Sennheiser ew 100 G2 HELP

[Michael Padilla]

I have been having substantial problems with my system;

I am getting very high piched noise/interferance; it is intermitten.. so It cannot be controlled, turned off or adjusted. the audio will sound perfect.. and then BAM:SQUECH. Damn loud hiss in your ear.. then after a second its back to normal for a little while..

What's going on!?

I have tried changing frequencies.. no effect..
I have scaned for a clean chanell.. same as before
I have adjusted sqelch..
I have done everything I can think of.. but no matter where what its the same problem.. do I have a lemon of a system or do other people find problems with the G2 wireless system?

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Although your symptoms don't suggest GSM, any GSM phones in the area?
Capacitor in some system discharging?

[Michael Padilla]

no idea..

I do alot of weddings.. and that's where it happens most.. I have no clue as to what the surrouunding interferance might be?
I am also using a duplex headset system from eartech.. might that be the interferance?
Although I have thought of that and turned off the eartech system.. no change in the audio from the G2

[Seth Bloombaum]

What you're describing could be RF dropouts - the transmitter signal gets low, nasty noises ensue, receiver squelch cuts in. This would be indicated especially if batteries are low, or, if the dropouts seem related to movement of the transmitter or receiver.

How are your antennas (antennae?) positioned? Both transmitter and receiver should be pretty close to vertical for optimum performance.

The G2 receiver's cold-shoe mounting rig would put it horizontal on most cameras, which is not optimum. I've used a teeney ball head with a cold shoe on the bottom and a 1/4" x 20 tripod screw on the top to reposition the receiver, or, there are numerous brackets, clip to the camera hand strap, etc.

[Guy Cochran]

How far away is the Transmitter from the Receiver?
Are they Line of Sight - can they see each other?

Is the Pilot Tone on? If so, the unit should mute itself before blasting static if out of range.

Seth is right, it's better to have the unit VERTICAL instead of horizontal for maximum range.

Also, another trick is to point the Transmitter and Receiver antennas to the ground. It's easy just flip the metal clip around. This info is per Sennheiser.

You may have also have damaged the antenna. Replacements are available, just make sure to match the frequency.

Bummer to hear that yours is not working correctly. If all this fails, it may be the unit. Do you have another unit or maybe someone in your area where you can compare yours to theirs? If you got the unit from us (DVcreators/DVeStore), we'd be happy to ship you out a loaner to compare.

[Michael Padilla]

Originally Posted by Seth Bloombaum

What you're describing could be RF dropouts - the transmitter signal gets low, nasty noises ensue, receiver squelch cuts in. This would be indicated especially if batteries are low, or, if the dropouts seem related to movement of the transmitter or receiver.

I don't know about movement.. as neither the camera or the groom move much. But yes this sounds like what's going on.
However the batteries are always full (recharged)

Originally Posted by Seth Bloombaum

How are your antennas (antennae?) positioned? Both transmitter and receiver should be pretty close to vertical for optimum performance.

I have the reciver mounted to the back of a ch-10 which is mounted to the backplate of the xl2 (so its basically vertical); the transmitter on the other hand is on the groom; either in his front pocket or on his belt; as is with tuxes there are lots of layers of dense clothes.. can't get around that.. and certainly other people would be reporting issues from weddings if this were a comon problem.

[Michael Padilla]

Originally Posted by Guy Cochran

How far away is the Transmitter from the Receiver?
Are they Line of Sight - can they see each other?

basically yes; other than clothing.. they can see each other.. were not in different rooms.

Originally Posted by Guy Cochran

Is the Pilot Tone on? If so, the unit should mute itself before blasting static if out of range.

Yes.. its on which you would think the unit would mute itself but it doesn't.
However when the transmitter is off, the reciver goes into mute. SO it does sort of work.

Originally Posted by Guy Cochran

Seth is right, it's better to have the unit VERTICAL instead of horizontal for maximum range.

which should be fine accept for in the grooms pocket.

Originally Posted by Guy Cochran

Also, another trick is to point the Transmitter and Receiver antennas to the ground. It's easy just flip the metal clip around. This info is per Sennheiser.

really? ok.. anythings worth a shot!

Originally Posted by Guy Cochran

You may have also have damaged the antenna. Replacements are available, just make sure to match the frequency.

This perhaps is just the problem/solution.. this unit didn't always act this way.. and grooms can often be rough with this stuff.. so perhaps the transmitter was damaged somewhere in time. Come to think of it my handheld mic-plug transmitter never has this issue.. however I am only a foot or two away from it when doing interviews.. so I thought the short distance was an keeping the signal good.

Originally Posted by Guy Cochran

Bummer to hear that yours is not working correctly. If all this fails, it may be the unit. Do you have another unit or maybe someone in your area where you can compare yours to theirs? If you got the unit from us (DVcreators/DVeStore), we'd be happy to ship you out a loaner to compare.

I wish..
I got it locally from Samys camera.

SO you think this is a service issue then? Where can I get a fast replacement part/repair in SO Cal/O.C.?
Should I just buy a new set and deal with this later.. sell it on ebay when its working properly?

Thanks for all the help & advice!

[Guy Cochran]

We sell hundreds of these unit per year with not a single issue so I think we can help you even though you got it somewhere else. Sennheiser has been good to us.

We'll send you a loaner Transmitter. You just pay for the shipping or use your FedEx/UPS account. Send me a message or give a call at 1-877-353-8077.

[Michael Padilla]

Thank you will be calling tomorrow!

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Michael Padilla

b...

which should be fine accept for in the grooms pocket.

...

That may be the problem - the antenna is getting getting folded and wadded up with the extra mic cable etc leading to dropouts as he moves around. Try to clip the transmitter to the belt underneath his jacket at the hip or in the small of his back with the antenna vertical rather than trying to put it in a pocket. Lead the mic cable away from the transmitter in such a way that it isn't come close to the antenna.

[John Mitchell]

Sounds to me like the rechargable batteries are the problem. NiCads and NiMH's may well fall below the voltage threshhold of these units. I would recommend non-rechargeable Alkalines, or if you must have rechargeable units, search around for LiOn AA's rated at 1.5V+

[Phil Sherwood]

John, do you know of any places offhand for 1.5V rechargeable AA's? I've not been able to find any, and would love to have some - I'm using 1.2V in my flash, and the cycle time is slower than when I use throwaways.

[Bob Grant]

To the best of my knowledge all rechargeable AA batteries are 1.2V. A lot of gear doesn't care much but some does and some just will not run on 1.2V, for example the Senny hand held wireless mic, it just will not even turn on at 1.2V.
For flash guns NiCd is better than NiMH in my experience. It's not the voltage so much as the maximum current the battery can deliver. NiCd can deliver lots more amp than NiMH as NiMH has higher internal resistance.

[John Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Phil Sherwood

John, do you know of any places offhand for 1.5V rechargeable AA's? I've not been able to find any, and would love to have some - I'm using 1.2V in my flash, and the cycle time is slower than when I use throwaways.

Phil I know you can get 1.5V Alkaline rechargeables but I'm not sure they are suitable for production purposes (I don't think they have the storage capacity of NiMH and my experience with rechargeable alkalines has been poor). You can always give them a go - just do a google search.

[John Mitchell]

Originally Posted by John Mitchell

or if you must have rechargeable units, search around for LiOn AA's rated at 1.5V+

PS Bob is right - still no one making these to the best of my knowledge. Probably too hard and expensive to build in the temperature protection etc needed for LiON rechargeables in a AA size.