3.5mm jack /cable question

[sona1111]

Hello community.

I am sorry if this is the wrong forum, I have been looking for the answer to this question for a while and I do not know what I am missing.

Pretty much I ordered a pair of headphones and seemingly they were made cheap because the cable slipped out from the wire even when gripped on the plug itself. (for the microphone wire, the headphone wire is still ok for now) I would like to replace it with another jack but I am stumped because it looks like the cable only has one conductive wire in it (pictured). Some sources seem to tell me that the shielded part - which looks like non-conductive plastic to me - is the ground. Is this true? Do any of you know how difficult it is to replace this jack and where the other wire might be hiding?

The jack that broke off is the exact same as the still-intact jack that is pictured. Same size and number of conductive bands. Let me know if I can provide any other information.

Thanks for reading.

[SteveNielsen]

Re: 3.5mm jack /cable question

There should be three conductors; right, left, common. Correct plug wiring is shield=common=sleeve, red=right=ring, white=left=tip. Many manufacturers reverse right and left colors, especially with computer headphones and computer audio adapter cables.

[sona1111]

Re: 3.5mm jack /cable question

Thank you for the reply. By 'shield' do you mean that translucent plastic part which is visible in the picture? I don't understand how that conducts anything or how I am supposed to solder it, but I can try. Do you know what type of replacement jack I could look into buying?

[SteveNielsen]

Re: 3.5mm jack /cable question

No. That is not a picture of the correct cable as far as I can tell.

Oh wait, you are speaking of the mic cable and plug, nevermind. Sorry.

Did you strip off the outer shield conductor?

[sona1111]

Re: 3.5mm jack /cable question

I attempted to only remove the black outermost part of the cable, and I did not notice any other part come off, but I could be mistaken. I can try to very carefully take more of the cable off if you think there should be something else in there...

[rhomanski]

Re: 3.5mm jack /cable question

The plug that's left has a headphone symbol on it. I gather the missing plug would be for the microphone?
All I could say is if there is no second wire on the cable then the grounds must be connected inside the headphones and the unit.
In aviation headsets, they are mono so it has three connections on the plug. Hot for headphones, hot for mic, and one ground.

[SteveNielsen]

Re: 3.5mm jack /cable question

That's true rhomanski but I can't think of any application where they'd use a single, unshielded conductor for a microphone cable. Even if it wasn't grounded at the plug end it would be shielded and grounded somewhere, otherwise it'll pick up a lot of noise. I think the shield got stipped off with the outer jacket, that is extremely easy to do with those little cables. So yeah sona1111, strip the outer jacket back a bit more and maybe see the sheild. You gotta have a light touch with those little wires.

[rhomanski]

Re: 3.5mm jack /cable question

In the aviation headphones the ground is a shield. Then, David Clark makes fifty foot extension cords. I put two together for a hundred foot cord. Later I built my own extension that was about 150 feet. I could run from the nose to the tail without unplugging. I also found once, a power pit was putting out so much noise it came through the shielding whenever I let the cord get near it.

I agree strip a little more and look for a shield, although...A short cord may not pick up enough noise to matter if it's short enough. Or if the headset is cheap enough. I would expect it to be shielded but I don't know. If I couldn't find a shield I would look at the socket and see which contact is used and try it.