I am trying to wire the two Radio Shack transformers and I don't know how that should be done. On Nick Ugolini's website, he indicates that the green and blue wires are attached to the planes headphone plug and then the red and white wires are soldered to the headphone jack. I also understand that two transformers are needed if you want to have stereo. What I don't understand is where the wires should be soldered because there would be four wires going to a stereo headphone jack, but only three places to solder the wires. I guess I just need a little help on the wiring schematic. Thanks for any replies.
I agree that the yellow ones from Halo don't provide as much noise reduction as I'dl like. I use these: Http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/holemaxuffop.htmlSince the earplugs on the Halo are easy to remove/re-install, I got a brainwave. Why not take the Comply(tm) earplugs from the homebrew headset and install them on the Halo? I figured the noise reduction from the Comply plugs would be better than that of the yellow foamies that come with the Halo.
I finally got both adapters functional for my 480 headset. No transformers or preamps; I just put a 1/8" stereo jack on a cut-off mic plug from a defunct aviation headset for the mic adapter and used a mono 1/4" phone plug (mono intercom) wired to both channels of a 1/8" stereo jack for the earpieces.
On a short hop to a neighbor's strip, the sound isolation seemed a lot better than my old Lightspeed 15XL's with their newer earpads (last longer but don't seal to my head as well as the old ones).
The mic seemed to work fine after a bit of plug wiggling in the mic jack. Wingman said that it was breaking up at first but then seemed to clear up. The mic itself might be a bit more vulnerable to cockpit noise than a stock a/c mic, but serviceable. No problem at all with volume in the phones from the radio or intercom.
I'll get a few hours on it as-is, and if radio communications are consistently good & passengers don't have any complaints (should be ok since it sounds ok talking to myself with a Lightspeed plugged in the passenger jacks), I'll consider mounting 1/8" chassis mount jacks next to the standard intercom jacks so I can eliminate the adapters.
Charlie
....any results to report from the Plantronics 480?
gil A
I used the 480s for this project. I put it together about a year ago. 500 hours and they work great with the Comply foam. The only problem is that the mic takes a little too much noise if there is some wind, and sometimes after a long flight, it will slip down a bit.
On version 2.0, I am going to hack a Bluetooth headset into it so it will sync with my iphone.
I have no idea on how to wire this and make it work. ...
Jeremy
Was trying the Plantronics route myself.
Question though...which Comply eartips did ya'll use? The only Plantronics model listed on the Comply website uses the T-400.
Thanks!
Hi Rick,
I just got mine in the mail yesterday and put it on...I don't think the silicone tips will block enough sound, and the foam tips it came with are not very soft at all. I have a Comply headset and its tips are much, much softer. So, I ordered some T400's off of eBay. It was $20 for a set of 5...I hope they work as good as the Comply headset...that thing blocks everything.
Not sure if it helps, but I got to test mine on the ground yesterday...Plantronics 480 w/ TX400 Comply tips. (Battery died after 10 spins of the prop -- just did a radio check, and got a top off from unicom, while sitting there making airplane noises. I wish the DA20 I fly had an impulse coupling...)
Anyway, it worked great! Mine was wired straight through with no transformer. Audio with tip/tip, ring/ring, sleeve/sleeve. Mic was sleeve/sleeve, (headset)tip/(plane)ring. Clearest audio I've ever heard in a plane, and ground/unicom reported "quite loud and clear" without prompting on my radio check.
I am going to try a 5v bias on the mic ring, as you have to talk fairly loud of the mic to "start working". Once I've experimented with that a bit, and tested actually flying, I'll post what worked for me. Oh, and it's light and comfy.
Hey Rick,
That's interesting...I wired mine up as per RV7Charlie's post (#119) and it didn't work. I could hear just fine, but couldn't get the mic to work. I figured I had 2 other variables for rewiring it. I'll try the "straight through" way next.
What are you using for a radio and intercom?
I
Green (Headset speakers plug) -> Green (Transformer)
Black (Headset speaker ground) -> Blue (Transformer)
Headphone Pin -> Red (Transformer)
Headphone Ground Pin -> White (Transformer)
Hi Rick,
I just got mine in the mail yesterday and put it on...I don't think the silicone tips will block enough sound, and the foam tips it came with are not very soft at all. I have a Comply headset and its tips are much, much softer. So, I ordered some T400's off of eBay. It was $20 for a set of 5...I hope they work as good as the Comply headset...that thing blocks everything.
Rick,
Do the Comply TX400 tips fit the Plantronics Audio 480?
The guardian looks pretty cool, but would take all the fun out this project . The only drawback I can see is that the plug has 3 contactors. This seems to imply that there would be an audio, microphone and ground connection, i.e. mono and not stereo. Any thoughts on this? If it can simply have the connectors swapped and get stereo play, I'm in for this one. I'll just use my comply earphones that I already have for mowing the lawn!
Good question. I think as wired it is mono. But there are two distinct speakers, I think it could be modified for stereo. I will be ordering a headset, plus the plugs from Aircraft Spruce. Will let you know how it works in mono.
I actually got 3 mini jacks, so I'm going to use the 3rd as an input for a battery back with a variable bias resistance and voltage to the mic's ring contact so I can experiment with the best mix for radio and intercom use (if it helps at all...). Will post what happens...and document the wiring if it works well. )