My Electronics Setup

In response to a request for an article on my in-ear speaker custom molded ear plugs/helmet hookup, here is what I did. It is really pretty simple.

In the following picture, you will see my speakers/ connected to a stereo receptacle. I have shortened the cable between the speakers and the stereo plug so it forms a small loop when wearing the helmet. This eliminates snagging the long lead on something but it is long enough to be able to take my helmet off a short distance without unplugging the in-ear speakers.

Here is a closer look at the stereo plug hot glued and wire-tied to the communications unit on the side of the helmet. This is a Cycle Comm connector but I did the same thing with a Chatterbox unit on my Arai helmet. I cut off the helmet speakers with enough lead to solder to the connector. For the stereo plug I bought a nice, molded cable at Radio Shack and used the female end. If I wanted to have the alternative of using the helmet speakers, I could have used the male end of that same cable and soldered it into the speakers and then plug them into this stereo plug. In this view you can see how neat it all is. You only need one chord running down to your comm system using this approach. I had tried other approaches but this has worked out VERY well. It is quite robust. In over 5 years' riding, I have only had one problem where I had to go in and fix anything. The secret is to buy the best cable you can and take your time soldering, using heat-shrink tubing to insulate everything and not have to worry about tape degenerating over time.

Here are two views of the connector showing how it ties together very nicely. In my case, it does help to plug in the in-ear speakers before the kinky chord.