Soldering Tiny Headphone Wires - Simply Put

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[@szinski]

Just pass the wire through a hot blob of solder on the tip of your soldering iron and it will remove (melt) the insulation and tin the wire in one fell swoop... easy-peasy.

[@dtjiangutube]

I believe it is the correct way to go. Do you have the resistivity data to prove like what Simply Put did?

[@MrLuigge]

Dude I am trying to fix the cable on a earphone, right on the mic board. The problem I face is the same as yours, the wire is like a brush, it is hard to effectively remove the protective coat without creating another carbon coat thus making it difficult to solder. If the people on the factory can do it, so we must be able to... It can't be that difficult, there must be a better technique to do this... Things to test as suggested here on comments: Acetone or alcohol lamp.

[@gonepostal63]

Nice video! Very relatable. I read about a way to handle this many years ago, it can be deceptively easy, no fire needed. All you need is a bit of fine sandpaper. Make a small fold of it between your fingers, grit side in. Gently pull the wire through the sandpaper, don't squeeze the sandpaper too tight just tight enough to feel the drag, usually only a few quick strokes and you have bare copper wire for your soldering pleasure. I have not tried burning off the enamel first, but as far as I see, there is no harm at all in doing so.

[@ysamuelarai]

Just FYI there's no "acrylic insulation" on the wires. They are enameled wires. This coating is made from polyimide or other polymers, not acrylic.

[@freesaxon6835]

This is the sort of chap that could talk rs232 all day, and you would love it ,😁

[@bobweiram6321]

If you just want a breakout, you're much better off just using or reusing a female jack and solder its terminals to whatever you want. You can even solder it directly to the perfboard or extension wires.

[@princecharmonpoirtoi]

If you didn't want the carbon, use an alcohol lamp. Burns carbon less.

[@MrLuigge]

Alcohol lamp... Hmm gonna try it.

[@Soulcommander]

I have discovered I can just solder these wires and there was no need to burn the ends as the solder and the iron does it for you.

[@JOEZEP54]

Stumbled onto this video & watched to the end. Very interesting & well presented. I have work on several small wires like you are showing & it was painstaking. My DIY channel is dedicated to repairs & recycling so I am very familiar with the " non static " mess LOL. With several projects always going on at once I have to stop & get reorganized every so often. 👍 # 95 Stay Well, Joe Z

[@seditt5146]

FFS The constant jump cuts gave me a seizure and I am waiting on the results from the doctor to see if I got cancer from it or not.

[@seditt5146]

Besides that its helpful. A little cancer cant hurt I guess.

[@nicola3540]

Simply put, that’s exactly what this is. In the first two minutes, I learned about five KZbin videos worth of stuff, including what I needed to know as well as what’s good to know - presented in a way that’s 100% relevant and clear without all that other, well, you know, it’s kind of a bit like that other thing, or maybe it’s not but I’ll talk about it anyways .... wish they were all like this, thanks!

[@astrocapsule]

I can't thank you enough This is a fantastic intro to soldering related to headphone wires. Totally clear, informative, and mostly: encouraging!! Thanks a lot my man!! bless you

[@simonm8586]

Long winded but helpful

[@ketas]

enamelled wire bundle cables are amazing stuff. it's thin and durable for flexing. they use it for usb charging only cables too. some of the headphone cables do up to 10 core. some of the cables manage to make shielded conductors out of just strands that go inside and ones that wrap around. iirc some did twisted pairs too. burning them carefully works. it tends to burn so blow it out. actually flame is way too hot. i'd just dip it into solder. it's plastic, it doesn't need yellow hot flame. and you can also melt copper there. yes, flame is enough to melt copper. the reason why you can't melt big block in lighter flame is energy and heat conduction. this is also why heatshrink should be flamed on very carefully. still flame is too hot. have to move it. get hot air station if you can. it's also plastic, it shrinks on low temp, once. i melts and degrades on higher. so yeah...

[@NicleT]

Sorry to ask, but what's the name of these cables? I'm looking for an about 12" of this kind of cable with just ground and signal (copper and red?)(2 cores?) in a flexible sheath. I just don't know how to make my research because I don't know the real name of it. Thanks

[@ketas]

tried in ali right now headphone repair cable 2 cores it finds more than enamel wire multi core it sometimes appears in cheapest aux cables too, the braided ones, or not. or headphones, doh. but it's crapshoot there. just buy one that shows cores on photo. it's not cheap, with 1-2€ per meter and is sold in 1-2-5-10m pieces there. minimum is like 3 times you need. plus extra stripping bit. need more especially if you need to practicing have fun

[@kindspirit9965]

Bless you man , Thanks to you i fixed my ear buds , with them crazy wires like a hairs breath or like cotton , its almost like they don’t like you to fix stuff anymore yourself !!!! Thankyou so much man

[@lanemusa1528]

you probably dont give a damn but does anyone know a way to log back into an instagram account? I was stupid lost the password. I would appreciate any tricks you can offer me

[@jedidiahelijah6739]

@Lane Musa instablaster :)

[@lanemusa1528]

@Jedidiah Elijah I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site on google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff atm. Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.

[@lanemusa1528]

@Jedidiah Elijah it worked and I finally got access to my account again. I am so happy:D Thank you so much, you really help me out!

[@jedidiahelijah6739]

@Lane Musa Glad I could help =)

[@davidjones9730]

I’ve had similar problems but used a hot solder blob on the iron and ran the phone’s lead through it, this removed the insulation and tinned the wires. I like the breakout board and will make one but with a number of pcb headers for each lead so I can connect the scope plus other things in one go, great idea. Thanks.

[@kylesanders8276]

Love the poster. 151 for life! lol

[@Rock-On-Ron]

To simply put it, headphone wires are the hardest wires to work with. Most regular headset wires only have 3 cores, wait til you see a bluetooth headset wire and it has a 10 core wire that connects the left and right speakers. I worked with one and it's a hell to work with. lol

[@bobweiram6321]

You haven't dealt with iSight cables! You'll wish it was headphone wires. The cable transmits USB signals from the Macbook's camera installed behind the display. They're practically microscopic. If you accidentally damage its 4-pin connector, you have four choices: 1. Detach the super delicate laminated display panel without breaking it ($400 to replace). I am not exaggerating when I say it's like trying to unglue an eggshell without cracking it. After replacing the iSight cable, reattach the display without cracking it and make sure you don't get any dust behind the display or they'll become annoying visual artifacts. 2. Replace the entire display assembly 3. Replace the broken connector by teasing out the barely visible wires under a microscope.

[@Rock-On-Ron]

@@bobweiram6321 yup Isight cables, heard about it. those wires are better left to pros with proper tools, if I had that problem I'd rather buy a replacement screen. lol

[@Rock-On-Ron]

@bobweiram6321 awesome vid btw, your vid helped me repair my marshall 3 headphones, learned the lighter solder trick works. tnx

[@edgeeffect]

For the last nearly 40 dyslexic years, I've reffered to 1/4", 3.5mm and 2.5mm as "big", "little" and "tiny". But yeah, headphone wires make USB look easy as pie... and those little (expletive deleted) are kinda insubstantial.

[@dillon4813]

not only are they insulated with some sorta plasticky clear rubber, but the metal wires themselves are also painted. I can take the insulation off with nail polish remover. but the paint on the wires stays still. when you burn it, that paint like burns onto the wire. So annoying. I found burning was better then trying to lightly sand with nail polish remover or alcohol. It still hard to tin the wires after doing all that. theyre just so so so tiny and thin. Its almost like the tin isnt liquid enough its too thick to even get on the thin wires. even using good flux its hard. Got mine done though. Headset working again.

[@ketas]

depends on alligator clip type, but those cheap ones can also break wires. it just cuts through anything you have around conductor. they do make different clips, just have to search for it

Man, you are posh. You have carpet in your workshop? I just stick with a concrete floor. Easier to clean and more fun with a jet sprayer. Good video, but, you put most women to shame with the excessive talking! Still, as least what you were saying was interesting. I love your metal tray with the magnetic crocodile (as we call them here in the UK,) clips. Was that something you can buy or did you make it yourself.

[@lloydandrews2084]

What kind of headphones you wearing bro? And what were you listening to? Inquiring minds want to know??

[@ketas]

also good one on manufacturing 3.5mm socket on breadboard. the problem is lack of proper contact maybe

[@petrisss2047]

I ned to know what is the yellow board on the table at 16:41. I see the "Quad-something" but it is not clear. Thanks for the video :)

[@darkacademia444]

I can't thank you enough man! your great that well help me win my school project

[@RobertTaylor-ot6nh]

ya need to take the simply put out your title.......and get to the point...painfully long video

[@armandine2]

I might make a similar clamp/rig set up - or just find a socket that fits the jack plug

[@danieljohnson8437]

Real world, physics. Syk.

[@ovalwingnut]

Hard Core! Now that't how it's done. GR8T advice and infoTainment. Gal dang I also hate them little (fiber like) ultra small strands. Near impossible. You really need to prepair for the battle. And you're never really satisfied. I enjoy your humours take on all things electronic. And your bench RoCkS p.s. also admire your "nearsightedness". Ah, close-up vision. Those were the days. Cheers.

[@MarkWagner-zr1mz]

I have a project which also involves these micro f-ing wires. I'm hoping you can give some advice. I have to attach these wires to pins that are 0.025" in dia. Just to make it even more interesting, these pins are inside a metal "barrel" (barrel is around 3/4" in diameter) and they are about 1/8" deep into the barrel. I'm considering using solder paste, which I'm hoping would hold the tiny wire to the pin and allow me to place hot solder tip to pin/wire connection. I guess my question is ... do you think this would work? Any other ideas ? As with the headphone wires this too needs to carry an audio signal .. any reason solder paste wouldn't work? Thanks

[@poneill65]

Thanks for the lighter tip but man, that jack-buswire-stripboard contraption,... aaaaagh, it burns!!! You know you can get female PCB mounting 3.5mm sockets for literally pennies on eBay from China right? BTW: in my experience, the black residue after burning is very non-conductive AND really good at preventing solder adhesion. I find it best to gently rub the charred wires over some fine grit sandpaper a few times to expose the copper (rotating between swipes to expose as much as possible).

[@hamzaabde1595]

this guy is a hidden treasure

[@Nocure92]

Attempted to solder wires like this when trying to repair my Beyerdynamic DT770 pros. I could detatch the wires just fine, but when I cut off the bad part and it came to reattaching them it was a nightmare. I don't have anything to hold stuff in place so that didn't make it easier, and then my soldering iron doesn't seem to get hot enough, especially on the tip which seems to be is needed to do precise soldering like this...

[@TimothySmithii]

Brother, I tore out the IC from a dead $3 BT adapter off AliExpress and was convinced the wires were colored until you just told me different. The fact that they are stranded is wild. Using a break-out is inspired. Love the TRS wrap too.

[@teddewan]

I realized halfway through that this sounds exactly like the voice in my head when I'm doing work like soldering.

[@thechuckster1971]

Great video. Info and entertainment value. And I beg to differ that’s a static mess. But hey progress is messy.

[@Nabin4socialchange]

The video is informative one... I got many things informative while soldering ....Thank's brother ..

[@nickstarboy]

much appreciated!

[@mohanvvip]

Thanks, I did all of the things you did, burning the insulation, etc, but in the end I had to use a different set of wires which weren't made up of coated strands. I wonder if acetone would dissolve the coating. Good video.

[@oleskool6259]

Now that was a regular hodgepodge of knowledge you definitely explained it well it’s unbelievable how small the wires are.

[@Blue_Jasmin]

Great video.

[@sifkbbx.-.9602]

Thank you.

[@jgquinton]

Thanks!! Just needed to know how to get the insulation off the wires. You saved the day!

[@sumalsebastian]

do you think this technique is okay for scavenging headphone speakers of good quality headset?

[@simplyput2796]

I would expect so, although if you're scavenging then maybe you could open up the speakers (depending on how hard the casing is to get into) and just desolder the wires and solder new nice and thick ones on there. If that's an option, I would go to the hardware store and pick up "speaker wire" because it's two wires joined together that you can just pull apart as much as you need, and solder that onto the speaker's contact points.

[@johnd942]

Deary me, you do 'rattle on'!

[@gadnova1948]

thanks bro it worked

[@DukieBrain]

This was really helpful man. Thanks

[@Immortal_Hunter]

Where can i get one of those pokemon charts.

[@simplyput2796]

Just google "150 pokemon poster" and find a way to print it out. I probably picked it up at a university dormitory poster sale back in the 90s.

[@Immortal_Hunter]

@@simplyput2796 👍

[@weedeater64]

Can confirm, that wire is absolute hell on earth to work with. Electronics needs to step back a couple of decades.

[@nafelbood2343]

thank U man thank you bro it was a pleasure