3

I am planning to fix my broken headphones. They don´t really work in my laptop unless I twist the plug-in wire to a certain position and hold them there. I think it´s just a broken wire somewhere close to the plug-in? I was thinking of cutting the wire close to the plug-in and solder the wires to a new plug-in. Do you think my assumptions are correct? What are the best tools to use for this task?

enter image description here

l3win
  • 311
  • 2
  • 9
  • 2
    The picture you post and the item you like to, are not the same. The Sennheiser Adidas CX 680i you link to has an inline remote, and has a 4 conductor TRRS plug. Using a 3 conductor TRS plug will mean some feature gets disabled. Additionally, TRRS replacement plugs are not easy to find, especially right angle. – Passerby Jun 18 '13 at 03:41
  • Repair questions are off-topic. – Leon Heller Jun 18 '13 at 07:47
  • 6
    We shouldn't turn away questions just because they are about repair. http://meta.electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/684/repair-questions-suggestions-for-a-policy – travisbartley Jun 18 '13 at 08:27

1 Answers1

6

Its unfortunate that these headphone jacks are all too often designed to fail. If you take the time, you can learn to repair them and even make them stronger than before.

Materials You will need wire strippers/cutters, a replacement jack with wire slots, electrical tape, a soldering iron and some solder. The replacement connector should be able to unscrew, revealing the wire slots and solder points. They can be purchased very cheap and are much better to use than an old connector that is not made for replacing.

Preparation Cut the cable near to the faulty jack. Strip the outer sheath about 1/2". There will likely be three colored wires covered in enamel. First, separate the colors and then you will need to remove the enamel. This can be done using a bead of hot solder which will melt the enamel and tin the wire. Or if you have acetone/nail polish remover and mineral spirits those work well too. If none of those works for you, you will have to carefully scrape off the enamel with steel wool or a knife. This is the most tricky part, but if you don't remove the enamel, the headphones won't work perfectly.

Soldering Next you have to match each color with the tip, ring or sleeve of the headphone jack. For this type of connector, the tip is left channel, ring is right channel and sleeve is common. Generally the red wire is right channel, the blue wire is left channel, and the bare copper one is common. If the stereo orientation is wrong, reverse the red and blue connections.

Reinforcement After testing the audio and L/R orientation, you may need to reinforce the wire with electrical tape and epoxy. Epoxy can be put over the solder joints so that when the cable is pulled, the tension is put on the epoxy instead of on the soldering joints which could make them weaken and break over time. With electrical tape, the idea is to put it thicker near the connector and taper it off. This way, if you pull the wire sideways, the wire will bend like a fishing rod, distributing the load over a few inches instead of just one point.

travisbartley
  • 4,823
  • 3
  • 23
  • 41
  • 1
    Good info, in my experience though, right is red, left is white, even inside headphone cables. – Passerby Jun 18 '13 at 03:39
  • 1
    Maybe the convention is different between companies or regions. I've even seen green wires. The important thing is to test them after soldering. – travisbartley Jun 18 '13 at 03:55
  • Yea, simply cut the plug a bit long, so you can stick a continuity meter on the plug and the wires, to confirm. – Passerby Jun 18 '13 at 04:56
  • "I remember this with the mnemonic Red Right bLue Left Copper Common" http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/6698/headphone-wire-color-coding – travisbartley Jun 20 '13 at 02:50
  • are there specific headphone jacks I should purchase for the repair? Will all headphone jacks not be compatible? – l3win Jun 27 '13 at 21:12
  • @l3win, I used a plastic replacement last time, but I was a little disappointed. Cheap look and feel and the tip got a little bent. So I decided to use metal connectors from now on and just ordered a pair of gold plated replacements. They also have silver plated, but honestly I don't think there's any difference in quality as long as its metal. If its a stereo headphone like the one in the picture, make sure you get a TRS (3-metal) connector. If there is also a mic you need TRRS (4-metal) connector. I'll be repairing mine soon so I'll put up some more details and pictures. – travisbartley Jun 28 '13 at 01:33
  • @l3win, also we are confused about your question. You provided a link and a picture but they don't match! They have different connectors! Could you check which one is incorrect and edit it out of the question? – travisbartley Jun 28 '13 at 01:35
  • I have changed the link in my original question. Now the jacks are the same – l3win Jun 28 '13 at 03:50
  • OK so that is a standard stereo, 3-conductor connector. You want just the normal TRS connector which is easier to find, cheaper and more robust than TRRS. Make sure you don't get a mono connector either. – travisbartley Jun 28 '13 at 03:53
  • @trav1s Are you sure that the tip is right channel and ring is left? I thought it was the opposite (and always remember it by equating that _R_ight is _R_ing). See: http://pinouts.ru/connector/3_pin_stereo_plug_connector.shtml – Shamtam Jun 28 '13 at 03:57
  • Wait, concerning the soldering step: Are you saying that it's a trial and error, there's no way of knowing which wire/terminal is positive, negative and ground? – l3win Jul 19 '13 at 23:32
  • @l3win, Generally the wire colors follow the standard above. You can have very high confidence that you are wiring it correctly if your wires match the colors above. But you can't always guarantee every pair of headphones follows the convention. If you have the extreme bad luck of having colors totally different than what I describe, it becomes trial and error. – travisbartley Jul 20 '13 at 00:46
  • travis, thanks for the info. I was thinking of buying these:http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=092-132&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla – l3win Aug 06 '13 at 04:48
  • @l3win, that is actually a 1/4" jack, so it wont fit into your iphone or similar. Those are more common for instruments or hifi systems. The more standard size is 1/8". That is the size in your picture. – travisbartley Aug 06 '13 at 07:07