WS5 Headphone - Repair Attempt Project

[crastinblack]

Hi all,

I won an auction for a spairs/repair pair of WS5 headphones for £37 that I thought could be a fun project to test my rather limited soldering skills and see if I could get them working by spending the minimum amount possible.

I thought I'd keep a log so that other people can benefit from any progress I make (if any )

So far I have identified three problems:

1. Speaker wire snipped/broken (fairly straight forward to fix I think)

2. Ribbon cable for the buttons burnt off (more interesting)

ribbon-cable.jpeg

3. 2.4GHz antenna chip superglued on in the wrong orientation (even more interesting!)

antenna.jpeg

What's good?

• When I plugged in a USB charger, the screen lit up and showed full battery and no connection to coil.

• I disconnected the battery and it tested at 3.9V so that's promising.

[crastinblack]

For the ribbon cable, I'm thinking of harvesting one from an old scrap hard drive that I have. It's roughly the same width & pitch between contacts - will attempt splicing them together with a solder jumper maybe...

I contacted Rainsun (the manufacturer of the backwards chip) and they were kind enough to provide me with a datasheet showing all the specs of the chip! Fantastic customer service!!

I've been rummaging through my waste electronics to see if I have any devices with a compatible chip but so far no dice. Could resort to actually buying one from RS Components or Farnell, but I'd end up paying more for postage and handling than the actual chip (I'm looking at around £15ish)

[Sirbleepsalot]

Interesting project I regularly repair PCB's, traces and so on so suggest it may be easier to run jumpers between the two components as opposed to trying to solder ribbon cables which are, I can confirm, a 'mare when they start to melt.

Fine enamelled wire and UV solder mask or Kapton tape are your friends Keep us posted!

[Fusion]

I would be inclined to remove the 'wonky' antenna , at least until you've sorted out the other problems. There are two antennas , so the chance of a good match to the detector is increased. It's a technique called 'diversity antennas'. But one is enough, especially if the range is kept low.

[crastinblack]

it may be easier to run jumpers between the two components as opposed to trying to solder ribbon cables which are, I can confirm, a 'mare when they start to melt.

Ah awesome, thanks for the advice! I’ll try the jumper approach- I’ve got some fine enamelled wire somewhere…

There are two antennas , so the chance of a good match to the detector is increased. It's a technique called 'diversity antennas'. But one is enough, especially if the range is kept low.

That’s music to my ears! I didn’t know if both antennas were required or not, so I’ll try with just the healthy looking one. Already bathed that bit in acetone and the superglue is softening up a treat.