I guess I'm kinda documenting what I've done here and there in my life on this blog; wasn't sure what I was going to end up posting here initially. One thing I enjoy doing is helping others with problems and doing everything within my ability to fix things before the unnecessary move to buy entire replacements which can cost quite a lot of money. I learn from each and every experience regardless if I fail; usually caused from over complex parts that are almost impossible to repair due to strange design choices to save money or overly complex moving pieces which I can't replace unless I had tools like a CNC or Laser printer to print new parts which cost easily within the thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.
Recently my Brother found that his stereo system wasn't allowing audio to reach the speakers after the head set was unplugged due to the headset mute feature and even when they were plugged in it required a lot of fiddling with the connector to get sound through the headset. I took an educated guess what the problem might be and headed outside with my tools and the stereo. After a few minutes I had the casing removed and examined the inside for damage or lose wires but I couldn't see anything wrong with it so I immediately went straight to where I thought the problem was; the stereo socket for connecting the headset. After carefully dismantling all the pieces that held the machine together and keeping the screws safe I finally reached the socket, I detached the circuit board it was attached to and immediately saw the problem; all the solder joints were visibly detached so it's no wonder why my Brother had such trouble getting it to behave.
Here you can see where the solder has shattered:
Stereo sockets can come with an optional extra connection that can be used as a switch to detect the presence of an attached plug from a headset which the machine uses to know when to mute the main speakers. Since the sense line was unattached the stereo system defaulted to assuming a headset was always attached; the switch inside would normally be connected until the plug is inserted causing a break in the connection, the fact that the solder was broken caused a permanent break so there was no way for the machine to know that the plug wasn't inserted anymore resulting in a permanent mute. As a fun side note to this you could attach your own switch to this sense line to create a custom mute feature and the option to have sound come through both the headset and speakers at the same time.
I got out my soldering iron, some spare solder and got to work replacing the solder joints with new solder making sure the socket had a nice and strong connection to the circuit board again. After I repaired the solder joints I partially put the machine back together just enough so I could make sure it worked before screwing everything back in and immediately I could hear sound coming through the speakers again. Turns out I was correct from the start and now my Brother can listen to music again; either through the headset or speakers without the need to waste money on a new stereo; at least for the time being.
Here's the end result of the circuit with a new set of solder:
Thanks for reading,
Ashton.
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