GOPRO Audio / Battery / Filters

[Sinistar]

We completed our ADSB out install a couple months back. I knew they would be up in the headliner so I asked them to route a standard GA to GOPRO audio cable from the pilot intercom station to the dome light area. The main reason for this is that the GOPRO (5,6,7) audio adapter often pulls out the audio cable is hanging all the way down to a passenger intercom station. I think the installer probably had this done in like 30 minutes so nothing high tech but sure works good.

In this picture you can see the GA to GOPRO audio cable coming down from the pilot side window pillar and hanging right I front of the intercom plugs. The male plug in the picture plugs into the left side headset plug.

Here the audio adapter is now plugged in and the female plug hanging there is where you plug your headset audio input into. You then plug mic plug of your headset into the open jack. If I am not recording anything I just unplug the adapter and use the intercom station normally.


This is where standard audio output comes out of the headliner. The installer placed it within a sleeve (the red part). So it can be pulled out or pushed in. Maybe I should have had them replace that ugly speaker grill...either a first owner was smoker or that is what a fuel bladder leak with Mogas does

The installer left this much slack when pulled all the way out which is perfect!
And here is what it looks like with the camera installed and the gopro audio adapter. Finally, no hanging wires. That $14million dollar ADSB out compliance was good for something

In the next post I will show the filters used and the order if that helps anyone.

 

[Sinistar]

Some people ask about filters, mainly for prop blur. Here is what find pretty useful and not that expensive either. Some of these parts are taking from a DSLR setup so I didn't have to buy everything new:

Start with the GOPRO in a metal housing to have nice metal threads. These housings allow access to everything but the battery compartment and have a quick slide out rear panel. There are mounting holes on the top and bottom. These work for the Hero Black 5, 6 7.​

Now the filters. I start with a B+W ND 0.6 neutral density (ND) filter. The B+W are really good german glass and if you avoid the fancy coated versions are not much money. The ND filter is small because I tested it out and it doesn't vignette the lens with just a single. The second filter on the right is a Marumi Circular Polarizer. This is a 77mm filter taken from my DSLR kit. There is a 52mm to 77mm step ring between the two. The circular polarizer is great for removing reflections off the water and the glass inside the plane. The combination is like a ND6 filter which blurs the prop very nicely.

Here you can see the smaller ND filter has been fitted onto the camera (left side). This is where you get a first glimpse of how big the 77mm filter is. It is very thin but very wide!


Here's a front on view of the setup.

And here it is with a 77mm lens cap which is awesome to protect that nice CP.


And here is what it looks like from the front. If a person wants a similar setup but smaller you could easily use a 67mm circular polarizer and maybe even a 62mm and still not vignette the lens. When you hop in the plane you just look at the lcd screen of the GOPRO and rotate the polarizer until all the strong reflections disappear from the windshield and outside objects like glass or water. The plane can vibrate a lot during startup and idle and right now the weak link is the craptastic gopro plastic mount so I am working something different up there.

 

[Sinistar]

About 3 flights after the ADSB out installation I realized I missed something. I should have had the installer run a USB cable up there too. Not for connecting to a table but rather for power. Duhh!!! I could have just placed a powerbank in the pilot side pocket and hooked it up right by the audio adapters. So, until then I think I might do this. Just some good Velcro and a short USB cable.

This picture really distorts the size of the power bank. Its really about the size a chapstick in diameter and about twice as long. Its over 3350mAH so that along with a GOPRO battery should probably be able to pull around 3hrs or more of continuous recording. And you could always swap it out in flight without turning off the gopro as the gopro is supposed to run out the external battery first (not tested yet). Of course, if there had been a cable run up there, the power bank down in the side pocket could be much larger.



Here is the power bank (top and end views)

 

[Sinistar]

Speaking of power banks, this is our favorite and I have mentioned it in other posts. Its also a WIFI point. No - it won't get you internet unless you plug into a wired internet connection. However it has a SD card slot. And it has a media server. So if you are looking to stream movies to the kids or passengers inflight this thing works great! Yes, you have to rip the media yourself so that is on you. But once you have done that you are good to go. And it can be connected to multiple phones / tablets at the same time and each person can watch what they want. We have the first season of Gilligan's Island which my daughter and her friends still belly laugh at Plus another 80 full movies. We usually just turn it on and throw it back in the flight bag. On many occasions if we are stopped someplace I will top off the flight tablet or gopro's with this power bank. I wish it had more power storage but it seems to be a perfect fit for size. We also use this on commercial flights. It almost lasted the entire flight from LA to Auckland. The last plug (pardon the pun) is that if you are in a old hotel room that only has wired internet (they still exist) this guy turns it back into WIFI.

Top view (sorry upside down) of the Ravpower power bank. It is sitting on top of iPad Mini to give an idea of size.


Top view. I taped over the SD card slot so it won't pop out if its bumped.