ukswrath

Hey John sent you a message. Also I'm assuming this will work with Hovi mic tips?

Have you contacted john@romfx.com? Sounds like a board issue. I'mm looking into purchasing one of these units, as long as it doesn't have a failure prob.

I love this stuff and I'm even a bit wooed on its complexity and practicality. Yes any updates? It appears a couple of the item are no longer available.

Impressive!

I'd like to mount that on the back of my Schwinn cruiser with some flames coming out the back . Has potential

Hey Rob, I purchased the same unit. I couldn't control the feedback issue. When it worked it worked well, when it didn't the feedback distortion almost blew my ear drums out. Look forward to seeing if you have better luck then me. At the moment I run the hytechtoyz voice mod with Hovi mic kit off ebay in addition a Novi voice amp from Radio Shack. This set up works flawless for me.

TK10116 requesting 501st legion access http://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=17455

2nd update: I love this thing, I just bought another for my ATA helmet. I had to make a slight modification to mine because I run a multi-volt power (charger) pack but I just hate batteries in my helmet. I just installed a 9v to 4.5v converter regulator and wired it to my existing power supply and waalaa!. Gotta love technology. Also, if anyone is interested I mounted my mics inside to the actual ear portion of the helmet. I drilled a hole in each side of the helmet behind the ear (from the inside out). I then drilled 4 tiny holes (using a 1/32 drill bit, I think, I'll recheck that) in the blacked out portion of the rank button on the ear. The holes obviously act as an inlet for sound and their so small you don't notice them. Finally, hot glued the mics in place. Works awesome. Thanks again for the tip.

See above post, my bad

Have a question. Obviously the helmets in the movie were not like that of the futuristic design concept however, it may actually be feasible to integrate similar electronic with today's technology making them practical with a couple exceptions, one being the concept design helmets actually utilized heat exhaust ports cut into the helmets where ours have decals or paint. So here's my question, whats the 501st or FISD costuming policy on actually cutting the helmet in those areas so that modern cooling fans can be used to exhaust like in the concept drawings? It is possible you know, if these are indeed are actual concept prints. I love to do this stuff, but I don't want to be THAT GUY, if you know what I mean. ----------

My pleasure

Hey all, thanks for the kudos and your positive encouragement. This little project has been a trial and error experience to say the least, kinda like your first armor build…lol, and I’m sure some will agree when it comes to comfort and convenience sometimes the almighty $ needs to take a back seat, but not today. To answer some of your questions, the charger weighs 1lb 1oz and costs $80 on Amazon, seen here. I personal have it vecro to my back plate where I can barely feel the weight of it. http://www.amazon.com/20000mAh-Aluminum-Portable-Multi-Voltage-Technology/dp/B005NGLTZQ/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top There’s also a great customer review, though it was written for the chargers intended use it has a great deal of technical info, like load test results. http://www.amazon.com/review/R3AEWGTX6JQRBK/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R3AEWGTX6JQRBK As for the electronics in my helmet, please keep in mind this is a FX helmet so there’s a bit more room to work with but more importantly it’s a working prototype utilizing some electronics that will be scaled down in my next build with my new ATA helmet. The main purpose of this post was to shed light on alternative power sources. What electronics you choose to stuff in your bucket or armor is up to you. I’m also planning to develop a wiring harness, used in conjunction with the Anker or similar charger that will fit in just about any helmet or armor and could be used to power or charge a variety of electronics. Bucket electronics list: 1x 9vdc Voice modifier 1x 9vdc Voice amplifier 3x 5vdc Blower fans 3x Switches (on/off). One switch powers the voice mod and amp. Another is for one fan on cooler days (left side of face) and finally the remaining switch is for the other two fans (right side of face and rear exhaust). My future build will have a 1 three way switch for all the fan controls. 2x Hovi speakers 1x Mic and wire boom 1x USB connector, 1x 2.5mm connector and a boatload of 2.5mm connectors to make it easier to configure and or remove/replace items. My future build will utilize a wiring harness using smaller gauge wire as well as a junction block to condense and organize the clutter. Notice the 2nd amp and a 3rd 2.5mm connector at connector block? Again, this was added in addition to a 3rd speaker to pipe out MP3 music or TK chatter SEPARATE from the voice system. The amp is made by NOVI purchased from Radio Shack for $20. All in all I think I spent a total of $300 for everything. I'll post updates as refinement continues. Tony ----------

(Part 2, Helmet electronics > http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/29534-helmet-electronics-and-external-power-supply-updated/) Part 1 Hello all. Being the noob I am, I quickly discovered how hot my melon was getting inside the bucket, not to mention I'm a freak when it comes to electronic gadgets and wanted to load it with goodies. Well, after 3 fans (2 pushing fresh air to my face and 1 rear exhausting heat down and out the back of my neck), a voice modifier, voice modifier amp (personally didn't want anything hanging behind my chest plate), a few switches and a boat load of batteries to power it all, I had myself one heck of a brick hanging on my head. The other issue and clincher to my frustration was how quickly it all would plow through batteries. I desperately needed something that could provide 9v for my voice modifier & amp, 5v for the fans and most importantly, power it all day without having to change batteries. The reason for separate power supply voltages is because the fans create electric noise on my voice channel. Separating the power supplies to each would cure this problem simply. My solution was the Anker 2nd Gen Astro Pro2 20000mAh battery charger with three USB (5vdc) ports and one 1.6mm (9v/12vdc) port. After purchasing the charger I quickly realized I had a slight problem. Like most modern battery supplies there are safeguards in place to protect your electronics and their product. The safeguard is to shut it down in case of a overload, or in my case a UNDERLOAD. WHAT! I've never heard of such a thing, yes. Apparently the specifications for the Anker, like a lot of other chargers, is to require a minimum mAh draw or the supply unit shuts itself off to preserve battery life. Not a bad idea unless it's located in an area where it's difficult to access and restart, like in my back plate. My three 5v fans that run off one of the USB ports have a total of 30mAh draw. The combined mAh draw from my voice modifier and amp was 40mAh. On both, neither were enough to keep the charger alive. After a few emails and a couple phone calls to the mfg they kindly informed me they would not be modifying (at any point) the minimal mAh requirement and wished me all the luck in the world in my ventures and thanks for choosing Anker. humm :/, couldn't blame them actually. So if your still with me and still interested, my simple fix was to first purchase a USB meter off Ebay to check my USB load and DVOM (volt meter) to check the 9/12v load. I needed 20mAh draw to meet the minimal USB requirements and 10mAh to meet the 9v. Fix: 1) I tested a 1/2 dozen or so old USB thumb drives and found one (seen hanging in one of the pics) that could get me over that hump without excessively assisting in draining the battery. I then plugged it into one of the spare USB ports. Fix 2) I found a 9vdc LED light I could splice into that circuit, and that fixed that. Now that I have the power supply working correctly, onto wiring the bucket. I ran the USB cable and the 9vdc cable (that came with the Anker) to my helmet via fabric I crafted to cover/camouflage the wires and protect my skin. The wire harness and fabric goes through a hole in my shirt behind the back plate and up through my neck seal. The wires are relatively light weight though I'm currently working on a setup that will reduce it from 2 harnesses to 1 with added expand-ability. In the helmet the wiring harness has a female USB and 2.5mm 9v/12v connectors to mate with the incoming power connectors. To clarify, the Anker 1.6mm connector (charger side) changes to 2.5mm on the opposite end (helmet). Also, in my pics you'll see 3 connectors in my helmet, the 3rd connector is connected to a amp that powers a 3rd speaker I use to pipe in TK chatter via my mp3 player without interrupting my voice communication system (i know it's overkill but whatever). Test (8 hours non-stop): With 3 fans, 1 voice modifier, 1 voice amp (playing music), 1 USB thumb drive and 1 LED light. After 8 hours I still had 60+% battery life remaining. Enough to charge my phone that was almost dead...lol. There's so much more to this trial and error story but I'm out of time . I'm open for questions, comments or concerns if any. I think that about covers it. Enjoy (Part 2, Helmet electronics > http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/29534-helmet-electronics-and-external-power-supply-updated/)

I just purchased mine I'll let you know if I have any similar probs. Sweet! another gadget. With all the electrons floating around my bucket I might start glowing green. lol UPDATE: Hey I had that problem and found I didn't solder the wires to the correct terminals (reversed the polarity). Once I corrected the wiring the mics worked correctly. On another note this little jewel is a bit bulky but well worth money. Kinda fun to put together, haven't assembled a circuit board since high school.

Sorry for the late reply here guys. Thanks for all the great tips on ATA and MTK armor. A couple weeks I put myself on the ATA wait list, 8 month wait holy smokes! Before I continue to hold, can I get the link to the MTK builder/seller? Thanks

Thank you all and awesome job on all these builds. A lot of great info and tips. So looking forward to building mine. .

Thank you all very much. Great looking armor I have to say.

Hello all, does anyone have detailed ATA armor pics. I like to specs on the armor and I'm considering taking it to Centurion level but wanted to see it assembled. Thank you

Hey Adam, I may be a little late to your build party but thanks for all the great tips. Unfortunately I was one of those people who thought "Wow this would be fun to be a trooper for Halloween, I'll go big time" and bought something less then stellar before I realized how deep the Stormtrooper rabbit hole went... lol. Now that I'm looking into a second set of armor, it's only money right :/, you have some great tips I'll be using. A $1K suit is a bit much for maybe only trooping a few times a year, so like so I'm looking for something under $600? I've been looking at ATA but I'm curious what made you decide on MTK? Actually anybody who want to chime in please do. On a different note, I'm a fellow dealer tech also, or was. Worked for GM for 16+, over 30+ years of service, though I'm mainly in the supervisor role nowadays. Since you first welcomed me into the GGG as a fellow old timers I've been looking to pick you brain on a few things. Talk soon