These are great little radios for the price. I got a 12 volt battery eliminator that connects to a 'cigar lighter' on a car. To be honest ive never used it so i can't vouch for it. Interesting video. With a couple of tweaks these radios have great potential for bikers.
Nice video and adaptation for your bike, how has the long term function of your system been working out? I am interested in doing something similar for snowmobiling but without the extended recharge requirements, just communication between 2 additional friends with radio and headsets. Would you be willing to share your wiring schematic? I would be looking to wear the radio on and at chest level, have a headset plugged in and a PTT remote wire run down near left hand grip area, do you think this is reasonable. I am researching which radio to purchase, which is what brought me to your vid but I am not sure if these radios are overkill, it seems these are less expensive and the range is better than the bubble pack sets available. Keep up the great work and innovation.
Well, unfortunately they didn't hold up that extremely well... I think some of the issues were mine, and some were with the Baofeng headset kit. The first issue we had was that there would be a lot of static and feedback... then suddenly PTT would engage when not commanded, and not engage when commanded, randomly. I think both of which were soldering issues at the multiple custom connections. Second, the connectors going into the extended battery packs are very sensitive... if they're pushed off-axis in any direction, they no longer charge... Those issues were live-able... but then one of the wires on wifey's headset caught a tree branch, and ripped out of the baofeng headset's factory connection. I think we could have done better to tuck and protect wires, but it also seemed like a fairly weak connection. I'm working on uploading a reference schematic, but Google drive isn't cooperating. I'll update when I can get to better network in town and upload.
I saw that you mentioned below that this setup eventually broke for you. How do you think it would've worked if you had everything on your person? Radio in a backpack lets say and the button mounted on the strap. Was the audio quality clear? I bought a cheap chinese bluetooth headset and mediocre Motorola radio with bluetooth capability and the audio was terrible. Sounded like we were 30 miles away from each other when we were maybe 30 feet. Just extremely static voices where there was no way you could understand the other rider.
The failure point for the beautiful wife’s was one of the factory connections on the body when it snagged a branch… I don’t think anything could be done about that except a fully-Bluetooth option. The audio quality was perfect at low speeds, problematic at 30mph+, and practically unuseable at highway speeds. I think going against us on the highway too was we’d both get crackling feedback, I think from bad solder joints. Overall though, I’ll likely buy another pair of the headsets and keep the radios person-mounted, and consider possibly making the same system all over again…. Except this time doing better soldering and splicing, and probably something other than usb-c for the bike connection. 15 minutes with the radio unplugged and they’re both full of mud.
@@firefly3333 not to bully, but your bike looked like a mess of wires so bad i am even impressed anything worked for so long on a dirtbike. my solution would be wearing a small backpack or chest harness with the radio (with factory battery) on it. with the antenna and everything. on my bike when i travel i have a 12V cigar plug with a USB charger hidden inside one of my bags, i just plug all my things in there to charge while i am riding. you could simply get 2-3 battery each and swap them. if you intend on not wearing the radio. you could buy some magnetic breakaway plugs and DIY wire them to your person-to-bike loom.
@@Francois_Dupont on wiring: hell yeah I’m far from a good wiring person. Just not patient enough when I know what the bare minimum of “working” looks like (and you’re right, I have routine failures. Someday I’ll do it right… probably) Anyway for radios, I think I’m headed that way… but I still want a PTT button on the handlebars so that I don’t have to fumble and find it on my person. I’m looking now at maybe some form of universal Bluetooth momentary button that I can chain in.
@@firefly3333 a note on wiring. you can buy some spitted corrugated wiring tubing. you slip your wires in and tape it to make a loom, just like on a car/bike from the factory. your wires must not move. when a wire keep moving it create stress inside and they break. it is most common at a joint. so you must be careful to keep any of your wires from flexing around or bouncing. i have never looked into it, but i am sure this exist. the magnetic release wire connectors. it might be very interesting to use and solve many of your problems. anyway i wish you great success!
I think Bluetooth Earbuds are an available setup, I would want a Bluetooth PTT and get rid of the wires. I really don't have a need for a charging system.
I looked at those a bit… one of the big deliverables I wanted to try to stick to was “fewest things to recharge possible”, mostly with long camping trips (KAT, COBDR, some friends doing Tour of Idaho). But, since the wires failed on both rigs, I may pick up one of the Bluetooth setups and give it a go. Maybe batteries will stay up a lot longer than I expect.
@@firefly3333 I'm going to try the Retevis #EEK013. Hopefully, I can stuff the earbud/mic in my helmet. Like I said, I have no need for charging but the bluetooth sending unit has a USB port that could be used for charging. For rider to rider, I'll use the stubby antennas and put the radio in an enduro jacket pocket or fanny pack.
I have a Bluetooth PTT with an Anytone radio. It works OK but has two problems. It has a long delay between pressing the button and TX. It also disconnects every time I get off the bike, and that gets annoying. I plan to add wired PTT and use my reverse rev limiter button as the PTT. (ATV)
Who’s rapeing the goat in the background? But in all seriousness, nice video. Thanks for showing your set up.
Someone at his house is lol, just be a Muslim household
These are great little radios for the price.
I got a 12 volt battery eliminator that connects to a 'cigar lighter' on a car. To be honest ive never used it so i can't vouch for it.
Interesting video.
With a couple of tweaks these radios have great potential for bikers.
Nice video and adaptation for your bike, how has the long term function of your system been working out? I am interested in doing something similar for snowmobiling but without the extended recharge requirements, just communication between 2 additional friends with radio and headsets. Would you be willing to share your wiring schematic? I would be looking to wear the radio on and at chest level, have a headset plugged in and a PTT remote wire run down near left hand grip area, do you think this is reasonable. I am researching which radio to purchase, which is what brought me to your vid but I am not sure if these radios are overkill, it seems these are less expensive and the range is better than the bubble pack sets available. Keep up the great work and innovation.
Well, unfortunately they didn't hold up that extremely well... I think some of the issues were mine, and some were with the Baofeng headset kit. The first issue we had was that there would be a lot of static and feedback... then suddenly PTT would engage when not commanded, and not engage when commanded, randomly. I think both of which were soldering issues at the multiple custom connections. Second, the connectors going into the extended battery packs are very sensitive... if they're pushed off-axis in any direction, they no longer charge... Those issues were live-able... but then one of the wires on wifey's headset caught a tree branch, and ripped out of the baofeng headset's factory connection. I think we could have done better to tuck and protect wires, but it also seemed like a fairly weak connection.
I'm working on uploading a reference schematic, but Google drive isn't cooperating. I'll update when I can get to better network in town and upload.
@@firefly3333 Cool, thanks for the reply. Still searching for a good setup. Keep up the good work.
I saw that you mentioned below that this setup eventually broke for you. How do you think it would've worked if you had everything on your person? Radio in a backpack lets say and the button mounted on the strap. Was the audio quality clear?
I bought a cheap chinese bluetooth headset and mediocre Motorola radio with bluetooth capability and the audio was terrible. Sounded like we were 30 miles away from each other when we were maybe 30 feet. Just extremely static voices where there was no way you could understand the other rider.
The failure point for the beautiful wife’s was one of the factory connections on the body when it snagged a branch… I don’t think anything could be done about that except a fully-Bluetooth option. The audio quality was perfect at low speeds, problematic at 30mph+, and practically unuseable at highway speeds. I think going against us on the highway too was we’d both get crackling feedback, I think from bad solder joints.
Overall though, I’ll likely buy another pair of the headsets and keep the radios person-mounted, and consider possibly making the same system all over again…. Except this time doing better soldering and splicing, and probably something other than usb-c for the bike connection. 15 minutes with the radio unplugged and they’re both full of mud.
@@firefly3333 not to bully, but your bike looked like a mess of wires so bad i am even impressed anything worked for so long on a dirtbike.
my solution would be wearing a small backpack or chest harness with the radio (with factory battery) on it. with the antenna and everything. on my bike when i travel i have a 12V cigar plug with a USB charger hidden inside one of my bags, i just plug all my things in there to charge while i am riding. you could simply get 2-3 battery each and swap them.
if you intend on not wearing the radio. you could buy some magnetic breakaway plugs and DIY wire them to your person-to-bike loom.
@@Francois_Dupont on wiring: hell yeah I’m far from a good wiring person. Just not patient enough when I know what the bare minimum of “working” looks like (and you’re right, I have routine failures. Someday I’ll do it right… probably)
Anyway for radios, I think I’m headed that way… but I still want a PTT button on the handlebars so that I don’t have to fumble and find it on my person. I’m looking now at maybe some form of universal Bluetooth momentary button that I can chain in.
@@firefly3333 a note on wiring. you can buy some spitted corrugated wiring tubing. you slip your wires in and tape it to make a loom, just like on a car/bike from the factory. your wires must not move. when a wire keep moving it create stress inside and they break. it is most common at a joint. so you must be careful to keep any of your wires from flexing around or bouncing.
i have never looked into it, but i am sure this exist. the magnetic release wire connectors. it might be very interesting to use and solve many of your problems.
anyway i wish you great success!
I have an anyone 878 with bluetooth and headphones over the neck.
Does your PTT disconnect randomly also?
I think Bluetooth Earbuds are an available setup, I would want a Bluetooth PTT and get rid of the wires. I really don't have a need for a charging system.
I looked at those a bit… one of the big deliverables I wanted to try to stick to was “fewest things to recharge possible”, mostly with long camping trips (KAT, COBDR, some friends doing Tour of Idaho). But, since the wires failed on both rigs, I may pick up one of the Bluetooth setups and give it a go. Maybe batteries will stay up a lot longer than I expect.
@@firefly3333 I'm going to try the Retevis #EEK013. Hopefully, I can stuff the earbud/mic in my helmet. Like I said, I have no need for charging but the bluetooth sending unit has a USB port that could be used for charging. For rider to rider, I'll use the stubby antennas and put the radio in an enduro jacket pocket or fanny pack.
I have a Bluetooth PTT with an Anytone radio. It works OK but has two problems. It has a long delay between pressing the button and TX. It also disconnects every time I get off the bike, and that gets annoying.
I plan to add wired PTT and use my reverse rev limiter button as the PTT. (ATV)