Terratrip Intercom - Quick Feedback Appreciated

[old captain slow]

Any views on how good or bad. I'm committed to getting an intercom for the purposes of ARDS tuition in Cats at a track day at the end of this month. The units seem economical - hows the performance?

 

C7 CDW

[Foxy Smith]

David, I have a terratrip intercom on my car. It came with the car. We subsequently bought practice headsets. It's a pretty good device and quite robust. You do need to filter the power supply though as it picks up noise from the alternator but this is quite easy to do. You can feed in external audio source so could play your MP3 through it , also connections for car to pit-lane radio. I'm quite happy wih it and I have used an Autocom set up as well, I don't like the Autocom headsets, they are painfully uncomfortable.

 

If you want to have a look or try it out give me a call on 01444 892555. We're off to France on Wed but will be back on Fri/Sat and Sun before going off touring in Scotland. We're just outside Ardingly.

 

Alan

[old captain slow]

Hi Alan,

 

I'm looking at the pro kit plus aviation intercom microphones for better noise cancelling. Also the unit will be swapped between cars so it will have a small stand alone battery.

 

Sounds like it's going to be ok.

 

Won't be able to get down to you in time to test so I'll take a flier on it.

 

Cheers

 

David

 

C7 CDW

[old captain slow]

Ok have bit the bullet and gone for the pro set. Arrives tomorrow. As a matter of interest Terratrip do a Pro-set with noise cancelling microphone and an aviation headset with higher performance noise cancellation. They think the basic set will be fine, but will take the headsets back and change out the microphone after if it's not. I'm trying it out at the end of the month in anger. I assume feedback (verbal not electronic) will be of interest. Maybe another bulk buy opportunity or has it already been done.

 

Nice helpful service.

 

C7 CDW

[Paul Deslandes]

I've used a Terratrip for several years and had good experience with it. However there is a pcb layout/design problem which causes the alternator whine and which will drive you potty if you use it on a long journey. I modified the pcb by cutting a couple of tracks and rerouting the wiring which completely solved the problem if anyone is interested in doing the same mod.

[old captain slow]

Hi Paul,

 

It's going to be used on a stand alone battery so the whine should not be an issue. However, have you got the details of what you did?

 

 

C7 CDW

[Ian Macquarie]

Paul,

 

Details of the mod would be very welcome.

 

Thanks

 

Ian

[Paul Deslandes]

Hi Dave/Ian

 

I'll dig out the details over the next 24 hrs and post what I did. You'll need to be handy with a scalpel and a soldering iron as you're going to be modifying the pc layout, cutting tracks and soldering some wire links into place. If you're not comfortable with doing it yourself and are anywhere near Guildford/Gomshall I'd be happy to do the mod for you (with no liability of course!). I previously tried decoupling (filtering) the incoming 12V supply but it didn't make any significant difference.

 

The problem with the original layout is that the amplifiers have differential (+ and -)inputs and the pc track layout allows noisy ground currents to flow between the two ground reference points, generating a differential noise voltage between them. Rerouting the track and joining the two reference points together completely solved the problem, on my unit at least. I did mean to contact Terratrip but never got around to it.

 

I also tried hooking up my mobile phone but the rf breakthrough was just too great, even with some screening. If anyone has a fix for this I'd really like to hear from them.

 

Watch this space

 

Paul