Severed audio plug on a pair of Razer Kraken headphones

[withalligators]

Hey guys,
Found a pair of Razer Kraken over the ear headphones in my e-waste bin.

Luckily, they are of the hot pink variety.

Anyway, the cable is severed up by the headphones, so I wanted to splice in another plug just to see if they worked or if that was why they were tossed. cutting off the sheath of the wire exposes something weird. There are two strands of shock absorbing string, and three twisted lengths of colored copper. There is a red length, a blue one, and a copper colored one. They do not appear to be insulated from each other!? Also, there is a fine clothing thread inside each one of these, also, I presume, for shock absorption. What the heck should i do?

I've spliced audio cable before, and the little strands inside the cable have always been sheathed and sometimes surrounded by a steel grounding sheath. Or dipped in thin rubber or something. I'm confused.

Anyway, anybody have any pointers?

Cheers,
Alex

[ben7]

Re: Severed audio plug on a pair of Razer Kraken headphones

Ugh those super fine wires (the strands) give me the chills! (because they are very fragile)

Those fine strands are enamel coated. It's basically a very thin type of "magnet wire".

LOL @ hot pink ... the best color!

-Ben

[withalligators]

Re: Severed audio plug on a pair of Razer Kraken headphones

So, should I just solder them onto the corresponding wire of a plug, making sure the cut ends are in the solder? I think I'm going attach a female end to that plug so I can just run a male/male out of that.

[stj]

Re: Severed audio plug on a pair of Razer Kraken headphones

red and blue are the sides +
copper is the common for both.

read this:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...7&postcount=13

[withalligators]

Re: Severed audio plug on a pair of Razer Kraken headphones

Amusing and helpful thread. Sounds like I should have a few drinks before getting into this. Why set my temp so low?

Cheers
Alex

[stj]

Re: Severed audio plug on a pair of Razer Kraken headphones

low?
310 is good for lead-free and will pretty much destroy leaded solder!

it's also high enough to melt plugs!

[kaboom]

Re: Severed audio plug on a pair of Razer Kraken headphones

60/40 or 63/37 solder is fine.

Blue is left, red is right, clear is common.

I've tinned that "solderon" just fine with multiple irons, including a Weller TCP and an American Beauty T-12, around/above 700 degrees Fahrenheit. From larger wire in transformers and inductors, down to the smaller sizes in headphone cords.

Anything hot enough to melt solder will also melt the plug. Faster is better- leaded solder works in your favor.

[withalligators]

Re: Severed audio plug on a pair of Razer Kraken headphones

I usually keep my iron at like 700. In and out super quick on boards and such. I could use some new tips though. I bet I could work at much lower temps.

[stj]

Re: Severed audio plug on a pair of Razer Kraken headphones

we are mixing C & F i suspect!

[withalligators]

Re: Severed audio plug on a pair of Razer Kraken headphones

Well, I finally got around to attempting this. It worked! Thanks for all the advice, especially the bit about cooking the enamel off with molten solder, I don't think it would have worked if I hadn't known that. These are actually some pretty decent cans! Thank goodness they are hot pink. Can't wait to wear em to the gym or to the next biker rally.

Cheers
Alex

[RyanHaris]

Re: Severed audio plug on a pair of Razer Kraken headphones

Razer no doubt has offering best gaming headphones though there are issues in a few versions therefore i do not go for experiments much rather i prefer using know Razor headsets. I've owned a set of Razer Carcharias for probably 13 years now (has to be somewhere around there I bought them when I worked at Best Buy during college.) They survived 6 years of heavy WoW raid use and they're currently laying on my desk for when I host webinars for work 3 times a week. I don't know what all the online regarding them is about.

I hear a lot of good things about the HyperX headsets but I've never used one. I just bought a set of Razor Blackshark V2 gaming headset for just $100 while looking for some good options. They're… good. I like the mic as much as the Razer's because it's detachable and it is not fixed in place so I easily flip it up when not in use. I also easily find the faux leather cups super comfortable, just like the microfiber ones on the Razers, they are as nice as the cups on the Bose QC15s.



If it's the wire being destroyed, maybe go for something with a replaceable line in? You can get replacement line ins for most Sennheisers (my previous set of headphones before the mic became necessary) and Bose QC15's. There's also a couple of mics out there that can piggy back on nicer headphones which weren't available a few years ago.


Thinking about it, I probably have way too many headphones laying around so I really should stop buying them. I'm counting 5 working pairs of circumoral aural headsets right now plus 4 sets of earbuds.