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Sena 20s Charging issue - SOLVED

skibumwi

skibumwi

New member
Hi all,

I've been working with my new Sena 20s and finally got everything paired up and working properly (see the the thread "Sena 20 w/r1200rt"). Went for a long ride today and the unit informed me that the battery was low, and then about 1 minute later it repeated the Low battery warning and then shut down.

When I got home I plugged the unit into a high tech USB charger that senses the load and applies the correct current but no red light came on indicating charging, after 15 minutes the red light was still not on. Tried changing cable, plugging other devices into the charger and even some standalone wall-wort chargers - no go.

I called Sena and they walked me through the reset procedure - still no joy. They suggested I return it - after all the work to get it installed in my helmet I was not happy.

I then recalled that, in the past, Samsung phones would only respond to a Samsung charger when they were totally dead. I started changing out chargers until - yippee skippe - I found one that worked! It happens to be from Asus.

Moral of the story - don't ever let your Sena 20s go completely dead - unless you have an Asus USB charger.

Regards,
Ski
 
skibumwi said:
Hi all,

I've been working with my new Sena 20s and finally got everything paired up and working properly (see the the thread "Sena 20 w/r1200rt"). Went for a long ride today and the unit informed me that the battery was low, and then about 1 minute later it repeated the Low battery warning and then shut down.

When I got home I plugged the unit into a high tech USB charger that senses the load and applies the correct current but no red light came on indicating charging, after 15 minutes the red light was still not on. Tried changing cable, plugging other devices into the charger and even some standalone wall-wort chargers - no go.

I called Sena and they walked me through the reset procedure - still no joy. They suggested I return it - after all the work to get it installed in my helmet I was not happy.

I then recalled that, in the past, Samsung phones would only respond to a Samsung charger when they were totally dead. I started changing out chargers until - yippee skippe - I found one that worked! It happens to be from Asus.

Moral of the story - don't ever let your Sena 20s go completely dead - unless you have an Asus USB charger.

Regards,
Ski
Click to expand...

Ski: I've run mine totally dead multiple times and can use any charger to charge the unit (I am usually using one of those small Apple "cubes" for charging iPhones, although I've also used a laptop USB port and my iPad charger. If yours is "fussy", there's probably something else wrong with it. :uhoh

In the past, I have had weird issues where I charge the unit until I get the Blue "charged" light and then, when I try to use it the next day the battery is dead - but they seem to have stopped with one of the recent firmware updates.
 
Ran my 20s down to zero charge and it shut off - saying "Good Bye". When I arrived in town that night, plugged it into the provided USB micro cord and then to my Iphone 120V wall charger - she charged right up.

Cheers
 
My Sena 20Ses went totally dead not long after charging. I opened them up and replaced the batteries with ones approximately the same size I bought on eBay. I had to exchange the connectors, but they both work well again. The batteries are not supposed to run down to zero and if they do, there’s something wrong with them.

By zero, I mean zero volts, where they refuse to charge...light the red charging light.
 
Last edited:
I've run my 20s to shut off a few times. Charged right back up to full in about 1.75 hours when I got home using a wall charger to usb to Sena20s. I don't use the usb on the computer to charge the unit.

Never had a problem with the 20s charging or holding a charge. 2 weeks of non use it's still 80% charged or more. I always top it up the night before, get 11 to 12 hours of use before it's low battery warning. Sometimes when stopping for lunch, if it's going to be a long day riding, I'll take it off the helmet and let the sae to usb charge it for 30-40 minutes. That brings it back to near full charge in that time.

On the trip to Ak. last summer, I'd take it off the helmet for an hour and let it charge off the sae, then charge it again that night to full for the next days ride. I let it go dead twice to see how long I could get out of a charge--11.5 to 12.hours every time from a full charge.
 
I have had issues with some USB cords (not chargers). I also find the Sena USB connector to be a bit tight fitting. Finally, if you open a up a Sena unit, it voids your warranty, DAMHIK.
 
What warranty? After 5 years and a dead unit, fixing these two was a savings of about 500$
 
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