How do I put a phono plug back on a wire... (1 Viewer)

[Alex-C]

Okay. I am no electrician. this is probably very easy. Basically I wire my house with some cables from radio shack, you know, basic rca/phono ends and during the plastering they knocked off the ends, so now I have the cables with no ends.
I went and bought rca/phono plug/ends at radio shack to put back on but I am not sure how to do it. Banana plugs, coaxial ends, crimping, i've done that before but this is a little different.
Do I need to solder this stuff on ?
If necessary I can take a pic and post it.
-alex

 

[Dustin Haug]

It's really pretty easy. Make sure to slide the "cap" on over the wire before you solder anything or else it won't fit on. Each wire should have 2 conductors, the center conductor and the shield. Basically the same as your TV's coax cable. Solder the center conductor to the center pin on the connector, then twist some of the braided outer shield together and solder it to the outer part of the connector. You can then slide the "cap" back over the soldered connections and screw it down.
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[Allan Jayne]

You have to be careful when soldering, since it is easy to melt the plastic between the center conductor and the shield, causing a slight mismatch in impedance, or even a short circuit.
I suggest running the center conductor all the way to the end of the pin and sticking out a bit, then guess at filling just the last 1/8 inch of the tip with solder. (I mean don't fill the entire center pin, that will cause too much heat to accumulate.) I prefer to twist about one inch worth of braid then solder about 3/16" of it to a similarly sized patch on the plug shell. Again, if the entire length of braid all the way back to the cable is soaked with solder, chances are there is enough heat to melt the plastic covering the center conductor.
Unfortunately there is no way of telling the quality of the soldering in cables you buy. Too small a solder patch can also be disadvantageous, the solder patch might simply pop off leaving an intermittent connection.
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