Careless use can lead to a problem when the headphone wire breaks at the junction of the cable with the Mini Jack attachment. This can happen at any time, and no one is safe from this. This is the most common cause of headphone / headset malfunction. In this case, many do not even think about fixing it yourself, but in vain, because there is nothing complicated about it. The article will tell you how to repair the headphones if their 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 a careful repair of the plug. Immediately it is worth saying that some components can be replaced in case of absence.
- soldering iron;
- tin;
- rosin;
- glue;
- knife or nippers;
- lighter or matches;
- heat shrink.
In the presented set, for example, you can discard the electrical tape, but in this case it is recommended to purchase a heat shrink of different diameters (more about 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 go directly to the start of repairing the headphone wire. For ease of perception, the whole process will be divided into steps, adhering to which ultimately you will achieve your goal - repair the headphones.
Step 1: strip 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 trim it.
But the easiest way to do this is as follows:
- Pour water into a saucepan and boil it on the stove.
- Dip the plug in boiling water and hold it there for about 15-20 seconds.
- Remove from water and, using auxiliaries, remove the casing from the plug.
After you expose the headphone cable , you need to unsolder the remaining wires from it. So the plug is separated. You should see three factory solders on it at the bottom. The first is responsible for the sound in the left earphone, the second in the right, and the third, which is at the junction with the visible part of the plug, is the common channel. By the way, in some models of headphones it may not be available, so do not be alarmed if you do not find it.
Step 2: strip the wire
The first thing to do is cut the cord evenly near the gap. Next, using a knife, or rather a wire cutter, remove the insulation from the main shell. This should 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 extremely carefully, since the wiring itself is very fragile. It is recommended that you first burn them with fire, and then strip 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 will not experience any difficulty, but for those who do not know everything will be explained in detail:
- To be sure, strip each posting individually with a knife blade again.
- After that, it will most often “fluff up”, so twist it.
- Heat the soldering iron, dip it in rosin and apply it in a thin layer on the bare wire along the entire length.
- Take a tin with a soldering iron and apply also a thin layer on the tip.
Perform this operation with each wire. Once you are done, you can continue to the next step.
Step 4: Preparations before soldering
The Mini Jack is stripped, the wires are ready to solder, but you need to make some more preparations before picking up the soldering iron again. The fact is that we can solder the wires, but as a result, the whole structure will look ugly and fragile. Yes, you can rewind the breakage point with insulation or install heat shrink there, but it still will not last long and will not protect against external mechanical damage. What then to do? We’ll talk about this.
The goal - you need to make a beautiful case in the place of a cliff, which would also protect the headphone cable from re-breaking. To do this, you can use the usual cap on the handle, which you see in the image below.
It is very important that its output diameter (the place where the pen tip is inserted) is approximately the same as the diameter of the plug wall, otherwise nothing will work.
So what do you need to do? Take a knife and cut off the sticking tail, as it will interfere. After that, take the game and make a hole for the headphone cable on the other side. If this does not work out, then it is recommended to pre-glow the needle on fire. After that, pass the cord through the hole specially made for it.
Now the cap can be left alone, but this is not all the actions that need to be done at this stage. It remains to take a shrink of large diameter (so that you can pull it on the rear end of the plug) and put it on the cord. After that, you can go directly to the soldering of the plug.
Step 5: channel definition
All preparations are made, now it remains only to solder the wire contacts to the plug. To make everything look beautiful in the end, you need to attach the headphone cable to the rear end of the plug and measure the length of each wire to the 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 wire for headphones - left channel. On the plug, it is at the very bottom.
- The red wire is the right channel. Located just above the left channel.
- Golden is a 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 wiring. Blue should be the shortest, and gold should be 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 wire for the headphones to its pin on the plug and gently hold the tip of the soldering iron to it. The tin that is already there will begin to melt, absorbing the wire. When this happens, remove the soldering iron and wait a second or two for the tin to freeze. In the same way, you need to do with the rest of the postings. After you have done everything, it will be possible to proceed to the last stage.
Step 7: final step
It remains to give the place of soldering a noble appearance. To do this, first shift the heat shrink on the contacts and, firing the list, warm it so that it narrows, thereby fixing all the wires.
After that, slide the cap to check 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, 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 complete. We managed not only to repair them, but also to give a beautiful view. We hope that our instructions will help you independently carry out restoration work on your headset.