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Oh wow! I'll have to look him up now! Thanks for letting me know!

Shoulda. Bought. E... 11... Tell. Vader. I... Tried.........

So, I did this today for fun. lol

Congrats Jim; you did it!!!! Very nice job! E-11 looks great too!

Thanks! I appreciate it! I'll have to post photos of it after I secure the wire slack and get the batteries enclose or something.

Thanks! I appreciate it! I'll have to post photos of it after I secure the wire slack and get the batteries enclose or something.

Thanks! I like it much more now. Plus I can put it on with out rubbing against the moving fans. Lol Yea, it really was a good time. We had so many guys there. It was great.

That's nuts! I bet that was so much fun! I'm looking forward to doing a movie event of some sort. I have my next one planned for Tuesday morning. It's at Dave and Busters and it's the HFD appreciation day. I'm really looking forward to it and testing to the new fans!

So, as said above I had my fan system's battery pack fall out the back of my helmet during my troop yesterday. I've been wanting to rework the system anyway, and after that it just gave me the extra motivation. Even that aside, I noticed I really couldn't hear well with the on-going fans blowing inside an already hard-to-hear-well helmet. I kept wanting a way to shut it off from time-to-time so I could understand people better, or even just to save battery power. So this is what I did today… I made a run to Radio Shack and got some heat shrink tubing, 9v battery connectors, 2 x 9v batteries, 2 x on/off switches, and solder. I removed the USB cord (Sorry Jim!) by cutting the fan's wires closest to the connection it made with the removed USB cord. Next, I spliced and soldered the fan's red wire and the 9v battery connector's red wire together. Then I heated up the shrink tubing to seal that connection. After that I measured where I wanted to holes for the switches to go, and I used my soldering iron to make them. Make sure you get all the melted plastic around the rim removed after you burn the hole. The measurements I used to make the holes are, 1" from the edge of the fan and in the center of the bracket. Then I put in the switch This is the switch I got. I forgot to get photos of this step, but it's pretty easy to describe. Take the black wire from the fan and twist it onto one of the ends of the switch, then solder, and heat shrink tubing around that. Then take the black wire from the 9v battery connector and do the same thing to the other end of the switch. Once you've done that heat shrink it all (including the the extra slack of the red wire) around the switch. The 9v batteries will be place directly behind the fan. This will put more weight in the front so that the back doesn't ride, and there's plenty of room in the front cheek area to store all this well. I still need to build something to secure the batteries. I'm either making a sock out of elastic or giving some ABS a bath and making a casing. I haven't decided yet. For now I just have them sitting inside the helmet, but it's all concealed incase you just wanted to leave it as is. I really like having the option to turn my fans off and on at will now, or only blow one at a time. Overall, I am really happy with it.

Had my first troop yesterday at The Children's Museum! It was Star Wars day. Overall it was a wonderful first troop. Towards the end I felt something rolling around on my back and it ended up being my battery pack. It had fallen out of the back of my helmet. Luckily the TIE in these photos saved me by tucking it away under my compression top. Since then I have redone my fan system and that post will directly be following this one. The best part was when I kept feeling something grab me here and there, and a mom tells me, "She's hugging you." lol It was sweet. Kids loved it and even some adults asked for selfies. I had this one kid who kept getting so upset and scared when she saw me. Finally I decided to just dance stupidly, and she smiled so big. After that she finally gave me the high-five I'd been working on.

Just noticed my status change too! Today's turned out well.

Super informative pewpewpew!! I'll more than likely be soldering/heat shrinking them to be safe, but I do like those wires for the switch ends! Thanks!!

Yep. Straight up adhesive backed velcro right on that sweet sweet leather. lol Sorry for the late response Jorge! Had my first troop today! It was a lot of fun! I have another this Tuesday too!

Awesome. That makes me feel easier about the whole thing. I hate getting shocked. lol

Thanks! That's good to know. In my head it was so much more than that. lol I felt like I was in Lethal Weapon not knowing what color wire to cut.

Very cool! Thanks for sharing that!! I'm definitely using this for when I add the switch. Quick question: I add wires to each end of the switch. I cut the black wire inside the USB cable. Then I attach the wire ends off the switch to the ends of the snipped black wire inside the USB cable? So the switch is only spliced into the black wire? Does that sound right? I literally know nothing about wiring or electrical stuff. :/ Also, does it matter what kind of wire I solder to the switch? I can perform the actions, but I don't know the logistics. lol

TK-50879 requesting 501st status. http://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=21835 Thank you!

I was looking at this the other day! There's some really cool stuff available there!

Gmrhodes13: Perfect. That's exactly what I was trying to find. Thank you!

Here's the new battery pack gap. It's really not too bad at all, so I'm happy with it for now. I'll make some new adjustments to it this weekend possibly. I'd like to add a switch for sure.

Also, how do you get the "501st Stormtrooper" badge under your profile photo on here? Does that just happen after a while, or do you need to let someone know? I tried to add a post to the newly approved sound off section, but it won't let me. Where I would normally add a post it says "You cannot start a new topic".

Very nice! I'm gonna play around with mine a little tonight and see what my options are for the battery pack. I may end up doing that too (moving the pack to the front). My goal is to not have any of that visible if possible, so I may buy a battery box and go that route. I'm definitely adding a switch also! What was the wiring set-up for that? I need to find a good thread/info that has how to wire that. You know... so I don't catch my apartment on fire and all. lol

Same here! Huge congratulations on your EIB!!! That's awesome!

Mine was at work when I got here, and lucky me the fans turn on! Success! It conceals pretty well too... At least better than the one I was testing with. It still pushes the bracket out a little, but for now I think I am ok with it. I'll probably still end up going with the flat style packs that I can veclro to the inside-back of the helmet to keep the bracket sunk in more....or I may switch to AA power in the future. I'd probably do that over the velcro in the helmet. AAs would definitely be fully concealed with the bracket. I just need to learn how to do all that. I'll post pics later.

Awesome. Thanks! I'll remember that if I need to end up getting another pack... Which sounds like I will. Thanks! I just didn't want to place the Velcro directly on the speaker. Lol.