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Headphone cable broke

SamuelRowe

Feb 13, 2015
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Alright so recently I noticed there was no sound coming out of the right side of my headphones. To my disappointment, the cable had broken. I think there's still a possibility of fixing them though, since each side has its own cable, meaning it's single layered. But the problem is this:
f7aVN5n.jpg

What is this thick plastic thing? More importantly, can I pull the cable out of it? If not, how would I go about removing it?
These headphones are my favourite and I really don't want to throw them out, especially since I have little to no spending money at the moment.

Your guys help is appreciated, Thanks.
 

Tha fios agaibh

Aug 11, 2014
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Hard to tell from that pic, but it maybe a ferrite choke for noise reduction. You may be able to seperate it with a sharp knife and then rewrap the cable.
If it was me I'd just cut it off and solder directly to the cable, and mitigate a trip to the emergency room.
 

davenn

Moderator
Sep 5, 2009
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What is this thick plastic thing? More importantly, can I pull the cable out of it? If not, how would I go about removing it?

no you are not likely to be able to as it is heat moulded onto the plastic cable sheath
 

Martaine2005

May 12, 2015
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Hi Samuel.
As already mentioned, it is the strain relief to stop the cable being pulled out and also stops the cable fracturing/breaking.
You can carefully cut it off (as already mentioned), Use a sharp knife and make slow passes until you are through it.
Or just cut it off and re-attach the wire directly. It will only be a few inches shorter than the other side.
BUT make sure you put some kind of strain relief back between the two casings.
Otherwise your fix wont last long at all.

Martin
 

SamuelRowe

Feb 13, 2015
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Feb 13, 2015
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Hey thanks for all your help guys. I managed to do a shoddy resolder of it using some different cables(one wire had to be sanded down to expose it) but this plus lots of duct tape fixed it. I think the quality degraded but they're working again! Thanks again everyone!
 

Martaine2005

May 12, 2015
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Glad you sorted them out.
Maybe after a few repairs, you wont have such a shoddy soldered joint!:)

Martin
 

SamuelRowe

Feb 13, 2015
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Glad you sorted them out.
Maybe after a few repairs, you wont have such a shoddy soldered joint!:)

Martin
Yeah haha, the problem I have when I solder is my hands shake terribly and even before I had several near misses (Soldering iron kept clipping my fingernail which scared me) and my soldering iron feels quite unbalanced, which is probably because I hardly solder. But anyways, here's a picture of the job:
F8JaMCq.jpg
 

Martaine2005

May 12, 2015
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Lol, perhaps a little practice on tidying the repair would help too..
On a side note, that white rolled item top left quarter of your photo may or may not help in hands shaking.:p

Martin
 

SamuelRowe

Feb 13, 2015
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Feb 13, 2015
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Lol, perhaps a little practice on tidying the repair would help too..
On a side note, that white rolled item top left quarter of your photo may or may not help in hands shaking.:p

Martin
I agree. Also yeah haha, switching to an E-Cig very soon (Still not healthy but at least its healthIER and from there I'll slowly and steadily quite altogether)
 
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