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Damaged Headset Cable

When I came home from my last flight I was unpleasantly surprised by this:

That’s the speakers cable (not the mic, it’s after they split). The shielding as well as one of the wires (a yellow one) are clearly broken (the shielding only partly). However I had no problems during the flight (but I don’t know when this happened) and when I attach it to my handheld radio everything seems to be working fine. So now I am wondering if I can continue using the headset (at least as a passenger one) or not and how it still works with at least one wire completely broken. Can anyone explain it?

It’s an old headset, a Sennheiser HME-100-SE2, so it’s pretty difficult to find an exact replacement cable but maybe another one could work as well. I found some on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/aviation-headset-cable. Not sure about the quality though, prices seem to range.

Last Edited by Vladimir at 04 Nov 19:53
LSZH, LSZF, Switzerland

I had the exact same thing happen to my old Litespeed headset. I want to trade it in for a newer model.

LFPT, LFPN

No trade-in programs (that I know of) in Switzerland and sending it in and back to another country + the import tax costs more than the discount you get ;(

LSZH, LSZF, Switzerland

This is trivial to repair.

The wires are coloured so trivial to join back up.

Cut out the damaged 2cm or so and join it back up, with heatshrink on the individual wires, and heatshrink overall. 10-20 minutes.

If you can disconnect the cable assembly I will do it for you
But then so can anybody who can spell s o l d e r i n g

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

You underestimate software developers, Peter I can damage any cable completely by trying to fix it

I thought about it but the broken wire is very thin, so thin that I don’t even see the wire itself, it’s almost like it’s just the isolation. And my experience is that it goes very wrong when I try to solder so fine wires.

Any idea why the headset is still working fine? Could it be that this exact wire is not used?

LSZH, LSZF, Switzerland

Vladimir, just get the soldering iron out and be done with it. I thought you were a pretty switched on and practical guy from all your previous posts, now I’m not so sure :)

I rather think some modicum of connectivity remains because a very few strands of copper aren’t broken yet – but don’t count on it to last.

If soldering is not your kind of speciality~ you should have someone near at hand. At least resort do feel free to fly over to BE and I’ll merrily do the job for you – even issue a certificate of guarantee (no EASA rubber stamp, though) for your home flight, at least – though I might take longer than Peter’s 10-20 minutes. And sorry to infringe upon Jesse’s market – if you want the job done to professional standard, fly just slightly beyond my little country.

~ us sysadmins always have reserves about application developers’ practical abilities ;)

Last Edited by at 04 Nov 21:03
EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

NB for this kind of soldering job, a marvellous tool can be created by glueing two clothespins to any suitable support.

EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

The HME100SE had a 10 year warranty if I remember correctly – how old is the headset?

EHLE / Lelystad, Netherlands, Netherlands

It’s not that old but I don’t have any purchase documents any more and also warranty probably does not cover cutting the cable.

LSZH, LSZF, Switzerland
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