If used carelessly, you may encounter a problem when the headphone wire breaks at the junction of the cable with the Mini Jack. It can happen at any time, and no one is immune from it. This is the most common cause of headphone/headset failure. Many in this case do not even think about self-repair, but in vain, because there is nothing complicated about it. The article will tell you how to repair headphones if the plug has come off.
What do you need?
The first and most important thing to think about is the selection of tools and materials that are necessary for accurate repair of the plug. It should be said right away that some components can be replaced in case of absence.
- soldering iron;
- tin;
- rosin;
- glue;
- knife or wire cutters;
- lighter or matches;
- shrink.
In the presented set, for example, you can refuseelectrical tape, but in this case it is recommended to purchase heat shrink of different diameters (more on its use will be discussed later in the article).
Headphone repair steps
Having acquired all the necessary materials and prepared the necessary tools, you can proceed directly to the beginning of the repair of the headphone wire. For ease of perception, the whole process will be divided into steps, adhering to which you will eventually achieve your goal - repair your headphones.
Step 1: clean the plug
The first step is to prepare the Mini Jack plug itself, but do not damage it so that it makes good contact with the headphone jack. To do this, you first need to remove the shell from it. You can try to just cut it off.
But the easiest way to do it is this:
- Fill a pot of water and boil it on the stove.
- Dip the plug in boiling water and hold it there for about 15-20 seconds.
- Remove from the water and use a tool to remove the sheath from the plug.
After you have exposed the headphone cable, you need to unsolder the remaining wires from it. So, the plug is separated. On it, you should see three factory solders at the bottom. The first is responsible for the sound in the left earpiece, the second - in the right, and the third, which is located at the junction with the visible part of the plug, is the common channel. By the way, some models of headphones may not have it, so don't be alarmed if you don't find it.
Step 2: remove the insulation from the wire
First, cut the cord straight near the break. Next, using a knife, and preferably wire cutters, remove the insulation from the main shell. This must be done at a distance of about one centimeter from the end of the cord. You will see three wires. Often they have silk insulation, which also needs to be removed. This must be done very carefully, as the wiring itself is very fragile. It is recommended to first burn them with fire, and then clean them with a knife blade.
Step 3: prepare the wires for soldering
We have already stripped the contacts of the plug, and they are ready for soldering, respectively, it is necessary to prepare the wires. Those who are not the first time holding a soldering iron in their hands will not experience any difficulty, but for those who do not know everything will be explained in detail:
- To be sure, once again strip each wire individually with a knife blade.
- After that, it will most often "fluff up", so twist it.
- Heat the soldering iron, dip in rosin and apply a thin layer of it on the bare wire along the entire length.
- Take a tin with a soldering iron and also apply a thin layer to the tip.
Do this operation with each wire. Once you're done, you can move on to the next step.
Step 4: Preparations before soldering
Mini Jack cleaned, wires ready to be soldered, but some more preparation needs to be done before picking up the soldering iron again. The fact is that we can solder the wires, but in the end the whole structure will look uglyand fragile. Yes, you can rewind the break with insulation or install heat shrink there, but this still will not last long and will not protect against external mechanical damage. What to do in this case? Let's talk about that.
The goal is to make a beautiful case in the place of the break, which would also protect the headphone cable from breaking again. To do this, you can use the usual pen cap, which you see in the image below.
It is very important that its outlet diameter (the place where the tip of the pen is inserted) is approximately the same as the diameter of the baffle of the plug, otherwise it will not work.
So what do you need to do? Take a knife and cut off the protruding tail, as it will interfere. After that, take the game and make a hole for the headphone cable on the other side. If this is not possible, then it is recommended to preheat the needle on fire. After that, thread the cord through the hole specially made for it.
Now the cap can be left alone, but that's not all that needs to be done at this stage. It remains to take a large diameter heat shrink (so that you can pull it over the back end of the plug) and put it on the cord. After that, you can proceed directly to soldering the plug.
Step 5: identify channels
All preparations are done, now it remains only to solder the wire contacts to the plug. To make everything look nice in the end, you need to attach the headphone cable to the rear end of the plug and measure the lengtheach wire to a contact. It is very important to understand which wire to which contact you need to solder. To do this, let's deal with each contact separately:
- Blue headphone wire - left channel. On the plug, it is at the very bottom.
- Red wire - right channel. Located just above the left channel.
- Golden - common channel. Located at the top in the middle of the entire plug.
You can clearly see everything in the image below.
So now you need to trim the length of each wire. Blue should be the shortest and gold the longest.
Step 6: soldering the plug
You can start soldering. Take a soldering iron and dip it in rosin. After that, attach the gold headphone wire to its contact on the plug and carefully bring the tip of the soldering iron to it. The tin that is already there will begin to melt, absorbing the wire into itself. When this happens, remove the soldering iron and wait a second or two for the tin to harden. Do the same with the rest of the wires. After you have done everything, you can proceed to the last step.
Step 7: final step
It remains to give the place of soldering a noble look. To do this, first slide the heat shrink onto the contacts and, after burning the list, heat it up so that it narrows, thereby fixing all the wires.
Then move the cap to see if it fits. If everything is fine, then you need to take superglue, pour it into the cap(just do not overdo it) and fix it on the contacts by pulling it to the plug.
Conclusion
After that, you can insert the plug into the headphone jack and enjoy the music - the repair can be considered completed. We managed not only to repair them, but also to give a beautiful look. We hope that our instructions will help you to carry out restoration work on your headset yourself.
