Lifestyle 38 + PMC II: "No signal from media center"

[phaidros]

Hi all!

I just extended a Lifestyle 38 with Bose Link into another room with a Roommate speaker, I recently purchased used – everything is working fine. The main remote control can be configured via DIP-switches to work for room B, works like charm.

Now I purchased a PMC II remote control (manual says, it's compatible) which consistently shows "No signal from media center", no matter what the configuration be. House and room codes definitely match (everything's working with the main rc, after all). The cable between media center and Acoustimass is unravelled (I read that somewhere), so is the power cable between media center and power unit. Also, I repeatedly switched off and unplugged both, the media center and the Acoustimass unit. Configuring the PMC II for rooms A, B and O (always matching the Roommate-switches, of course) always shows the same result: "No signal…".

Has anyone an idea what I might be missing? Maybe solved that problem?

Cheers from Vienna/Austria

[Liam_W]

Hi there @phaidros and thanks for taking the time to post!

I'd be happy to see what I can do for you 😊.

It does sound like you have this setup correctly, so let's find out exactly where this is going wrong!

Firstly, can I ask that you change the room code for one room to "C" then align this on the remote as well? When aligned, please confirm if this new code works on both/either remote.

Following this, as you already noted that you reset the Media Centre and Acoustimass module, can I ask that you install new batteries into the remote? If these batteries are low but providing enough charge to power the remote, they may not be able to send enough power to control all the functions of the remote.

Please get back in touch with me when you can!

Liam W - Community Support

[phaidros]

Hi, Liam!

Thanks for the quick response, this is really highly appreciated!

Ok, here's what I've done:
° Set Roommate speaker to room C (__¯_)
° Set main rc to room C (DIP-switches in the rc)
Everything works fine.
° Then set PMC II to room C in setup.
° Pressed up/down key on PMC II for 3 seconds, it then says "Connecting to media center" (in German, so wording may differ) and then "No signal from media center". However, when the display said "Connecting…", the Roommate went silent!

Here are a couple of details, I probably should've mentioned in the first place:

° Actually, I have two PMC IIs, behaving absolutely identically.
° I imported the Lifestyle system from the USA myself, so it is a 110V system in Europe (230V), operated on a converter. Maybe an incompatibility in frequency between the european PMC and the american media center? (If there is something like that.)

The batteries in all rcs are fresh.

Cheers

[Liam_W · Accepted solution]

Hi again @phaidros and thank you for clarifying here!

I'm sorry to confirm your suspicions here - there is a difference between the frequencies that the US and EU remote variants operate at. Your Lifestyle remote operates at the same frequency as the system, while the European PMC II remotes are using a different frequency set, which means these don't line up and control the system directly.

As such, there isn't much that I can advise here. In my opinion, your best bet would be to see if you can return your PMC II remotes and try to source a US variant to match your system, or to continue using the original remote.

I'm sorry I can't be of much help here, but please do let me know if you have any questions or updates here!

Liam W

[phaidros]

Liam, thank you all the same!

One question is left: There are three pins in the PMC (all open). This would not be an undocumented region configuration, would it?

Kind regards

[Jeff_G]

Hello Phaidros, 

The internal pins are for service only, they are not for general use. 

Kind regards, 

Jeff G 

[phaidros]

Hi Liam,

a late update: the US-PMC has arrived and works like a charm.

Cheers,
Matthew