BMW Motorrad communicator problem - noise

Hi all.

Two riders. Two helmets. Both brand new Schuberth C3 Pro. Both with brand new BMW communicators. All works perfectly except for one problem.

My wife hears me perfectly when we talk. I, on the other hand, hear her perfectly from 0 to about 25mph at which point I get a permanent crackling/rustling sound as though someone were scrunching up some kind of futuristic metallic paper. We slow down and all is fine again. We've tried to reposition her mic up, down, tried with helmet open, helmet closed... to no avail.

Has anyone had this problem?

Going to the dealer Tuesday to look into it but input is always valuable.

Thanks all.

Jim

I don't understand the problem

Use musicians earplugs to filter out the noise and get up to 25 mph as quick as you can.
I'm guessing it is wind noise so I'd want to rule it out.
Do you experience the noise with the 2nd helmet turned off?
What happens when you are solo listening to music from your gps or smartphone?
Put her helmet inside the top bag with an iPhone playing music in the mic.
I assume there isn't a 3rd helmet (buddy) turned on contributing to the mix.
I'm curious to know what you figure out.

Some folks had a problem with Sena's (I know it is a different brand) when the mike was pointing in the wrong direction (away from the mouth). Could this be the case?

jim@jdc.ca said:

Use musicians earplugs to filter out the noise and get up to 25 mph as quick as you can.
I'm guessing it is wind noise so I'd want to rule it out.
Do you experience the noise with the 2nd helmet turned off?
What happens when you are solo listening to music from your gps or smartphone?
Put her helmet inside the top bag with an iPhone playing music in the mic.
I assume there isn't a 3rd helmet (buddy) turned on contributing to the mix.
I'm curious to know what you figure out.

Click to expand...

It's definitely not wind. When I'm alone, all is fine. Also, when I play music or listen to the GPS at speed I'm fine. It only happens when my wife's helmet is on and connected to mine and only once we get to speed. We've actually found that tapping on her helmet, vs. tapping on mine, makes a huge difference. If I tap tap hers my I hear it super loud. If I tap mine, she hears it faintly. In short, we're down to thinking that it's either a defective unit or that something in the installation has rendered her mic ultra sensitive (don't ask me how )

tonyfr said:

Some folks had a problem with Sena's (I know it is a different brand) when the mike was pointing in the wrong direction (away from the mouth). Could this be the case?

Click to expand...

Yeah, I checked and it's pointing inwards (unless the mic itself, inside the stem is mounted wrong but that would be a manufacturing defect.

In short, I've taken the helmets back to Battley, in MD, and they're looking at them. I hope to get news today (or risk missing a beautiful weekend ride )

Will keep you guys posted and thanks for asking!!

Jim

Update

f5jim said:

It's definitely not wind. When I'm alone, all is fine. Also, when I play music or listen to the GPS at speed I'm fine. It only happens when my wife's helmet is on and connected to mine and only once we get to speed. We've actually found that tapping on her helmet, vs. tapping on mine, makes a huge difference. If I tap tap hers my I hear it super loud. If I tap mine, she hears it faintly. In short, we're down to thinking that it's either a defective unit or that something in the installation has rendered her mic ultra sensitive (don't ask me how )
Yeah, I checked and it's pointing inwards (unless the mic itself, inside the stem is mounted wrong but that would be a manufacturing defect.
In short, I've taken the helmets back to Battley, in MD, and they're looking at them. I hope to get news today (or risk missing a beautiful weekend ride )
Will keep you guys posted and thanks for asking!!
Jim

Click to expand...

Update.
Battley were great. Special thanks to Mug for trying so hard. They offered to swap out the BMW Communicator (on backorder until June 19 )
This said, I went out for a ride Sunday and did some debugging. The sound is definitely caused by wind on my wife's microphone. If she covers the front of her helmet's chin area (where the vent is on a C3Pro) or if she ducks behind me, the wind is gone. This has, however, caused me to wonder if the problem is from the BMW Communicator or if, somehow, the C3Pro is letting air through the helmet's front end creating some kind of turbulence around the mic??
I guess I'll wait for the new BMW Communicator. If the problem persists, then it's the Schuberth helmet.
To be continued...