SJ4000 External Microphone HACK! See Video!!

by deezildennis

108K1317

Intro: SJ4000 External Microphone HACK! See Video!!

Link to My channel for Test Video! It is long and rambling. I was mainly just trying to test out Microphone and Camera battery life and quality. Have fun! Cut copy and paste into your Browser! Or click! Watch in 1080p! This is factory default settings for this vid on a very cloudy day and just about ready to rain. Big thanks to rcgroups.com member mnemennth for the sj4000 Teardown he posted on their forum. Really gave me a better Idea of the Board layout and gave me the push to try this. Remember to Hit that LIKE button!

Use at your own risk. Not responsible for your mistakes. Take your time and do not Jack up your camera.

First.

Use a very small Flathead screwdriver to lift and peel screen cover from back side. When you get the screw driver underneath slide it around the back side of the cover and and peel it off. It will stick back on when done.

STEP 1:

Pull up screen gently towards you with finger nail.

STEP 2:

Unlock pins (shown at tip of screw driver) with finger nail or screwdriver. Be very careful! do not damage your ribbon!

STEP 3:

Remove screen after ribbon is unlocked.

STEP 4:

Pop front cover off with fat thumb.. This is all snap fit..

STEP 5:

Lift power button up and out of the way and remove inner cover screw. 8pcs size #6 screw driver.

STEP 6:

Remove inner cover.Expose guts!

STEP 7:

Circuit board is free to pull up and out of case by squeezing case to pop connection ports free from molded camera body. Don't pull on the lens....ever!

STEP 8:

Disregard red and black cut wires! Do not cut anything!

Two added pics of the board!! Clip this microphone off with side cutters. Then flip over and solder your two wires to the 2 pins marked in the second picture. Do not join the 2 pins together with solder. Be careful to keep them separated. Thanks to mnemennth from the RCFORUMS.COM for the use of his pic's. Check him Out! He knows his stuff!

STEP 9:

Once board is out (Not shown since I Loctited the Mic jack Nut!) clip stock mic off with side cutters. The stock mic was located at left and bottom of lens in photo. Get 2 short pieces wire small gauge 4" long or so. Strip 1/8th" of insulation off of each end of wire. Flip board over and solder one lead (wire) on each of the original mic pins. Route them up around from backside as shown in pic. No pics of this. It's self explanatory and just 2 wires onto the original soldered contacts on back side of board. Super easy. Watch some videos on youtube to learn how to solder. It's fun and easy! You can do it!

STEP 10:

Drill empty case to fit panel Mic jack in same spot on case. Needs to be here so it will fit back in your hard case. Some trimming of hard case is necessary. You will need this Mic jack.. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103453

STEP 11:

Solder leads from Mic wires to mic jack and slip through side of case. Use Thread locker and Tighten down very tight! Make sure mic jack is positioned just like this!

STEP 12:

Put board back into case gently! Some flexing of the case is required! Be careful fitting connections back into cutouts in camera body..Once board is in flip camera over and Slip screen ribbon back into connector GENTLY!! You will know when it slips right in. Then use your finger nails or use small screw driver to push ribbon locks back in. BE CAREFUL! Do not damage the screen ribbon. Slip screen back into the back of the camera as shown. Put battery back in temporarily and boot up camera making sure you have screen ribbon connected correctly. After camera screen function check you can do a test Video with mic and replay it to make sure you have the mic functioning correctly. Once it is working correctly , turn off and pull battery.

STEP 13:

Screw inner cover back on. Do not over tighten tiny screws. Pop front cover back on.

STEP 14:

Clean and center up screen and stick it back on the camera. Clean lens and put battery back in and boot up camera.

STEP 15:

Drill hole in side of plastic hard case housing in position with your new mic jack. Then Plug your favorite Cheap Lapel Microphone into your new jack and route into cheek pad of helmet. Mount camera rig on helmet. test for function and Enjoy!! MOTOVLOG ON!

16 Comments

cortcec7 9 years ago

My english not so good because ı didnt understand this comments,ı have sj4000 and ı want to do external mic. and ı have it (pic).Which number ı must use ? Please help me. Thank you.

jadenjordan374 4 years ago

where did you get this from and what is it called

deezildennis 4 years ago

It's a 3.5mm mono panel socket. I bought mine from radio shack in the states but Ebay or any local electronics store should have it.

f1racer 9 years ago

Should be 1 and 3 from your picture

IacovosF 6 years ago

Hello,

I recently put 12V accidentally through micro usb port of my SJ4000 (1.5 inch screen) instead of 5V because I was trying to connect fpv equipment. I disassemble my camera and found the board. I saw that 2 components burnt. In the following link you can see a picture of my board http://prntscr.com/g165xf. I found that component 1 is a diode with code S4 as I saw form the internet. Component 2 as you can see in the following link http://prntscr.com/g166q6 has a code of BQ E0K. I searched in the internet and I didn't found what component is this. I would like to tell me if you know the codes of the two components so I can buy them.

Thanks

Iacovos

HaveaN 8 years ago

would you mind telling us what size of wire you used ?

deezildennis 8 years ago

Doesn't matter what connection. Even if you have a weirdo mic that is positive dominant you can always just swap it out at the jacks terminal.

largerpics 9 years ago

Do the pins matter when soldering? The mic jack can be soldered either direction and be fine??

f1racer 9 years ago

I modded my SJ4000 but there is no audio recorded. I think it's because the microphones I used have stereo plugs. I'll try to find one that has a mono plug.

GeoragaS 9 years ago

Hi guys. So I've followed these steps. The thing is that I'm not getting any sound picked up from multiple microphones. When I clipped the stock mic off I ended up running the wires through those ports and soldering them on the flipped over side.

The footage makes a digital noise that kind of loops so I believe it has a signal so I don't think I've damaged it completely. I'm just not actually picking up any mic audio. I'm pretty novice at soldering so is there a chance I've knackered it?

Anyone got any thoughts?

MichaelA5 9 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BWyuRLurVQ

i have problem with my sj4000 doenst turn on

NileshT 9 years ago

Hi admin..... I am having a problem ..The sj4000 is not turning On ...None of the Buttons are working , even the Power Button ....There's No display & no led lights are lighting up .It was working Fine But now,It's dead.....What has happened ?

brunobob 9 years ago

Hello!

I have problem with my sj4000, i hope you could help me since you have some skills...

My sj4000, began to make an annoying sound on almost videos i record, like this on this video:

I believe that is the microphone but i really don´t know what is causing this... I see on forums that many people have this problem, but nobody have a solution... do you know what is causing and what could i do to fix it without put an external mic?

Best regards.