[brainsalad]

After 4 hours and 9 ruined connectors, I give up. I will now GLADLY pay for one built that I can just plug in.

I have built hundreds of connectors, RCA, Mini, XLR, Coax, RS232, the works and I have never had such a frustrating experience. I thought "with my experience, how hard could it be?" I had no clue.

I bought Canara Star Quad, the smallest pointed tip for my 25W Weller, I bought the .022 silver solder, I had heat shrink, Neutrik gold/black mini plugs, the Panavise, the helping hands, the lighted magnifying glass and I thought I was set.

I bought 3 connector types (E, F, & TS), 3 of each type, from Ridax and here is what I experienced.

1) The pins are so incredibly delicate that the break with the slightest force.

2) On the E & F, the slightest pull will pull the pins out of the connector. They do go back in but just the stress on the cable in the connector head will back the pin out.

3) Unless you solder the VERY tip, the solder runs down the pin and shorts out the pin next to it.

4) You need a microscope to work on them.

5) You need the fingers of a 100lb woman.

6) On headfi and Wikipedia there is a discrepancy on the pin outs. Some say it goes from the right, others say it goes from the left. I used this thread http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/lef...ontact-218593/ I finally had a connector built! The solder was perfect, the heat shrink was perfect, and using my volt meter, the pins show good. And THEN when I hooked it up, all I got was buzzing.

Thats when I gave up.

Can someone please verify the pin outs for me?

 

[MusicallySilent]

I wasnt making a LOD but making a headphone extension also refreshed my vocab

Trying to get wires through those tiny little holes and getting hit by some hot solder in the face (Literally no idea how it went flying) caused several choice words to be dropped.

 

[stevenkelby]

Not as easy as it seems is it? No one reaslises until they try it them self. Try a female dock, the pins are half the thickness and twice as close together!

This thread has the picture you need:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/how...nector-212740/

 

[fordgtlover]

You can the pins here.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/how...nector-212740/

You can see the orientation grooves in the connector in the first picture.

And as stated by well regarded cable maker here at head-fi stevenkelby
Quote:

This thread has pictures showing exactly which pins to use, and it's all true: How I built an iPod Connector Don't worry about the numbers, just use the pins shown. Hundreds of people have used the pins from Page 1 and it's worked everytime!

Edit: beaten to the punch

 

[brainsalad]

I have read the thread, it's where I got started but the pin orientation is the problem. How do you tell which is pin 1? Even in the thread, it conflicts itself and never shows how to identify pin 1. The thread shows the audio is on 2,3,4 and on some links, it shows pins 27,28,29. I think I had mine backwards, therefore the buzz.

I think if I was doing it again, (I must, I must, this can't beat me), I will use a very flexible, smaller gauge wire to connect to the LOD and then after about a 1/2" connect to the Canare. I also thought about use the Mogami. It's a little thinner and much more flexible.

 

[stevenkelby]

Thanks Rob.

OP, as you have noticed, there are different numbering conventions depending on the source (Apple changed it at some point, can't remember the full story.

Therefore, don't worry about it!

The first pic in Rob's thread clearly shows the correct pins to use for the type "E" dock plug you have there. That's where G, R and L, respectively are.

So looking at that photo, from left to right, remove the first pin, (forget about whether it's pin 1 or 30) use the next for G, the one after for R and the one after that for L.

 

[warrior05]

Yeah, building LODs can be infuriating. I've pretty much got the hang of it but it is by no means easy. Try soldering on 22 AWG wires!

The way I get my pin orientation: Hold the connector in the orientation that it can plug into an iPod with the iPod face up. The left most pin is pin 1. It also helps breaking off the pins next to the ones you are soldering up. So if you are just picking up the audio out you only need 2, 3 and 4. Break off 1, 5 and 6. Since pins 2 and 4 are next to each other, you can spread them slightly to gain a bit of soldering room after breaking off pin 6.

Good luck!

 

[Punnisher]

Interesting. I just made my own LOD for my X5, and the pins were similar size and shape. I just physically removed all the unnecessary pins and slightly bent the three pins away from each other, and used mini starquad as my wire.

Unfortunately, it seems the right channel does not work on my X5, I thought it was the sub pack, but my LOD does it too. Must be broken inside the player.

 

[MASantos]

Here's a great tip, I've never ruined a connector after I started doing this:

Pins 1 and 2 - Ground

1 Get a sheet of 80g-100g papper(presentation quality paper).
2 Cut rwo small rectangles, about 1/2" wide x 1" long.
3 Insert one piece of paper between pin 2 and pin 3, so that the paper can be folded around all the other pins expect pins 1 and 2.
4. Heat pin 1 carefully and place a litle(very small) solder drop.
5. Using some "helping hands", perfectly align the wire between pin 1 and 2. This is crucial to a solid joint.
Heat the pin and wire so that the existing solder flows. After this add some more solder so that the wire is connected to both pins. You can use some solder flux and re-heat the solder joint. Let it cool down between this steps though.

The paper will not allow the solder to flow to the adjacent pins and hence you won't do a solder bridge between the pins.

Pin 3 - Left Signal:

1. Place one piece of papper between pins 3 and 4 and another piece of papper between pins2 and 3. Fold them so that only pin 3 is visible. Repeat the process above place the wire on the outer side of the pin(facing the outside of the enlosure).

Pin 4 - Right:

Repeat the process above placing the papper so that only pin 4 is visible.

Strain Relief:

After and the wires are soldered, place the connector on the bottom half of the shell. Cover the pins and about 1/4 of the adjacent exposed wire with a drop of hot glue. This will act as internal strain relief for the pins and wires.
After that, add heatshrink near the shell's exit hole so that the cable diameter matches the exist hole. Add another drop of hot glue in the center of the shell, covering both the cable and heatshrink. Add two drops of cianoacrilate and place the top part of the shell in place.

Take yor time when doing all the steps, paying special attention to the paper placement and internal hot glue strain relief.

Hope this helps

 

[brainsalad]

Thanks for all of the good advice. I thought I was the only one having problems with this. The guys that charge $40-$45 for the LOD must be working for free.

 

[xmokshax]

i've only built a single line-out adapter using fordgtlover's directions, but it worked quite well for me using the A/E connector type. it sounds like you've had some different experiences from me in terms of the connector's resilience and robustness, but all i did to avoid bridging (my alternative to the paper method MASantos suggests above) is to bend pins 2 and 4 about 1mm outwards from pin 3. this made the the solder job quite tolerable. fordgtlover's thread also does a good job of describing how to identify on which side the pin numbering begins - 1) the side of the connector shell with the ridges on it should be the top when the connector is plugged into the iPod and the iPod is viewed right-side up, and 2) the protrusions on the gray internal part of the connector should be on the bottom of the gray piece when pin 1 is on the left, also when the connector is plugged into the iPod and the iPod is viewed right-side up.

 

[Fungi]

You can't really ruin connectors unless you're doing something REALLY wrong. I pull out all the excess pins and use them as backup in case one snaps. The docks I got from Quables have pins that bend to a certain extent, so I just did that and it was fine. The pins are so tiny they heat up quickly; no need to really use solder ON the pin, just tin the wire, heat both, and they'll stick.

 

[brainsalad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fungi /img/forum/go_quote.gif You can't really ruin connectors unless you're doing something REALLY wrong.

I didn't say I wasn't doing anything wrong

, I sometimes feel like I have all thumbs. When I soldered by first connector, I thought "what's the big deal" and POP, the first pin broke.

Of the assortment I got, the biggest problem was pin breakage and the stupid pins would come out of the connector.

I have settled on using the Ridax "TS" connector and will solder (tin and reheat method) a 22g solid core 1" jumper, hot glue it down, and then attach my StarQuad. I think the key is not over soldering and getting some sort of strain relief in place as soon as possible in the process.

I have ordered some more LOD connectors from Ridax with will settle in on another after to give it another shot. This thing is NOT going to defeat me!

 

[Fungi]

What I meant was that there are 20some pins in one connector, and even if you ruin 10 pins per connector you've still got a lot more to work with. Can't you pull the pins out of Ridax connectors too? There should be a little notch in one side so you can pry it out gently with a screwdriver or something.

 

[brainsalad]

I read about re-inserting the pins and so I wasn't worried about breaking one off (at first) but the Ridax model "TS" pins are VERY difficult to pull out. When they did pull out, I wasn't able to get them back in. On the Ridax "A" & "E" models, the pins came out super easy and they went back in but they wouldn't stay in. The Canara Starquad has good shape memory so when you would try and put the connector and wire into position in the shell, the pins would back themselves out. On my last connector left (#9 attempt) I got it wired up perfectly or so I thought. When I plugged it in to the IPOD it just generated a buzzing. I was so frustrated after about 4 hours of futzing with thing that I gave up and scraped off my desktop straight into the trash.