Autocom Dongle Trouble

[Diver Dan]

Hi Guys,

From reading this forum I'm sort of relieved to read that I'm not the only person having some difficulties with my 'dongle' (not recommended)

I have an Autocom pro 7 sport which I transfered from my 1150GSA to my 12 GSA. When I got the 12, I bought a new Zumo 550 and got everything wired up professionally. Then I discovered that I need the new two connector lead from the zumo to a 'splitter' to the pro 7 sport at a cost of £45. This too I installed.

I then discovered that when playing music via the zumo I could transmit, but not receive on the bike to bike. On contacting Autocom they told me to switch the lead over to the 'music' port. This I did.

Then to make the system work even better, I got a new blue tooth phone and paired this to the zumo but discovered that when I received a call I could not transmit or be heard by the caller.

Again I contacted Autocom and was told I needed a Dongle at £75. This too I purchased and installed as per the instructions, only to discover that when the dongle connects (which it does on occassions and not on others) the music sounds like it is being played via an old fashioned gramaphone (very tinny and hissy) and I can transmit but not receive bike to bike.

I have been in contact with Autocom and tried everything they advise but can't get it sorted. Have even re-installed the up-dates on the zumo from the garmin web site.

One more thing, on the frequent occassions that the 'dongle' does not connect when the ignition is turned on, the music is fine, bike to bike is fine, but when receiving instructions via gps I can still receive bike to bike transmissions over the top of the gps instructions, which shouldn't happen either.

I was told by autocom to remove the top jack plug of the two which plug into the left side of the zumo. This I also did to no avail.

Any ideas oh ye electronic wizards??

 

[Droopy Dick]

You won't like this, but I suspect the best way round your problems is to forget Bluetooth and hard-wire everything.

 

[Diver Dan]

You're right...I don't like it. I bought the 'dongle' in good faith. It cost £75 and it's supposed to work i.e. fit for purpose.

I hope the next time I speak with Autocom, between us we will be able to get it sorted out.

I don't think it's too much to expect the product to work as described.

 

[terayon]

seeing as you have a lead from the zumo, why not just pair the phone up direct to the dongle and skip the zumo pairing. The zumo and the dongle are not stereo bluetooth and thats one reason it sound funny.
lead for zumo and music
pair phone to dongle.

Thats how I do it and dont have a problem.

 

[terayon]

just one thing. You did get the right dongle didn't you....

There are 2 versions, the one that you should be using needs to take power from a switched live.
The other one that is no good for you takes it's power from the autocom (2007 Models Only)

 

[Diver Dan]

Hi Dean,

Thanks for that, I'll give it a go tonight when I get home. I was just following the instructions as per Autocom.

The dongle I have is wired to the live autocom power lead so that when ignition is off the autocom and dongle power down.

 

[SilverFish]

Hi Dan,

I've got something like yours, set up like this:

Zumo 550, Bluetoothed to Autocom Bluetooth dongle for phone only (there is a setting on teh Zumo to only transmit Phonecalls over the Bluetooth connection)
3.5mm cable with ground loop filter, from Zumo for GPS and MP3 Stereo
Bike to Bike (Kenwood TK)
Autocom Bluetooth Dongle for mic and speaker to Zumo
But Ive the newer Pro Avi

It works brilliantly. Occasionally the Zumo 'loses' either the headset or the phone and has to reconnect, but I can live with that.

What you said about your music quality makes me thing you might need to check your Zumo's bluetooth settings to make sure that only phone calls are sent over the Bluetooth..?

Apart from that, good clear high clarity audio for music/gps, phone converstations, pillion and Bike to Bike.

Have fun,

Mike

 

[Diver Dan]

Spoke directly with Autocom again last week and got more or less the same instructions as last time. You guys were right, I had the mp3, navigation etc toggle picked instead of just 'phone only' hence the poor quality of the music.

I'll see how it goes, but so far Zumo seems to drop the dongle connection far too readily for my liking.

Will report further after this weekend ride out.