Headphone connector repair
 

Seems like it should be the easiest thing in the world, but I'm ashamed
to admit I'm having trouble with this.

The replacement headphone plug has three gold-plated terminals, and the
headphone lead has three enamel-coated wires coming out: if the plug is
oriented in the 12 o'clock position I have red to right, green to left,
gold to the center pin.

I sand down the wires, tin them, and then do my best to solder them up,
but the holes in the terminals are very small and I don't see as well
these days.

Unfortunately even when I think I've got all three wires making a solid
electrical connection to the terminals, I'm often getting only one
channel, or intermittent contact, or wires shorting against each other
somehow.

Any suggestions to improve my game here?

Headphone connector repair
 

In article ,
says...

Seems like it should be the easiest thing in the world, but I'm ashamed
to admit I'm having trouble with this.

The replacement headphone plug has three gold-plated terminals, and the
headphone lead has three enamel-coated wires coming out: if the plug is
oriented in the 12 o'clock position I have red to right, green to left,
gold to the center pin.

I sand down the wires, tin them, and then do my best to solder them up,
but the holes in the terminals are very small and I don't see as well
these days.

Unfortunately even when I think I've got all three wires making a solid
electrical connection to the terminals, I'm often getting only one
channel, or intermittent contact, or wires shorting against each other
somehow.

Any suggestions to improve my game here?

Buy a large illuminated bench magnifier (since you have already come to
terms with eyesight). Also use a handy-andy bench clamp (or pair of
them) to get everything aligned before heating the iron...

Mike.

Headphone connector repair
 

On 11/19/2016 8:25 AM, bitrex wrote:
Seems like it should be the easiest thing in the world, but I'm ashamed
to admit I'm having trouble with this.

The replacement headphone plug has three gold-plated terminals, and the
headphone lead has three enamel-coated wires coming out: if the plug is
oriented in the 12 o'clock position I have red to right, green to left,
gold to the center pin.

I sand down the wires, tin them, and then do my best to solder them up,
but the holes in the terminals are very small and I don't see as well
these days.

Unfortunately even when I think I've got all three wires making a solid
electrical connection to the terminals, I'm often getting only one
channel, or intermittent contact, or wires shorting against each other
somehow.

Any suggestions to improve my game here?

Optivisor!
I just cobbled together a headphone cord to a
RCA phono plug cord this morning. Trying to sell some Pioneer HDM700
speakers at our yard sale and had to connect an audio source to an amp.

Mikek

Headphone connector repair
 

On Sat, 19 Nov 2016 09:25:31 -0500, bitrex
wrote:

I sand down the wires, tin them, and then do my best to solder them up,
but the holes in the terminals are very small and I don't see as well
these days.

Soldering to tiny foil (tinsel) wires is difficult. What I do is wrap
the wire with one strand of fine bare copper wire salvaged from a
piece of stranded wire. I wrap the fine bare wire around the foil
wire, and then solder to the bare wire, not the foil wire. The wrap
does not need to be tight, with all the turns jammed together, but
rather a loose spiral with the pitch equal to about twice the foil
wire.

I can supply a photo if my description is too muddled.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Headphone connector repair
 

On 11/19/2016 10:51 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sat, 19 Nov 2016 09:25:31 -0500, bitrex
wrote:

I sand down the wires, tin them, and then do my best to solder them up,
but the holes in the terminals are very small and I don't see as well
these days.

Soldering to tiny foil (tinsel) wires is difficult. What I do is wrap
the wire with one strand of fine bare copper wire salvaged from a
piece of stranded wire. I wrap the fine bare wire around the foil
wire, and then solder to the bare wire, not the foil wire. The wrap
does not need to be tight, with all the turns jammed together, but
rather a loose spiral with the pitch equal to about twice the foil
wire.

I can supply a photo if my description is too muddled.


Nice idea, I'll try that.

Headphone connector repair
 

In article ,
bitrex wrote:

Seems like it should be the easiest thing in the world, but I'm ashamed
to admit I'm having trouble with this.

The replacement headphone plug has three gold-plated terminals, and the
headphone lead has three enamel-coated wires coming out: if the plug is
oriented in the 12 o'clock position I have red to right, green to left,
gold to the center pin.

I sand down the wires, tin them, and then do my best to solder them up,
but the holes in the terminals are very small and I don't see as well
these days.

IME, the fiber "strength members" twisted in with the wires are a big
part of the problem. Using my trusty magnifying visor, I carefully
separate out all the non-electric strands and hold them out of the way
with tape. Separate out enough so the strands will be at least an inch
longer than the length you'll need for attaching the wires; more on that
later.

The wire strands are far too small to sand without damage, and it's not
necessary once the plastic strands are out of the way. Just use a
well-tinned hot iron (750 F at least; 800 is better) and a dab of flux
and the insulation will burn right off and the wire will tin.

After the wires are soldered to the plug (and check the connections by
listening; red is not always "right") free up those fiber strands you so
carefully taped out of the way before. With a bit of slack in the wires
(for strain relief), give the fibers a couple wraps around the back part
of the plug and apply a drop of superglue (if it doesn't go off,
sprinkle a pinch of baking soda on it).

Now look around, spot the plug's back cover lying on the bench, curse
loudly, and start over, but this time slide the back cover on the cable
*first*!

Doing it that way makes very reliable connections, and the fiber strands
take any tension off the fragile wires when the cable gets pulled.

Isaac

Headphone connector repair
 

On 11/20/2016 11:48 PM, isw wrote:

Now look around, spot the plug's back cover lying on the bench, curse
loudly, and start over, but this time slide the back cover on the cable
*first*!

Yes. I am guilty of this. :-(

Headphone connector repair
 

On Sun, 20 Nov 2016 23:50:53 -0500, bitrex
wrote:

On 11/20/2016 11:48 PM, isw wrote:

Now look around, spot the plug's back cover lying on the bench, curse
loudly, and start over, but this time slide the back cover on the cable
*first*!

Yes. I am guilty of this. :-(

Ditto, but my solution was not to start over. I cut a wide slit along
the length of the plastic connector cover with a hack saw or Dremel
tool cutoff disk. The slit was wide enough that I could slide the
wires through the slit. I then screwed the plastic cover onto the
plug, and filled the slit with hot melt glue. A little sanding it
looked almost as good as if I had done it correctly in the first
place.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Headphone connector repair
 

On 21.11.16 5:50, bitrex wrote:
On 11/20/2016 11:48 PM, isw wrote:

Now look around, spot the plug's back cover lying on the bench, curse
loudly, and start over, but this time slide the back cover on the cable
*first*!

Yes. I am guilty of this. :-(

It happens most often with 100pins amphenol connectors.(dont ask me
how I know....)

Headphone connector repair
 

In article ,
bitrex wrote:
On 11/20/2016 11:48 PM, isw wrote:

Now look around, spot the plug's back cover lying on the bench, curse
loudly, and start over, but this time slide the back cover on the cable
*first*!

Yes. I am guilty of this. :-(

Now you may progress to Stage 2 Error: Remembering to put the shroud on,
then discovering you put it on backwards ...
--
--------------------------------------+------------------------------------
Mike Brown: mjb[-at-]signal11.org.uk | http://www.signal11.org.uk

Headphone connector repair
 

In article ,
says...

I'm impressed. In some other groups I've been asking about a
one-piece stereo to mono headphone adapter. I want one with a
built-in switch but even though it's not available I don't think
I'll be doing that to fit one!

http://al.howardknight.net/msgid.cgi?ID=148001642200

If, as in link, it has a mono socket, what is the "mono/stereo" switch
going to do?

Mike.

Headphone connector repair
 

On 11/21/2016 06:16 AM, Mike wrote:
In article ,
bitrex wrote:
On 11/20/2016 11:48 PM, isw wrote:

Now look around, spot the plug's back cover lying on the bench, curse
loudly, and start over, but this time slide the back cover on the cable
*first*!

Yes. I am guilty of this. :-(

Now you may progress to Stage 2 Error: Remembering to put the shroud on,
then discovering you put it on backwards ...


I committed a Stage 3 error today repairing one mo I put two shrouds
on. And only noticed until I had soldered up the plug.

They're solid metal.

I give up.

Headphone connector repair
 

In article ,
says...

On 22:03 24 Nov 2016, MJC wrote:

In article ,
says...

I'm impressed. In some other groups I've been asking about a
one-piece stereo to mono headphone adapter. I want one with a
built-in switch but even though it's not available I don't
think I'll be doing that to fit one!

http://al.howardknight.net/msgid.cgi?ID=148001642200

If, as in link, it has a mono socket, what is the "mono/stereo"
switch going to do?

Mike.


It would allow stereo headphones to play mono in both channels
(rather than in just the left channel) from a mono socket.

You're going to need a stereo socket for that! (I had hoped you would
work that out for yourself with my prompting!)

Mike.

Headphone connector repair
 

In article ,
says...

On 09:02 25 Nov 2016, MJC wrote:

In article ,
says...

On 22:03 24 Nov 2016, MJC wrote:

In article ,
says...

I'm impressed. In some other groups I've been asking about
a one-piece stereo to mono headphone adapter. I want one
with a built-in switch but even though it's not available I
don't think I'll be doing that to fit one!

http://al.howardknight.net/msgid.cgi?ID=148001642200

If, as in link, it has a mono socket, what is the
"mono/stereo" switch going to do?

Mike.


It would allow stereo headphones to play mono in both channels
(rather than in just the left channel) from a mono socket.

You're going to need a stereo socket for that! (I had hoped you
would work that out for yourself with my prompting!)

Mike.

One scenario I need to handle is when I want to play the output
from the headphone socket of a mono dictation machine on both
channels of stereo headphones.

At other times, the need is to pass through a stereo signal from a
stereo socket to stereo headphones and then to switch over to
hearing dual mono in the headphones.

It's all lovingly discussed in the thread in uk.d-i-y. :-)
MID:

Sorry, I don't feel loving enough to read that. If you don't understand
the need for a stereo socket, I give up!

Mike.

Headphone connector repair
 

Getting off topic but I've changed a bunch of high pin count ICs (through the hole type) and got most of pins soldered when discovering that one pin decided to stay out of it's hole..

Headphone connector repair
 

On 26/11/16 12:31, pamela wrote:

My dictation machine has on't a mono headphone socket so I don't
have any choice about it.


It would probably be easy to break into the unit and put in a small
stereo/mono toggle switch. Better than doing that after amplification.

--
Adrian C