Can earphone wire be repaired?

[Mr Sparkle]

Just noticed that bare wire is starting to show in places on my earphones.

What would be a good way to repair the knicks/prevent further damage to the internal wire?

 

[Taylortwocities]

I would run a length of heat-shrink sleeve over the damaged areas and shrink it with a heat gun.
But these things aren't built to last.
May be time for a new set.

 

[opps]

I would run a length of heat-shrink sleeve over the damaged areas and shrink it with a heat gun.
But these things aren't built to last.
May be time for a new set.

Surely the sleeve will have to be large enough to slide over the earphones?

Do some heat shrink sleeves have a greater degree of potential shrinkage?

 

[Sureitsoff?]

You can get 3:1 and even 4:1 heatshrink ie it shrinks to 1/3 or 1/4 of its original diameter

 

[foxhole]

Self amalgamating tape?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Surely the sleeve will have to be large enough to slide over the earphones?

Do some heat shrink sleeves have a greater degree of potential shrinkage?

Err, ...on my earphones the plug end is much much smaller than the earphones end.......!

 

[opps]

Err, ...on my earphones the plug end is much much smaller than the earphones end.......!

Fair play, but that would mean that the OP needs to bond both the left and right cables together. I am guessing that he might not want to limit the degree to which they branch off.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Fair play, but that would mean that the OP needs to bond both the left and right cables together. I am guessing that he might not want to limit the degree to which they branch off.

yes. A new pair then...

 

[EFLImpudence]

Just a couple of drops of hot-melt glue.

 

[plugwash]

Do some heat shrink sleeves have a greater degree of potential shrinkage?

There is certainly variation. 2:1 is the cheap and nasty default, 3:1 and 4:1 are quite common.

I've bought some as high as 6:1 before, but it was a thick as heck even before shrinking and ridiculously thick after. It was also a nightmare to shrink would not recommend.

 

[Why Not Indeed]

I've tried repairing these before and sad to say I just gave up. The wires are tiny and difficult to strip and solder.

 

[plugwash]

Headphones sometimes use what is known as "tinsel wire". This uses a textile core with metal foil conductors. Tinsel wire has advantages in terms of flexibility and durability under repeated bending.

Unfortunately such wire is not friendly to repair. Stripping it without damaging the foil is hard, and then soldering destroys the textile core making the wire extremely fragile. Manufacturers use special crimps to avoid the need to strip and solder, but that doesn't really help the repair guy.

 

[mattylad]

As mentioned, hot melt glue over the area, once it has started to go from clear to whiteish start rolling it with your palm (wear gloves) so that your rolling a sausage shape, perhaps do it on some greaseproof paper etc. then roll that over in order to roll it all.

 

[Mr Sparkle]

Will go the hot glue route as don't want limit the degree to which buds branch off.

Thanks lads, you guys are always great!

Headphones sometimes use what is known as "tinsel wire". This uses a textile core with metal foil conductors. Tinsel wire has advantages in terms of flexibility and durability under repeated bending.

Unfortunately such wire is not friendly to repair. Stripping it without damaging the foil is hard, and then soldering destroys the textile core making the wire extremely fragile. Manufacturers use special crimps to avoid the need to strip and solder, but that doesn't really help the repair guy.

Never not learning. Thanks for the background info.

 

[opps]

As mentioned, hot melt glue over the area, once it has started to go from clear to whiteish start rolling it with your palm (wear gloves) so that your rolling a sausage shape, perhaps do it on some greaseproof paper etc. then roll that over in order to roll it all.

When I need to shape hot melt glue I spit on my fingers, and invariably still feel the heat.

I suspect that you are talking about the low temperature glue sticks.