Headphone repair at home

In the daily life of a modern person, headphones are an indispensable attribute that allows you to enjoy listening to your favorite music and audio books in any place and at any time. Unfortunately, this gadget is not eternal and subject to breakdowns. In this situation, you have to think about whether it is possible to repair the headphones with your own hands, or it is better to buy new ones. It is recommended not to rush to throw away the old ones, since those who have broken down, in most cases, can be repaired at home. How to fix the headphones yourself, and will be discussed in this article.

Typical headphone malfunctions

Headphones are quite simple device, so all the faults can be listed literally on the fingers.Common reasons why the headphones stopped working include the following:

• breakage of the plug;
• bad headphone cord;
• volume control failed.

Breakage of the plug

If the headphones are broken, the first thing you should pay attention to junction point with cable. Often the cause of failure lies precisely in this place. Due to frequent bends, the cable cores break, so the signal does not pass into one “ear” of the gadget or both at once. Also the microphone may not work.

It is easy to detect a breakdown. It is necessary when the gadget is on, to try to bend the cable in the place of the alleged breakdown in different directions. If a sound appears or a crackling sound is heard, it means that one of the wires has been broken. What to do if a problem place is found on the cable?

To repair headphones, do the following.

1. Cut the plug from the cable.
   
2. To repair the plug will be used inner part of the old with a slight modification. To remove this part, it is necessary to cut a plastic sheath with a stationery knife, as shown in the figure below.
   

3. After cutting the plastic, remove the inside of the plug.You will see the contacts to which several thin wires of different colors are soldered. In the same way, you can disassemble the headphones from the iPhone.
   

4. Memorize or draw on paper, to which contact, what color the wire was connected. The pictures below show standard soldering systems lived cable. The color of the conductors may differ in different models, in this case, green is the left channel, red is the right, and copper (without insulation) is common.
   
5. If you need to repair headphones with a microphone that are connected with one plug (usually there are 2 plugs on the cable), then the wiring will be as shown in the figure below.
   

6. Further, it is required to free the inner conductors of the cable from external (general) insulation.
   

7. Headphones without a soldering iron repair will not work. This is due to the fact that it is necessary to connect the common wires and tin the tips of all conductors with flux and solder. Since the conductors are covered with insulation (lacquer), the process of tinning will be a little difficult. To lighten it, it is recommended to use a lighter slightly ignite the tips of the wires. Also clean the tips of the lacquer layer can be using a regular knife.
   
8. To continue to repair the headphones with their own hands, for example, headphones Defender, you need to find ballpoint pen, from which you need only one part, namely - the bottom. It will serve as a housing for the plug.
   
9. Prepare a small piece of heat shrink tubing to protect the wire from sharp bends.
   
10. In the next step, you will need to put a pen tip and heat shrink on the cable, then solder the tinned tips of the wires to the plug part.
11. We solder the contacts, precisely following the wiring scheme (using our sketch).
    
12. After you have soldered all the conductors, you need to check whether the headphones are working or not. For this you can use a multimeter and ring all contacts. If there is no device, then simply plug the plug into the phone jack and play music on it. Make sure that both channels of the headset are working separately by turning the balance control in the equalizer.
13. With a positive test result, wear heat shrink tube to the place of soldering and with the help of a lighter or a building hair dryer, achieve a snug fit to the plug.
    
14. To continue, prepare a small amount of epoxy.
    
15. Add a few drops of resin in the tip of the handle, and put it on the welded plug. On this headset repair is considered over.
    

The procedure for replacing the plug is the same for all types of headsets, such as: Beats By Dr headphones, Sennheiser (Senheiser) HD 215, Razer Kraken (Kraken) Pro, as well as for Steelseries Siberia v2 headphones, Audio-technica ATH-ES7 and headphones Defender.

Bad headphone cord

How to repair headphones when a headset cord malfunctions? You can try to find fracture site internal cable cores, probing and bending all of its sections while the gadget is running. If you hear a crack or a sound during the check, then mark this place with a marker. Further in the place of a break the cable is cut and cleaned. After that, the tips of thin conductors must be soldered, observing the color, and insulated.

If there is no break, you will need to replace the entire cord.. In the following example, vacuum headphone repair will be shown.

1. Before you disassemble broken vacuum headphones, you must purchase a new cable - it can be ordered online.
2. Using a clerical knife, carefully disassemble (disconnect) the glued gadget for the phone into 2 parts.
   
3. After opening, you will see the soldering points to which you need to solder the new cable. This way you can repair Beats (Beats) headsets by Dr.Dre, Sony, Audio Technica Ath-CKR10.
   
4. Iphone headphones are also being repaired in the same way. But when analyzing apple headphones, you should be careful and write down or sketch the location of the wires. They can be multi-colored.
   

Replacing the cord in large headphones

Large gadgets, such as, for example, Philips headphones or Sven computer headphones, differ from plug-in ones only by the size of the speaker (membranes in small gadgets). Difficulties may arise when trying to get to the speaker, in order to solder the contacts of the wires.

Different manufacturers of headsets ways to open them vary. These can be latches that are difficult to detect or hidden screws hidden under soft “pads” - ear cushions. For example, the question often arises how to disassemble the Sennheiser HD203 headphones?

This is done simply.

1. Use a credit card or other flat object to squeeze the latches holding the ear cushions.
   
2. After removing the soft linings, you will see 4 screws that you need to remove.
   
3. On the disassembled device, you will see contacts with wires soldered to them, which need to be unsoldered and replaced with new ones.
   

When repairing headphones Steelseries Siberia, ear pads hold glue based. You can remove them, gently hooking a screwdriver, after which you can detect fasteners. In some models, latches are used instead of screws, which can be broken under strong pressure. If they break, it is necessary to glue the cups of the gadget, after which they will become non-separable.

Earphones Razer Kraken ear cushions are not glued, and removed simply.

After they are detached, fasteners can be found under glued paper.

In the headset Audio-Technica M30 or ES7, they also dress on the rim of the cup of the gadget. No exception are Philips headphones.

By the way, Audio-Technica ES7 headphones have hinges for rotating cups. Therefore, if you are repairing the gadget, disassemble it, then you need to be careful.

The Philips SHD 8600 headset is devoid of all the disadvantages associated with the replacement plug and cable, as it is representative wireless devices.

Problems with the volume control

How to repair headphones if you have problems with the volume control in the form of loss of sound or crack? In this case, you can use graphite grease, to put it on the resistive layer to restore the contact. After that, the headset should function without problems.

If after lubrication the headset continues to work poorly, then the regulator needs to be replaced with a new one.

Thus, in most cases, before you run and buy a new headset, you can repair it yourself. This will require a soldering iron with a thin sting and skills to handle it.