Mini Audio Connector Hasty Replacement Repair

Quick and dirty replacement of a small audio connector.
These things die prematurely on headphones and any other place they appear.

The audio cable on this cassette adaptor died in an obvious way right by the connector.

Replacement connectors exist, but they aren't very good. I prefer to add a chunk of wire that already has a right-angle connector on it as seen in the following steps.

Step 1 Amputate the Diseased Limb and the Donor Limb

Use a nail trimmer or whatever you've got handy.
Leave plenty of wire on the connector side of the donor cable and the appliance side of the sick cable.

Comments

[meganegro2]

termofit used for these repairs

[athompson211]

this is a terrible way to fix headphones heat shrink and good solders would hold up alot better and.... no sticky residue. good for quick fix but for a more reliable way use heat shrink

[async1ronous]

I've had a lot of luck burning the lacquer off with a match while fixing higher-end headphone cables for people.  Just be ready to blow it out quickly.

[mrooney]

Thanks for the help......excellent info

[dieKatze88]

A trick I came up with to keep the wire going straight is to fold the twisted wires in opposite directions along side the cable and to tape them individually, it generally results in a tapeball for more than 4 or 5 wires, but for 3 wires in this headphone trick I've done it a few times and I find it to be less invasive than a gigantic ball of tape that forms an angle in the middle of your cable.

[sk8er6]

one thing i do when my headphone jacks or cables die, i go to the dollar store, and buy a stereo 3.5 mm patch cable for my headphones that have all the wiring in one side. they come is 6 feet long. i cut off one end, i keep the cord pretty long (personal preference) and then solder directly to the drivers and get rid of the old cable. it looks a lot cleaner. i'm doing this today actually, so i might post an instructable.

[formateur]

Very good presentation. But what would you do if the wire break short at the connector, so it become impossible to strip the wire, since it's not there anymore ? I've tried to cut open the connector and hook up to the rest of the cable, but the result is only fair. Any suggestion to resolidified an open connector.

[codongolev]

I had an entire headphone jack break off (as in just the metal part, it just kind of snapped off) so I was forced to find an old pair of headphones and use that jack soldered onto the old wire. I didn't use the old headphones instead or buy new ones because they were ink'd skullcandy earbuds and anyone who has them will tell you why I didn't want different ones.

[Lithium Rain]

Would it work for quick-n-dirty repairs (like on an airplane, where they don't like you to solder!) to do the exact same thing but just not solder it?

[Derin]

yes

[conceptualstratagem]

great repair tutorial man+

[ex_mo]

Thank you, Tim. This looks like a lot of work!! I promise to enjoy it. Mo

[Leon Close]

Goanna lizard is redundant, it's just a goanna.

[GorillazMiko]

very cool! you solder really good