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Headset jacks - Wheres the best location?

R

ron sterba

Well Known Member
Its that time for headset jack locations. I ask this question because I have that dangling power module from the Bose X . Since I don't have a fancy interior YET (But some day) placing the jacks have lead me to somewhere near the seat backs or sides. In our C-172 the cords dangle over my side pocket where I keep charts and my clip board. Nuisance! I am open to all ideas from experience. I thought about hangars for the headsets on the cross brace behind the seat backs. I am installing the Garmin GTR-200 comm radio. I think i need 3 conductor shielded wire to the jacks from the radio. I have some 4 conductor/shielded twisted will it work? and not used the spare conductor.

Thanks,
always appreciate your ideas.:)

RV9A N421HJ
Ron in Oregon
 
Had a thought about crash safety. it might be a good idea to place the jacks where they'd pull loose if someone evacuated the cockpit quickly and didn't take the time to remove the headset.

Dave
 
Place Them Where They Can Easily Be Reached In Flight

When you lose comm one day, one of the first checks is to make certain the plugs are seated. Especially important if you fly instruments or frequent busy airspace.
Terry, CFI
RV9A N323TP
 
my experience fwiw

I put mine as far aft as possible in the "arm rest" on my 7A. This gets the wires away from any flying activities/motions and is good from that POV. However, if you need to plug/unplug in flight, especially if wearing bulky clothing, then it can be a huge PITA because it's all by Braille. I might do it again, but I'd give that last part some more creative thought before I did.
 
Headset jack location

I put mine on the right side just at my hands reach with my elbow against the back seat cushion so it would be compfortable to check the connections in flight.
Also like the other gentleman suggested if you exit the aircraft in a hurry with the headset on it will be a straight pull so they should come out of the jacks.
You will find that with the jacks located close to your body that the cords are not wrapped around the control stick but gently down your chest out of the way.
 
I put mine under the air vents. No long wiring runs to worry about, since everything stays up by the panel.

Now I just need a nice way to find a place to hang the headsets while getting in and out of the cabin.
 
Mine are just under the longeron and above the vent. The cords run right beside your leg and are out of the way. Should you have a com issue, they are easy to unplug and plug in, not to mention they have short wire runs.

As for where to put the headsets, I just lay them on the floor, right against the spar and when I'm flying solo, the passenger headset gets buckled in the right seat, or removed and stored in back.
 
I thought about putting them on the rollbar (tipup) to get cords out of the way, but ended up rejecting that because of the access issue in flight. Simple wiring made me put them below and to the L/R of the fresh air vents. I zip tied the cords so they are shorter and not in the way, and made a little hangar for the cord that attaches about where the tipup shock absorber is on the longeron. I'm using a Lightspeed, and the way I have it set up, the controls for the headset are right at that little hangar, so easy to get to if adjustment needed.

When not flying, I always lay my headset around the stick and it gets covered with a towel to keep from getting hot in the sun when parked (also so it's not an obvious target of thieves).

Greg
 
bruceh said:
I put mine under the air vents. No long wiring runs to worry about, since everything stays up by the panel.

Now I just need a nice way to find a place to hang the headsets while getting in and out of the cabin.
Click to expand...

Here's how I did it on my 9A Bruce!

2005-03-20_16-17-46.jpg


It's jus a little L shaped bit of aluminum sheet with a couple of nut plates on the end. then I drilled the side angle by the knee to attach it with some screws. Covered the part in vinyl material and it worked just fine.
 
Cross bar??

On my tip up 7 (sold) I put them in the brace behind the roll bar. I liked the location. A little tough to get to the volume box, Clarity Aloft. I did not want any wires in front if I could avoid it.

Now building a 7 Slider and fighting the decision. I'm considering putting them in the seat cross brace just a little out side of center facing up (just out side of the flap assembly covers). This way they will be behind, accessible and easy to check. The only drawback is potentially being in the way while loading and unloading from the baggage area.

Also considering the area near the vents. Much less wire run but would have wires in front. Not wild about that.

A friend mounted his toward the back of the armrest. He said he does like this location.

Anyone else mount them on the seat brace area?
 
Behind the rollbar

I saw this mounting place here on the forum a while back, so I did the same thing: I made a coverplate for the brace behind the rollbar.
The plate is installed with platenuts.

There, both the jacks and the wires are out of the way and still accessible in flight.
I didn't want any dangeling wires in front of me or the passenger.

Besides, since I made a new cover, the jacks don't interfere with the CAD interior panels, nor does it weaken any aircraft parts. (I didn't want to use the crossbar behind the seatbacks for that very reason)

25tc415.jpg



On the same coverplate, and a little aft of the jacks, I installed two LED floodlights and a floodlight switch. Handy for loading and unloading stuff in the baggage-compartment in the dark.

2woye4p.jpg
 
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Another on cross bar

Slider -7 put them on the cross bar between the seats, cords hang down on the flap motor cover between the seats and the bose X box lays down the middle. Switched the mic on the bose pilot side to the right and the cord clips to the crow harness.
All neat and you can get to the plugs if you need to switch headset if there is a comm issue.
I either lay the headsets on the dash or hang them on the mixture control.
 
cord routing

Put them so the cord is not always draped across your body. My lightspeeds have the cord on the left so my jacks are on the left. I don't want the cords in my lap for the rest of my life
 
cord routing

Agree on the cord routing, thats why I moved the mike on the Bose X as the mike and cord assembly are one piece so the cord does not drape across the body.
 
Well all GREAT ideas! I like the WHYS, because of clothing,latitudes on earth, SAFETY concerns and functionality. I was at Pacific coast Avionics in Aurora Oregon (Home to VANS ) and they had a neat mounting plate with jacks installed and a cover sloped from approximately 3/8" to 1.128" in height (cover). Based on your ideas of location it will be on the aft part of the arm rests. Out of the way but able to visually see the plugs and store the BOSE module with VELCRO by the arm rest away from the seat belt. Thanks everybody for your ideas! Always much appreciated.

RV9A N421HJ

Ron in Oregon
 
Ron,

Wherever you put them , my suggestion would be to leave a "service loop" so the jacks can be moved around a bit in case you change your mind or add upholstery or other reasons. I have mine mounted behind the occupants in the baggage area side walls (on the top of the Classic aero interior panels). I can reach them from the seat, the extra cords sit /lay in the baggage area. I can load/unload the baggage area without fear of bumping the jacks with cords still plugged in. The headsets can sit on top of any baggage without the cords in the cockpit while getting in out out of the plane.

If I was to get out while still wearing the headset, they would be pretty straight pull out while standing on the wing.

Bevan
RV7A Slider
 
I would pay the money for wireless if I was sure they would work as well. Anyone have experience with them?
 
What a great idea! Wireless. And to take this idea one more step how about a wireless charger to the headset battery. Incorporate it into the hanger for your headset! Just like they use on the IPhone tabletop chargers at Starbucks coffee shop or like my wireless charger for my toothbrush. Hope they pay me for my idea here. Could use some funds for a paint job.

Ron in oregon
 
Mine are under the air vents. Initially I thought I should mount it somewhere in the rear, but finally decided against it because I wanted them reachable in flight. There might come the time when I need to swap the headsets or clean the plugs inflight. On the left side I fixed the battery case with a reusable cable tie so the case is accessible too for a possible battery change and out of the way. On-Off switch and the other controls are easy to reach there. Each headset has a holder on the subpanel - out of direct sunlight and out of direct view from outside. It is not the perfect location but the best I could find.

 
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thanks for the pictures Super Cub Driver.The posts have been exactly what I was looking for. Experiences from the pilots with cohesion in the cockpit.

Thanks to who posted.

Ron in Oregon RV9A
 
Your best place to mount headset/mic jacks

Wired up jack plugs and now I need a location to mount the mic/headset jacks in my RV9A. Whats your opinion of keeping the cords out of the way? I have the Bose 10 with the controllers. Also have seen little racks built for the headset storage just behind and on the cross bar behind the seats. If you have pictures that would be cool too!

The arm rest, little shelf on each side that mounts to the side skin. anybody using bracing to make it more secure?

Did you make a cover plate for over the rudder cables next to the seat cushions on each side?

get'in closer,went to see the painter last week.

Ron in Oregon RV9A

Thanks guys and ladies!
 
We mounted both headset jacks between the rear seat uprights. No wires in the way 300 hours later
 
Tip-up vs. slider, tailwheel vs. nose wheel....

Put them in the lower corners of the panel. The cord will lay out of the way next to your leg

Most important is that it is easy to reach the plugs in flight an are easy to wire!

Edit:
This is a picture of my first panel, the headset jacks remained in the same place. The only change I made was to add a plug for the ANR module, so all the wires ran together. You can see the plugs on the right side, right above the vents.

One advantage to this location is that they are easy to wire and you save weight because the wires don't have to be very long.


(Click to enlarge)
 
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A local builder put his jacks in the canopy rail, specifically in the triangular piece where it meets the instrument panel. He fabricated a plate that closes off the bottom of the triangle,and put the jacks in that plate pointing down. The plugs from the headset then hang down vertically, and don't protrude into the cockpit to obstruct you. This is in a -7, btw, not sure what that looks like on a tandem model.

The builder of my -6 put the jacks in the same triangle, but in the vertical face pointing into the cockpit... So the plug bodies stick out right by my mag/start switches, which is slightly annoying, and the cables hang down right onto my left knee. I plan to install LEMO jacks that aren't quite as annoying.
 
The RV-12, and now the new RV-14, have the jacks mounted in the seat pan under the arm rests. This puts them in a location that they are easy to access in flight if needed, but the cords are fully out of the way (no cords draping down from anywhere on the instrument panel).
 
bruceh said:
I put mine under the air vents. No long wiring runs to worry about, since everything stays up by the panel.

Now I just need a nice way to find a place to hang the headsets while getting in and out of the cabin.
Click to expand...

Similarly, my jacks and spare PTTs are on the panel by the vents. Ruling decision in my case was wiring simplicity.

Bruce,
My headset hangar consist of one 10-32 nutplate and an AN3DD-25A bolt.
The nutplate is mounted in that vertical channel just ahead of your left knee, up high where it is out of the way. The bolt is aluminum (hence the DD in the part number).
 
Some experience with wireless headsets

rockwoodrv9 said:
I would pay the money for wireless if I was sure they would work as well. Anyone have experience with them?
Click to expand...

The EQ-1 wireless headsets are developed and produced by the guys that operate my home base at YWGM. Many of the aircraft here including ultralights and microlights (trikes) are equipped with EQ-1 headsets and I have flown in them so I have some limited experience with the wireless alternative. One of the guys recently plugged a wireless dongle into my RV6 and wore his EQ-1's when I took him for a ride. Chatting to him while wearing my Dave Clark's I was impressed with how clear his voice sounded through my intercom. His words weren't clipped and it was impossible to notice any difference with a wired headset. Having said that I haven't owned wireless headsets so I can't give you a full opinion but I can chase up answers to other questions you may have.
 
Well the decision was made to place the jacks in the aft portion of the arm rests. I used straight leg #6 nutplates ( 3 of them with Allen screws in stainless from Ace Hardware) to secure the plug housings. Two at the rear housing flange and one on the front flange between the two jack holes. Thanks Doug for the AircraftSpruce mounting plate housing pictures. Happen to be at Pacific Coast Avionics at Aurora Oregon (Vans Home factory airport) and picked up a set.

When you install the jacks make sure GET THE INSULATING WASHERS! (TWO OF THEM) ONE IS A COLLAR FLAT WASHER & it goes on the jack prior too inserting into the housing hole.(make the housing hole larger to fit collar ring)(need to avoid grounding of the jack at the mounting hole) ONE IS A FLAT FIBER WASHER THAT GOES on after jack is inserted UNDER THE FLAT METAL WASHER AND THEN THEN THE NUT.

After speaking with Steve and Pete at the GARMIN HELP site I will be installing a 3 conductor shielded cable from the MIC jack to the radio (GTR200). If my PTT grip switch becomes INOP I can use a HAND MIC & plug it into the MIC jack. Print of schematic needed to be discussed in engineering to layman terms. Not a big deal just a learning experience and a teaching one by Garmin Steve.

I asked Steve if Garmin (experimental in Kansas) could print up personalized wiring schematics for a builder & his RV. Thought it would be a GREAT branding tool and great for the Garmin name. Steve smiled in his email, I could tell! We shall see!

I re posted question from June 2014 because I ended up reconforming my panel with brackets for parking brake handle and emergency air knob.

Thanks to all of you for your ideas. Sitting in the plane with headset in hand worked well on the best location on the Bose X cords and module.

I used my pneumatic squeezer to set all the nutplate rivets with no problem. Body of squeezer needs to be under the arm rest (tight fit) to set the rivets otherwise you could deform the arm rest on several rivets close to the flange of the armrest.

Always appreciate the ideas and pictures.

Ron In Oregon. RV9A
 
I'm glad you found the perfect spot, Ron!!

I went with the GTR 200 as well, and I spent a little additional $$$ and went with a pre-made harness from ACS. My vents will go above the deck pieces on the panel, and the jacks below for a nice uncluttered look. As Bill said, I've found that the headset wires lay nicely along the side of the seat cushion...I hate the idea of a lost/intermittent comm, and for me, having the jacks super-accessible is great for peace of mind so I can give 'em a good jiggle if the need arises.

Gawd, I can't wait to start working on the panel!!! :D:D
 
rvbuilder2002 said:
The RV-12, and now the new RV-14, have the jacks mounted in the seat pan under the arm rests. This puts them in a location that they are easy to access in flight if needed, but the cords are fully out of the way (no cords draping down from anywhere on the instrument panel).
Click to expand...

Does anyone have any pics of the jacks in this location? I am trying to visualize it but a picture sure would help.
 
rvator51 said:
Does anyone have any pics of the jacks in this location? I am trying to visualize it but a picture sure would help.
Click to expand...

They're probably about where the rudder cable droops down in this photo, mounted horizontally on the seat pan. (RV-9A pictured)

 
rightrudder said:
They're probably about where the rudder cable droops down in this photo, mounted horizontally on the seat pan. (RV-9A pictured)

Click to expand...

They are in the fwd., slopped portion of the seat pan, under the arm rest.
In this photo, the pilot side jacks would be just out of view at the far right center of the photo (if the seat pan cover were installed.)
They are located about 1/2 way up the slope of the removable seat pan ramp, next to the outer skin, under the arm rest. It makes them well protected, but easy to access in flight.
The RV-12 and 14 have a narrow portion of the seat ramp permanently riveted in on the outer edges of the seat pan area. For a 6,7, or 9 you could make a rectangle opening that excepted a small plate that screwed on from below with the jacks mounted in them, to make the seat pans still easily removable.
 
Thanks Doug, I took pictures today, put the seats in and plugged in and wore my headset and the Bose X module fits neatly on the arm seat. I installed the jack housing about 3/8" from the vertical on the aft surface of the arm rest. After placing the OREGON AERO seats in and planting my butt in the passengers seat the cables and module were a non issue which is what I was hoping for. Easy to access the plugs too! Aws one of my buddies in his RV9A said,just use a little velcro on the module and the armrest and its perfect! I agree.

Ron in Oregon
Rv9A
 
I have the pictures of the install,(2 pics). I have never posted a picture on Vansairforce but I have sent pictures to others who have posted them for me. Is there somebody who can email me at [email protected] and Ill send them the picture to post.
Thanks Ron in Oregon RV9A
 
Ron,
I put in the spar cars that run vertical from the spar to the top rail.

I used aircraft spruce aluminum black housings that hold a standard headphone jack and mic jack.

I inverted them so that the plugs go up in stead of down to prevent water from entering the jacks.

54b1xj.jpg


You can barely see them on the sides but you'll get the idea. they are out of the way, your leg can rest against the sides and does not press on the jacks.

I mounted them with 4 nutplates on each spar cap. with them being aluminum I have not compromised the strength. They just fit... measure good.
I know you'll love the location.

Jack
 
Smilin' Jack said:
with them being aluminum I have not compromised the strength. They just fit... measure good.
Click to expand...

Are you sure?
Because of their shape, they are likely hydro press formed out of rather soft aluminum. That, coupled with them being attached by 4 screws makes me disagree with you.

This portion of the center section bulkhead is very much an integral part structurally. Particularly if it was a sliding canopy (which I see yours is not).
I strongly recommend builders not modify this area of their fuselage.
 
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Here's Ron's setup. I'm posting a couple of his photos while he gets up to speed on PhotoBucket. :)

Seems like a good location--out of the way, yet reachable.





 
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You have the option of buying aluminum or the plastic stuff.

The aluminum is thicker than the spar cap plates. I did call Van's when I made this mod to the cover plate. At that time in 11/2012 I was told there was no problem with the installation.

All I can say it works well, the wires are never in the way the you don't have wires draping across your shoulder or across the control stick.

The jacks that are installed on 3 jets I have flown are very similar, The challenger on the panel below the seat bottom to the rear of the seat.
The citation 650 was also located down there.
the saberliner was located on the side arm rest to the reat. Put hooks forward on the sides under the panel and you just hook up the headset for storage. out of site.

Everyone who has seen it thinks it is the best. Jacks are a mechanical thing. That can get loose so I put in a 360 loop behind the enclosure so if needed I have extra wire to install new jacks plus if they should come loose I can take out 4 screws and tighten them up.
14kxfn4.jpg

Jack
 
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Jeff great place if I might say so!! But interesting enough you turned that aluminum piece inside out or I have mine backward but in any case it works both ways. Makes for a nice indentation in side panel as well as protecting the plugs from bumping. If I get a interior Ill do the same!

Thanks Doug for posting my pictures. There isnt a day that goes by when a person cant learn a little.

Appreciate the postings guys & ladies!
Ron in Oregon RV9A
 
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