Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

keestie t1_jb5g5js wrote

I hate to say it but unless you want this to be a learning experience and you don't care about price, you'd be better off buying new headphones.

Also, if the solder keeps breaking, the solder isn't the problem. The wire should be held securely at a previous point; if the strain is on the solder, then that previous point has failed. Every modern electrical device has strain relievers where a moving wire connects to a device, and those strain relievers are meant to take the physical forces and protect the wire.

Looking at the pics in that Amazon link, it looks like this device is cheaply made, and so it has no visible strain relievers, which is probably a huge part of the problem. If you're dedicated to fixing these headphones even if it gets more expensive than a new pair, you should improve the strain relief situation. If I'm fixing a broken or missing strain reliever, I'll often use wraps of electrical tape, built up to increase the thickness. It doesn't look great, but it is something. A better solution is shrink-tubing, in layers, but that gets even more pricy. Not super expensive, just a bit more pricy.

4

Divuff OP t1_jb5hiti wrote

> I hate to say it but unless you want this to be a learning experience

That’s exactly what I want.

The soldiering isn’t too much of an issue, my main problem is figuring out all the wiring.

I don’t know how many cooper wires I need in the cord and where.

I don’t know how to attach a new 3.5 mm jack to my new cord, or if I should just buy a premade cord with a 3.5 mm jack already attached. And if I do buy one, how do I know it’ll have enough cooper wires for what I need

I don’t know to get braided cable for the exterior

I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I really want to learn how to do it

2

keestie t1_jb5o1l7 wrote

All great questions! The easiest way to deal with the repair would be to use an existing wire with a plug on the end, no pause button, and you could get that from another damaged headphone device.

It would probably have three wires in the main cable and then after the splitter, each side would have two wires. Of the three in the main cable, one carries left signal, one carries right signal, and one is ground, aka return; ground is the only wire that would actually split at the splitter. Each headphone would get two wires; one signal, and one return/ground. A pause button complicates the situation; I don't know how those are wired, and as far as I know they work differently for Apple vs Android.

As another person said, these very thin wires are often varnished; each individual strand of wire is covered in a flexible varnish, which insulates it. That varnish needs to be removed before you can solder the wire; I know it is possible but I don't know how. I'd imagine it's done chemically, since the strands are far too thin to withstand any attempt to physically remove the varnish. If I were to try it without finding that info, I'd try burning the varnish off first, then cleaning it very well with a wire brush, and lots of solder flux. Not sure if that would work, but it *seems* like it might. I've never successfully tried anything like this because those wires are so damnedly thin and delicate, I gave up when I tried as a kid.

Are you trying to learn soldering skills, general repair skills, electronics skills, all of the above? Your answers might suggest a more simple starter project.

1