10 Oct Comms

We have a very cheap comms system https://bit.ly/2XesZCM They work great for us. Only handle 2 riders at the same time, limit to about 1km range in wide open terrain but we have used them daily for 3 years and they are still working. With the cheap price I didn’t mind playing around with the cables.

We originally had a GoPro hero 4 but upgraded to the Sony FDR-X3000. As long as you have a camera that can take a mic input you should be fine. The GoPro needed a special adapter, but the Sony uses a standard microphone jack.

Some comms systems (Cardo Packtalk and Sena) have a function with a line out that you can plug into a camera or voice recorder. Our ones didn’t so I made some modifications to the headset wiring in my helmet (see below). This way when I record with my camera I get my voice and the background / bike noise from my bike on one channel and Vicki’s voice (after the comms has done some basic noise reduction) on the other channel. When I edit the videos I mix and match the audio so it makes sense.

This is a tricky solution, but in my opinion works better for editing later on. The simplest solution is the fancy Sena or Cardo systems that have a line out for the camera (not sure which models support this). Another option is to record the comms audio over bluetooth app on your phone, but I haven’t tried that.

Here is the circuit diagram I used. I needed to add a small transformer to isolate the camera from the headset, otherwise the headset just kept shorting out. I ordered a pile of these https://bit.ly/2WDx7Pz 

All the wiring I was able to make very small and enclose it all in epoxy. I was able to fit it all between the helmet hard shell and foam core.

The next thing I had to do was drill out the back of the case for the sony camera and permanently remove the back door on the camera. Everide has some videos on this – I used his tips a lot;

This obviously destroy the waterproofing but by making a rubber plug out of Sugru it is good enough for any rain storm.

To get around the issue with knowing if it is recording or not I used another Everide tip. Added a piece of plastic fibre optic. I mounted the other end where I could see it in the helmet. Glows bright red when recording. See below OFF

ON

This solution worked very well for us. I had the same trouble as you with the GoPro remote control on my old GoPro Hero 4. It had to be running all the time so it just killed the battery.

BUT for the Sony camera I didn’t realize it is MUCH BETTER. I didn’t buy the remote, but the phone app will turn the camera on 30m away after it has been setting on my self for 2 weeks with no problem. I should have bought the Sony FDR with remote control kit and had it mounted on the handlebar. Then I would have a remote control, small screen, and waterproof camera. This solves a LOT of problems. Unfortunately you cannot buy the remote separately.