Regardless of the cost of headphones, as a result of improper handling or force majeure, they can become unusable. Sometimes you need to make repairs right away, and in most cases without having the right tools at hand. To do this, it is enough to know how to fix headphones without a soldering iron.
Types of breakdowns
Problems with headphones can occur for various reasons. If they stop working, then you need to determine whether the problem is really related to their functionality. Before you repair headphones without a soldering iron, you need to check. There are two ways to do this:
- connect working headphones (there is no doubt about their functionality) to the connector of the phone or computer, if there is no sound, then the problem may be related to the connector itself;
- connect allegedly broken headphones to another working connector.
If the problem is still related to this device, then its cause may be:
- Broken cable. To identify the problemyou need to connect headphones to the audio output, then play a melody, and then alternately bend and unbend the cable. If you hear intermittent sound from the speakers, then the problem is a broken cable.
- Broken plug. You can identify this problem by the appearance of a sound when you press or twist the plug in the connector.
Determination of the break location
A multimeter helps a lot with this task. This is an affordable tool, it can be purchased at any electronics store. Device requires preparation before use:
- Switch it to the conductivity test mode (usually marked with “)))” or something similar).
- The black probe must be connected to the connector marked “COM”, and the red one to the connector marked “mA” or “)))”.
Before you can fix the headphones without a soldering iron, you need to check. If there is no gap, the multimeter will beep. The check is performed in the following sequence:
- Make cuts near the plug and the earpiece itself, remove the insulation from the wire.
- Connect the probes to the prepared wires.
- If a sound is heard, then everything is fine with the wire itself, and the device does not work either because of the plug or because of the speaker itself. If there is no signal, gradually checking the wires, you need to determine the place of the break.
Required materials and tools
Depending on the breakdown, they may come in handyfollowing tools and materials:
- solder (you can solder the wires without a soldering iron), rosin or solder paste;
- knife or scissors;
- shrink tubing;
- lighter (or other source of fire);
- adhesive tape;
- wire stripping tool;
- pliers;
- multimeter.
Tinning method
To connect two parts, soldering is required first. This also applies to the two wires of the headphones, the wires in the speaker. Tinning in this case helps to improve the contact properties of the parts that are connected. Usually a soldering iron is used for this, but in some cases you can do without it. To do this:
- Before you fix the headphone wire without a soldering iron, you need to prepare any metal container. It can be a regular jar lid or any similar vessel.
- Place the solder into this container. The latter substance will not be needed much, besides, it will be difficult to work with large pieces. Put rosin here as well.
- Heat the resulting composition on the stove until completely melted. After that, you can start soldering. To do this, the contacts must be lowered into the solder, then run over a wooden surface to evenly distribute the substance (you can also remove the excess with a simple rag).
- Now the wires can be connected and the contact point isolated.
The same method allows you to solve the problem of how to fix the minijack on the headphones without a soldering iron (in this case, you will need to replace the part).
If you need to solder the wire to a flat surface, then you need to pour crushed solder on the latter, then put a little rosin and heat the mixture, bringing the device upside down to the fire. When the solder begins to melt, it must be spread over the surface with any metal object.
Twisted wire connection
This method tells how to fix phone headphones without a soldering iron, but only if their design does not include a microphone or volume control. Also, the method will be ineffective if the gap occurs near the speaker. You can repair as follows:
- Cut off 7 cm of the cable with the connector. Remove the sheath about 2 cm long.
- Now you need to remove the insulation with sandpaper or lighter fire.
- Next, you need to make an incision at a distance of 2-3 cm above the plug. This will ensure that you get rid of the damaged area.
- The next step will be the twisting of all paired wires. This should be done as tightly as possible. Before insulating, it is better to check the quality of the strand.
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The open area of the headphones must be insulated with electrical tape, tape or heat shrink tubing. First you need to wrap each pair separately, and then connect them together.
Wiring to speaker
For such a repair, you will need to disassemble the headphones. They canhave an assembly on screws, latches or adhesive connection. The latter option can be disassembled with a knife or by pressing in a vise (in this case, due to the elastic bending, the crack will go exactly along the line of the adhesive joint).
After parsing, you can see that the wire is tied in a knot, which is necessary to prevent it from being pulled out. This wire must be cut, stripped, then knotted again and soldered using the tinning method (how to fix torn headphones without a soldering iron is described in this way at the beginning of the article). After that, the earpiece must be reassembled (or glued together).
This method also solves the question of how to fix the headphone plug without a soldering iron.
Features of foil soldering
This method is most effective for the so-called soldering of two wires (how to fix headphones without a soldering iron with solder in another way is described in the first part of the article). You can start working with them after removing the insulating layer. In this case, you need to expose no more than 3 cm of wire.
You need to cut strips from the foil, the width of which is equal to the size of the bare wire. From these strips, then you need to make small grooves, into which the twisted ends of the contacts are individually placed. In this case, tinning is not performed. It is only necessary to pour crushed solder and rosin into these grooves, evenly distributing along the entire length of the joint.
After that, wrap the foil tightly around the wires, making sure that there are no gaps, and then heat up to the melting temperature of the solder.
After that, you can start soldering. For this foilyou need to remove it, press the wires with pliers (you need to carefully adjust the pressing force so as not to damage the wires). Excess solder can be removed with sandpaper.
Using heat shrink tubing
This method is relevant if not so much the wire was damaged as its insulation. You can repair by following the instructions:
- Cut off a piece of heat shrink tubing to size.
- Put it on the damaged section of the wire, then hold it over the flame for a while (for this purpose, you can use a banal lighter, blowtorch, gas or electric stove). Exposure to high temperatures will cause the tube to shrink and protect the headphone wires from further damage.
You can also repair headphones in practically field conditions, but only if you have solder with rosin, electrical tape or heat shrink tubing at hand. Performing all the steps as carefully as possible and in accordance with the instructions, you can significantly extend the life of this device.
