Everyone who uses headphones has sooner or later encountered the fact that they fail. As a rule, this manifests itself in the form of one non-working speaker. This kind of breakdown is typical for headphones, and it is due to the fact that their wires are constantly bent. Below in the photo, red circles show the areas most at risk of cliffs.
As practice shows, if such a breakdown occurs, in most cases performance can be restored. We'll tell you in detail how to solder your headphones so that they continue to delight you with clear sound.
Problem Definition
A break can occur in the plug, at the speaker, or somewhere in the cable. The latter case is extremely rare and, as a rule, is caused by mechanical stress on the wire due to careless handling. In such a situation, it is recommended to completely change it, since the adhesions will create a problem area.
Most often, the problem lies in the plug itself, since this is the most critical place. In most cases, by pressing on the base of the connector, or bending the cable near it, you can find a position in which both headphones will start working. As a result of this, we can state that the problem lies precisely in the plug.
Standard plugs
Before we begin the repair, let's look at the most common types of headphone jacks, as well as their connection diagram. This will help us decide how to solder the headphone wires if the cable has 4 wires (headset with microphone) or 3 wires.
Below is a classic diagram for connecting headphones connected to each other by a common ground. In quality devices such as Koss Porta Pro, Philips, Sony, Sennheiser, etc. a separate shielded wire is used for each channel; in more budget implementations, there may be a common shield for two channels.
For headphones with a microphone, the plug has an additional contact pad; a diagram of such a connection is shown below.
Note that many manufacturers of mobile devices can use non-standard connectors; we will consider this topic at the end of the article.
List of necessary equipment for repair
To work we will need:
- Not a very powerful soldering iron, 25 W is enough. On the Internet, of course, you can find a method on how to connect the wires in headphones without a soldering iron, but this cannot be compared with the reliability of soldering. Therefore, if you don’t have it, buy it (price starts from $3), it will always be useful in everyday life;
- rosin and solder;
- new connector (check that it is the same type as the one we are replacing).
Algorithm of actions for repairs
Now that we have everything ready, let's start restoring the headphones:
- we cut off the old connector, approximately at a distance of 0.5-1 cm from its base, so we will get rid of the problematic part of the wire;
- remove the insulation so as not to damage the conductors. As a result, we will see four wires, two of which will be covered with insulating colored varnish, and two without insulation (an example is shown in the photo);
- in order to tin the wires, it will be necessary to remove the insulating varnish from them; this is done using a stationery knife or fine-grained sandpaper. We twist the screen of the right and left channels together;
- as mentioned above, it can be three wires, two of which are channels, and one is a common screen, in this case we simply remove the insulating varnish from them;
- we disassemble the new connector, do not forget to thread the stereo headphone wires through its base, as shown in the photo (otherwise you will have to redo everything);
- Let's start soldering the wires to the connector. It is recommended to start with the general one, after which we solder the left and right channels. The result is shown in the photograph;
- After letting the wires and connector cool for a few minutes, you can test the result. To do this, connect the plug to the audio output socket and check the operation of the headphones. If everything is fine, we proceed to assembling the connector. What to do if one earphone still does not work will be discussed separately;
- We fix the wire; for this purpose, there is a clamp on the connector (on the contact where the common wire is soldered), an insulated cable is inserted into it and crimped using pliers. In the photo below, the clamp is marked with a red circle on the unsoldered connector;
- For greater reliability, we insulate the contacts with electrical tape, and at maximum proximity to them we recommend tying a knot on the cable. This will significantly reduce the risk that an accidental jerk will break the solder.
- We assemble the connector and use the headphones for our own pleasure. If you need to solder a plug to 4-wire headphones (that is, with a microphone), the principle of operation is almost the same.
Now consider the option that one of the speakers continues to be inoperative after replacing the plug; there are several reasons for this:
- poor-quality soldering, it is necessary to carefully check it;
- there is a problem with the headphone speaker, there is a very high probability that the wire has broken near it;
- problems with the cable itself, as mentioned above, it is not recommended to extend the cable or connect it at break points.
As you can see, in two out of three cases the problem is solvable. If the reason is poor-quality soldering, you should re-solder the connector more carefully; if there is a break near the speaker, proceed according to the following algorithm:
- cut the wire near the base of the earphone;
- we disassemble the earphone, as a rule, they are made to be self-latching, so there will be no problems with this;
- we remove the insulation from the wire and strip and tinning it;
- if you have a multimeter, then at this stage you can ring the headphone lead to ensure its integrity;
- We solder the wires, test the headphones, and assemble them.
Video: How to solder headphone wires
Non-standard connectors
We have already mentioned that many manufacturers produce devices where the input on the headset differs from the standard one. For example, some models of Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson, etc. It is also common to find headsets that use a USB connector instead of a standard plug, for example, WH-205.
As for the technology for repairing such headphones, it is practically no different from the usual one. The only exception may be searching for an original plug for a particular phone model. But, given the increased number of “left” manufacturers of original spare parts, it is not difficult to buy such a connector.
In addition, do not forget that to connect a standard headset to a non-standard connector, you can use an appropriate adapter, for example, such as shown in the photo.
If desired, such an adapter can be soldered independently, but given the low cost of Chinese products, this is not particularly necessary.
As you can see, soldering headphones correctly is not difficult; all that is needed for this is accuracy and skills in working with a soldering iron. Even if you didn’t manage to make the repair the first time, don’t be upset, check everything again.
Once upon a time, at the dawn of its existence, portable dynamic radiators were found only in telephone handsets. These speakers were adapted by radio amateurs and for use in radio receivers, but were intended, first of all, only for transmitting human speech, and therefore did not differ in the width of the emitted range of the sound spectrum.
In addition, the first headphones were large in size and characterized by a high resistance, which was important when used with tube technology. Nothing has changed dramatically since then, but today's headphones sound much better and have become much more compact. An increase in sound quality was provoked by the emergence of the Hi-Fi standard, which describes devices that produce sound of increased purity. What are modern headphones?
Frequency range
High-quality headphones must have a certain range in which they can produce sound waves. The minimum acceptable frequency range is audible frequencies, that is, from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. If the range of the headphones is narrower, then they will not be able to reproduce part of the sound, which will certainly affect the sound quality.
Higher quality and more expensive Hi-Fi and Hi-End headphones have a wider range - from 5 to 25,000 Hz, which allows them to convey all the subtleties and nuances of music, revealing it more fully.
Headphone design
By design, headphones can be divided into two main types:
- using an arc-shaped headband;
- attached without a headband.
The first type usually includes on-ear and monitor headphones, although there are also sports vacuum headphones with a headband for better fit in the ears. The second type includes compact earbuds and earplugs, although there are also small over-ear headphones that use special clothespins to attach them to the ears.
Headphones are also divided according to the principle of closedness:
- on-ear phones can be open or closed due to the presence or absence of slots in the ear pads;
- In-ear headphones are divided based on the density of closure of the ear canal - earbuds do not block it, while plugs completely fill the ear canal.
In-ear headphones are held in the ear due to its anatomical features - shape and size. If the headphones do not fit and fall out, then you can change the situation using foam tips, but only within small limits - most often in this case you will have to use vacuum headphones. They are located inside the ear canal and are called intracanal. Such devices were invented at the end of the 20th century based on medical devices for hearing analysis. Today, even such tiny headphones can have Hi-Fi quality.
To increase the comfort of using in-ear headphones, you can use ear pads of different diameters, as well as special polymer or foam tips, thanks to which the speaker will stay more securely inside the ear.
There are two types of over-ear headphones: closed and open. The second type of device has small ventilation holes in the ear pads, which can allow sounds to pass both out and in. This increases the safety of using headphones outside the home, as they allow you to hear surrounding sounds. This is also useful for musicians when recording sound - open monitor headphones make it possible to listen to the backing track and your voice at the same time.
Closed headphones have ear pads without holes that do not allow outside sounds to pass through, while at the same time preventing music from the headphones from entering the environment. This allows you to use such headphones to maintain silence around you - for example, when you want to watch movies and listen to music without disturbing others.
Speaker
In general, the design of the headphones is very simple - each ear consists of a small dynamic emitter built into the ear pad. Vacuum headphones also have an additional channel through which the sound goes directly into the user's ear canal.
Due to the small size of the speaker, headphones do not have the characteristics characteristic of speakers - they are not divided into multi-band and broadband, they are not low-frequency or high-frequency, since they must always transmit the entire possible sound spectrum. In addition, headphones do not have such a parameter as activity - in the compact body of the headphones there is simply no room for a built-in sound amplifier. Therefore, headphones always use an amplifier located at the sound source. You can also use a portable headphone amplifier, which greatly improves the sound quality.
Other characteristics of the speaker are characteristic of headphones almost to the same extent as speakers.
Impendance
Impedance, or electrical resistance, is one of the most important parameters of any acoustic device, since its mismatch between the sound output device and the sound source can lead to serious equipment breakdowns.
As a rule, mobile equipment - players, smartphones and tablets - are designed to connect headphones with an impedance of 32 Ohms. In this case, the equipment will fully open up and be able to function as efficiently as possible. Sometimes you can find headphones with impedance from 24 to 40 ohms. Devices with high impedance are, as a rule, monitor headphones designed for professional use and connected to special equipment.
Power
Contrary to popular belief, power has no effect on the volume of sound that headphones can produce. The main thing that power affects is the reliability of the headphones, that is, the ability to produce sound without serious distortion.
As a rule, even the most sophisticated full-size headphones do not reach the power of the simplest portable speakers - the maximum that can be found is 4 W. Most often, headphones with a power of 1 - 1.5 W are found. Small in-ear headphones even have a power of up to a watt - 0.1, sometimes 0.2 W. Cheap earbuds only have a power of about 0.05 W.
To improve the sound, you can use portable amplifiers. They connect to the sound source via USB, and headphones are already connected to them via a standard interface. Powerful headphones can also be connected to stationary amplifiers.
Cable
With this part of the headphone design, everything is quite simple - the shorter the cable, the better the sound in the headphones due to the absence of noticeable distortion and signal loss. Most often, the length of the headphone cable is 0.8 - 1.2 m, but it can reach up to one and a half meters. A large length is not needed - as a rule, the sound source is located close to the headphones. If necessary, you can use extension cords, but in this case interference, albeit small, is inevitable.
If you need a longer range, it is better to use wireless models. Instead of a cable, they use a Bluetooth signal receiver, which, together with a battery, is built into the headphone body. Modern receivers and batteries have very modest sizes, so such a device does not prevent the headphones from being compact.
The design of the headphone wire may vary. The headset is usually equipped with a cable with different lengths of channels - this is done so that the second ear can be thrown over the neck. On-ear headphones are equipped with a traditional Y-shaped cable of the same length, or a wire that goes to only one ear. Professional headphones have replaceable cables that can be disconnected from the headphones, or only one channel can be disconnected.
The wire can be either flat or round, and is always covered with polymer insulation, which can sometimes be additionally decorated with a laced covering. A special feature of modern headphones is the use of oxygen-free copper in production, which can significantly reduce the influence of the cable on sound quality.
Plug
The headphones use one of three standard jacks – 6.3 mm, 3.5 mm or 2.5 mm. The plug can be straight or L-shaped - you can choose either one, connecting them equally conveniently to any equipment.
The plug should fit as closely as possible into the connector being used. The jack can have from one to 4 rings that perform different functions. One or two transmit sound from the front channels, the third is responsible for the microphone in the headsets, and the fourth is grounding. Headphones with 4 rings are generally designed for use with phones.
Thus, the design of the headphones is very simple, and choosing the most suitable design is not difficult. If necessary, the headphones can be easily disassembled and re-soldered, but such an operation makes sense only if the headphones are expensive - it’s easier to throw away cheap droplets and buy new ones.
Many modern people use headphones in everyday life, and are often faced with the fact that they fail. Usually one of the speakers does not work. This happens often because wires tend to bend. Constant impact on the wires causes the internal contacts to break. When such a problem occurs, in most cases, you can restore the headset's operation yourself.
Important points before unwiring headphones
The reason why headphones with a microphone do not work may also be the incompatibility of two headsets: a telephone and headphones. It is for such situations that special adapters have been developed. So if there is a problem with hearing in headphones, then first you need to check the most obvious options.
Before you begin repairing your headphones, you need to determine the cause of the problem. Quite often, wire rupture occurs in the place where the wire is constantly subject to twisting, namely in the plug. Less commonly, damage may occur in the cable. In this case, you should simply completely change it to another one. To determine that there is no sound from the speaker due to a fault in the plug, you can try pressing the cable into the base of the connector, twisting it in different directions. If sound appears after this, then this is where the problem lies.
In order to start wiring a headset with a microphone and a button, you should study the types of connectors. There are cables with three wires, four, five and even six. Headphones with a microphone are connected via 4 wires. Some models are equipped with non-standard connectors.
Note! If, when wiring headphones, the new connector is of a non-standard type, then the connection requires the use of an appropriate adapter device.
What is needed for desoldering
To pin out a faulty headset, you must prepare the following:
- New connector for replacement. It should be the same type as the old one.
- For high-quality soldering you need a soldering iron. Its power should not be high - 25 watts.
- Rosin and solder.
Today, there are ways to connect a cable without resorting to soldering elements. However, the procedure carried out using a soldering iron guarantees better quality work. Soldered contacts are more durable and will last a long time.
Wiring headphones with a microphone and a button: step by step
Once the cause of the malfunction has been identified and the necessary tools and elements have been prepared, you can begin desoldering:
- Using a sharp knife, cut off the old connector, leaving about 0.5-1 cm from the base. This way, the problem area is removed.
- Carefully, so as not to damage the conductors, use the same knife to remove the insulating sheath. After this you can see 4 wires. Two cables will be covered with insulation, and two will not.
- Wires covered with insulating material must be removed from the coating using sandpaper or a utility knife. The right and left channels are twisted together. The left channel is usually indicated by the green color of the insulating material, the right - by red.
- If there are only 3 cables in a cable, then two of them are channels, and the third is a common shield. In this situation, you only need to strip the cable of insulation without twisting anything.
- The connector that will be attached to the headset must be disassembled and inserted through the hole in the base of the headphone cable.
- Using a soldering iron, you need to solder the contacts to the connector. First, the overall shield is soldered, then the right and left channels are attached.
- The soldered wires and connector should cool down a bit, and then you should check if the headphones are working. If audibility is good and the problem is resolved, then you can start assembling the connector. If after carrying out the work the earphone does not work, then you should check that the wiring has not come loose after soldering.
- The wire must be secured to the connector. Modern connector models have special clamps. The insulated cable must be inserted into the clamp and secured with pliers.
- To be sure, the contacts are wrapped with insulating tape. The connector is assembled, you can listen to music and talk again.
Attention! If after work there is still no sound, even after checking all the wires for solder, then the damage to the wires may be near the speaker itself.
In order to carry out the wiring correctly and quickly eliminate the malfunction, no additional skills or specific knowledge are needed. All that is needed for high-quality work is accuracy and ability to handle a soldering iron. If you can’t work well with a soldering iron or do a great job yourself the first time, you don’t need to give up, but try again until you succeed.
Many people who regularly use MP3 players and mobile phones to listen to music through headphones have probably found themselves in a situation where music suddenly stops playing in one of the headphones or both. What could be the problem? 90%, this is a break in one of the wires of the headphone wire. Very often, a break occurs near the plug, that is, in the place where the wire is often bent during operation. There is a thread on this topic, but I decided to add something on my own.
Photo - in-ear headphones
I bought high-quality headphones - earbuds, which I used mercilessly) over the past 2 - 3 years. About 2 months ago, the sound disappeared from one of the headphones.
Plastic plug
You can determine the location of the break by turning on the player and bending the headphone wire, slowly moving from the plug to the headphones, as soon as sound appears, then there is a break in this place. Thus, the location of the damage on the wire was determined, and it turned out, as in the most common case, near the plug.
Metal headphone plug
Plug Jack 3.5 You can buy it at any radio store, there is a choice for every taste, both in a plastic case, cheap, and in an all-metal case, more expensive.
The following figure shows the pinout of the plug Jack 3.5 :
This repair is advisable only if the headphones are of high quality, with relatively thick veins. There is no point in repairing cheap headphones with thin wiring; they will not last long after repair. You can determine the cross-section of the veins by feeling the wires with your fingers. If the wire bends easily and is very soft, most likely there are thin wires, and most of the wire is occupied by plastic insulation. There are 3 or 4 wires in the wire, one or two of them connected together, this is the minus or common wire, and one wire for the left and right channels. Sometimes, if there are pets in the house, in particular cats, which, as you know, love to test all the wires, the wires can be bitten. In this case, the part of the wire that was damaged is bitten off with a small margin, stripped and tested with a multimeter in audio testing mode. If the wire goes further and the length allows, we connect it by soldering and splice the wires. The junction of the wires is insulated with pieces of electrical tape or adhesive tape, and then a piece of heat shrink is put on this place.
Heat shrinkage most often shrinks by 2 times its diameter after heating. In order to shrink it, you need to warm it up with a lighter, or if you have a soldering hair dryer, you can use it. If the break was near the earphone, you can open its case with a knife, cut the wire, ring, make sure that the break has been repaired, and solder again. After soldering, the earphone can be easily assembled using a second of glue.
Also, by setting the multimeter to the 200 Ohm resistance measurement mode, you can ring the headphones through the plug. That is, we call the resistance of the wires, together with the soldered headphone speakers, when we touch the plug contacts with the multimeter probes. The test resistance on the multimeter screen can vary from 8 to 30 or more ohms. This means that the channel is working and there will be sound in the headphone. If there is one on the multimeter screen, then there is a break in the wire. When assembling the earphone, you must remember to tie the cable in a knot; this knot will prevent the wire from being pulled out from the earphone when pulled. The following figure shows the connection diagram:
This picture shows the connection of the wires to the plug and speakers. The speaker itself, as everyone knows, consists of a permanent magnet and a membrane with a speaker coil glued to it. The ends of the coil are soldered to the contacts on the speaker. Let me remind you that the coil is tested with a multimeter in ohmmeter mode, this means that when we touch the probes of the multimeter to the plug contacts, we measure its resistance, or in other words, we make sure that the plug-wire-earphone circuit is closed, and from the headphones when connected to the player there will be sound. In the same way, if you have a multimeter, but no signal source (player or phone), you can check any headphones for functionality. The author of the instructions is AKV.
Almost everyone who uses headphones or a headset has encountered a situation where the gadget goes silent. It’s especially offensive that there seemed to be no prerequisites for the device’s failure - you used the gadget carefully, didn’t drop it, didn’t plug it into wall sockets. Buy new headphones, which, by the way, even made in China don’t cost a penny? No need to panic and hurry up. The most common reason for the failure of this type of device is a break in the conductors in the cable, and it most often occurs at the connector (plug) itself, where the wire is constantly bent.
Why buy new headphones to replace ones that are practically intact if the jack can simply be repaired? Moreover, almost anyone who knows how to hold a soldering iron in their hands can cope with this task.
What types of connectors are there and what's inside them?
Almost all plugs used to connect headphones and headsets (it would be more correct to call them connectors) have same design and differ only in size and number of contacts. They are grouped by size as follows:
- Jack 6.35;
- mini-Jack 3.5;
- micro-Jack 2.5.
The numbers at the end of each name indicate pin diameter connector in millimeters, and the devices look like this:
From left to right: micro-Jack 2.5 mm, mini-Jack 3.5 mm, Jack 6.35
Contacts are on pins there can be two, three, four or five, and such connectors are designated TS, TRS, TRRS and TRRRS, respectively. The first type is a mono jack. It is simple in circuit and design, has only two contacts and is not used in stereo phones, much less in headsets. The TRS connector has three pins and is used to connect stereo phones (headphones). TRRS and TRRRS are more complex and use them to connect headsets - headphones + microphone.
Below is a TRS type connector, above - TRRS
How to fix a headphone plug
As mentioned above, the headphone plug has three contacts, which means three wires are soldered to it. Soldering diagram stereo headphones to the jack will look like this:
How to solder headphones to a plug
That's all in theory, it's time to get down to repairs. For this you will need:
- Soldering iron.
- Rosin and solder.
- Sharp knife.
- Pliers.
- Insulating tape.
- Heat shrink tubing (if possible).
Disassembly and preparation
First of all, it is necessary to determine as accurately as possible place of damage. If the wire break is not visible visually, you can try to find the break by touch. Bend the cable at the connector - you can identify a serious break with your fingers. Couldn't find the damage? This often happens; you have to act based on logic. Most often, damage to the wire occurs directly at the connector, a maximum of a couple of centimeters from it. Cut the connector with one to two centimeters of cable using ordinary scissors.
If you have a new plug, you can go straight to the “Soldering and Assembly” section. If there is nothing in stock, then you will have to tinker with what you just cut. Unfortunately (naturally, to yours, not the manufacturer), practically all headphones, except professional ones, are supplied with non-separable connectors, but this does not mean at all that they cannot be disassembled.
Take a knife and make two deep cuts along the plastic body into which the metal contact rod of the plug is pressed. Cut boldly and deeply from opposite sides, but without fanaticism. Now grab one plastic half with pliers, and try to remove the second by prying it with a knife. There's no need to rush here. By separating one half of the body, you can easily remove the other. If nothing works or only partially works, do a few more longitudinal sections. As a result, you will see something like this:
Plug with housing removed
Now it's time to deal with the cable. Carefully remove 1-2 cm of insulation from it and find three, less often four wires of different colors:
Three-wire (left) and four-wire cords
In both cases, you have red and green (blue) wires - these are the right and left headphone leads. The copper-colored conductor (it's just copper and coated with a clear varnish or not coated at all) is the common wire for the left and right headphones. If the cable is four-wire, then there will be two such common wiring - separately for each of the speakers. How to solder headphones if they have 4 wires? In this case, simply twist the common wires together, making one common wire out of them.
The colors of the wires may be different, but the common wire in almost all designs copper color. You can figure out where the right and where the left channel is using a tester or, in extreme cases, using the “poke” method - by soldering and listening.
Soldering and assembly
Now all that remains is to turn on the soldering iron and solder plug to headphones. First of all, the ends of the wires must be properly tinned without damaging either the conductors themselves or the insulation. You need to pay special attention to the last point. The fact is that to reduce the thickness of the cable (especially for headsets for mobile devices), the wires are made very thin, and they are insulated with varnish, which at the same time indicates the color. If you work carelessly, the varnish can easily be damaged, and this can lead to a simple short circuit, which can damage your gadget as soon as you connect sloppily repaired headphones to it.
So, the soldering iron is warmed up. Place the wires on a piece of cotton fabric or a board and, having collected a little solder and rosin on the tip, begin longitudinal movements With a little pressure, use a soldering iron to rub the tip of the wire onto the board, constantly turning it (the wire). The temperature will cause the varnish to crack, and the exposed conductor will become covered with solder and become tinned. Please note that only the ends 2-3 mm long need to be tinned, the rest of the wire should remain in the insulating varnish.
Cable, correctly (left) and incorrectly prepared for soldering
Important! Do not use open fire (matches, lighters, etc.) to remove nail polish, as “experts” advise. Thin wires will either burn in the flames, or you will loosen the copper until it loses its strength completely. In any case, the fire will overheat the varnish, and during assembly the latter will simply fly off the wiring. The result is a short circuit, permanently inoperative headphones and a good chance of burning out the sound output stages in your gadget or PC.
Now soldering. Fix the plug rod in a suitable clamp so that it lies horizontally with the conductive pads facing up. For these purposes, you can use the same pliers or tweezers with a rubber ring attached to the handles. A vice will also work, but try not to crush the rod into a cake - it is thin-walled. Conductive pads(there are 3 of them) are already tinned, the only thing is that if there are scraps of wires left on them, unsolder them. We have three wires and three contact pads. Which one should I solder where? The figure below will help you understand this:
Wiring diagram for headphone plugs
If you have a new connector at your disposal, then, naturally, there is no point in disassembling the one that you bit off during the preparation process. But, most likely, you are holding a plug whose contact pads look slightly different. How solder the headphones in this case? This photo will help you here:
Pay attention to the contact pad to which the common wires are soldered (there are 2 of them, since the cable is four-wire). It looks like a “crocodile” and is also a clip that prevents the wire from being pulled out if the headphones are handled carelessly. After soldering, place the insulated cable in it and carefully crimp it with pliers. Well, before soldering the wire to such a connector, do not forget to put the housing on this same wire that you twisted from the plug, getting to the contacts. After all, after soldering it will need to be screwed into place.
And one more note about this photo. It is quite obvious that the installer made the tinned ends too long and now they will have to be insulated before assembly, otherwise they will simply close together. This can be done using scraps of electrical tape. In my mind, of course, after tinning the ends had to be shortened, leaving 2-3 mm for soldering. As a result, you should have something like this:
If your plug is dismountable, then simply assemble it by screwing the cap onto the contact pin. You didn’t forget it on the table and strung it onto a wire before soldering, did you? Before assembling, do not forget to check the functionality of your headphones. But if you used an old connector for repairs, you will have to be tricky, since you cut the original case.
The easiest option is to use a piece of heat-shrink tubing of a suitable diameter, 4-5 cm long: put the heat-shrink on the soldering area and heat it in the flame of a gas lighter. The aesthetics of such a plug will be a four-piece, but a fairly flexible tube will prevent the wire from breaking again when using the headphones.
Insulating the plug using heat shrink tubing
If you have a heat gun at your disposal, you can fill the soldering area with plastic. After pouring, while the glue is still wet, shape it with wet fingers to give the desired look.
How to replace the plug on a headset
The entire repair technique given for headphones is also suitable for a headset. The only difference is the presence of an additional wire going to the microphone. It is usually black or white in color. Since there is an additional wire, it means that there must be one more contact on the plug - the fourth:
Diagram of connecting the headset to the plug
If you have a tester at your disposal and know how to use it, then you can “calculate” which wire goes where by ordinary testing. In this case, the resistance of each headphone will be in the range of 24-35 Ohms, and the microphone - several kOhms. When you press the answer button, the microphone resistance should drop sharply to several tens of ohms or even to zero. How can I determine by dialing where the left speaker wire is and where the right one is? Aurally. When a call is made, the corresponding loudspeaker will make clicking sounds. Just put the headphones on your head and make a call.
Typical headset layout, where:
- 1 – right headphone output;
- 2 – left headphone output;
- 3 – common wire;
- 4 – microphone wire and answer button.
One final note. There are headsets in which the microphone wire and the general wire are swapped. If your headset does not work after repair, simply swap the wires indicated in the figure above as 3 and 4.
