Would 1.5v battery kill a headphone driver testing polarity?

[tim3320070]

I goofed up and forgot to mark the cable before cutting them and need to test for + and -. Will the battery test kill the drivers?

 

[lampee]

Since the headphone is basically a coil it doesn't have any effect during polarity change. The only thing you should look for is that usually the signal (+) is in the inside shielded by the ground (-). I hope I could help

 

[TzeYang]

but are you not heating up the drivers by applying DC across it?

 

[luvdunhill]

people do this with a 9v all the time for speakers. In that case, and in this case, this is a bad idea.

 

[cyberspyder]

Just solder on the plug and plug it into a source then test the wires in pairs until you get one setup that sounds correct.

 

[natrix]

Never put a DC bias on headphones you want to keep.

 

[regal]

Grado recommends no more than 100 mA of DC. A 1.5V battery will only send 46 mA of DC. Higher ohm headphones will consume even less DC. I think the risk is low if you only leave it hooked up a few seconds.

You will never determine correct polarity by listening, on headphones the difference is very minor if at all existant.