Helmet Comfort

[MHenry]

I live in Arizona...helmet gets (a)hot and (b)humid inside very quickly. I've cutout the smile and installed two small fans. one just above my forehead facing downward...one on smile pulling air in.

1. How should air circulate? Fan on smile should suck air out of helmet...or push fresh air in? What is the best setup for airflow?

2. Is it better to have a fitted motorcycle type lining so no air circulating except for around the face? Or, have as little lining as possible so head can "breath" and airflow can be circulated?

Semi-humble opinions and swags (scientific wild *** guess) are appreciated.

[pandatrooper]

On mine, I only install a small round foam pad (closed cell, not open cell foam) on the top / crown, it's only about 5" in diameter. Then I have some foam that goes from temple to temple, but it's only about 1" tall / thick. I leave 2" gaps at the temple, then have some more foam kind of going from ear to ear around the back.

I have one small thin laptop fan on the inside of the forehead to blow air on to my forehead and down through the gaps. Then I have a small squirrel an blowing towards the mouth area. I find that this is where you exhale and the air is hot when you exhale. The fan blows this hot air out, and keeps the air moving.

[FIVE]

Jim, TK-6294, JUST messaged me about this the other day telling me about his helmet... here's what he said... I'm sure he wouldn't mind me sharing.

I actually prefer to use hard hat liners. The liners give plenty of space above the head and too the side. In addition, I have 4 squirrel fans in each of my buckets. I have the air balanced on the intake and the outtake. The flow blows over the top of my head. I stay really cool with that. I even have one of the fans at the top of my head to suck the hot air up and blow it down the back of my head. None of that is possible with foam. When I had foam before all it did was soak up my sweat.

[iconoclasta_88]

Currently I dont have anything inside except for the mapple leaf foam...

But in my FX I used to have two computer fans. One fulling air in,and one blowing it out. Bothe were located in the frown holes and it worked quiet good for some time. Until I realized it consumed too many batteries and was not worth the expense... But it was an effective way to keep it cool.

Hope it helps

Saludos

[FIVE]

I don't have any fans either.

I use baby-wipes on the lenses before a troop to keep them from fogging (works GREAT!) and I live in New Mexico where it's insanely dry and you can't hardly sweat if you have to.

[6170]

Do to the size of my head I squeeze into my helmet.

I still found a way to put two fans inside which blow air into face which

I find cool me off and keep my lenses from fogging off.

The best liners can be pulled from those Walmart little league helmets which cost $10.

In my TIE helmet I used a liner from a skate board stun helmet. You should not count on air flow to be affected by a liner.

[TK6294]

Thanks for the quote Nol. I never mind helping out.

Here is the information I give out to noobs when they are looking for some tips on helmet cooling.

Bucket Wiring

I have a KEV ANH 2.5 helmet which is also smaller than a FX. Here is kevin's website. He makes great stuff. I have a TK and black TX. Both have the same 4-fan cooling system inside.

http://www.imperialsurplus.com/

Here is the photobucket folder and photos where you can see pictures of my wiring set-up inside my bucket. I bring in air at the frown with two fans. they blow upward below and outside of my eyes. Then i have a fan at my chin that sucks air downward inside of the helmet and blows out at my neck. Finally, i have a fan at the very top of my head that sucks the hot air in and blow it back down the back of my helmet. Basically i bring in air and remove air at the same rate. In order to achieve good cooling there must be a flow of air. In order for the air to flow there must be a balance of input and output. A good example of an unbalance in air flow is blowing air into a coke bottle. The air you blow in just stops at the top and never circulates to the bottom.

The hard hat liner allows the air space for the air flow. I am sure you could get by with two fans at the frown because the neck area is open. However, there will not be as much air hitting the top of your head and there will be nothing to suck the heat out at the top of your head. After suiting up I usually have worked up a good sweat. My system works so well that i put my helmet on to cool off. In Texas this is a must have feature.

For more photos.

http://s889.photobucket.com/albums/ac100/TK6294/KW%20ANH%202-5/

password 501SGNTS

Hard Hat liner:

http://www.labsafety.com/AOSafety-Replacement-Six-Point-Pinlock-Suspension-for-Standard-or-Full-Brim-Hard-Hat_s_133039-2/Hard-Hat-Accessories_24537530/

Squirrel Fans. The suck in at the middle and then blow out at the side. Make sure that you buy this model and part number. If you go for more CFM the decibel will be too loud inside your bucket. I made that mistake the first time around. the voltage range for the fans is 10.2v to 13.8v. So you need three of the batteries listed below.

http://www.newark.com/nmb/bm5115-04w-b30-l00/blower/dp/14C7796

Lithium rechargeable batteries. they are the size of AA but pack more than twice the voltage in them. 3.7volts compared to the standard 1.5volts. I originally had 8 AA's per two fans. I felt like my whole bucket was full of batteries. When I use 9volts they would not last longer than 2 hours. With these lithium's i get the life of the 8 AA's but with little weight or space taken. Plus the battery boxes have switches built into them. I only need 3 lithium's to replace 8 AA's. So now i have 3 lithium's per 2 fans.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19770

Charger for the batteries

http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4151

3 x AA battery case holder with on/off switch.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Battery-case-box-holder-with-switch-3-x-AA-cells-4-5V_W0QQitemZ390111485482QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5ad474de2a

ZD 99 Solder Station

http://www.soldertoolsdepot.com/productsdirect.asp?dept=480&main=79&item1=15860+TL&item2=15845+TL&item3=15140+TL&item4=15141+TL&item5=17204+TL

Heat shrink tubing

http://www.soldertoolsdepot.com/listitems.asp?dept=477

[MHenry]

Thanks all...roger roger. I was abit worried about proximity of grin fans to microphone? I mounted my two fans with sticky velcro...helps with vibration and adjusting location.

[Plastic Fury]

I use the foam padding from a t-ball helmet that can be bought cheap at Wal*Mart. It works great, fits my head tight and is very comfortable. I have one squirrel fan on the left side of my frown to pull air in and keep my lenses clear, this is only an issue on indoor troops since it's hotter inside my bucket in the a/c environment. Outside, it's never an issue except maaaaaybe in December here in South Florida lol.