Headphone Connection Problem

[SurfPro]

The wife and I are strictly beach hunters. I carefully bag our boxes in ziplock bags, then place them into the old school Minelabs blue bags. This keeps the sand and salt out and gives us a chance if we fall in the water, as long as we get up quickly. The headphones on both units are starting to cut out. Problem is fixed by twisting the headphone jack back and forth. There is a scratchy sound as I'm twisting the jack until the sound comes back. Over the years a little sand has probably gotten in there and is now messing with the connection. It's easily fixed by the afore mentioned method, but I'm concerned a time will come when it won't work.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
SP

 

[surfman]

If it's the cable connection at the headphone jack it's easily fixable. You can get a new jack at Radio Shack and just solder the connections. You'll need some shrink tubing for sealing the cable to the jack. It's an easy fix. Hope this relates to the problem your having. Good luck, Joe

 

[SurfPro]

It's not the cable, it's the receptacle in the Sov GT

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Maybe a Q Tip could be a temporary fix?Good Luck Ron

 

[Rick(ND)]

If you really feel it is the headphone jack or plug and not the cable itself where it goes into the plug which is the most common problem, I would try to use some compressed air like they use for computers and blow in the jack to clean out any sand that might be in there. Next I would clean the plug itself with some fine emery cloth as there may be some film or corrosion from the salt water so it don't make a good connection. I have seen this before on some of the plugs and you cant see it, but will not make a good connection and after it is cleaned it works good.

Rick

 

[surfman]

Maybe some electric contact cleaner would help. Use the compressed air to dry and maybe a light coat of dielectric grease. If nothing works I don't see why you couldn't replace the plug with an aftermarket one. I've never opened up a Sov so I'm not sure how big a project it would be. I agree that you should effect a repair before it effects you. Good luck. Joe

 

[SurfPro]

I like this idea, I'll give it a shot.

 

[Birdseed]

Try another set of headphone in the detector first. I they work OK it is unlikely the problem is in the detector socket.
Even though it seems unlikely, the most common fault for the symptom you describe is a broken wire in the headphone plug. Usually about a quarter of an inch to an inch up from the soldered connection. The wire is usually broken inside the insulation and therefore not visible to the eye. Wriggling the wire adjacent to the plug or twisting the plug will often give a temporary fix.
Just a thought before pulling your detector to bits.

Pete Down-under