USB connections

[Paul Andrews]

Brand new here to the forum with a brand new '20 1250RT. All the technology on the bike is quite distracting at first (love the quick shifter,) but getting the bike/Nav VI and Sena 10S headset to all work together has been frustrating. Now I've got it set up but it's disappointing to have limited inputs to the Sena. For instance, I can't stream music from my phone to the headset without deleting the Nav VI pairing.OK. I can live with that, but I want my music. Easy right? Just plug in a thumb drive to the USB in the right side pocket compartment. Well...for some reason this refuses to work. Maybe it's because I don't correctly format the drive. But I've followed the directions - formatting the stick to FAT 16, reformatting my Apple music to MP3 and so on. When I plug it in I get only the message "No USB". If I plug in my iPhone, it will charge, but I get the same message. The bike manual suggests that by plugging in my phone to the USB it will act as an iPod, but it doesn't. Just "NO USB". :-\ I KNOW there is someone (or several) folks out there who know how to fix this issue. Please clue me in if you can...

[gadgetgaz]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on getting a superb motorbike!
You're right about the Sena issue. Most forums tell you not to pair the Sena to your phone but I do exactly that otherwise you can't use the phone's voice assistant). I have my Sena (20S Evo) paired to my phone; Sena connected to the bike's bluetooth (in the Sena's audio exclusive mode); Nav VI paired with phone (untick audio and phone in Nav VI bluetooth settings so the only thing the Nav VI gets from the phone is the data connection to Garmin Smartphone Link). I do not pair the Nav VI with the helmet anyway as it sends its audio via a wired connection to the bike's radio and so gets to the Sena via the helmet to bike bluetooth connection. I hope that makes sense?
I don't know what your issue is with the USB stick, mine worked straight away. I used a 16GB stick, must be single partition, formatted in FAT32 (FAT16 is a very old format). Don't forget, if you're wanting to plug your iPhone into the USB port you must use a proprietary lead.

[Paul Andrews]

Thanks for your reply.  It's raised a few questions for me.  First, it sounds like your Sena has more capability than my 10S in that it can perhaps make more connections.  Mine will not connect to my phone and also the bike - at least I don't think so.  So maybe I'll have to upgrade.  (What the heck is "audio exclusive mode"?)  As usual, I'm a bit behind on the technology. 


Actually I am OK with the setup I had - this is, without connecting the phone to the Sena.  But I'm really wanting my music.  So you bring up a couple of things of interest.  I will reformat my USB stick first, then transfer the MP3 files and the xxxx.M3U file that is apparently required and see if that works.  Also, I was unaware that you couldn't access the phone through USB with the standard charging wire that comes with the phone.  Where can I find that item?


Interesting that you're a retired moto cop.  How about a couple of lessons??? ^-^  Thanks again for the input.

[gadgetgaz]

Hi Paul,
I just had a quick look at the Sena 10S manual and on page 21 it says it can pair with a phone and a media player at the same time. When I said audio exclusive mode I should have said "selective pairing" mode - it allows you to pair your bike as a media player in A2DP profile only i.e. without the helmet expecting any handsfree functions etc from the bike's bluetooth connection. You'd do this after first pairing your mobile phone normally. The instructions are on page 22.
That's how I have my 20S Evo set up and it works. I can be listening to the bike's radio or usb stick, then take a phonecall or use Google assistant, then after hanging up the call the bike's music plays automatically again.
The only issue with this set up is that you can't see the call details on the nav screen, you just have to answer the call with the Sena's phone button.
The iphone lead is a BMW part but I think there are ebay sellers that have them cheaper because they are also needed for BMW cars and Minis. I have an Samsung phone so can't speak from experience here.
You don't actually need an m3U file on the stick so don't waste any time figuring that out. Just plug the stick into your computer; re-format it in fat32, copy an album on by drag and drop; plug it back into the bike glove box; turn on the radio; hit the SRC button until USB is shown on the TFT screen; it should start playing.

[beemerboy9]

Hi Paul,
I just had a quick look at the Sena 10S manual and on page 21 it says it can pair with a phone and a media player at the same time. When I said audio exclusive mode I should have said "selective pairing" mode - it allows you to pair your bike as a media player in A2DP profile only i.e. without the helmet expecting any handsfree functions etc from the bike's bluetooth connection. You'd do this after first pairing your mobile phone normally. The instructions are on page 22.
That's how I have my 20S Evo set up and it works. I can be listening to the bike's radio or usb stick, then take a phonecall or use Google assistant, then after hanging up the call the bike's music plays automatically again.
The only issue with this set up is that you can't see the call details on the nav screen, you just have to answer the call with the Sena's phone button.
The iphone lead is a BMW part but I think there are ebay sellers that have them cheaper because they are also needed for BMW cars and Minis. I have an Samsung phone so can't speak from experience here.
You don't actually need an m3U file on the stick so don't waste any time figuring that out. Just plug the stick into your computer; re-format it in fat32, copy an album on by drag and drop; plug it back into the bike glove box; turn on the radio; hit the SRC button until USB is shown on the TFT screen; it should start playing.

It is not easy to fit the phone and the adapter into the limited space in the right hand compartment. BMW designed the tupperware before phones became mini-tablets.

[daverj]

The bike is fussy on the size of the USB stick. A 16gb wasn’t recognised by the bike, but an 8gb was, same make/format. Worth a try.

[Tiedend]

On the subject of usb sticks the bike will read up 64gb sticks but you must format to FAT32.

Windows will not do that natively for you. It will (I think) only format as FAT32 up to 32gb. You will have to get a small prog from the internet that will format the drive as FAT32.

[Paul Andrews]

Thanks for all the help folks.  Somehow with the suggestions I have been able to make everything work as advertised.  Reformatted the stick and everything works together, including receiving phone calls.  The only thing still bothersome is trying to get the volume adjusted from radio, USB stick, phone calls and GPS voice to be approximately equal.  The little person in the GPS about blew my eardrums out today :'(


Certainly appreciate all the input.  Now I can just concentrate on enjoying the ride!


P.S.  How do I get the news to be better on the radio???

[ichavis]

[size=small]I have a 256GB Sandisk USB2 thumb drive connected to my USB port on my 2014 RT.... It is either formatted FAT-32 or extFat. I have well over 64GB of music. I was planning to add more. Only downside is when you initially insert the USB thumb drive, it takes a few min to read the content in but after that no issues. I have not taken it off the bike in over a year but works consistently with a 256GB USB[/size][size=small] drive (see photo)[/size]

[Buster666]

ichavis, can I ask what format you use for the music files on your thumb drive? I have formatted mine to FAT32 and then have copied my iTunes library to the thumb drive but it is still saying no data when I plug it into the bike. I have an 2020 1250LE

[beemerboy9]

The tunes must be in MP3 format according to page 32 of the radio guide.

[ichavis]

yes, MP3, i use a program to convert all of my iTunes music to MP3 / 320k sample / Increase volume ...

[Buster666]

Thanks for the responses. Unfortunately a lot of my music is via my Apple Music subscription so I don't technically own the albums so can't convert them to MP3. I have an old iPod so I am going to try that with the BMW cable and see how that works........£60 for the cable!!!

[Nick Evans]

Unfortunately a lot of my music is via my Apple Music subscription so I don't technically own the albums so can't convert them to MP3

Have you tried something like AVS audio converter? Its free...

[beemerboy9]

Thanks for the responses. Unfortunately a lot of my music is via my Apple Music subscription so I don't technically own the albums so can't convert them to MP3. I have an old iPod so I am going to try that with the BMW cable and see how that works........£60 for the cable!!!

But the cheap ones off eBay don't work in my experience.