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Has anyone had a jack fail?

JRS

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So I have and in discussing the matter, discovered that it is not an unusual failure. That in fact, it was the most common point of failure. I know nothing of whether straight or right angled is more common. But surely a being (maybe even invoke machine learning) out there has this information and can offer some insight why it has to be so. Whether price, safety, convenience is the cause, how much more would a quality connector cost. Knowing just enough engineering to be more than dangerous, why does all that stress seems to be packed into a few mm of strain in the case of a right angled jack, but heaven knows it; its pure strain with the inline versions.

And repair? Fogettaboutit. Unless you are willing to take the time to get the needed eye transplant to even have a go at soldering a repair splice. otherwise it's breakout time

Or is it just me?
 

Holmz

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Usually only on store bought ones.
I use ProFi RCAs and just solder my own, when I need a specific length, or aI pull out an old set from a box of snakes of ICs from the decades.

Most wiring fails near a solder joint, and most wiring that matters in high vibration environments is crimped… like race cars and airplanes.
 

Cars-N-Cans

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Stressing the jack itself and lack of correct strain relief are common failure modes for the TRS-style jacks. Also the contacts in the jack can corrode/oxidize or lose tension. These cause poor connections. Another failure mode is if its soldered to a PCB, the solder joints can crack and cause an intermittent or no connection. They are easy to fix, FWIW. You just need a good soldering pencil, solder, flux, braid and access to the PCB to repair or replace it. The only time that repair gets difficult is for mobile devices or if pads have been lifted from the board. If its in the usual audio gear, though, its usually a simple matter to fix it.

Edit: If you do not have any basic soldering kit, its a good time to pick some up and learn soldering. Its practically indispensable in electronics.
 
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Cars-N-Cans

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Also, it helps to know what style the jack is as well. If its part of a wire extension lead then the failure mode is usually lack of strain relief and the wires breaking inside.
 
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DMill

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In 30 years of collecting gear I’ve had one fail once. Simple solder connection. I’m sure techs have seen many more. A pretty easy fix even for me.
 
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Doodski

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I've replaced many many jacks on PCB's. They where so commonly replaced that we carried inventory so we didn't have many pieces of gear waiting for parts. When it comes to the male jack on headphones I always replaced the headphones when under warranty. For some customers with expensive headphones the shop would accept them for a new jack but sometimes we turned customers away because it just wasn't worth the time to bother. It's a tedious affair with those light wires and getting the right jack assembly requires a trip across town to the supplier to ensure it is what we want. So... for a owner to replace the jack is more practical and cost effective.
 
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JRS

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Thats good info, but I swear that with the best eyes available, soldering was difficult (an attempted splice). Even then I couldn't get it to work. The happy ending was provided by the maker, One More who even though they were out of warranty, they'd replace it. Like how cool is that?

So been a big One More fan before and since, as the replacements were the same model. Try that with a 10 buck set of whatever brand--considered disposable under a certain amt, and that sort of cheapskatedness should not be part of a 150 USD product. But I figure I got lucky because they were phasing in a slightly different successor.
 

Cars-N-Cans

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Thats good info, but I swear that with the best eyes available, soldering was difficult (an attempted splice). Even then I couldn't get it to work. The happy ending was provided by the maker, One More who even though they were out of warranty, they'd replace it. Like how cool is that?

So been a big One More fan before and since, as the replacements were the same model. Try that with a 10 buck set of whatever brand--considered disposable under a certain amt, and that sort of cheapskatedness should not be part of a 150 USD product. But I figure I got lucky because they were phasing in a slightly different successor.
I would not attempt a splice unless you have to. The fine conductors are challenging to solder, esp. if its a multi-conductor cable. I've done it, but it requires planning ahead to ensure the splices don't stack, shrink tubing be fitted properly, shielding can be replaced, etc. Best bet is to buy some good quality ones and remove the offending plug and replace with new. That is usually not as hard since you are terminating the wires onto solder lugs, which is easier in my opinion. But, its not uncommon to see copper coated aluminum in some conductors in Chinese products for cost savings. These are usually harder to deal with than copper since its just a coating and the bare conductors can be a bit springy and not as easily placed.
 
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JRS

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Stressing the jack itself and lack of correct strain relief are common failure modes for the TRS-style jacks. Also the contacts in the jack can corrode/oxidize or lose tension. These cause poor connections. Another failure mode is if its soldered to a PCB, the solder joints can crack and cause an intermittent or no connection. They are easy to fix, FWIW. You just need a good soldering pencil, solder, flux, braid and access to the PCB to repair or replace it. The only time that repair gets difficult is for mobile devices or if pads have been lifted from the board. If its in the usual audio gear, though, its usually a simple matter to fix it.

Edit: If you do not have any basic soldering kit, its a good time to pick some up and learn soldering. Its practically indispensable in electronics.
Well that's spot on--it seems that there (at least inline has no excuse for failure except mostly tensile failure, and finding a workable compromise is not beyond the quarter i With a right angle job, what I have found to be helpful is to loop back the initial lead with say 3 inches of the jack and go from there. I guess I am not making my point very well, which is why a 150.00 set of earpnones ever fail there. No one least myself, tried to stranle me with the cord. I'm talking less than adoring attention to the stress but falling short of abuse.
 
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JRS

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So in conclusion, I am the only person that has had a high priced set or earphones fail in this manner? If so I am one unlucky bastard.
 

sam_adams

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Cars-N-Cans

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Well that's spot on--it seems that there (at least inline has no excuse for failure except mostly tensile failure, and finding a workable compromise is not beyond the quarter i With a right angle job, what I have found to be helpful is to loop back the initial lead with say 3 inches of the jack and go from there. I guess I am not making my point very well, which is why a 150.00 set of earpnones ever fail there. No one least myself, tried to stranle me with the cord. I'm talking less than adoring attention to the stress but falling short of abuse.
$150 dollar headphones are not cheap, but they are not super-expensive, either. There will inevitably be some economization of the design. If the insulation around the plug is overmolded then there will be more stresses since the strain relief is sort of soft and not really anchored to things. Additionally there is material fatigue. Over many cycles, even small stresses can induce failure. The bend radius and number of bend cycles also factors in. If the failures are always where the wire enters the plug, then you could use heatshrink tubing to give some additional strain relief. The way would do it is add a small pea-sized amount of hot-glue around the base of the plug where the wire comes out, and then put 4:1 shrink tubing that just clears the OD of the plug assembly and covers around 1/4" of the wire. When you shrink the heat shrink tubing down, the glue will flow and bond everything together and provide some additional strain relief. Wipe off any excess and you are good to go. They also make glue-lined heat shrink as well. Do be sure you know how to apply and use the tubing first, though. Its not so easy if you have not used it before, and you might want to experiment on something non-critical. But, I have made several repairs of power tools line cords this way. Properly done, it makes for a very robust splice after I do something stupid like accidentally cut or grind through the cord when I am wearing a welding mask. Have done that at least twice now...
 

Cars-N-Cans

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Alternatively, you can also buy an aftermarket headphone cord that is better quality if they are available and the cord is detachable. I would shoot for ones that provide metal plug housings and spring-type strain reliefs along with sheathed wire.
 

MaxwellsEq

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Recording studios had/have very large jackfields. Over time they become contaminated and need cleaning. Sockets fail, as do plugs. The quality of connection is dependent on the pressure between contacts, which depends on the springiness of the socket contacts.. It also depends on how clean the surfaces are, which degrades over time due to the atmosphere. Failure can also be due to an unnoticed dry joint.
 

sergeauckland

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At our local radio station, I feel as if I spend half my life repairing (replacing actually) broken jacks.

The worse by far are those stupid little 3.5mm jacks that headphone manufacturers insist on fitting to headphones, rather than proper 6.3mm jacks. However, even proper sized jacks break, I've had one where the tip fell off and jammed the jack socket, which required dismantling the mixing desk's monitoring module to get the broken bit out.

I've been fortunate with our jackfields which have been a lot more reliable, never had to replace a socket, but they get little use. Much more common are the jacks for Guest and Presenter headphones which regularly break, especially when the presenter gets up and forgets they have headphones on and tears both the socket and the plug out!

As to RCA plugs, those abominations regularly break on cables that get plugged in and out often, mostly as others have said, due to inadequate cable restraint.

The most reliable of all are XLRs, which I rarely have to repair unless seriously abused.

S.
 

mcgo

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I had a small 3.5 jack fail on a pair of old Sony headphones. I bumped into the jack with my hip while it was plugged in to a music keyboard which caused the jack to physically bend.

Since then I’ve gone out of my way to use small right angled pigtails on those kinds of jacks.

I did eventually replace the jack and got the cans working. It was a real pain since the wire was enameled (no sheath!) and very difficult to work with. Took a couple of attempts before I had a good result.

Much easier not to break the jack!
 
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