Gen4 Bluetooth Issues

[noxx]

My phone is connected to my bike and the bike is connected to my Sena so that I can play music and control it with the multi control on the bike, make phone calls etc
The bluetooth Connection between my bike and Sena was atrocious right from the start. It was actually not usable because the connection would drop every 2-5 seconds. I had given up on this until a mate with an M3 told me he had the same issues with making phone calls in his car and told me to disable my phone wifi. You won’t effing believe it... disabling my wifi on my phone fixed all my connection issues. The frequencies must be very close to each other and BMW’s bluetooth implementation is probably not the best either.. anyway.. if you’re having issues with this, just turn off your wifi and you’ll be fine!

 

[bmwbadboy]

My phone is connected to my bike and the bike is connected to my Sena so that I can play music and control it with the multi control on the bike, make phone calls etc
The bluetooth Connection between my bike and Sena was atrocious right from the start. It was actually not usable because the connection would drop every 2-5 seconds. I had given up on this until a mate with an M3 told me he had the same issues with making phone calls in his car and told me to disable my phone wifi. You won’t effing believe it... disabling my wifi on my phone fixed all my connection issues. The frequencies must be very close to each other and BMW’s bluetooth implementation is probably not the best either.. anyway.. if you’re having issues with this, just turn off your wifi and you’ll be fine!

lol what ? this is complete non-sense.

I suggest to read about Time Division Multiplexing before making such statements.

99% your headphones or phone are crap. idle phone's wifi doesn't even try to scan for APs, so is not even emitting any signal.

 

[noxx]

lol what ? this is complete non-sense.

I suggest to read about Time Division Multiplexing before making such statements.

99% your headphones are crap.

I don’t know whether my assumption of Wifi and bluetooth interfering with one another is accurate or not. But my earphones are 100% not crap. I’ve had the same issue with Powerbeats Pro, BeatsX, Sennheiser and my Sena 30K and it’s working flawlessly now that my wifi is disabled and that’s a fact.

 

[noxx]

Just Googled it.. a good few people (car forum) have experienced the same behavior.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1138192

 

[bmwbadboy]

Just Googled it.. a good few people (car forum) have experienced the same behavior.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1138192

well, that was from 2007, since then bluetooth spec has progressed a bit.

I guess it might be a faulty unit in the bike.

 

[Kennybush]

http://blog.commander.com/how-to-prevent-wifi-and-bluetooth-interference/

Think your assumption could be right about frequencies.

 

[noxx]

well, that was from 2007, since then bluetooth spec has progressed a bit.

I guess it might be a faulty unit in the bike.

Either that or BMW uses old technology, which wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest considering my BMW connected app says my first service is due in 30 kilometers or on 01/01/2012. This is my second M Sport with the same issue so I somehow doubt it’s a faulty unit. Disabling wifi fixed my connection issues and it might solve other people’s connection issues too so I don’t see a problem with me making bold statements.

 

[r25sti]

sounds like a 1st world problem

 

[SiMoto]

Thanks for pointing it out Noxx I'm a little perplexed why your getting such dismissive reaction from some its obviously based on your own personal experience.
Top tip cheers

 

[soofsayer]

I have/had a few bmws and never had this problem. Have you tried a different phone?

 

[alex]

My S9 and Mercury BT earphones can cut out. I hate BT in general...

 

[Marc A]

I'm going to try this in my Audi A6.....ever since I've had it bluetooth music has always skipped and connectivity isn't always there....however in my VW Caravelle there is no probs there at all....

Will let you know (dealer couldn't fault it either)

 

[Humptyfish]

One year on. Has this problem gone away for people
2 weeks since I picked mine up and I have been back to the dealer because the bluetooth connection is so flakey. I lose music when Standing by the back wheel and 50 % of the times I've used it its disconnected before the trip is done. Sunday was riding south when the navigation stopped, couldnt get it to reconnect, couldn't get the bike to delete all connections. Had to get the new Samsung phone and the interphone to delete their pairings to the bike so I could re-pair them "old" school to get to where I was going. Also rode for 2 hrs after with a "emergency call failure" warning (I was seriously pssed off about the bluetooth but hadn't resorted to pressing the sos button!)

I will try the WiFi fix but sounds like others are not having these kinds of problems any more

 

[HertsTif]

One year on. Has this problem gone away for people
2 weeks since I picked mine up and I have been back to the dealer because the bluetooth connection is so flakey. I lose music when Standing by the back wheel and 50 % of the times I've used it its disconnected before the trip is done. Sunday was riding south when the navigation stopped, couldnt get it to reconnect, couldn't get the bike to delete all connections. Had to get the new Samsung phone and the interphone to delete their pairings to the bike so I could re-pair them "old" school to get to where I was going. Also rode for 2 hrs after with a "emergency call failure" warning (I was seriously pssed off about the bluetooth but hadn't resorted to pressing the sos button!)

I will try the WiFi fix but sounds like others are not having these kinds of problems any more

I've had connection to the phone dropping off, and actually more frequent now than before. The bike hasn't had any software updates, but the phone app has. Make of that what you will....

Note that I only used it for nav and showing the speed limit - not music which is obviously more sensitive to small drop outs.

 

[Schuey]

I've had connection dropping issues too in the past, but since re-synching the phone with the bike after RIS it has been better. However, the Speed Limit Display has a mind of its own and often shows the 3 dots instead of the speed, then randomly whilst riding it displays speed again. Not sure if that's a local area thing when on certain country roads or an issue with connection...

 

[kipperfish]

I find that unless I have my phone in my front jacket pocket it doesn't have enough signal to work properly.
I put my phone in my back pack and that was enough for it to stop working (I've had a good lock-down, but that is rediculous). I'd even bought a USB adapter so I could charge my phone via my optimate cable under the pilli seat, but there is ZERO chance of getting a signal that far away.

My dealer installed my tracker somewhere under the tank and it got no signal due to ali foil under there, I wonder if there is something similar blocking the BT aerial as this is rediculous.

 

[JamieMac]

My two pennies worth. I don't own a Gen 4 ... But this is what I've discovered over the years.

If you've previously had your phone connected to an intercom (say a Cardo) and a SatNav (say a TomTom), you'll have a myriad of glitch connections if you don't CLEAR all the historic connections i.e forget in Bluetooth previous intercoms, Satnav's on your phone, same on your intercom which generally means a factory reset and same on your SatNav. Then read the instructions for the INTERCOM properly. Most intercoms have 2 channels. Phone pairs to channel 1, SatNav or Gen 4 App to channel 2.

The Intercom is the hub. You connect the phone to the intercom and the SatNav to the intercom. Don't try connecting hand's free calling on your SatNav to your phone. It's possible to connect everything to everything which is a recipe for disaster. The only connection you may need between the phone and satnav is for live traffic/mobile cameras. Hope that helps, J

 

[Humptyfish]

Ok it seems like this hasn't gone away after all

Thanks for all the tips and tricks which are probably woth a go

I do feel that bmw should be able to do better if modern bluetooth intercoms can maintain links over a lot lot further