Owners of headphones often face circumstances when the sound becomes poor or disappears altogether. Music can play only in one earphone. It's a shame when an expensive gadget fails due to minor damage, although inexpensive headphones are also a pity to throw right away. No models are insured against breakage, it all depends on the intensity of operation and the accuracy of the user.
Do not immediately run to the store for new headphones, especially since no one knows how much safety margin they have and whether they will break in the near future. It is suggested that you try to repair your favorite audio output devices with your own hands.
Search for a reason
The most vulnerable spot on the headphones is the wire near the plug. It is most exposed to mechanical stress when used, for example, when you put the phone in your pocket or when you often pull the jack from the phone by the cord. You can turn on the music and move the wire, bending it near the connector. Where the music appears a little, and there is a place of cliff. At this point, you need to cut the wire and solder the plug to the headphones, as will be described later.
How does a three-pin jack
Before proceeding with the repair, you need to know the structure of the plug. There are two types: 2.5 mm and 3.5 mm. In most cases, 3.5 mm is used, but both types break evenly. Jacks are also divided into three-pin - for audio output - and four-pin - for audio output and for using a microphone. It is proposed to consider three-pin in more detail. How to solder the plug to the headphones and 3 wires is shown in the diagram below.
- Left speaker.
- Right speaker.
- Common wire.
Three wiring depart from the speakers, which are connected to the places indicated in the diagram. Usually the green wire comes from the left ear, the red from the right ear, and the gold or blue is common. Thus, the diagram shows how to solder the plug to the headphones.
How is a four-pin jack
If there is a microphone in the headphones, then there are four wires in the wire and a four-pin jack is required. A diagram showing how to solder the plug to the headphones and 4 wires is shown below.
- Left speaker.
- Right speaker.
- Microphone.
- Common wire.
Four wires are suitable from the speakers and the microphone, which are connected to the places indicated in the diagram. Usually the green wire comes from the left ear, the red from the right ear, the white from the microphone, and the gold or blue is common.
Tools and materials
In order to make repairs, you will need some tools that need to be prepared in advance:
- Soldering iron with a soldering platform, as well as tin and rosin.
- A sharp knife, you can clerical.
- Heat-shrink tubing.
- Vise.
- Lighter or matches.
- Glue.
Repair Procedure
Now you can get started:
- It is necessary to cut off the jack from the wire just above the cliff.
- Carefully, so as not to damage the wiring, strip off with a sharp knife about 2 cm of cable, freeing three or four cores. They can be lightly scorched with a lighter to remove a layer of varnish. So it will be easier to solder. It is allowed to release the wiring from insulation with a soldering iron, simultaneously irradiating them one at a time. If a heat shrink tube will be used , you need to cut the required length and install on the wire before soldering begins.
- With a clerical knife, remove all insulation from the jack, making room for soldering, so that you can see how to solder the plug to the headphones. If you wish, you can purchase a new connector.
- Solder the wiring according to the scheme and pinout by color. To conveniently solder, you can hold the jack in a vise. The ends of the cable should be tinned, as mentioned in the second paragraph. This will facilitate the work. You do not need to overheat the connector so as not to melt the plastic inserts, that is, you need to solder as quickly and confidently as possible.
- After soldering, plug the connector into the user device, turn on the music and check the connection. If there is no sound, then some mistake crept in. There is nothing wrong with this, you need to remember how it was connected so as not to repeat the mistake. Next, you should unsolder and swap several wires and again check. Do this until a sound appears. If the sound appeared in only one ear, you need to check in which one - right or left. Depending on this, the wire from the speaker, in which there is no sound, should be rearranged with a common or with a wire from the microphone. You can solder one wire, the one that comes from the sounding speaker, and apply the rest and check for the presence of sound. As soon as the sound appears, then solder. But if everything is done according to the scheme above, with the help of which it becomes clear how to solder the plug to the headphones the first time, then you will not have to redo it.
Contact isolation
After the headphone plug is properly soldered, we checked the sound in both speakers again (if there is a microphone, then check the microphone), you can proceed to the final stage of repair - isolation of the contacts.
First you need to strengthen the cable near the plug - glue the nylon fibers from the wire to the jack. Next, you need to cover the bare contacts. You can use a heat shrink tube that is worn on the wire before soldering. This tube is moved to the place of soldering and heated with fire using a lighter. Under the influence of high temperature, the tube contracts and tightly covers the bare wires with insulation. Excess tubes can be removed with a clerical knife, as well as apply several cambrices, putting them on top of each other. The name of the tube speaks for itself. It is allowed to cover the contacts with an insulating tape, having previously fixed the cable in the place of soldering with a pair of matches.
Now that the question has been examined how to solder the plug to the headphones with a microphone, that is, to solder the four-pin jack to the four-wire cable, the question remains, how to check the operation of the microphone. To do this, connect the headphones to the computer, open the "Windows Sound Settings" section and enable the "Record" option. Modern models of headphones do not require the installation of special drivers, they just need the standard ones included in the assembly of the operating system. This method allows you to check the performance of the microphone after you soldered the plug to the headphones. It remains only to enjoy the result of their labors.