Helmet Camera install (June 2001)

I always wanted to take video of my rides, but two things held me back. One, I was afraid of falling and damaging my video camera. Two, I needed my bike to pass tech inspection at track days. Someone posted on eSportbike about this company called HelmetCamera. I checked out their Web site and ordered one of their units. It came with a sealed lead-acid battery. I figured it would be better if I ran it (and my camcorder) off the motorcycle battery. My plan was to mount the camcorder under the passenger seat. During the track day events I would form up in pit out, turn the recorder on, latch the seat and go out on my session. Afterwards I'd roll back into the pits and turn the unit off.

Here are the details of the installation.

My original mount bent out of 1/8"x1" aluminum bar stock	The mount as mounted to the fairing brace	Here it is installed with the HelmetCam in place

I chose this location because I wanted a view of the instruments. Since this unit has a built-in microphone, I figured that keeping it behind the windscreen would shield it from the wind noise.

Now that I had it mounted, I had to get it power.

I mounted a toggle switch and a spade fuse driven directly off the battery.	I also modified a cigarette lighter adapter to run off the same circuit.	I got some stick-on wire clips from Radio Shack for the signal cable

Sorry about the blur, but here is the fuse mount	Here is the camcorder with the battery eliminator	As you can tell, I had to get a seat cowl to clear the camera

I rode around the block and it seemed to be OK. At the track it turned out that my mount was too flimsy, allowing the camera to bounce up and down too much.

Helmet Camera install (May 2002 update)

After bouncing around in my trunk for a year the battery eliminator stopped working. I couldn't fit a battery back there so I did the next best thing; I bought a miniDV camcorder. I also had a co-worker bend a new mount. It works great.