Another one of my audio devices’s 1/8" stero miniplug jacks has been worn to the point were the plug has to be held in just the right position or else only one side comes through or there’s a loud, static-like sound. That’s fine for my stationary computer speaker system (which also has that problem), but for my PDA, it renders the headphone jack useless. Is there anything I can do to fix this problem? I tried using an extension cord that has a slightly longer prong than my headphones do…
Short of replacing the jack itself–often problematic, since proprietary parts are common in consumer electronics–I’ve never found a truly satisfacory solution to this kind of problem. If there’s enough room, and you have some familiarity with soldering and electronics assembly, you mighty be able to make an aftermarket replacement jack fit. Some jacks are open enough so you can get a pin or needle in there and push the contacts back into place; if you can get the thing open, you might try that.
If and this is a big if, you can open the case and access the back side of the jack, you might be able to bend the tangs of the jack so that they hold with more pressure.
Good luck, it won’t be easy or fun.
What I’ve generally seen as far as jack failures go is that the jack becomes loose from the PC board. In that case, it can usually be soldered back down.
I’ve had no troubles resoldering small parts like that. Oftentimes the solder joint becomes cracked, or the pin on the component in question has losened itself from the solder and is making intermittent or no contact. Much of the time it isn’t even really necessary to completely resolder; simply reflowing the solder (melting it and letting it harden again) will secure any cracks or loose bits in the joint. If you want to be absolutely sure however, I find the longer lasting solution is to completely remove the solder using a solder sucker or some desoldering braid and apply fresh solder to the joints.
Use a fine-tip, low-wattage soldering iron. If you’re buying a new one, you should properly tin it first. (This just involves letting the iron heat up and melting a little solder over the tip in order to give the tip a fine coat of resin) Use standard 60/40 resin-core solder. Any local electronics parts shop (Radio Shack/Source, for example) should have these components.
You may want to inspect the male end of the plug. I have a set of desktop speakers that I used at work for years (which I would unplug to lock away the CD player at night) where the metal surface had been worn off. The plug no longer picks up the signal correctly and exhibits the same behaviour you describe. Most of the wear I can see has occurred on the centre portion between the insulation rings. It’s a potentially cheaper fix than messing around inside a PDA.
Also, you may consider that it could be a broken wire beneath the cord insulation. This could also display the same problems.
Yes I have found that the male connector is the problem most of the time. Usually the wire from the headphones break where they attach to the internal ‘prong’.
Here’s a bit of a related question. Once upon a time I used to experience a lot of the previous two posts: The wires of the headphone cord would often break inside the inslulation. Ordinarily my remedy was simply to snip the offending portion of the cable off above the short, strip about a half inch of insulation off, and splice on a new pin jack, securing it with some electrical tape. It was cheap and effective. Eventually though (late 90s) I found that many headphones were starting to come with the wires covered in some sort of coating (usually blue or red). I presume this is some sort of extra layer of insulation, but it made splicing on new pin jacks absolutely impossible. I came across this both when trying to splice on a new pin jack, and when the wires had come off the contacts in the earpiece itself. Scraping off the coating did help some but it was impossible to remove it all, and thus impossible to do a proper splice or resolder job with any expectation of achieving good contact.
What exactly is that crap? And how do you remove it effectively?
Magnet wire. Typically SML insulation, a type of film-coated resin. The easiest way to strip it is to burn it off with a lighter or match, then use steel wool or a wire brush to remove the ash and polish up the bare copper. You can also scrape it off with a razor blade, but the flame method is faster and more thorough.
Incidentally, sometimes that type of wire has a clear insulation, and it looks just like bare copper. If if it won’t solder no matter how much flux you use or how much heat you apply, chances are this is why.
Burn it! :smack: I can’t believe I never tried that. I tried the razor blade but the going was incredibly slow flaking off hair-thin strips at a time, and the copper wires were so thin that I’d inevitably start hacking them off despite trying to be careful using the flat of the blade. And then the fibrous insulation core would start fraying as the wires unraveled and the whole thing would turn into a mess, so I just gave up. A lighter would have saved me several huge headaches, not to mention a few pairs of headphones. 
Thanks – I’ll keep that in mind for the next time I run into this.
If that’s the same stuff I’m thinking of, it’s Kevlar. It’s a royal pain in the ass to cut, too. That’s another benefit of the burning method; Kevlar is great at withstanding cutting but burning, not so much.
This stuff wasn’t particularly tough – I’m thinking more like nylon. But then I’ve never cut through kevlar so I wouldn’t know the difference. It was a little bothersome to deal with though as it always got in the way of a good splice, so I’d usually try and separate it from the exposed wires and slice it off.
I have just done this (successfully, for now) to a loose headphone jack in a Creative Muvo2 MP3 player. Last time I had the problem the player was still under warranty and I got it replaced. That is generally preferable.
From the looks of things, they will probably become loose again over time, but it may be possible to wedge very thin slivers of material between the tangs and the jack casing to make them permanently tighter.
Woohoo, I did it. I gave up on the idea for months, because the danger of ruining the PDA by opening it wasn’t worth it, but then I up and changed my mind. I soldered the contacts (which were completely bare) on the jack to the board and now the sound comes out perfectly.
…but now the speaker doesn’t work. My hand wasn’t steady enough and a bit of solder dripped fusing a mystery metal protuberance to a connector on the jack, and I think that protuberance may have something to do with detecting whether a headphone is plugged in. Does anyone familiar with headphone jack technology know whether this is probably what happened, before I reopen it and try to file the solder away?
Yes, that’s probably it. The jack is called an “open circuit” type, and it has a little contact that is opened when the headphone plug is inserted to cut the speaker out. You probably shorted the speaker signal to ground or something. Instead of filing or using a knife, try reflowing the solder with a little bit of flux and a brief application of the hot iron (make sure the tip is properly tinned prior to this). If there is too much solder on the pad, remove some of it with a piece of solder wick.
…and that worked. Thanks a lot. What a learning experience…
More likely Kynar or [del]Teflon[/del] PTFE. Both rather difficult to strip, but burning works pretty well.
My HTC smartphone had a loose headphone jack. I bought a cheap pair of Bluetooth earbuds for $10 that only lasted a week.
Then I realized I could just wrap the end of the earbud connection with a little bit of
aluminum foil and it fixed the problem. Now I can use the .50 cent plug in earbuds I bought in bulk. Problem solved.
I knew this was a zombie as soon as I read “PDA” in the OP. 