headphone repair

[lilboypeat]

Ok, I got some expensive headphones that my son recently cut the wires and I'm having trouble getting them to work again. I understand that it's not as simple as putting the wires back together to make them work, so what do I need to do?????

 

[Russlk]

Why isn't it as simple as putting the wires back together? What kind of wire is it? Can you post a picture?

 

[grrr_arrghh]

if he just cut through the wires, it most definitely should be as simple as soldering the wires back together.

It is made more complicated by the fact that (in my experience) headphones use this annoying cable where the signal wire is in the middle, surrounded by the ground wire as a sort of shield, which makes separating the wires from one another very difficult. Having an extra pair of hands and a couple of pairs of small pliers may help.

Tim

P.S. i assume your son is too young to know what he was doing?

 

[pike]

good on the young man!! jk

I think it would be as simple as joining the wires again...

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

The wire is usually that very flexible stuff that you really struggle making connections to (looks like a strand of cotton with copper spots embedded!), I seem to remember there was a previous thread about earlier this year?.

 

[zevon8]

If it is the stuff that Nigel mentioned, sometimes called tinsel wire, then you are going to have a bit of fun. You will have to make a mechanical connection first, by separating the conductive threads from the filler material, bind the conductors together, and try to solder them. Not always possible to solder either, in the case of metalized plastic film. The whole joint will need support with something like a toothpick, etc, then be wrapped in tape or heatshink tubing. It won't be easy or pretty but can be done. There are special crimp terminals and splices for his type of wire, but I don't know if you could get them easily. You used to see them in the receiver of old phones, terminating the coiled cord to the mic or speaker, before modular plugs were used.

 

[lilboypeat]

I think it is the tinsel wire that you guys are talking about. All I know is that one side has a blue wire and speaker wire coming out and the other side has red wire and speaker wire coming out. I've tryed every combination possible, but still no sound. My friend tryed to connect on side and he barely got sound for a split second and they were turned all the way up. I didn't know if there was a certain way to connect the wires, if I had to solder them or if they were just not any good anymore. So I'm gonna try this method that zevon8 posted and see what happens. Here goes nothing...

 

[zevon8]

Here is my bad attempt at art. Maybe it helps show what to connect.

 

[lilboypeat]

Ok, this diagram helped a lot, but there's still one problem. I see the red and blue wires, and I see the small wires(looks white and delicate) wrapped around the color wires, but there is also regular wire inside as well. So instead of two sets of wire, I have three. I connected the white wires and regular wire together, and the color wires together. I had to fiddle around a bit, and I barely got sound. I looked at the diagram and I noticed the color wires should have wire coming out of them. I tryed to shed some of the red film away, and I could see the wire. I put them back together and the sound got a bit louder. Is there anyway I can shed the color wires to expose the wire inside without keep tearing them into little pieces?

 

[grrr_arrghh]

a stanley knife and a bit of patience.

personally, i'd get a reasonable amount of the stuff around the outside out of the way, and then slice bits of the insulation off the coloured wire, as if whittling a pencil to sharpen it. Not ideal, but it works, and usually stops you cutting through the actual wire aswell

 

[zevon8]

Sometimes a very quick pass with a lighter over the insulation will soften it enough that you can quickly ( but gently ) pull it off like removing a sock from your foot. You don't want to melt the insulation, just soften it so that it can tear easily.

Like grrr_arrghh said, it is going to require patience.

 

[pike]

that white wire is actually nylon! It simply provides strength to the cord!

 

[zevon8]

The white wire may be a common ground wire, with the bundle of three wires having an over-all braid sheild of uninsulated wire. I have seen headphones that used what was basically mic wire, that has this configuration. The braided shield is attached at one end of the cable, the common grounding wire attached at both end.

You may be right though! It may just be filler for support, especially if this is Tinsel wire.

 

[zachtheterrible]

pike's probly right cuz ive seen the same stuff. u have an ohmeter n no how 2 use it? Test the resistance. if its huge, its some kind of material. if its low, its a conductor.

 

[Electric Rain]

BURN THAT #%&*%^!!! I've had a few encounters with tinsel wire. The only thing I can do is burn it right off. The wire might turn black, you know, from being burnt, but if you just wipe it off a bit then it will still work. DON'T LEAVE THE LIGHTER ON IT TOO LONG THOUGH!!! It will catch fire and burn right off. Anyway, most, if not all, headphones have three wires. Not including any very fine white insulation or something like that. Two of them use tinsel wire, those are the left and right side wires. The other is your common, or ground. The common might be insulated, or it might be bare. But the other two are usually red and green coated. (Tinsel wire.) But, you say they're $$$, so just to be safe, is there any way you could post some pics so we can see the wire?

Rain

 

[Someone Electro]

yep these kind of wires can couse problems!I found the only efective way of geting the insulation off whith a cigerate lighter (dont put it on the fame for more than 1 second).Whtch that you don't short circuit the wires.

You can get some isulatin off whith a knife but you may cut the wire several times and you may get a bad contact.