Skip to main content

4-Pole Headphone Jack Replacement

What you need

  1. 4-Pole Headphone Jack Replacement, 4-Pole 3.5mm Jack: step 1, image 1 of 1
    • Cut the headphone cable near the old headphone jack. Leave some cable attached to the jack.

  2. 4-Pole Headphone Jack Replacement: step 2, image 1 of 1
    • Cut open the outer insulation of the cable connected to the old jack to expose the internal wires.

  3. 4-Pole Headphone Jack Replacement: step 3, image 1 of 1
    • Apply a small amount of solder to the tips of each of the internal wires.

    • Make use of the Helping Hand tool to hold the wires while you apply the solder and iron.

    • Do not touch the soldering iron to the wire for a long period of time, you may melt through the wire.

  4. 4-Pole Headphone Jack Replacement: step 4, image 1 of 1
    • Turn on the multimeter and set it to measure resistance.

    • Select a wire and touch one of the multimeter leads to the soldered tip.

    • Touch the other multimeter lead to each of the segments on the headphone jack until the multimeter indicates that the wire is connected.

    • Make sure to record what wire is connected to what pole of the jack.

    • Repeat the process for each wire.

  5. 4-Pole Headphone Jack Replacement: step 5, image 1 of 1
    • Cut away the insulation on the wire connected to the headphones.

  6. 4-Pole Headphone Jack Replacement: step 6, image 1 of 1
    • Select an appropriately sized piece of shrink tubing.

    • Slide the tubing over the wire.

  7. 4-Pole Headphone Jack Replacement: step 7, image 1 of 1
    • Select a wire and apply a small amount of solder to the tip of the wire.

    • Repeat this for every wire.

  8. 4-Pole Headphone Jack Replacement: step 8, image 1 of 1
    • Position a wire to the corresponding connection point on the jack.

    • Carefully apply a small amount of solder to hold the wire in place.

    • Repeat this for each wire.

    • Make sure to reference the mapping of wires to connection points that you created in Step 4.

    • When soldering the wires, be patient and meticulous about getting the right position to make a good connection.

    • If the internal wires do not have their own insulation, use a small bit of shrink tubing on each wire. This will prevent them from shorting across another wire.

  9. 4-Pole Headphone Jack Replacement: step 9, image 1 of 1
    • Slide the shrink tubing back over the base of the jack, covering the soldered connections.

  10. 4-Pole Headphone Jack Replacement: step 10, image 1 of 1
    • Use the flat side of the soldering iron to apply heat to the shrink tubing until it tightens on the wire.

    • Alternatively, you could also use a heat gun or hair dryer.

Matthew Vaught

Member since: 03/30/16

1,028 Reputation

1 Guide authored

Team

View Statistics:

Past 24 Hours: 34

Past 7 Days: 225

Past 30 Days: 926

All Time: 197,220