Trying to put a new jack on a headphone cord... but no continuity. What's going on?

[LeeH]

My daughter bought some cheap headphones. They have a long cord which got caught on something resulting in the 3.5mm jack being damaged. Well, she really likes these headphones and asked if I could put on a new plug. She spent a lot of time decorating them, hence the repair attempt on really cheap headphones.

I split the main insulation to find three small wires, as expected. Well, the individual wires seem to be made up of very fine braided (colored) wires cover in an even finer, hairlike coating. Thing is, when I peel back the spider webby coating I can't get continuity on the individual wires. There's nothing inside that looks like copper. I frayed the entire mess into individual strands and still get no continuity.

What am I missing?

[stomachmonkey]

Long cord that got caught on something?

Whose to say the only damage was at the jack?

Thin flimsy cheap wiring could have broken anywhere along the length.

Most likely where it got snagged.

[LeeH]

Pretty sure it broke at the jack. The straight jack bent to 90 degrees.

Hmmm... thinking the wire is coated with something. They are ridiculously tiny.

[porsche4life]

Can you swap the cord out at the speaker end? Put a whole cord off some other headphones?

[Cajundaddy]

Change the whole cord. If it got caught on something and broke the jack, there is probably a lot more damage to the fragile wires. A new cord is probably $5-10.

[tyro]

There's insulation on the wires..

You can solder them, just get some solder on your iron and hold it on the wire long enough to tin each wire. It smells bad but it will work. Tin enough of the wire to get it connected to your new plug.

I've fixed a few Sony mdr 7506 the same way.

Edit: had to look up the color of wires in the plug. Green is left (tip of the 3.5mm plug), red is right channel (ring of the plug) and the common is copper or brass colored.

PM me if you need help.

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by tyro

There's insulation on the wires..

You can solder them, just get some solder on your iron and hold it on the wire long enough to tin each wire. It smells bad but it will work. Tin enough of the wire to get it connected to your new plug.

I've fixed a few Sony mdr 7506 the same way.

Edit: had to look up the color of wires in the plug. Green is left (tip of the 3.5mm plug), red is right channel (ring of the plug) and the common is copper or brass colored.

PM me if you need help.

Thanks for the help. Ended up running the wire over a flame briefly then using the brush on the Dremel tool to clean up it up. Seems to have worked fine. Took a foot out of the cord so hopefully it won't be getting caught on things. Pretty sure my daughter bent down to tie her shoes, ended up stepping on the wire, then stood up. Oops! Going to have to teach the kid to solder.