Whether you are an audiophile or somebody who listens to music on-the-go, your headphones may stop working or work only partially over prolonged use. Here are some simple tips that will help you get your headphones up and running once again.

Firstly you will require a soldering iron, some solder wire and another pair of unused headphones. The reason we would require for another pair of headphones is to make use of the wires and the connector in case your expensive headphones have a bad wire or connector, thus needing replacement. Needless to say, other tools like screwdrivers, wire strippers and a sharp blade or knife will definitely come in handy. So once you’ve collected the materials required, get your favorite pair of headphones ready and start with finding the cause of the faulty connection.

Identifying Fault in the Headphone

Identify the area of the fault; if there is a break in the wire, it is best to replace the whole wire from your headphones with a new one or taken from another set of headphones. In case of any fault at the connector ends the solution is to cut the wire, buy another connector and solder the wires to the new connector. Thirds, in most cases, sound is audible over only one side of the headphones as the soldering wears off with time or the wires have given way. Due to this, the functionality of the headphone is drastically reduced, but with a few simple methods mentioned below, you will get the sound back from both sides in no time.

One important thing to keep in mind is that, before opening a headphone you should carefully examine the headphones and wiring. In most cases, the drivers are concealed in a frame, which is either glued together, fused as one piece, have clamps or simply screwed together.  In case you find the drivers fused inside a case, you might need to cut open the frame. If needed, get some help from someone who knows a bit of electronics.

Disassembling the Headphones

Once you have gotten into the inside of the headphones, check if the existing wire has become loose. If it has, then a bit of soldering should suffice. If it is worn out, then you will need to change the wire completely. This is why we need the other pair of unused headphones for transferring its wires.

Soldering the Wires

The wires are always coated with a layer of a lacquer to prevent a short circuit. This lacquer needs to be scrapped off before soldering it to the terminal. To do this, use a very sharp blade or knife and very carefully and delicately scrape off the lacquer from the wire strands. If you apply too much pressure, the wire will break and you will end up with a shorter wire. Once that is done, coat the scraped ends with solder. This process is called tinning of copper.

Once you have soldered the wires, check if the headphones are working and reassemble the headphones.