Autocom Wire3 and Super Pro Avi

[Bumpkin]

On tour in the Pyrenees in three weeks time. This year just the two of us and my riding buddy doesn't have, or want to get, an Autocom and PMR set-up. Limited room on his 996 Ducati. He already has a Celluar Line Interphone f4 but, rather than me get the same, we decided to buy some Chinese BT headsets that recently got good reviews from a user on here. These were delivered and seem pretty decent if the truth be told. Interestingly enough it can communicate with his f4 but only if one of the Chinese units initiates the comms link, doesn't work the other way around.

Anyway, I would prefer to integrate this into my Autocom set-up. It's true that for this trip alone I could ditch the Autocom and just pair up with the Zumo. However, my regular riding buddies tend to use PMR for bike-to-bike and alternating between the two would mean ripping out the mic, speaker and BGNS from my helmet every time. Options were to buy a 2nd helmet or link the headset with the Autocom using a Wire3 and use the BT headset from now on.

Serendipitously a Wire3 came up on eBay and was acquired at a fair price so that's the way I'm going.

Wondering what the difference would be if this was connected to the pillion headset lead rather than the rider headset lead that comes out of the Autocom unit Would be easier to leave the rider lead in place and plug into the pillion connector under the seat. Also means swapping back to using the Autocom wired headset would be easy if required, will be taking a headset on the tour in case of BT unit failure, takes practically zero room.

The one downside that I can see is that I will loose the auto volume 'ramping' of the Super Pro Avi as the BGNS will be disconnected. Will have to see how that goes. If I can use the pillion connection I suppose that I could still connect the BGNS but have it on the bike rather than in my helmet....

Anyone care to comment on the use of the pillion headset connector?

 

[hatzyian]

I have the feeling that if the riders lead is not connected, nothing will work, but I stand to be corrected.

 

[Bumpkin]

I have the feeling that if the riders lead is not connected, nothing will work, but I stand to be corrected.

Thanks for the reply. I thought that was the case with Starcom rather than Autocom, will try and report back.

 

[Bumpkin]

Well, doesn't appear to work very well on either rider or pillion headset lead. Volume is pitiful from the Zumo although the roger bleep from my PMR is normal. Seems a bit odd. The PMR is hard wired, the Zumo is connected using a BTM 02 dongle. Maybe it's down to the fact that I have Bluetooth from Zumo to Autocom and then Bluetooth from Autocom to headset

Connecting the headset direct to the Zumo works really well, too loud on the same settings as when connected to the Autocom via the BTM 02, needed to turn volume down quite some way. Phone Bluetoothed to Zumo works fine.

Guess I'll have to scrap that plan then and accept that I'll need to swap the mic, speakers and BGNS out of my lid each time I want to change from Autocom to Bluetooth headset, should only be a couple of times a year. Wire3 will have to go back onto eBay.

 

[beemerboy9]

Hi Bumpkin,

Sorry to hear about the Wire3A debacle.

Can your mate not pick up a BT-enabled PMR radio and put in a tankbag?

Surely you are not going to stick your neck out and say that a 996 Ducati is less than ideal for touring?

Regards,

John

 

[mcinlb]

Just as a by, I found exactly the same when using the satnav unit via a BTM-02 , not enough volume (compared to the hard wired satnav).

Autocom now do a volume adjustable BTM-VOL unit, but at £95 it's a lot to lay out to experiment......

 

[Bumpkin]

Can your mate not pick up a BT-enabled PMR radio and put in a tankbag?

As mentioned in my first post my touring buddy already has a Cellular Line Interphone f4. He's had this for a few years and in 2011 I bought him an Cellular Line Interphone Tribe Bluetooth PMR radio as a present. Quite frankly, for the price, it was shockingly awful and was far from the fantastic solution that the advertising material made it out to be. Aside from the need to manually switch from listening to his sat nav to the radio to be able to hear any communication from me (if I needed to speak to him I had to resort to hand signals to initiate ), the VOX was unreliable (admittedly the Termigonis and throaty induction of his bike didn't help here) and the alleged auto volume (no optional manual override) was constantly too low. Added to which the build quality was akin to a cheap Argos no-brand PMR and there was no ability to use on anything other than Bluetooth, i.e. no mic or speaker on the unit itself.

He doesn't use a tank-bag either though we did discuss having any radio in one of his panniers.

We did think long and hard about other ways to do this:

• A WildTalk Bluetooth Adapter for a Kenwood radio (I have a spare radio), however, paired with his f4 headset the same initiation issue would still be there as with the tribe
• Buy a used Autocom off eBay and use this with my spare radio. This was my favoured option and would have been no more costly that the Chinese BT headsets we bought for £85. I was suggesting a Active Plus unit plus a PTT switch, I have spares of the other cables required to hook up the radio and his phone/sat nav. Regrettably he wasn't keen on this suggesting that there was no room to fit in the Autocom under his seat
• Me to buy an f4 or other Celluar Line headset. This seemed expensive and the limited range of his f4 would be a disadvantage
• Buy the headsets that we now have. These have a reasonable claimed range (taken with a pinch of salt admittedly) compared to the f4 and initiating a bike-to-bike call on one switches the other from the other source (sat nav) over to recieve.

Surely you are not going to stick your neck out and say that a 996 Ducati is less than ideal for touring?

LOL, perish the thought, it's been more reliable on tour than my VTEC to tell the truth. Though he used to have to strip and rebuild the clutch until he bought some fancy German one to replace the original, that was considered routine maintenance though He seems to be comfortable enough at the age of 50 to ride the thing all day for days on end, camping at night and carrying all the kit. I did a couple of European tours on a 350LC in my youth, in our eyes there's no such thing as an inappropriate touring bike...

Just as a by, I found exactly the same when using the satnav unit via a BTM-02 , not enough volume (compared to the hard wired satnav).

Strangely enough my BTM 02 works fine between the Zumo and the Autocom, using the hard-wired headset the volume and perceivable quality is as it was with the hard-wired connection between Zumo and Autocom that I had previously. Admittedly this was an older isolated lead, these were meant to reduce volume a little compared to the later isolated lead. Volume is more than adequate for up to 90 with ear plugs.

Autocom now do a volume adjustable BTM-VOL unit, but at £95 it's a lot to lay out to experiment......

I could be wrong but I believe that these only work with the later SPA Autocom.

I've emailed Autocom, if I don't get a reply or a resolution then the Wire3 will go back on eBay.

 

[beemerboy9]

hi Bumpkin,

You should talk to Sam at Chainspeed - he is by no means wedded to Autocom.

John

 

[Bumpkin]

You should talk to Sam at Chainspeed - he is by no means wedded to Autocom.

Thanks for the suggestion John. The thought had occurred to me but seeing as I didn't buy the Wire3 there I do feel it's a bit of a cheek. Have bought quite a bit of kit from them though, including the Interphone Tribe PMR that they gave a full refund on after we'd been around Germany and Austria for two weeks with it. Intercepted Sam at the NEC last year and thanked him personally.

Did fire off a Q to Autocom themselves yesterday and they replied today. Got something of an odd answer stating that 'the Wire3 is good at speech but this leads to diminished quality with other audio'...

Will give it another try either tomorrow or over the weekend before giving up.

 

[mcinlb]

Just as a by, I found exactly the same when using the satnav unit via a BTM-02 , not enough volume (compared to the hard wired satnav).

Autocom now do a volume adjustable BTM-VOL unit, but at £95 it's a lot to lay out to experiment......

Got in touch with Sam regarding BTM-VOL and SPA autocom ...... his reply

" The BTM-02A and the SPA together (providing its plugged into the correct socket /s) is more than loud enough for anyone. I will guarantee that.

I would not recommend the BT-VOL. Its more of a gimmick as the adjustable volume is still only as loud as the BTM-02A on full.

Do you still have the BTM-02A? Make sure its plugged into Riders Phone socket, not GPS socket. "


I now have the BTM-02 and SPA combo and I must admit it sounds ok volume wise.

I was previously using an old Logic kit ..

 

[Bumpkin]

My BTM 02 is connected in accordance with the instructions and works very well with my Super Pro Avi when my helmet speakers are hooked up by wire. Different story with the Wire3.