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I am trying to repair broken headphone wire with this amazon thing. Here is the first pic showing what I am trying to do:

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I made sure that black wire is working by playing something on the phone and measuring the terminals by multimeter and I can see some current reading. enter image description here Here is how the terminals in the white wire look alike. Not sure what kind of wire this is but there are copper wires with some kind of thread or wool interwoven together. Not sure picture shows clearly but I did my best.

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I joined these together by hand by just tying together but I don't think proper connection is forming because I can't hear anything on the headphone. Current is flowing into black wire but it is not passing into white wire. If I used aligator clips to connect black wire to white wire, current is flowing only till aligator clips and it is not flowing to white wire. I am guessing it is because white wire terminals are special kind because it has some kind of wool in it.

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How do I make the proper connection here? Do I really have to use soldering here? I thought hand join these two and put some taper over it. Appreciate any insight on this.

javanoob
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    It's a strength member, possibly nylon. It's got nothing to do with your connection problems, which come from the insulating varnish coating on the wire. Yes, use solder (the heat from soldering will burn off the varnish, allowing good contact.) –  Jan 09 '22 at 21:18
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    You can search the web for lots of videos on good splicing techniques using soldering (yes, you really have to solder this). [Here's one](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FTL_VCvkXrg). Tape will work, but I highly recommend the heat shrink tubing. You can get the tubing and a hot air gun pretty cheap online or at your local hardware store, and it's a good investment for DIY and produces a more professional result. – TypeIA Jan 09 '22 at 21:35
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    This appears to be a version of the highly useful incredibly evil "tinsel,". The thread like material imparts strength and flexibility to the cord and connection is made by the spiralled copper. It is, as you have found, very difficult to solder. The copper may be enamelled. One potential method is to wind a tight but wide spaced layer of copper wire over it and solder to the copper wire with lots of solder. Mechanical clamping also may work. Tinsel.wire has-been used for a very long time and has always been problematic. – ATCSVOL Jan 10 '22 at 01:30
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    Does this answer your question? [What are those weird wires in the audio cables?](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/565015/what-are-those-weird-wires-in-the-audio-cables) – JRE Jan 10 '22 at 06:56

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The copper is not exposed but has a layer of lacquer on it, so it won't make connection just by twisting. You need to dissolve burn away the lacquer somehow, such as with a soldering iron.

Justme
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