Derrick
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2005
- Posts
- 4
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- 0
Hi, this is my first post and it is to both help as well as to ask for help form you! I found this site because my Zen Extra has failed due to a good yank to the headphones. I found that the headphone jack broke the pad off of the board entirely (the one on the left side if looking from top/jack hole facing you). There is a tiny (almost microscopic) trace on the board from this leg of the jack to an audio coupling capacitor (just behind it) about the size of a pin head. Many will find that that this is where the break is that causes loss of audio. So there are two repairs that need to be made:
1- repair the audio line "trace" from jack to cap, and
2- Somehow reconnect the pad/jack to the board to regain original strength of having all three pads mounted for future yanks on headphones.
Number one (repairing the audio line) is delicate, but rather easy for me. Just bridge the connection from the pad to the coupling cap located just behind it. However, simply putting a blob of solder or a piece of wire can cause problems that would be hard for many to recover from. Next time there is a good yank to the jack, instead of breaking a tiny trace, you rip the cap off the board too and possibly snap it apart (it's so small). Even with a small piece of 22 AWG or so wire, the wire will saturate with solder when soldered into place and become rigid. Instead, use a tiny piece of ultra small wire (like what is used in wire wrapping) and make the connection. Use a piece longer then the distance to both solder points so the wire looks like an "inch worm" bow. This way if the jack is yanked again (and it will), there is no stress to the cap.
OK, so this leaves number two which is where I need help (repair the pad). Many times (like in my case), the solder pad lifts/breaks off of the board. As the jack is a surface mount jack, this means you now have one of only three attachment points to the board forever loose, right? How strong is that jack now if it takes another yank? This is what I'm working on now... I thought to glue down the pad area after the wire repair, but I am still looking for a glue strong enough that won't lift off the board with only light stress applied. Epoxy may be the answer. But which one? Pretty expensive to experiment with epoxy and a mistake would be irreversible. I thought about how I may strap down the jack, screw down the pad to the board, or add a new jack to the housing of the Zen Extra. Let's brainstorm here... Any ideas?
Great message board... thanks,
Derrick
1- repair the audio line "trace" from jack to cap, and
2- Somehow reconnect the pad/jack to the board to regain original strength of having all three pads mounted for future yanks on headphones.
Number one (repairing the audio line) is delicate, but rather easy for me. Just bridge the connection from the pad to the coupling cap located just behind it. However, simply putting a blob of solder or a piece of wire can cause problems that would be hard for many to recover from. Next time there is a good yank to the jack, instead of breaking a tiny trace, you rip the cap off the board too and possibly snap it apart (it's so small). Even with a small piece of 22 AWG or so wire, the wire will saturate with solder when soldered into place and become rigid. Instead, use a tiny piece of ultra small wire (like what is used in wire wrapping) and make the connection. Use a piece longer then the distance to both solder points so the wire looks like an "inch worm" bow. This way if the jack is yanked again (and it will), there is no stress to the cap.
OK, so this leaves number two which is where I need help (repair the pad). Many times (like in my case), the solder pad lifts/breaks off of the board. As the jack is a surface mount jack, this means you now have one of only three attachment points to the board forever loose, right? How strong is that jack now if it takes another yank? This is what I'm working on now... I thought to glue down the pad area after the wire repair, but I am still looking for a glue strong enough that won't lift off the board with only light stress applied. Epoxy may be the answer. But which one? Pretty expensive to experiment with epoxy and a mistake would be irreversible. I thought about how I may strap down the jack, screw down the pad to the board, or add a new jack to the housing of the Zen Extra. Let's brainstorm here... Any ideas?
Great message board... thanks,
Derrick
