Interest in custom Trooper electronics?

[GalacticGotham[TK]]

Hey Troopers...TK20424 here.  I'm an electronics engineer and I have been toying with the idea of designing some custom hardware that would replace the commonly used voicebooster products.  I was considering designing a voice amp and icomm-esque combo.  Maybe it would be with or without static burst capability.  It would be smaller form factor with a friendlier battery setup.  It would be a sizeable time investment and a fair bit of money investment as well if I decided to do it.  I see at least one other person selling off the shelf trooper hardware that they only modify or make cables for and they seem to be doing well with it.  So my question is...if such a thing existed would there be interest in purchasing?  And if so, what price point would make it attractive?

 

Secondly, I have already designed a hearing assist amp for troopers who can't hear over their helmet fan noise.  It needs a little refinement, but I was considering selling those.  It's roughly a square inch circuit board and the mics can be placed anywhere so it works with any helmet.  Any interest in that?  What would be a fair price?

 

The third thing...this is probably more applicable to droid builds or props.  I had an issue powering items with USB power banks because my LEDs (or whatever) didn't draw enough current to keep the supply on.  I like to use the USB supplies because they're convenient to recharge, cheap, and universal.  But USB banks all turn off automatically to conserve charge when not enough current is sensed because they think nothing is connected.  So I designed a little board that creates a small periodic pulse to keep the power bank alive and still not draw any significant current to shorten the battery life.  It connects in line with your usb cable.  Any interest in those?

 

Any other suggestions for something troopers would be interested in that doesn't currently exist?  Improvements to things that do exist?

 

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

A few things that come to mind:

 

You may find it hard breaking into an already established supply base, obviously price would have some impact so I'd definitely research what's out there and whether you can meet or beat them.

 

I would suggest catering not just to TK's but other approved costumes and any particular costume needs/voices/sounds/props. Kylon, Vader, Mando voices I see many ask for those quite often, I have some prerecorded files for some of my costumes and remote finger switches to stop, start, select.

 

Will it be hands free, remote (which I use), voice or push to talk.

 

Wired or wireless mic, I use both, recently I've been using a wireless mic, it was great getting dressed with no pesky wires but I do notice some lag with static burst, but ok for other costumes.

 

I don't use usb banks, found them a little problematic and a little tighter on space, I usually use either 2 or 3 x AAA or AA rechargeables, easy to swap out if I need too, each to their own though, what ever works.

 

MP3 player support, there are a lot of background sounds and chatters available, some like to have these running as well as the ability to talk.

 

I also run wires from my props to my amp, makes them nice and loud at events so another function you may want to include.

 

Aker amps are getting hard to find now, especially the 1506, the smaller 10watt which most used to use for size and weight, you can find knock off version on AliExpress from time to time at reasonable prices. BUT there are other units available, louder, with extra inputs and mp3 player intergraded (one less thing you'd need to include)

 

I've tried hearing assist and personally didn't like it, at conventions it would pick up a lot of background noise/chatter, but others like them, it may have been the particular one I used, who knows but I can hear enough.

 

There are also fan and prop electronics makers out there, not sue if you wanted to break into those areas but being able to order everything from one supplier may make it cheaper on shipping for those at the other side of the world. US worldwide shipping these days is a killer 

 

Forums don't get as much traffic as they used to, you may want to share your info once up and running to FB build groups.

 

Also have a read of the forum sales rules

 

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[ukswrath[Staff]]

Welcome to the party 

[BAZINGA[TK]]

The icomm has never worked properly for me.  First one failed twice.  I sent it back the first time for a repair which didn't last and tossed it after the second failure.   I have the TK-Talkie now which has been working, but there are just so many settings that need tweaking to get it working properly.  So a version of the simple plug in icomm with a better battery system would interest me.  I plug in a headset, plug in the amp, turn it on and get the static bursts and no tweaking.  Just works.

 

Bart

[GalacticGotham[TK]]

Thanks for the replies.  Yea I thought the same about breaking in and I really don't know about price.  But if I do it, it will be something that doesn't currently exist and as it is all the electronics marketed at trooping are dramatically overpriced IMO.  So being able to be cost competitive should not be an issue at all.  I just don't want to go to a lot of effort and have no one care about it.

 

I'm not looking to make voice changers.  That's hard.  It's software-heavy, and I wouldn't be able to make it very good.  I'm a hardware guy.  A miniaturized voice amp kit with optional static burst capability is what I had in mind.  It would be applicable to any costume that uses an amp.  Definitely my preference would be for wired mic.  I also tried wireless and when using it with my hearing assist I could hear my own echo from the latency.  My intention would be for everything to be small enough to be contained in any helmet, so there would be no real advantage to wireless.  MP3 support is doable with my idea and also PTT.  I havent ever used either myself.  I always liked the auto detect feature with the icomm as the default.  Icomm issues are generally all battery related.  I stopped using mine for that reason.  It's pretty easy to mod for another battery as some of you know, but I would have to reconfig my helmet setup to make it work.  It's really tight space in my bucket as it is and any changes are a pain.  That's really what got me thinking about this.

 

Hearing assist is definitely not for everyone.  It really just depends on how bad your fan noise is.  My system is really good if the implementation is correct.  If the mic placement isn't great with respect to the fans, the fan noise is actually amplified and you're making the problem worse.  But with proper hearing mic placement (inside the hovi tips is good for a TK), you can hear people whispering across the room.  You can mount a headset in the helmet for hearing or use wired earbuds.  Amplifying background noise is somewhat inevitable but it allows you to hear when people around you that you can't see are asking for pics, so I like that.  Still, when you're in a parade near the marching band or a firetruck...you want to turn it off for sure. 

 

I haven't decided if I'll really do anything or not.  My time and motivation will have to both be at the right level.  I'm probably nerdy enough to do it just for fun and use it myself if no one else wants it.  No idea of a timeframe though.  But like I said if anyone has any wild ideas for some trooping electronics that don't exist currently, maybe we could make it happen if there is enough interest.

 

Thanks

 

Josh

 

 

 

[Daetrin[Admin]]

I think it's great to see innovation in this space.  My dream set up would be something like this:

1. 100% self-contained in the helmet.
2. Be able to turn it on/off via chin switch (maybe even adjust volume)
3. Be able to pair with earbuds, e.g. Earpods (wired) or Airpods (BT).
4. Be able to pair with my phone.  Ideally I could use a chin switch to initiate voice activation with my phone to do things like answer a call, or say things like "call Mom", or "Play music by the Beatles", etc.
5. In a dream even have it pair with an FRS I can put in a thermal detonator, chest plate, etec.

Consider the following scenario
I put my helmet on.

I decide I want to hear external noises better, so I push a chin switch to toggle external sound. I flip another toggle and turn on my external mike.
My mom calls me so I can use another chin switch (or voice command) to swap to my phone and answer her call and tell her I'll call her back. Once the call is over, it goes back to external sound.
My fire team and I are also on FRS.  I can switch to a hot mike (or PTT mode?) and we can coordinate wtf we are doing.
I'm standing on "guard duty" and am a bit bored, so I use toggle input to my phone say "play music by [my favorite artist]" and chill for a bit.

Does that make sense?  

[ukswrath[Staff]]

On 2/4/2026 at 12:05 PM, Daetrin said:

I think it's great to see innovation in this space.  My dream set up would be something like this:

1. 100% self-contained in the helmet.
2. Be able to turn it on/off via chin switch (maybe even adjust volume)
3. Be able to pair with earbuds, e.g. Earpods (wired) or Airpods (BT).
4. Be able to pair with my phone.  Ideally I could use a chin switch to initiate voice activation with my phone to do things like answer a call, or say things like "call Mom", or "Play music by the Beatles", etc.
5. In a dream even have it pair with an FRS I can put in a thermal detonator, chest plate, etec.

Consider the following scenario
I put my helmet on.

I decide I want to hear external noises better, so I push a chin switch to toggle external sound. I flip another toggle and turn on my external mike.
My mom calls me so I can use another chin switch (or voice command) to swap to my phone and answer her call and tell her I'll call her back. Once the call is over, it goes back to external sound.
My fire team and I are also on FRS.  I can switch to a hot mike (or PTT mode?) and we can coordinate wtf we are doing.
I'm standing on "guard duty" and am a bit bored, so I use toggle input to my phone say "play music by [my favorite artist]" and chill for a bit.

Does that make sense?  

 

As a matter of fact, I've literally looked into making a system exactly like this, Unfortunately, not too many people want, or can afford to spend $1000+ on a cosplay device. The problem is it has to be sophisticated enough and have modern communication and software capabilities, and yet small and robust enough to handle the harsh environments of a costumes interior. If someone comes up with a system like this at the same price I sell my items for, not to mention offer the same robust warranty I offer, I'll retire tomorrow