flakey rear audio connector on Mk2a sled

Posted by: DWallach

flakey rear audio connector on Mk2a sled - 27/09/2004 01:20

I finally got off my duff and replaced my original Mk2 sled with my spare Mk2a sled. Several of the crimps on the Mk2 sled had apparently gone bad, and I'd have speakers coming in and out, power going in and out, etc. Enough of that. My dad and I wired everything together with the never-before-used Mk2a sled, and everything's been working great for the front channels but the rear is flakey. If you wiggle the rear channel wires where they come into the wiring harness, the rear channels pop in and out. We tried all the usual process of elimination, and it's clearly a problem with either the crimp or with something at most 1cm beyond the harness.

What's the fix for this? Is the wire harness end-user servicable? Do I just need to drip a bunch of hot solder into the appropriate crimp areas? Other ideas anyone? The whole point of this upgrade was to finally have all my connectors stable, so I wouldn't fear driving over bumps in the road. *sigh*
Posted by: mtempsch

Re: flakey rear audio connector on Mk2a sled - 27/09/2004 02:19

See this FAQ about fixing bad crimps - including video...
Posted by: DWallach

Re: flakey rear audio connector on Mk2a sled - 27/09/2004 10:20

Hmmm... push the relevant pins out, solder the wires to the pins, and reinsert. I suppose that could work, but is it possible to just buy new pins and redo the crimps properly? Are the pins, themselves, a standard part?
Posted by: tman

Re: flakey rear audio connector on Mk2a sled - 27/09/2004 11:16

Yeah. The part number for the pins is in the big part list.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: flakey rear audio connector on Mk2a sled - 27/09/2004 13:08

Quote:
Hmmm... push the relevant pins out, solder the wires to the pins, and reinsert.

Right, couldn't be simpler, and the cost to you is zero, you can do it immediately without having to wait for the parts to come in, and the reliability of the result is 100 percent.

Quote:
I suppose that could work, but is it possible to just buy new pins and redo the crimps properly?

*BOGGLE*. Why would you want to do that? First of all, the crimps are meant to be done with a certain kind of tool that you most likely don't have. And even if you did have it, or even if you were very good doing it with a pair of pliers, your crimp might come undone just like the last one. The whole point of soldering is so that you're certain the crimps won't come undone.
Posted by: DWallach

Re: flakey rear audio connector on Mk2a sled - 27/09/2004 15:17

Quote:
*BOGGLE*. Why would you want to do that?


I seem to recall an old conversation where the idea of crimping vs. soldering came up (perhaps in the context of why the Mk2a wire harness was an improvement over the Mk2 harness), and the reason in favor of crimping was that you has some amount of give, whereas a solder joint is more brittle and prone to failure.

Anyway, there are plenty of EE's around campus. I just need to buy somebody a beer and get one of them to help me do the soldering. Most likely, the solder joint will still outlast my Z3, given the Z3's less than stellar track record.