Interference / Fault / Something Else??

[Biker PG]

Hi everyone, new forum member here. I’m an old boy, so please bear with me..!!

Firstly, this is my set-up:-
Garmin Zumo XT (of course!) purchased around 16 months ago
Nolan n-com B602R Bluetooth headset (believe made by Sena?)
Motorola g73 5G Android phone running Android 14
Honda NT1100 with Android Auto
* All the above have the latest firmware *

The BT connections are:-
XT is connected to headset as ‘GPS’
XT is connected to phone via Garmin Drive
Motorcycle is connected to headset as main phone pairing
Motorcycle is connected to phone (BT for initial set-up & media, USB for Android Auto)

And here’s my issue…
I’ve only just bought the Honda, and it’s the first bike I’ve owned with Android Auto. I never thought I’d use that, and therefore had my XT mount wired in by the Honda dealer. I have hundreds of songs on the XT itself, I don’t subscribe to any music streaming services, and this was another reason for continuing to use the XT. Anyway, I have to turn off Bluetooth on my bike to enable sounds from the XT to play through the headset (there’s a conflict otherwise), no problem there. But… several times during a short trip of, say 50 miles, the music will break up, then silence. Rarely the music comes back after a couple of seconds, especially if I pause & restart the music, but usually I have to turn off the headset and turn it back on again.. As reported in an old post I read on this forum, sometimes the music sounds muffled, and sometimes it plays really slowly…
So, I’ve been thinking there may still be a conflict somewhere, or perhaps interference, or maybe something else. I deleted all pairings and started afresh, but to no avail. Then one night while at home, I happened to be testing out the XT and headset. All was fine until I walked into my bedroom, when after a few seconds the above symptoms occurred again - the music faltered, and then silence.. The weird thing is, there’s no Wi-Fi or BT devices in that room, just in the lounge & kitchen.. I repeated this several times, and it happened each & every time (whether the XT or headset only was in the bedroom, or both devices together). At least I can discount the Motorbike connections I guess…
Now that I’ve worked out how to load all of my music onto my phone, I’ve been using Android Auto with Google maps quite a bit, and it has worked impeccably every single time. The headset hasn’t lost connection at all, not even once, and I’ve ridden probably around 300 miles whilst using AA. So, surely it can’t be interference, as I would expect similar problems to those seen with the XT, and the headset works fine..
I used the XT on my previous bike, a BMW GSA, but with a SRL (Sena again) headset fitted to my old Shoei Neotec 2 helmet. I did have one or two audio issues with that set-up, but they were few and far between. Weirdly, I’ve since tried the old SRL headset with the XT again, and the same frequent loss of audio issues occur.. I’ve done a reset of the XT, re-paired everything again, but no joy..
Anybody else experienced this issue? Has perhaps a recent update affected the XT Bluetooth..?
I would just use AA, but I paid a fair wedge of money for the XT, and as a point of principle, I want that to work properly again..!
Thanks in advance.
Regards, Paul

[jfheath]

Is the music coming from your phone via BT ?

My experience with BT music fromt he phone to the headset - via the XT has been poor.
It plays OK at first and the further I ride, the worse it gets. Breaking up every 30 seconds or so, and then increasing to every fraction of a second.

I gave up trying - but put it down to the number of vehicles going past that either my phone, headset or XT were trying to connect with.

I don't play music much when riding, but I do have a collection on the SD card in the XT and if I want music, I play it on the MP3 player on the XT. Once it is playing a playlist, it can be controlled with verbal instructions to the headset. So Play, Stop, Skip Fwd an Back, Volume up and down.

These are instructions tot the headset, and since the XT is paired - it receives the various commands.

And with that - there is never a problem.


Technology has moved on a bit. I do use the phone with Android Auto in the car (Its plugged in by usb) and I play stuff from spotify. But there is not BT involved at all with that setup.

I'll have to try spotify on the bike again see how well it behaves these days.

[Biker PG]

Hi jfheath, thanks for the response.

No, the music I’m playing is via the MP3 player on the XT (music tracks stored on the device’s SD card). One thing I haven’t tried yet is to navigate a route without playing music, I.e. just have the verbal directions coming into the headset. I guess this would indicate whether it’s an issue with the MP3 player only if the route directions don’t break up…

When I have played music directly from the phone (not through the XT, but using either Android Auto, or just through the bike’s media player), it plays faultlessly, indicating there’s no problem with the headset. The phone is not directly paired to the headset, just to both the XT and to the motorbike.

Maybe it is simply just the amount of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi & other forms of interference around us these days, but then why does AA work perfectly..? I never had this problem (to this extent anyway) when the XT was mounted on my BMW, although I have discounted the problem being interference from the Honda as it happens in my house (miles away from where my bike is kept!).

It’s looking more & more like I’ll be using Android Auto for routes & music (the XT also exhibited some very, very strange routings last year, but that’s another issue!), and take the XT with me as back-up..

Tech is great isn’t it!!
Cheers, Paul

[jfheath]

Ok. Thanks.

My Cardo headset is paired to the XT.
The XT is paired to the phone.
Music is in the MP3 folder

It works perfectly.

The only thing to interrupt music is alerts from the XT itself and you can get a lot of these. Some of them cut the music, even if the volume of them is turned down.

There is an audio mixer in which you can turn up or down various categories of sound. Can I suggest that you turn them all up and see if the break up of sound coincides with (say) a speeding alert ping, or other random alerts.

If it does, then go through the XT menus and reduce the number of alerts that you get.

[Biker PG]

Thanks, I’ll certainly give that a go..
Maybe if I temporarily unpair the phone from the XT (or turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on the phone), that might indicate if it’s messages/interuptions causing some issues. Clearly they shouldn’t, and indeed before these issues started, I could play music, navigate a route with spoken instructions, and receive notifications of messages from my phone on to the XT without problem - the music would pause, then restart shortly afterwards. Now, it just breaks up and stops…
Out on the bike tomorrow for its first service, so I’ll experiment & see what happens!
Thanks again for your assistance..

[jfheath]

Let us know how you go on. Delete any other BT pairings that you might have in the XT !

[Biker PG]

Will do. The only BT connections on the XT are my Nolan n-com headset & Android phone, nothing else…
I’ve since turned off Wi-Fi on the XT to see if that helps, and also turned off Wi-Fi and BT on the phone. I mentioned in my original post that when I take my XT & helmet into the bedroom (at the other end of the house), the music playing through the MP3 player on the XT breaks up & stops. I believed this must be some sort of interference in that area, but I got to thinking that maybe with my phone left in the lounge (which it has been), perhaps the XT & phone BT connection were breaking up, and trying to re-establish the connection was causing the break up of the music… It seemed to improve matters, so I’ll continue experimenting with that as well!

[Biker PG]

So, a 50 mile round trip to the dealers for my bike’s first service, and some more experimenting with the XT..

I started by turning off all connections on the phone: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi & mobile data.

Because of the additional complication of connectivity on the motorbike, I turned off the bike’s Bluetooth as well (in fact, music will not play from the XT’s MP3 player at all with this left on - headset conflict between the bike and the XT I guess?).

I had already turned off Wi-Fi on the XT (guess it’s only needed for updates anyway?).

I started the trip with VERY choppy music (& huge disappointment!), but soon realised I still had my Android Auto wireless dongle plugged in to the bike, and it was trying to connect to my phone/something else. So, this was unplugged, and perfectly clear and constant music was enjoyed from there on in, with the only interruptions being spoken navigation instructions, and beeps relating to speed camera alerts, as it should be.. The music would then re-start without problem…

I then tried turning on the phone’s Bluetooth (so notifications could come through to the XT), and this worked just fine. And by the way, my phone is also connected to a BT tyre pressure monitoring system, and to a cheap smart watch, with no problems whatsoever..

So in summary, I need to turn off BT on my bike (unless I have my phone and headset unpaired from the bike - see below), turn off Wi-Fi and/or mobile data on my phone (I haven’t tried putting either one on by itself yet), and unplug the AA wireless dongle!!

Moving forward, I think I’ll use my XT just for touring (unpair my headset & phone from the bike beforehand, and disconnect the AA wireless dongle also), which will just leave me with turning off the phone’s Wi-Fi before each ride.. For any day trip, I’ll leave the XT at home and use AA…!!

[jfheath]

Good result, and thankyou for the detailed investigation and the report back.

I have mobile data enabled on my phone all of the time. When I was using the XT regularly, I had Explore Installed on the phone and paired with the XT - BUT I did not allow Explore to synch with the XT - So essentially, Explore was disabled on the phone. This allowed the data for traffic, weather, roadworks, up-ahead 'things' which alert you to (eg petrol stations on your route - including prices) - to be sent to the XT. Not used very much, but sometimes nice to have. This feature was a big improvement on the Smartphone link that was available for the Z590 and Z595. You also get (controlled) alerts if someone messages you or calls you. Also emails, social media alerts etc - but really, why would you want those ?

It did not interfere with the communication phone <-> XT <-> Headset - so it may be worth adding that back in again.

The Explore routing and synchronisation - I investigated it throroughly but it really didn't give me anything that I wanted to use. And you can choose not to install this part of the setup.

[Biker PG]

I’ll try it with mobile data switched back on (I’ve always left it on in the past, just not for this test), and hopefully it won’t affect anything…
I did wonder if turning Wi-Fi off on the XT made the difference.. I’ll try a few more combinations of things turned off/ left on when I’m next out on the bike. In the meantime, I’m happier about the situation..!!