Submitted by Houaiss t3_zpxswa in DIY

This earbuds are very precious to me. Right now I don't have a way to buy a new one and would like to still use this if is possible to fix it. The tear showed in the picture is causing the right side to not be able to reproduce any sound. I tried to search in technical places in my city but none of them fixed earbuds. I tried searching YouTube videos but they showed a different types of tear and I didn't think it would help me Do I need to buy soldering equipment? If anyone could point me to a direction (any specific video or tutorial) to try to fix this I would be very thankful!

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Scooter_127 t1_j0v6nnt wrote

You would need to get your hands on a soldering iron but be aware that the wires in earbuds, and even expensive regular headphones, is super, super thing and a real pain in the neck to deal with.

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crispy1989 t1_j0v8aaq wrote

Seconding this. It can be done, but is a major pain to do so. The little part of the cord that's broken has 2 different even tinier wires inside (in addition to the unbroken cord next to it, which also contains 2 tiny wires). Both wired need to be separated and repaired. You'll likely need to very carefully cut off the little plastic strain relief piece there (this in itself may be quite difficult to do without causing further damage). After removing that piece, the individual wires need to be separated and individually repaired, probably with solder and heat shrink tube. Soldering stuff that small isn't easy and you'll definitely need to get some spare material to practice on if you haven't done it before. Then add a larger piece of heat shrink around both repaired wires. Rebuilding the strain relief piece might be tough, but doable if you build an epoxy mold for it or something.

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Scooter_127 t1_j0valwk wrote

...long ago a cat wrecked the cord for my $100 Sony studio 'phones and I attempted to repair the wires.

I had 2 years of electronics in high school and another 2 in college, both of which had a lot of practical training - in other words I'm no stranger to soldering.

I ended up buying a new cord for it that wasn't a hell of a lot less than a brand new pair.

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crispy1989 t1_j0veezs wrote

Another idea for how to fix this: This is a bit risky and very tricky, and only might work, but is less invasive than properly isolating and repairing the individual wires.

The part of the cord that's broken contains 2 even tinier wires. It's possible that these 2 tinier wires are themselves intact (except for the insulation) and are just shorting out on each other. IF this is the case, you may be able to get away with isolating the 2 tinier wires and then casting them in epoxy. You'd probably need some kind of tiny hook-like tool and a magnifier sufficient to work with the tiny individual strands. If both conductors are unbroken and you are able to physically separate the strands, that ear bud should start working again. If successful, the area could be cast in epoxy to add some insulation and rigidity.

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Houaiss OP t1_j0xl5ye wrote

Thank you for those ideias! Unfortunately the red wires are cut off. It seems this would be something really hard to fix indeed.

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Xychologist t1_j0wwu66 wrote

You can buy soldering equipment but not new earbuds?

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Houaiss OP t1_j0x8yl6 wrote

I can buy new earbuds. I'm saying that I can't buy that earbud model again because they are expensive for me now. Actually, I already bought new earbuds (cheaper one) but I'm trying to see if I still can save that one. I don't know if I can buy soldering equipment. I'm trying to figure out what I would need to fix this and see if it will be worth it.

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