Broken cable, unbelievable

[Dr.EM]

Some of you may remember that I made a couple of phantom powered, balanced mics using condenser capsules a while back. Well, more recently, one of them has become very quiet and crackly, or so I thought. I ran some tests and decided it could be the mixer as it seemed to happen only on the 2nd channel, regardless of the mic. But it seemed wierd it happened on the third too. I came back to it at a later date and concluded that it was in fact the cable, it was a ready assembled XLR one. I then checked that cable for continuity and I've found that the actual wire inside of it for pin3 has somehow snapped. The soldered terminations are fine. Of course, that now renders it useless for any balanced work.

Anyhow, i've ordered good quality parts from studio spares to assemble my own from now. I just find it really wierd how that could even happen, its never been "abused" especially, although I always put it away when i'm not using it and that involves coiling it a bit. But really, it should fine with that, it should be fine with people tripping over it on stage and roadies hoisting bass amps using it :lol:

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Why don't you just repair it?. I've repaired four leads today from the studio where my daughter rehearses and records - lead failure is EXTREMELY common.

For a start, chop 6 inches off each end and refit the plugs (they usually break near the end), and test it again. If it's still duff you have a more serious problem, but can still get a short lead out of it. Next attempt involves cutting the lead in half - then check from each plug to the cut end, one should read OK, the other will read O/C. Take the plug off the O/C half, and fit it on the end of the OK half - you now have a good lead, but only half as long!. Throw the O/C half of cable away - or you might attempt to use it one day!.

 

[JimB]

As a general rule I have found that cables break where they enter the body of the connector. Despite strain relief grommets, the continual bending will fatigue the wire until all of the strands have broken.

Alternatively, examine tha cable along its length to see if it has been crushed at some point, that will create a weak point which will eventually break.

But my bet is on the end (as Nigel suggested). For a quick test, unsolder the broken wire from the connector pin, then try pulling on the disconnected wire, my bet is that 2 or 3 cm of wire will pull out very easily.

Then, just cut off the end of the cable, beyond the break point and re-attach the connector to the cable.

JimB

 

[Dr.EM]

Well, i'm suprised. I thought it'd be a very rare thing to happen, mabye this type of cable is bad for it, i've certainly never had a mains cable or speaker wire break, something to do with the thickness of the strands i'm guessing. Yeah, I was planning on salvaging the plugs, but I might aswell try and repair it as you've detailed. Thanks.