I figured I'd keep a tracking thread of what electronics I was integrating into my kit, I hope that's not narcissistic of me.
I'm not entirely experience with electronics, I've had exposure through kits and my father showing me stuff as a kid, but never seriously got into it until a few months ago when I got a Technology Will Save Us DIY speaker kit and made a Raspberry Pi Wifi Lunchbox Speaker using Pi MusicBox. I started messing around with other bits of tech and electronics components since then, but I'm too afraid to stray outside kits and stuff until I start getting much more experience.
That being said, this is what I've got so far.
I started on the electronics integration of my kit with the helmet first, starting last night when I ordered a set of EQDizzle's trooper dual fans and a Microphone-Transducer combination from EternalArmory. That electronics spending bender continued into this morning when I bought a Radio Shack Super Stereo Ear Kit and a cheapo set of folding headphones from Staples. The headphones got gutted, where they were separated and velcroed onto ear level, so not only does it double as an on board speaker system, but it prevents bobblehead and shakes by pressing gently against the ear. It sounds pretty good for cheap shebs headphones, but I could be biased for my own creation.
From there I ran into a problem: after soldering the board, I found it was too frigging big for my helmet, unlike the Velleman set which I've been told can fit inside helmets. Not to mention the fact that I soldered the mics to he respective ends of the board, when I figure I could have soldered them to wire to put on bot sides of the helmet (am I getting that right? I'm still rusty with electronics).
The easiest solution I could come up with was to incorporate it into the pouches I had for my kit, where it could be connected to the helmet speaker wire running down under the vest and through the girth belt and slot, easily hiding the wire and jack from view. I cut a hole in the pouch to let it get better sound, where the side hole can get extra audio and the pouch flap covers it up.
The only immediate issue I have is that the bottom mic rubs up against the pouch, making a squeaky, rubbing noise as I walk. It's not end of the world awful, just a mild irritant.
That's about it for now on actual upgrades. On what I want to do in the future, I plan on integrating a flashing LED into my gauntlets as well as an iFrogz Tadpole speaker under the rise in the gauntlets (which are Galaxies style) to imitate a comm and play sound through. Drumming up other ideas, too,so I'll probably babble on about those later.
If you guys have feedback, I'd love to hear it! I'm wanting as much help as I can to make this kit awesome as well as electronically efficient.