Over the weekend, I put a Freewire in my left pocket. I have not yet used it enough to give a report on that, but I can say that my installation is not ideal. I do not have cigarette lighter power in my left pocket, so I installed an E/C cigarette lighter plug under the left pocket plugged into the aux power. I also put the connection to the headset under the left pocket. Both of these are fed into the left pocket through a hole in the bottom of the pocket. To say that the two coiled cords under the left pocket makes things a bit crowded is a significant understatement. I could pull the extra cord into the pocket, but that would require me to remove the grommet I have in the hole and it would make my pocket essentially unusable except for the Freewire and the coils of cord. :frown2: The only other extra thing I have up there is my E/C LED headlights, but I have the current source tucked away pretty well.
I'm tempted to cut and splice the cords to take some of the bulk out of them, but I've not yet decided if that is the best course of action.
I, for one, will be very interested to hear how you like the Freewire. We have been looking into one however have not pulled the trigger yet. Regarding the install, can't comment on that because I have not been there. I would however, remove any excess length of cord to free up some space.
Have been using a Freewire for maybe a month now and know what you mean. Freewire has a nice battery life so that helps. You'll have to share what you think. So far its been a mixed bag for me but maybe I just expected too much. For me Freewire replaces that cord nicely but its not playing nice between my 20s and streaming music off my phone. When I have Freewire working and can use my cb but as soon as I stream music I lose the connection to my Freewire. And by lose the connection I mean its like a priority thing with my 20s.
One thing I hadn't considered is maybe its my phone. Its a Samsung Galaxy S4 so maybe its just not fitting in with the other newer devices. AT&T tells me they would be happy to sell me an S8 for only $750! :surprise:
I've been using a Freewire for about 3 weeks so I can hear my Amateur Radio installed on the bike. I think the issue is the Freewire uses the "Media" link of the phone bluetooth to run. That means the phone media will get knocked out. I'm still doing a little research but I think this may be your problem.
Yeah, there's like no room under that pocket. There's is however a little bit forward of it. You might have enough cord to move your cool up there. Any little bit helps. Good luck
I have been using the freewire for around 2 months now.
I find it connects to my Scala Rider G4 just the same as my BMW K1600 system did, in that sometimes after it switches to transmit directions from my Garmin 660 sat nav, it will not reconnect with the bikes audio. The way to reconnect is a tap on the central button of the freewire and it will immediately reconnect. This obviously means that encased in the front pocket is not the correct place for the Freewire (no access to button) but mounted on the left handlebar with the supplied bracket is best.
The quality of the audio matches that of the BMW audio except that when the BMW 'dropped out' it involved either turning the BMW radio off or restarting the Scala rider. So in that respect the Freewire is better.
I don,t use CB radio so I cannot comment on that. My wife has a scala rider and we connect via that system. She listens to her own music source (ipod), without interruptions from my sat nav.
The Freewire has around 7 hours battery life which is just about ok for what I do. I don,t know if it is waterproof (not used it yet in the rain, In England too!!) and have not had to charge it on the move. Maybe an external 12v power outlet an lead plugged into the unit on the bars?
In all the system works well for us and it does match the BMW system.
I have used the Freewire since February. I purchased it so that I could listen to XM radio and the navigation when I am out riding. During that time, I have been on many rides in excess of eight hours without completely draining the battery. Last week, the battery on the Freewire went out at about the eleventh hour of a 12 hour ride. To be fair, I did turn it off a few times during 20 minute breaks, so it probably got about ten hours. When it did power off, I just switched to the external speakers for the last hour of the ride.
I don't have a cb, but I have never had an issue hearing the XM music or the navigation.
My Sena 20s gets 7-8 hours on a full charge and I will often charge it during my lunch break on longer rides. I connect the iphone via its Bluetooth to the 20s and have had no problem with phone calls or even trying the phone navigation, while still listening to XM via the Freewire. I have also used the intercom on the 20s while connected to my iphone and the Freewire, without any issues. I have not tried to listen to music downloaded on my iphone since I got the XM subscription. I know a lot of riders don't like to listen to music while they ride, but for me, I have been happy with the Freewire and 20s.
Did your bike come with the XMRadio or was it an add-on? I have an XM unit and am just about to try the install, also have Sena Freewire and the 20S in my helmets.
I have the 20S headets and Freewire. Discovered the same discussed here- you can listen to the bikes audio inpyt OR have the 20s connected to my iphone for music. While the 20s is connected to the freewire, I am able to make and receive phone calls.
No problems with the freewire so far.
I have noticed that with my headset connected to and playing music from my iphone, the music streaming to my second 20S is very low valume
Have you tried the phone app for the Sena? It has settings in there to boost volume and some other settings. It will also let help you setup your radio stations if you like. I played with that a little and its user friendly although some settings I didn't know what they were for. I didn't have too boost mine. For mine it comes thru at an ok level for both mp3's and fm radio.
I just installed a Freewire, but I didn't want to use the bulky cigarette charger since I already had a dual outlet usb power socket in my fairing pocket. I took a chance and ordered a Sena SMH-10 USB power cable like this : https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/sena-smh-10-usb-power-cable
The cable is still too long, but since it isn't coiled, it's much more compact than the stock one. It works perfectly.
I bought the freewire at the Laughlin river run. I just used the enclosed mounting bracket and put it on the left handle bar. It works good there. I am still trying to figure out if I can play music from my phone through the Goldwing's audio system.
Thanks bud. I just picked it up from a buddy who was giving up riding. It's my 4th Wing and my third 1800. They've all been red till this one. I admit that I really like the blue.
The freewire runs on 12v unlike the rest of the 5v Sena products. You can just cut off the lighter plug and install a Hitachi plug and use the aux 12v under the pocket. Once on 12v turn Freewire to off as it will turn on and off with ignition. Too simple
Also Sena has used some good filtering as no electrical noise noted when used this way.
Be careful! The Freewire is a 5 volt device. The "cigarette plug" Sena supplies is actually a 12V to 5V converter. I run my Freewire off of a USB port (which are all 5V.)
The Freewire may run for a while at 12 volts, but I bet it'll greatly shorten the life.
Using the cig plug is a direct 12v input. Plug the lighter into a 12v source and you will have 12v on the other end, not 5v.
Again using the way I mentioned with it plugged into a 12v source that is switched from the ignition you just leave the freewire in the off position and it will turn off and on with ignition. I used one of the E/C accessory 12v Y connectors under the left pocket and used a Hitachi plug in order to clean up the wiring under the pocket in order to also use an BBP dual usb plug. Also used E/C Y, under the seat, to the CB 12v connection, for passenger Freewire power. I mounted the passenger Freewire in left pass cubby.
Also noted a couple of the posts that mentioned they had Freewire without a CB or other transceiver and wondered why they didn't use SM10 instead for about 1/2 the money.
That's like saying your cell phone is a 110 volt device because you plug it into the wall to charge it.
The Sena Freewire is a 5 volt device. The "cig plug" that Sena provides contains a 12V to 5V converter, just like the cig plugs you can put in your car and then plug a USB cable into. Those too are 12V to 5V converters. Not hard to understand. If you bypass the Sena converter and just hardwire (without Sena's "cig plug") the Freewire will be fed 12 volts instead of the 5 volts it was designed for.
You are correct that it is 12 volts coming out of the lighter plug. However, it's what happens to it before getting to the Freewire receptacle that counts. In the middle would be a stepson transformer to drop voltage from 12 to 5 volts. I won't swear by it because I don't want to chance frying my Freewire but, injecting 12 volts directly from the bikes power to the device will likely fry it.
That's what I was saying, it is 12v at plug going into the Freewire. There is no stepdown txfmr. The whole idea is to never have to remove or charge the Freewire. I have both of my 2 1800's and H/D Ultra LTD set up this way.
I'm clear on what you are saying, Wayne (now ). But, it makes no sense to have dual charging systems in the Freewire itself. USB is a 5 volt standard and the Freewire will charge up on USB. It makes more sense to use a stepdown transformer. Unfortunately, I can't check mine firsthand because my bike is on the way to Chicago. But, Il check it when I get there.
Remember, you can't feed DC to a transformer and get anything useful out of it. That is the very reason we use transformers as ground loop isolators in audio circuits. They pass the AC (audio) and do a great job blocking the DC. You have to use a different method for a step-down circuit if it is being fed by DC.
The SC-A0133 shown is not what is shipped with the new Freewire units. The new Freewire 12v lighter plug has the cord coming out of the plug at about 90 degrees, is much smaller, and has no printing at all on it and no 5v converter built in, straight 12v. Very confusing.
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