Adding LED lights and Audio System to Anovos DT helmet

[MKE-Trooper]

Originally I was going to use the Jim Tripon's helmet but I was able to find the 2018 Anovos helmet on Ebay for a reasonable price which I am super excited about.

I picked up Ukswraths LED lights and Audio System awhile back and would really like to add it to my Anovos helmet, but I really don't want to mess up a $600 collectible helmet...

@ChaosI saw you posted awhile back a link to some youtube videos on adding LED lights. Has anyone else tried this?

Also curious if anyone has added an Audio system to an Anovos Helmet, and if so can you share your experience and photos?

Thanks in advance!

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

Nick, awesome find with the Anovos helmet. To be honest, I know it's a collectable, but to be honest most people who use the Anovos have all modified it in some way so wouldn't worry much about what you do to it as the mods can be made "non-permanent."

NOTE: the photos below are actually of an install in my old Jim Tripon helmet, however, the location and structure are exactly the same for my Anovos helmet. I don't have access to it right now, so for now we can go back a few years and just pretend that what you are looking at is an Anovos helmet LOL! 

I removed the inside liner of mine. It was stuck in using a light tack glue so it peeled out nicely. I saved it just in case I wanted to install it back. I did that because I installed a hard hat liner to provide lift/support/and air flow thru the helmet and did not want to have to clean the fabric after every trooping. The liner makes it warm to wear and the sweat just collects in the fabric. The hard hat liner is attached with hot glue so once again non-permanent.

Tony's DT helmet audio system fits nicely inside the Anovos helmet. I use his system and even with it, a flat battery pack and three of Trooper Tronix fans, and a battery pack for the LED lights, I still have plenty of room. My hat size is 7 1/2. I use the MP3 player with the Bluetooth receiver and have never had any connectivity issues. I really dislike wires running down my neck etc., so this set up works perfectly for me. I have a video showing how I use the MP3 player and will post the link below. The MP3 player is small enough that I simply attach it to my E-11D and it's really unnoticeable to the average bystander. I did add a piece of material to the Play/Pause button so that it was easier to push the button with gloves on (1:40 in the video) 

 

I did manage to find one photo of my Anovos, as you can see everything is in the same locations as my Jim T helmet set up

 

I also used the LED install video I posted to make the modifications. Ironically, the tusks already have the pre-drilled holes for the 5mm LEDs so that's what I am running now. I think during my next upgrade/re-do I will replace the LEDs with EL panels. I like how it looks. The only issue will be that the power supply for the EL panels will be slightly bigger but I think it will still fit in the area where I have my LED battery pack.

 

Let me know if you have any questions.

[MKE-Trooper]

Thanks @ChaosI really appreciate the VERY detailed response! 

A couple follow up questions:

- When you removed the inside lining of the Anovos helmet, are the side vents already cut out? Assuming you placed the speakers for the audio system behind the vents.

- I noticed that the Anovos helmet rests on my nose and gets uncomfortable quickly. Did you have this issue also, and if so did the hard hat liner help?

- You mentioned that the "tusks already have the pre-drilled holes for the 5mm LEDs", does that mean you just needed to feed the LED through from the inside after removing the inside lining? 

Sorry for all the questions Chaos, just want to make sure I do it right the first time and not have to redo something later. 

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

No worries about asking questions, we all do it and it's a crucial part of our Spec Ops community. So keep asking them.

I'm back in the US now, so I have access to my actual helmet. I'll take some time today to take some up close photos specific to your questions. 

[MKE-Trooper]

7 hours ago, Chaos said:

No worries about asking questions, we all do it and it's a crucial part of our Spec Ops community. So keep asking them.

I'm back in the US now, so I have access to my actual helmet. I'll take some time today to take some up close photos specific to your questions. 

Thanks @Chaos 

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

On 3/6/2024 at 5:50 PM, MKE-Trooper said:

A couple follow up questions:

- When you removed the inside lining of the Anovos helmet, are the side vents already cut out? Assuming you placed the speakers for the audio system behind the vents.

- I noticed that the Anovos helmet rests on my nose and gets uncomfortable quickly. Did you have this issue also, and if so did the hard hat liner help?

- You mentioned that the "tusks already have the pre-drilled holes for the 5mm LEDs", does that mean you just needed to feed the LED through from the inside after removing the inside lining? 

Sorry for all the questions Chaos, just want to make sure I do it right the first time and not have to redo something later. 

Ok I got a chance to take some photos.

When the inside lining is removed, the vents slots are open and already have the required metal screen/mesh installed. You will need to put some type of black fabric under the vents to black out the speakers. I just used a small strip of landscaping fabric I had lying around the garage.

My Anovos also rests on the bridge of my nose so I glued a foam pad where it contacts my nose and it is very comfortable right now. The helmet liner gives you the ability to raise the helmet up and down, but with my head, I could only raise it up so far and still be able to see out the visor.

As far as the predrilled LED holes in the Anovos, they are only predrilled in the tusks, you have to drill down thru the existing holes and thru the helmet fiberglass. (use the YouTube Video I linked to in my other post) Its really simple and the hole only needs to be big enough to thread the wires thru.

Here are some sots of the inside of the helmet. You can see how I positioned Tony's helmet speaker system. Place two fans and the USB power pack. You can also see a switch housing with 2 switches, one controls the fans and the other the tusk lights. The battery pack next to the switches is for the tusk LEDs. My NSM is removable so the LED switch for the NSM is on the NSM itself. You can the neo magnet which is what holds the NSM in place via magnetic attraction. If you have any questions please let me know.

 

[MKE-Trooper]

4 hours ago, Chaos said:

Ok I got a chance to take some photos.

When the inside lining is removed, the vents slots are open and already have the required metal screen/mesh installed. You will need to put some type of black fabric under the vents to black out the speakers. I just used a small strip of landscaping fabric I had lying around the garage.

My Anovos also rests on the bridge of my nose so I glued a foam pad where it contacts my nose and it is very comfortable right now. The helmet liner gives you the ability to raise the helmet up and down, but with my head, I could only raise it up so far and still be able to see out the visor.

As far as the predrilled LED holes in the Anovos, they are only predrilled in the tusks, you have to drill down thru the existing holes and thru the helmet fiberglass. (use the YouTube Video I linked to in my other post) Its really simple and the hole only needs to be big enough to thread the wires thru.

Here are some sots of the inside of the helmet. You can see how I positioned Tony's helmet speaker system. Place two fans and the USB power pack. You can also see a switch housing with 2 switches, one controls the fans and the other the tusk lights. The battery pack next to the switches is for the tusk LEDs. My NSM is removable so the LED switch for the NSM is on the NSM itself. You can the neo magnet which is what holds the NSM in place via magnetic attraction. If you have any questions please let me know.

 

Thanks as always @Chaos, I really appreciate you taking the time to put this information together. This is extremely helpful!

Any chance you still have a link to the hard hat liner you purchased?

[Chaos[CMD-DCA]]

I bought a hard hat from Lowes Home Improvement and cut it up. Here are two video tutorials on YouTube done for a TK helmet, but it's the same process, and the other is for a DT