Bigwol Posted December 31, 2015 Posted December 31, 2015 Got bored and while mooching around Android looking for cheapo Motorcycle helmet speakers, found a rechargeable, Stereo Headset with full Android and iPhone compatible Pairing with good reviews at £12. Here's a link Link to cheapo headset It looked like it might fit, so I bought one - after all, if it all went pear-shaped I would be down a bit over a tenner, if not . . . Here's the result We stab it with our steely knives, Then we smash it all to bits! (Apologies to Smash). It came apart pretty easily, the wires linking the speakers and battery across the headband were pretty tangled and were threaded through the plastic bits, so they would be replaced with better quality wires from a 99p USB cable pushing the cost up to £13 . . These bits are destined for the bin. Here are the bits we need - two speakers, the circuit board with Bluetooth, USB changing socket, amps switches etc, and the rechargeable battery (2hrs to charge, with 20hrs playback time - sounds reasonable) Only six wires to re-connect, Left Speaker + and -, Right Speaker + and -, and the battery + and -, not exactly rocket science! I love VLSI - all the hard stuff is in the chip . . Lop the USB cable into the right sort of length, and tidy up the wires with a bit of heatshrink. Nice new USB cable wired in, with all solder connections made and insulated where required - velcro on the back of the speakers, the battery and the circuit board - time to put the earmuffs back on and stuff it into the helmet That all went well, speakers velcroed to sides and battery and PCB located under the cheek padding with the cable running under the rear padding. All tidied away under the padding. - Time to test - fire the beast up and pair it with the Phone. We have ignition - all paired OK and works fine with reasonable volume - the only thing to do now is road test it, but it's definitely time for a beer, so that will have to wait for another day. Happy New Year to you all Dave 2
Bigwol Posted January 5, 2016 Author Posted January 5, 2016 All tested - using Waze as the Android navigation app, for turn by turn voice navigation, worked perfectly. I switced on and the headset which immediately connected as it was recognised as previously paired with the phone, then ran my favourite navigation application Waze with the screen brightness turned down (no point having it bright - I wasn't going to see it anyway), with the phone placed back in my jacket pocket out of the weather, leaving the dimmed screen on. Despite being in my pocket, the GPS worked flawlessly, keeping up with my position and giving timely "at the next roundabout, take the third exit" type instructions. Volume more than adequate for the kind of speeds you make turns at, if slightly quiet for 70mph motorway speeds. All in all a very good £12 worth. 1
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