Helmet speakers, microphone, music, phone and communications

For starters I gave this thread a name that should be easy to lookup in the future. I hope this will be a good resource for people wanting to buy or make their own.

I know there is some very good high dollar stuff out there, but what about a useful economic solution. What are you guys doing?

I bought some good FRS/GMS radios that were rechargable with headsets. I tried to use them in VOX (voice switching) mode so I wouldn't have to fool with the PPT (push to talk) switch. That didnt work so good because road and wind noist kept it in the transmit mode. Possibly fooling with the mike sensitivity mike have helped but my wife doesn't have the patients for that. I could make a custom wiring harness and the PTT switch on the handlebar but if I'm going to do that I would like it one step better and go bluetooth. It would eliminate wires going to the helmet and bars.

After looking at what is out there I think I would like to build my own, possibly gutting a pair of headphones for the speakers, fasten a mike, and use a bluetooth receiver and transmitter.

Having said all that, tell me what use use. What you like about it and what you dislike.

Thanks in advance.

 

Since I travel solo I use the engine for music, and the voices in my head for coms.

I will admit to using this bluetooth earpeice when I need to navigate in dense urban environments.


It saved my butt in KC last summer. I had pre-booked a spot in a parking garage near Sprint Center and could not find it for the life of me. I did manage to find the other six parking garages that were in that block, so pulled to the side, put on the earpeice, and found that I was 70 feet from the (unmarked) garage that I was looking for.
I've found it to be clearly audible up to 60 MPH, and then it gets overwhelmed by wind noise (and I prefer to have my earplugs in at that speed anyway). The tiny battery is good for about 10 hours of active use.

 

K-moe,
Do you wear a half helmet? It seems like that earpiece wouldn't fit between my ear and the helmet. Also how you push the buttons on it?

 

noise canceling microphone will di it for you
you can make one using a small audio transformer 2 speakers or microphones hook mics to audio transformer reversed of each other

 

I wear a Scorpion EXO-400 full face helmet. They have room for speakers, for the earbud.
Once I have it turned on and the volume set I never touch the buttons. I never use it to take calls, so everything else is controlled from my phone. There are newer, better (more expensive) earsets that are entirely controlled from your smartphone (other than powering on).

 

I've recently been looking into a DIY solution as well. If you want wireless that works, but is pretty pricy you could look at the Sena 20S-01. They use bluetooth 4.1 and can be paired and daisy chained if your group has them. They run about $235 for a single or $409 for two. http://www.amazon.com/Sena-20S-01-M...e&ie=UTF8&qid=1455198479&sr=1-1&keywords=sena I didn't want to spend that kind of money for music/phone capabilities as I don't ride with a group, or a passenger so I am going the DIY route.

I came across some cheap, but decent helmet speakers on ebay that I plan on cutting the cord off and soldering to a bluetooth module. The only downside to going this route is you have to either make your own circuit board, or have one made for the bluetooth chip. When I actually get some time to work on it I'm going to put together a write-up how I am making mine.

These are the speaker that I purchased. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorcycle-...100960?hash=item4192a414a0:g:mTYAAOSwgQ9VzbHt They seem loud and clear enough, but I haven't tested them at speed yet.

For a microphone you can use an inexpensive lapel microphone. Just make sure it comes with (or add) a filter. It should cut out most of the wind noise.

Here is a link to the bluetooth module I plan on using. http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLK-MD-SPK-...099208?hash=item3f5bdc3a88:g:9YQAAOSwGotWsxrT This should allow bluetooth streaming of music and phone calls.

I haven't put all of these components together yet so I can't promise they will work, but this is what I have purchased so far. I got most of my parts list and inspiration for my diy headset from the following write-up on diy wireless headphones. I am just going to adapt it for helmet speakers and a mic.
Part 1: https://breadboardtronics.wordpress.com/2013/07/31/bluetooth-headphones-project-part-1/
Part 2: https://breadboardtronics.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/bluetooth-headphones-project-part-2-update/
Part 3: https://breadboardtronics.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/bluetooth-headphones-project-completion/

 

Tony,
I like where you are going with this. I have made printed circuit boards before but I'm not sure I want to put that much effort into this but I may. I may gut a set of BT headphones and mount the parts in my helmet. I would like to interface it with a set of walkie talkies and that becomes more difficult due to the push to talk function.
Please report back to this thread your results.