Archive for Comms
Bluetooth drives me barmy
Posted by: | CommentsOK I don’t understand Bluetooth but then it’s supposed to just work isn’t it? On the Goldwing, I hear my GPS and other stuff (radio, CB etc) through a wired connection and the bike’s built-in intercom system but on the GS I have been using custom earplugs with built in speakers connected to the original Bluetooth dongle that came with my TomTom Rider 1. Those earplugs can get uncomfortable after an hour or two and and it”s a rather fragile wire that”s connected to them so I have been looking for an alternative.
My first thought was to put all my wishes in one basket and look for a Bluetooth flip up helmet with a retractable sun visor. Nolan make one but it doesn’t fit my head – like many flip ups it seems very short from front to back and presses hard on my admittedly big chin. OK so now I have to choose between a sunvisor and built in-bluetooth. The latter seems as a rare as rocking horse manure but there is a Viper RS101 helmet which I have not tried. I am perhaps perversely rather put off by its low price – £94.99 seems unlikely to buy very much head protection or quality and in a helmet I want both.
So, I decide to stick for the time being with my BMW system 5 and try to fit a Bluetooth headset to it. Accordingly I got a Scala Rider Q2 and managed to wangle it into the helmet with less difficulty than I had feared. The lump that sits outside the helmet is in the wrong place to use the microphone, being far too far back on the side of the helmet (forced there by the flip front) but as I want it primarily to listen to the GPS and its built in radio, this is not too much of a problem. Next job was to sync it with my GPS. I knew there might be a problem with the Rider 1 so I tried first with the Garmin 2820 on the Wing. It took me ages to learn how to put the headset in pairing mode. This was owing to a combination of not reading the instructions properly and impatience. When I had understood the unit must first be switched on before pressing the same switch again for an extended period to set it looking for marriage partners, I did eventually pair with the Garmin. But why oh why can’t we have a simple on/off switch instead of these stupid press it and pray type things that take forever to do something?
Next I tried and failed several times to pair with the TomTom. After several bouts of cursing I eventually succeeded by dint of understanding that the darn thing was trying and failing to pair with its original headset because that is what I was telling it to do in response to a rather ambiguous Yes/No query in its menu system. Finally in frustration, I realised I had to tell it to be more promiscuous and go and look for another partner when, thankfully it found the Scala Rider that had given up and gone home, or at least had stopped trying to pair on many previous attempts.
With the popularity of flip up helmets, sun visors and Bluetooth, I cannot understand why every helmet manufacturer is not in the game – ah well, that’s life at the bleeding edge I suppose..
Having a Ball!
Posted by: | CommentsOn the new bike. I am riding around all the twistiest hilliest lanes I can find and it’s behaving impeccably. My 600 miles service is booked for the 31st March which means that I have to be a bit careful not to put many more miles on it. I am planning a longish rideout with other GSers on the 30th and need to keep some miles in hand for that.
I have now rigged up leads for my Gerbings heated jacket liner and for a TomTom satnav. I connected the heated jacket direct to the battery via an inline fused lead but for the TomTom I plumbed it in via a Canbus connector to the spare Canbus socket under the centre trim panel. I now need to think about how I connect up my iPod. At present I am using custom earplug/speakers for the TomTom connected to a little Bluetooth thingy. But I need to multiplex the iPod somehow. I am not at all sure I can do this with the current Bluetooth gadget and I am not sure if the TomTom will recognise others. It’s the TomTom Rider 1 and it doesn’t for instance, recognise the Jaba bluetooth thing I use for my mobile.
Unlike the Goldwing, I have no built in electronics for this sort of thing, so I might just install an autocom and possibly, use my Garmin 2820 from the Goldwing, instead of the TomTom
More Stuff!
Posted by: | Comments
Well here are the results of my Yorkshire trip. I have pannier lights, lower front fog lights, Garmin 2820 GPS and a CB installed! Ian did a fantastic job and it’s obvious he is a careful workman who knows what he is doing. Everything seems to work OK although there is a bit of alternator whine on the intercom circuit. Ian thinks it is probably the CB that is doing it but we haven’t yet bottomed it out. The noise is not very loud and with any music playing, it is drowned out.
The Garmin 2820 is quite capable unit although I miss some of the features I am used to on the TomToms like quick alternative route selection. The Garmin does allow one’s own routes to be loaded onto it and it will also record a track log which are the reasons why I wanted this unit.
In Yorkshire
Posted by: | CommentsAfter an initially wet ride north, I am now installed in a Premier Travel Inn in Rotherham whilst my bike receives a couple of implants – namely a CB (the Goldwing Gadgets model bought at the Treffen), lower fog lights and rear pannier lights. Ian Cardwell is doing the work for me and I shall drop by Ian’s later this morning to see how it is going.
I am quite impressed with the Premier Travel Inn. It’s bang next to a Beefeater that has quite a good restaurant and a decent bar. The bed is really comfortable. Only complaints are that the towels are a bit small and the shower is rather aenemic.
Treffen
Posted by: | CommentsNo longer a Treffen virgin, I spent 4 days in glorious sunshine at Carmarthen where the 2007 British Treffen was held. Considering the dire weather we have had for most of the summer, the sunshine would have been enough to make me enjoy it but as a bonus, the event itself was great fun. Seeing all the different bikes in a multitude of configurations (trikes, add-ons, paint jobs and so forth) was quite a feast for someone newly enamoured of the Goldwing and needless to say, it has inspired me to think of the sorts of things I might yet do for my bike. I did get a couple of things whilst there, notably a CB radio, yet to be installed, and a J&M headset which is now in my Arai Quantum – I couldn’t see how to fit it to my currently preferred helmet – a BMW system 5, although I may be encouraged into radical surgery of the helmet if I like it enough. A quick test this morning suggests it will work very well.
I used my new tent which provided ample accommodation
and although it looks a little lonely here, it was soon surrounded by others as more people including my new buddies in Kent Wings, arrived. There were close on 800 inscriptions for the event and although I have no idea hw many of these were foreign, there were certainly enough to make one realise the international nature of a Treffen. Some of the vistors provided considerable entertainment in the form of spectacular bikes – not always the prettiest for sure!
On getting back home on Monday afternoon, I found myself in considerable trouble. A hip that had been slightly sore for a couple of days had become so painful, I could hardly get off my bike and walking was a nightmare. I slept not a wink that night and on Tuesday morning took myself off the doctor’s who promptly sent me to A&E on the basis that I might have septic arthritis – a potentially fatal condition. After not too long waiting around, I was seen by a doctor who diagnosed severe bursitis of the hip, possibly brought on by my unsatisfactory sleeping arrangements at the Treffen – basically an inferior lilo that left my hip in hard contact with the ground, I think a camp bed is next on my list of must haves! Anyway, now a couple of days later and having popped a few pills, I am feeling somewhat more human and thankful to both the gods for sparing me septic arthritis and the NHS for sorting me out.
More Autocom research results
Posted by: | CommentsI spoke directly to Autocom this morning who confirmed that their Pro AVI unit can indeed be installed in the manner I wish viz:- integrating all bike audio functions and providing a bike to bike facility although this requires a separate transceiver (walkie-talkie pair). They also do installation work at their place in Warwick including putting the headsets into helmets which might be valuable if the installation in the BMW System 5 is difficult.
Finding it still difficult to believe that the installation in the BMW helmet would be all that difficult, I took myself off this morning to Caterham where a BMW dealer (South London Motorcycles) lives, only to find that their helmet expert is taking his summer holiday.. However, one of the service guys showed me how to remove the visor and the flip up jawpiece, and the cheek pads so I am more confident than before. Plus a bonus, I discovered an Autocom document that deals with the installation in a system 5 helmet. I think people who have been telling me that the BMW helemt is difficult is because they have assumed it was the same as the Scuberth helmets (and Schuberth make the BMW helmet), however, the fit is very different. I wanted to get a Schuberth helmet but none suited me, whereas the BMW one is very comfortable.
OK – It’s going to be the Autocom
Posted by: | CommentsQuestions posted here and there about the Autocom Pro Avi have been answered in a positive vein (notably at Rider’s Rally) where a couple of members have helpfully provided the valuable info that I can wire the unit into the passenger headset lead and get the full bike inputs. One kind person has sent me pictures which will help with the install when I do it. I am now sufficiently encouraged to get this unit and I think, to install it myself – it will be my first exploration under the Goldwing’s plastic so I am feeling as nervous as a kitten (or more aptly, as nervous as the first time I found out what girls wear! 
).
Helmets, Headsets – my head is spinning!
Posted by: | CommentsThanks to Dave’s advice on the problem with high impedance speakers in my old Autocom headset I was reminded of the custom fit earbuds (that I had made for me at a motorcycle show) which have speakers built in. I previously used these with the TomTom on my Pan via a bluetooth thingy that reposed in a pocket of my riding suit. Sooo.. off to Maplins for an adapter to connect my little earbuds plug to the Din plug on the bike. Easy-peasy thought I, except that the plug on the earbuds is 2.5mm and when buying the adapter I had thought it was 3.5mm – so back I go for another adapter – actually the third because initially I was forced to buy a 5 pin Din to quarter inch, a quarter inch to 3.5mm and now with a 3.5mm to 2.5mm I have something half as long as a fishing rod and just as bendy, to connect the 5 pin Din to my earbuds.
The acid test – switch on the radio, switch from bike speaker to headset – nothing! Ah well, perhaps these are high impedance too? But then I thought that the miniscule bluetooth adapter had so little power, surely these earbuds must be low impedance? So it proved when I fiddled about with my national exhibition of adapters and was suddenly deafened by the Kaiser Chiefs (I must get around to programming Radio Three 
).
Trouble is that apart from the bendy connection, the wire to the earbuds is as thin as dental floss and probably not a lot stronger, so I really still need to find a more robust solution. Well, the OEM Honda headset is one possibility at £200! So too is a variety of cheaper headsets that all promise zero noise, quadrophonic sound and “I’ll still love you in the morning”. However, the helmet man at Dobles, tells me that my favoured helmet (a BMW flip-up is – despite having big cut outs for the ears – the worst imaginable for installing a headset as there is nowhere for the wires to go. He demonstrated by taking a new Arai off the shelf and showing me how in about five minutes one could install a set in that versus the 3 hours estimated for my BMW helmet. I really don’t want to buy another helmet. I still own more than most mortals and not just the ones I have crashed in either, however, it’s starting to look inevitable.
I am now looking at the Autocom Pro AVI stuff in the belief that I should be able to integrate it into my Goldwing audio and potentially use it for Bike to Bike communication when I get around to attending Treffens etc.
The man at Dobles is looking into this for me – I hope to hear next week what he finds out. Stay tuned!