In car intercoms

[Tom Frankland (T3OMF)]

As we have a Switzerland Road trip planned out for next year (which people are more than welcome to join us), I have been thinking for getting an intercom, there are a couple of reasons why..................

As I can't be arsed to take the cage off just to be able to put the doors on, plus im putting the Screen Scuttle on as we did for the last road trip in my old Westfield, I need some ear protection from the wind plus some music would be nice.

So, I have a couple of ideas,

1 - Make some wind deflectors that work with a cage (winter project)

2 - Buy an intercom kit so that my ears aren't ringing when we stop.

I have seen these but have no idea if there any good or if there are better ones out there.  We would use the "Pro Practice Headset" for the road trip and then the "Pro Full Face Intercom" for the track

I don't want battery ones as I don't want the faff charging batteries every night 

[JulianE]

Didn't Trevor Harmer with the tiger do something with headsets for his European road trip ?

[CraigHew]

Tom, talk to @IanK (Bagpuss). he has an excellent set.  I went for a Dales blast with Ian earlier in the year and his pair were fabulous. they ranged easily 100m and we didn't loose contact blatting around some nice scenery.  I think i'm correct in saying Ian bought the components and cobbled the system together making it extremely affordable...!

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

My intercom solution isn't any good if you don't wish for daily charging but does mean no wires to plug in etc. 

I would suggest if you don't find a way to make a windscreen work (didn't Mike Rowlands come up with something clever with a cage?), you need to look for slim ear pieces. 

I initially used Pletor RED ear defender shells and they are quite deep and hence generate a lot of wind noise. I've moved to these and they're much better: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hellberg-Secure-S1H-Professional-Ear-Defenders-SNR-26dB-/111411972434?hash=item19f0abc952

 

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

These are the intercoms I recommend. They worked great for our trip to Le Mans in the summer and could have been even better If I'd taken the tiny charging lead with us! 

One set out of the 3 went flat after a few days but with reduced air time we still managed to keep the other 2 sets working until returning home.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-1200M-BT-Interphone-Motorcycle-Motorbike-Bluetooth-Helmet-Intercom-FM-Headset-/192301586955?hash=item2cc6115a0b

@Tom (T3OMF) - Cotswolds AO I'll gladly share build details etc. Though you may have to 'squeak' about this weeks Omex tweaks?

[Ross (Rosshbar)]

Curious about this can you use line app & flux to create a mobile phone intercom system and use Bluetooth headset don’t know what the data usage could be but would be worthwhile investigating as would open up connections 

[Sparkymart]

@IanK (Bagpuss) have you fitted the Bluetooth units in the ear defenders? I have a starcom system I've fitted into defenders but I don't rate it as all you can hear is amplified engine noise no matter what settings you change.i would be interested to see how you've done it if they are fitted to defenders

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

@Martin Rice (Sparkymart) - Cornwall AO the audio quality is excellent. As mentioned by @CraigHew above. He's got a windscreen and I haven't yet we could both hear each other clearly with minimal wind noise. I believe they've got some noise cancellation circuitry. You can hear the other cars engine over your own which is quite strange when you're at slightly different parts of the same road and hence accelerating at different times to each other but it's no biggy.

Constructions straight forward, here's a few pics to help showing the difference in thickness between the Mk1 version with the red Peltors and the slimmer green ones from the ebay link above. They come apart very easily and just require a few holes drilling and then some hot melt glue or similar.

[Sparkymart]

2 minutes ago, IanK (Bagpuss) said:

@Martin Rice (Sparkymart) - Cornwall AO the audio quality is excellent. As mentioned by @cra

Can you both listen to music from on phone and music automatically cut's when you talk?

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

Just now, Martin Rice (Sparkymart) - Cornwall AO said:

Can you both listen to music from on phone and music automatically cut's when you talk?

The features are a little 'clunky' and to be honest I prefer to listen to my exhaust than music   I'll give it a try and let you know. The other limitation is if there are 3 of you with the same headsets. Car 1 can talk to car 2 or car 3 but car 2 can only talk to car 1 and car 3 can only talk to car 1. Others may be more versatile however they are excellent value for money!

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

the ear pieces are fitted into the foam of the shells with self adhesive velcro pads supplied with the kit and the mic is held captive by the hole being drilled in the join between the case halves.

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

Just tested. Two headsets paired together and my phone paired to one of the headsets. Played music on my phone, which was heard on headset 1 and pressed the call button on the other set and the music was no longer heard on the first set as comms to the second set had commenced. 

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

A further mod was to drill the holes for running the wires from left ear to right in the top of the ear defender shells as the wires aren’t overly long. 

[Greenstreak-Andy D]

From experience of using Ian’s ingenious headsets I can confirm how good they are once connected!

 

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

Here’s the charging lead. Note the earpiece /mic wire has to be unplugged from the transceiver hence charging, whilst in use isn’t possible. Though it may be possible to modify the wiring to achieve this. I’ve not tried it though.