Rear Headset Connection Relocation

[kbert777]

Ok, this might be the answer to the question nobody ever asks, but here it goes anyway.

 

My wife has always complained about the location of the rear headset connector, on the left side of the trunk. When plugging into the headset jack, the cable ultimately seems to come loose due to the upward pull on the straight connector. In the end the female socket broke out of the bracket and went intermittent.

 

So the initial fix was to plug the intermediate cable of the headset into connector under the seat and routing the cable up next to the back rest. This solved the loose connector issue but introduce a different problem. By doing this you actually circumvent the handheld controller with the CB control and volume function. Which wasn't too bad until we invested into some nicer, modular helmets. Now the volume difference was very noticeable, I am almost deaf as it is, so turning up the master volume was the only way for me to hear the intercom. This made the wife's ears ring, as she has much better hearing left then I do. I cranked the volume on the front handlebar controller all the way up, but it was not enough to create enough bias front to rear.

 

The ultimate solution (at least for us) can be seen in the pictures below. I bought a 5-pin DIN MIDI Extension Cable of EBay for a few $'s, you can also look for an AT Keyboard Extension Cable. I cut the cable in half as the shortest one I could find was around 6'. Then I removed the controller bracket of the trunk with four TORX screws holding it on and soldered the female extension side in parallel with the headset socket. As far as I know the cable colors are none standard, so I used a Ohm Meter to map the wires to the existing socket, which actually uses 6 wires with the shield.

 

I insulated everything and replaced the strain relief to the grommet to include the new connector. The controller bracket was remounted and the headset intermediate cable was plugged into the new female connector and routed up the back rest.

 

Now the wife can set her own headset volume using the volume control on the rear CB controller. I can set the bias between Satellite radio, Intercom and CB in the front and leave the volume on the handlebar controller untouched, she can set her own master volume in the rear using the rear CB controller.

 

This should hopefully make riding more enjoyable until I have get under the knife for double knee surgery in May...

 

Klaus