How to pair Sena SMH10, Dongle, Iphones and GPS?

[Little One]

Just bought our first Spyder RT. Had the SH10 dongle installed and purchased the SMH10 headsets. Unclear from the manual how I should pair things.

Each of us would like to be able to listen to the Spyder's stereo, hear GPS directions (Garmin 660), use iPhones to receive calls and use one of the iPhones to play music to both headsets. Sent an email to Sena a few days ago but haven't received any response.

Also will the dongle charge while the Spyder is running or do I need to disconnect it after a ride and bring it the house and charge it? Disconnecting it is not the easiest job to do as it doesn't come out of the bracket very easy.

Any help would be appreciated. TIA

 

[jcthorne]

You can pair one media device (the dongle) and one phone to each head set. You can also pair multiple headsets together in intercom mode.

The dongle will allow pairing with 2 head sets. An iphone will not.

Pair each phone to its respective headset. Pair each headset to the dongle as a media device. Pair the intercoms to each other.

All that said, I was never successful in using media from both the dongle and a phone by control of the head set. One or the other although calls worked fine.

If you have the BRP harness for the GPS, its sound will come through the dongle along with all other bike sounds.

The dongle is only charged by the bike when the bike is running. Using the BRP harness you must turn it off after each ride and turn it back on before you ride. I powered my dongle from a USB power adaptor in the trunk and left it powered all the time.

 

[robmorg]

To answer your specific questions... yes you can do everything that you just specified you want to do. The Spyder will charge the SM10 Bluetooth dongle while the Spyder is running. When you shut the Spyder down, the dongle will continue to stay on, using its internal battery. So if you are not going to ride again for a few days, I'd turn the dongle off while not in use.

I just posted this information in the DIY forum the other day. It may be of some help to you, but keep in mind that since I ride solo. I did not cover intercom pairing, or go into detail about pairing two phones. You will need to pair one of your phones to both headsets, if you are going to use one phone for music. There are instructions in the SMH10 manual for that and others here can answer questions about pairing options for two riders. There are a lot of different options documented in the manual for pairing the headsets with the intercom function, music input, your phone and GPS, etc. It can be a little complicated, but the instructions are very informative, though not very "intuitive".

I've found by experience that the order in which you pair devices with the headset can make a difference. I'd start with your phones, then the dongle, and lastly the GPS, for best results. Also keep in mind that while you can pair to two music sources, the headset will only connect with one of them at a time. In your case, that would be one of your phones and the SM10 dongle. See more information about this in the information in the link above. Remember to turn off music (audio) pairing in your phone settings for the phone you will NOT use for music. Also remember to turn off the SM10 dongle when you want to listen to music from the phone.

Since you are using two headsets, two phones, and two music sources, it may take some experimentation to get it all configured the way you want. Just be patient, read the manual carefully, and don't be afraid to delete all pairings and start over, if you have problems. Also Sena has fairly good telephone support if you need it.

 

[Little One]

Thanks for the input. It will definetly help me!!

 

[JayBros]

I second three points robmorg made that are very important: the order in which you pair devices is very important as is just what you want to do with each headset. The type of pairing you do with each headset and the devices will also affect what ultimately gets through to each headset under all conditions. Last, if you're pairing around and things don't work out, do not be afraid to delete all pairings from the headset(s) and start again. Don't remember how many times I wiped the slate clean messing around on my own, but the Sena instructions were an immediate, one try home run.

If you told Sena exactly what you want to do with each headset and other devices (phones and GPS) they should be able to come back with the exact sequences and pairing methods you should use – they did in my case, anyway. It may take them a few days but they will do the job for you and provide rationale for all the recommended actions if you have questions. I suggest you read thoroughly the SMH10 user's guide pairing instructions in Sections 6.1 through 7.2. It may not help you wade through the pairing permutations by yourself but with the Sena explanations you will understand.

 

[Little One]

Ok so did the pairing tonight. Paired each headset to the dongle. When we have each headset on and want to listen to music from the Spyder's stereo system it only comes through one headset. It came through both only when I did music sharing between the 2 headsets. Is this the way it should work? I assumed since each headset was paired with the dongle that when we turned on the Spyder's stereo and the dongle on that the music would come through each headset automatically.

 

[robmorg]

According to the SM10 Dongle User Manual, it should pair with each headset. See Section 5. Here's a link to the manual.

Try turning both headsets on first and then the SM10. When a paired headset connects to the SM10, it will say "Audio Connected" (as opposed to "Phone Connected" or "Device Connected", for GPS). Remember that each headset can only connect with one A2DP source at a time, and all others should be turned off. Make sure BOTH phones have "Audio" connection turned off in the device BT settings. Only "Phone connection" can be used from the phone when you are using the SM10. (Not sure how you do that with an Apple phone, as I us an Android phone, but there should be a way to do it.)

If everything above checks out, turn off the GPS and see if that's the problem. If all else fails, give Sena Customer Service a call.

 

[PaladinLV]

Ok so did the pairing tonight. Paired each headset to the dongle. When we have each headset on and want to listen to music from the Spyder's stereo system it only comes through one headset. It came through both only when I did music sharing between the 2 headsets. Is this the way it should work? I assumed since each headset was paired with the dongle that when we turned on the Spyder's stereo and the dongle on that the music would come through each headset automatically.

1st make sure the volume on the headset is "up" - obvious I know.

With the volume up and still having a problem the headsets were not properly paired to the Dongle.
Reset dongle.
Turn on 1st headset. Put it into pairing mode. Go to Dongle and hold the center button for 5 sec. The blue light should be flashing.
Once 1st headset is paired, turn it off.

Turn on 2nd headset and put into pairing mode.
Press center button on Dongle for 9 sec. The red light should be flashing.
Once 2nd headset is paired, turn it off.

Now test both headsets.

Also make sure you have the latest FIRMWARE on both headsets and Dongle.

Hope this helps.

AJ