Page 36
NOVEMBER 2020 • BACKROADS
Communication Breakdown Replacing a 3.5mm Stereo Male Plug You are on a tour, a few hundred miles from home. You park the bike in Anytown, USA, and are getting ready for a great breakfast. But, as you walk from the bike you hear the sound we all dread. Kerpluck! Your helmet has hit the floor. Of course - it has landed on the face shield as that is science. But, your custom earplugs, personalized at a hefty cost, have gotten caught in the tumble. There are now just bare and torn wires at the end and the 3.5mm plug of the, once awesome, custom earplugs still sit in the cradle … happily putting music to nowhere. As Robert Plant sang in Zeppelin’s Communication Breakdown… “Ooooohhh, SUCK!” And it does. So off you go to the local Staples, Walmart or whatever and buy a cheap set of earbuds, but you know that you are going to have to ship your ‘custom plugs’ back to the maker for a reconnection. Get your credit card ready. Or, do you? This scenario, or something close to it, has happened to us time and again. As careful as we try, we end up having a ‘communication breakdown’ every now and again. Let us tell you how to fix this at home. To start with you are going to need some specialized tools. You might think you can do this by hand, but your hands, as amazing as
they are (See October Jungle), are not precise enough for this job. So, gather the following as it will make this intricate job that much easier: Jumbo Helping Hands w/LED Light will securely hold both the three wires and the new 3.5mm plug in tiny alligator clips, freeing up your hands for everything else. We bought one from Harbor Freight for under ten bucks and it has a magnifying glass, LED lights, coiled solder pencil holder, and tray for a damp cleaning sponge. You’ll need a soldering pencil with various tips – we found a wider and flatter tip worked better for this job. Buy good quality solder. Also gather small needle nose pliers, wire strippers and wire cutters (small), and a good set of magnifiers with a head strap – also found at local shops for around six bucks. These are a must – trust us! You can buy replacement 3.5mm stereo male plugs from various electrical stores or the internet. Buy a bundle of them as your first attempt might not be pretty or successful, but consider it the learning curve. You will get better, as you know you’ll have to do this more than once. Before you begin practice your soldering skills. Have you ever soldered before? If not, or if you have but are questioning your skill – watch a few YouTube videos. They can not only offer helpful tips but save you time and show you how easy, with patience, this can be.
