I am thinking about going over to the Senna 20s and the free wire system for my two GL 1800s . for those of you that have done this can you please give me your thoughts pros and cons about the system . I am about to drop a lot of coin and i just want to make sure it is what sena says it is. Thank you Ken
I went from J&M wired to the Freewire and 20s. Works great. I ordered from RocketMoto and Adam made up a cord to hardwire the Sena to the Aux power below the left glovebox. Turns on and off with the key. Everything works great with very good sound quality. Once the two units are paired they have reconnected fairly smoothly. Occasionally after being off the bike with the Freewire turned off I will need to turn the 20s off and back on to reestablish the connection, which is a very minor inconvenience.
Streaming music, using earbuds as opposed to the speakers, the 20s lasts about 11 hours or so. I added a USB port in the trunk that is always hot so that I can charge the 20S when I'me off the bike at a stop, lunch etc. The 20s charges fairly quickly, from dead to full charge in about 3 hrs.
While on a recent trip I rode with different folks each day, some with CB and some with Senas. I was able to pair up to the other Senas easily. All in all I am very pleased with the setup and would buy it again.
I've just dipped my toe into this by buying to Sena 20s. I don't have the free wire (yet). First, I love not being tethered to the bike so I'm probably going to keep going down the rabbit hole.
Couple things I've noticed just so you can go in eyes wide open. The Sena 20s can do a lot of things, but there are essentially only three or four buttons and a jog dial. So, there's a learning curve to be able to use all the feature because the buttons have mulitple purposes depending on how long you hold them down and the sequence you push them. I think the App helps a little here, but I'm only a couple of weeks into this and I really haven't ridden that much.
I've put about 110,000 miles on my Honda's (Valkyrie Interstate and Goldwing) and over half of those miles were with my wife on the back and the intercoms going. It's a weird adjustment to the Sena's because you don't hear your own voice in your helmet. The voice quality is great and there's essentially no wind noise, but it's still weird.
I'll be watching this post for more about the Free Wire, because I occasionally listed to the Goldwing Audio in the helmets and sometimes use my CB to talk to other riders.
I have two Sena 20's and two Freewires. They do what they claim. Both my wife and I can talk on CB (if you have a passenger push to talk on bike). Don't know why but for some reason I can't get the radio volume in the headset very high. Volume on CB is fine, and AUX is OK. It's a pretty big investment but like the no wire set up. As previous poster said the charge on both the Sena's and Freewire last pretty much all day.
I have two Sena 20's and two Freewires. They do what they claim. Both my wife and I can talk on CB (if you have a passenger push to talk on bike). Don't know why but for some reason I can't get the radio volume in the headset very high. Volume on CB is fine, and AUX is OK. It's a pretty big investment but like the no wire set up. As previous poster said the charge on both the Sena's and Freewire last pretty much all day.
The Sena SM10 Dual Stream is the same device with a built in battery and costs $120. The FreeWire costs $249. I opened my SM10, disconnected the battery, put the case back together, put the switch in the on position and hard-wired it to an ignition switched power lead on my Goldwing (left pocket also). It now does exactly as the FreeWire does, but is not gold colored and costs less than half. (If you don't leave the switch on all the time it will not sync properly...I found that out the hard way.)
When I turn my Goldwing on it turns on the SM10 and it instantly connects to my helmets. I use the SMH10s for my helmets. I like them because I can hook them to multiple other BT devices besides the SM10, including my phone and tablet. I can also intercom with other riders up to about 1000 meters (IIRC). They have a crazy range.
I will say that the Goldwing adapter cord made by Sena is a POS. I went through three of them and finally gave up. I bought a six-wire connector that matches the audio-out inside the left pocket and wired up my own 3.5mm adapter. I have now eliminated the standard Goldwing headset cable and then adapter to the Sena. I now have a custom made cable that plugs into the bike wiring. I also made a power lead that plugs into the switched power in the pocket so for me I'm 100% plug-and-play. I can also return it to stock in a matter of minutes.
One thing I really like about the SMH10s are the fact that my wife and I can listen to our own streams but still intercom. We each can take calls from our own phones while riding. It's pretty seamless and easy. No one has ever been able to tell I was on the bike...the audio is that good.
If anyone wants more information on what I did, how, and sources for the proper connectors just let me know. If you are near enough to me I'm willing to help you out also. (It might cost you an adult beverage...)
EDIT: BTW, the Sena charging cables are not standard USB 5v supplies. They have four diodes in series. At about .7v drop per diode they are shaving 2.8 volts off the input...so roughly 12v even or a bit less. That is important information as I made my custom power cable with four diodes just as they had. You can run them off 5v, but why bother if they didn't. I like to keep circuitry to a minimum. You also don't want to plug your phone into a Sena USB charger unless it can handle the higher voltage.
Not having to charge my SM10 every day is priceless. I never charge it now.
The Sena SM10 Dual Stream is the same device with a built in battery and costs $120. The FreeWire costs $249. I opened my SM10, disconnected the battery, put the case back together, put the switch in the on position and hard-wired it to an ignition switched power lead on my Goldwing (left pocket also). It now does exactly as the FreeWire does, but is not gold colored and costs less than half. (If you don't leave the switch on all the time it will not sync properly...I found that out the hard way.)
This is not at all correct. The SM10 is a one way device streaming FROM the bike to the headset. The Freewire is a TWO WAY device streaming FROM the bike and BACK TO the bike. This allows getting your voice to the CB radio.
BTW - the gold colored Freewire is for HD. The freewire for Gold Wings is red...
Sounds like an issue. I have 20s + freewires and bike audio is at a nice level. So far my experience has been good with this setup. Just have a couple pretty big wishes that I dunno will happen or not. But I have a fallback plan so it should all be good.
I have a couple of 20s's and a Freewire. I have my phone paired to a 20s and the 20s paired to the Freewire. I can make and receive calls just fine and I can hear everything from bike through the Freewire (including CB.) But I can only listen to music on my phone by plugging the phone headphone port into the Aux port on the Freewire.
Is there any way to listen to music on my phone through the 20s other than plugging the phone into the Freewire's Aux port?
I would delete all pairings including on the Freewire (by using the reset button) and then re-pair your phone and Freewire to the 20s. Pair your phone as a mobile phone and the Freewire as a second mobile phone (see pairing instructions). You should be able to hear both phone and Freewire via Bluetooth without the need to plug the phone into the Freewire. Additionally, make sure you have audio multitasking enabled on the Sena 20s. Sounds like you may have your phone paired as a HFP only device.
Let me ask you this. Is the radio input in the din jack on the freewire or in the Aux input. You get better sound, atleast with the sm10, if you are not plugged into the aux jack. Try swapping them and see what the response is
This is an old thread but in case someone is researching and since there is no resolution posted I will throw this out.
In the Freewire manual there is the following statement.
Note:
Whenever there is an incoming AUX signal, the volume of Onboard Audio In
is reduced to a certain level
The way I read that is that if you connected say an Ipod or GPS and there was a signal there it would reduce your radio sound.
I am not using the AUX port in the Freewire and have 20S headsets, my volume from the bikes radio is very loud - AM/FM or XM.
Yes, if you have hum or buzz introduced to the Freewire through the aux input it will lower the volume of the radio. I have a ground loop isolator on my Aux input.
Also, try unplugging the power from the Freewire and see if that solves the problem. It should eliminate any ground loops.
A bit of an old thread I know but thanks in advance for answering my question. I want to Freewire my 2017, with 2 units, one for me and one for my wife. For those of you who've done the same, did you put the Freewire for the passenger in the passenger pocket/box? If so, did you cut a small relief so that opening/closing the door doesn't pinch/cut the plug for the passenger intercom? The youtube video ( at 1:06 makes it look like when the door is closed no issues, but when I try it, the door is difficult to close and the wire has a definite mark in it from the door seals.
I don't have a passenger unit but I did provide a small relief in by glovebox cover.
You mention two Freewires. Not sure if you know this but the only reason to use a Freewire for the passenger instead of an SM10 is if you want the passenger to be able to talk on the CB.
Thanks, I'm aware of the Freewire/CB talking requirements. My wife likes to talk every so often on the CB in our motorcycle group. I want to be able to have as much capability wireless as we do when fully wired to the bike.
I have a Freewire for my wife/passenger. I don't think I found it necessary to provide a relief for the cord. The box isn't very tight and the cord can get out without pinching. I've got at least 3,000 miles doing it this way.
Would you mind attaching a picture of your setup - open and closed. I put the cord in the left passenger box and the cord showed signs of pinching and the door edge (closest to the passenger) was bowed out a bit. Thanks in advance!
I just bought a 2018 so I no longer need my Freewire's. One is a little over a year old and the other one is less than a year old, both are for the Goldwing not the Harley. I am selling for $110 each if anyone is interested, send me a PM.
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