplug it it will discharge while shut off to 50% within two minutes.  I've contacted customer support.  So far they had me do a  factory reset and fault reset, both no no avail.  Waiting to hear back from them now.  Kinda bummed as I upgraded from the 30K which I subsequently sold.  After using both I thing the big upgrade was the firmware (which I downloaded to the 30K before I sold them) not the hardware.  I use earbuds so speakers are not important to me.  My wife uses them and fees like just like the 30K they are not loud enough.

• 0
  
  Allan Goldman August 31, 2020 15:17

  Just wanted to post an update.  Sena stepped up with an RMA and replaced my faulty unit.  Their techs were engaged during the process and new unit arrived within a week.  I've been using their products for years and have to say that my biggest complaint was always the support.  Seems like someone is paying attention.  

• 0
  
  Eugene Yuen August 31, 2020 15:24

  Hey Allan,
  That's amazing! How did you do your RMA? I sent mine in more than a month ago and they've confirmed receiving it, they kept promising me they'd send a new set out to me before my trip happens (promise made end of July for my trip August 28th), I do get the occasional update saying their team is 'working' on it. Any chance you can share what your time line between contacting them, sending your unit in and receiving your new one was like?

• 0
  
  Gene Hunt January 06, 2023 14:32

  So I have same problem as 1. I've had SENA prodcuts frm the begining SMH10 and in fact all of my older unts up to the 20S still work fine. But now after doing the reset and testing my 50S I had it on and FM radio playing, only got 5 hours and it shut off. I bought my 50S in June 2020 and not all 50S are equal, my particular model only has 2 year warranty, not the 3 year warranty I thought I had. I'm testing it again right now, after an overnight charge. If it doesn't give me 8 or more hours, then I'll need to replace it, replacing the battery looks a little dicey. I don't think I will be taking another chance on a 50S which is a shame.