Wiring a microphone (I'm a noob)

[mae]

Hey there,

So I bought a 2.5mm male to 3.5mm female adapter to wire into my ContourHD sports camera so I could replace the crappy microphone in it and attach another. But when I received it and stripped the adapter casing off the wire, I found that there is 3 wires in the casing. The camera has just negative and positive wires for the microphone.

Is there a way to still wire these two together? If so which colours would go where? Dark blue to black, red to positive and the copper wire to where?

Cheers
(sorry if this is in the wrong section)


**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**

 

[gots2no]

Your adapter is for stereo - ground, left, and right. You really should use a switched jack. With nothing plugged in, the original mic would be connected. When an external mic is plugged in, the internal one is bypassed. As it is, connect the black wire of the internal mic connection to the shield wire of the cable, then connect the red wire of the internal mic connection to both of the other two wires of the cable.

You can also buy a small panel mount jack to install in the camera housing so that there's no cable hanging out.

 

[mae]

I tried it but its picking up no sound I think its because of the type of thin coating around the cables. Do you know where I could find the same kind of adapter or something better that will just have 1 negative and 1 positive wire?

Cheers

 

[alec_t]

The problem might be the type of microphone (you haven't told us what type/make/model the external mic is). The built-in mic is an electret type. If the external mic is a moving-coil type it can't simply replace the built-in one.

 

[mae]

I saw in a video that a guy said he got a "cheap mic off ebay" so I done the same but im not sure it was like his.

what I'm looking for is something like this, but not sure what it would be called.
(5:20 into the video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Q9gKT3d90

 

[mae]

EDIT: oops, double post.

 

[alec_t]

What type/make/model did you buy ? Does it have a label with any info on it ?

 

[mae]

Camera or Adapter?


Adapter was this:
**broken link removed**

Camera was a ContourHD1080 model.

 

[alec_t]

What type/make/model microphone did you buy ? Does it have a label with any info on it ?

 

[mae]

a zalman pc mic

 

[alec_t]

From the mic's spec:-

Sensitivity: -40 +/- 3dB
Impedance: Max. 2.2 kOhm
Standard Power: 2.0 V DC
Consumption: Max 0.5 mA
Sensitivity Reduction: Within-3dB at 1.5V

I'd guess this is an electret mic too, rather than a moving coil type. So IMHO in principle it should work as a plug-in replacement for the camera mic; providing the supply voltage and current requirements (2.0V) are met.