Is this easy to fix??

Razor-BladE · 13 May 2010 at 17:50

So i came back home today and found my Creative Fatal1ty cable broken..
My mum didn't think the cable would get sucked into the hoover when going over it :/

So i'm wondering whether this is easy to fix? Or should i just get some new ones?

I'm thinking it's just a case of using a wire stripper and attaching the two wires together and sellotaping it or something? Would that work?
Would i need to solder it back together?
Thanks for any help

UKDTweak · 13 May 2010 at 17:52

Soldering would be better, and No sellotape, at the very least, some good insulation tape or better still, heat shrink....

matthab · 13 May 2010 at 17:53

that will be a complete pig to fix.

Does that box come apart at all?

Mr.Nick · 13 May 2010 at 18:39

I would say solder it together, then use heat shrink as insulation tape can look messy and come unstuck.

Razor-BladE · 13 May 2010 at 21:35

UKDTweak said:
Soldering would be better, and No sellotape, at the very least, some good insulation tape or better still, heat shrink....

Mr.Nick said:
I would say solder it together, then use heat shrink as insulation tape can look messy and come unstuck.

Would soldering degrade the quality? I'll see if a mate has a solder as i don't have one.
And can i get heat shrink from any diy/electrical shop?

matthab said:
that will be a complete pig to fix.

Does that box come apart at all?

I'll see if i can take it apart.

Gundog48 · 13 May 2010 at 22:17

NOOO! Do not attempt to solder this. I have tried this before. Audio cable for headsets is very different to normal wire. The wire simply burns at even low temperatures which renders it unusable. Sellotape will cause a bad connection. I would recommend aluminum foil and heat shrink.

Tikkabhuna · 13 May 2010 at 22:59

Shame she didn't get the other one. Then at least you could use the headphones.

matkeys · 13 May 2010 at 23:06

plus you have to burn the wax coating on the wire too, the best way is to twist the wires together and then heat the wires, ive used a lighter very quickly to burn the wax, it will infact set alight with a small flame and burn out quickly (this is the wax)

you can solder them together, but you need flux, and you need to "burn" the wires to remove the wax coating first.then use flux, have a nice amount of solder on the end of the iron and let the solder touch it, the flux will "suck" the solder up. and coat the wires.

only prob with audio leads there a pig. they dont make good contact because of the wax

Razor-BladE · 13 May 2010 at 23:47

Gundog48 said:
NOOO! Do not attempt to solder this. I have tried this before. Audio cable for headsets is very different to normal wire. The wire simply burns at even low temperatures which renders it unusable. Sellotape will cause a bad connection. I would recommend aluminum foil and heat shrink.

Hmmm that's a pain. So wire strip them, twist them around each other, wrap them with al foil and put heat shrink over it?

Tikkabhuna said:
Shame she didn't get the other one. Then at least you could use the headphones.

I know.. that's what i was thinking..

matkeys said:
plus you have to burn the wax coating on the wire too, the best way is to twist the wires together and then heat the wires, ive used a lighter very quickly to burn the wax, it will infact set alight with a small flame and burn out quickly (this is the wax)

you can solder them together, but you need flux, and you need to "burn" the wires to remove the wax coating first.then use flux, have a nice amount of solder on the end of the iron and let the solder touch it, the flux will "suck" the solder up. and coat the wires.

only prob with audio leads there a pig. they dont make good contact because of the wax

No idea what flux is. But good idea on burning the wax off the wires. I might try the al foil first. If that doesn't work, i might try soldering it.

Speed · 13 May 2010 at 23:57

Razor-BladE said:
No idea what flux is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flux_(metallurgy)

thingemajib · 14 May 2010 at 00:13

we had a gas fire put in, and the gas pipes were soldered together, and they used vaseline as a flux :S

matkeys · 14 May 2010 at 01:18

Are you serious, i wouldnt even use that fire, vasiline isnt even close to doing what flux does, who fited it(sorry for off topic)
but this amazes me!!

Speed · 14 May 2010 at 01:19

Indeed, I would never use those guys again. Get it inspected for leaks!

Kethridge · 14 May 2010 at 08:19

You need to get that box apart.

matkeys · 14 May 2010 at 08:24

i could bet the wires are round each other and will make it very hard to fix

Philtor · 14 May 2010 at 09:20

I would email Creative and ask them how much a replacement would cost. Can't be that expensive for a piece of cable.

matkeys · 14 May 2010 at 11:59

is the cable replaceable? would that mean opening the earphones and soldering the wire?

Yakyb · 14 May 2010 at 12:00

tell mother to buy a new one?

Philtor · 14 May 2010 at 12:35

matkeys said:
is the cable replaceable? would that mean opening the earphones and soldering the wire?

Not sure mate. Can it be disconnected from the actual headphones?

Razor-BladE · 14 May 2010 at 15:47

Speed said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flux_(metallurgy)

Hah fair enough. I don't have any of that.

Kethridge said:
You need to get that box apart.

Yeah i'll do it today

matkeys said:
is the cable replaceable? would that mean opening the earphones and soldering the wire?

philtorrens said:
Not sure mate. Can it be disconnected from the actual headphones?

No it can't be disconnected from the headphones so they'd have to take it apart.

Meaning it's probably not worth getting it in for repair.

Yakyb said:
tell mother to buy a new one?

I did.. she laughed.

Lol. She will buy me one if i can't fix it though. But i'm taking it as a little project