Hey so I have a Samson CO1U condenser microphone
that I bought used so i don’t know if it has warranty. Well it was working fine until suddenly as i was singing into it, it just died. I tried uninstall/reinstall and adjusting the levels among other things, but it still didn’t work After opening the microphone up and pushing and pulling on some of the wires, it started to work again. However, the second time I used it the next day it suddenly stopped working again, so I opened it up and this time after (softly) pushing and gently tugging on one of the wires (the yellow one), I accidentally pulled it out of the connector board. How should I go about it in fixing it??
I’m not certain if just using electrical tape to connect the yellow wire back to the board will solve the problem, since it didn’t really work before i pulled out the yellow wire without messing with the wires.
Those are generally held together with solder – hot melted lead and tin with a rosin cleaning agent.
People who can manage soldered wire connections are getting to be a rare breed, but certainly your local TV repair shop can manage it and it’s possible to find an amateur radio operator or electronics experimenter.
What city are you in?
You can buy everything you need to manage a soldered connection yourself at the local Radio Shack. That’s one of the cool things about that store. There’s always a Radio Shack nearby. They opened a very nice one in the village (literally) where I grew up in Upstate New York.
It is a skill and you can create some interesting problems if you do it wrong. You may need to clean the original connection before you put it back together again.
Sometimes the store manager may know someone who comes in all the time that can help. You may have had a damaged solder connection originally. That does happen – particularly if you got the microphone used.
Solder is usually the way to go, however a cold alternative is conductive paint, it’s expensive (made from silver) £5-£10 for a vial containing about 1cc.
dab a bit on like Tippex which conducts electricity, it won’t be as mechanically strong as a soldered connection though.
For someone who never used a soldering iron I’d recommend some caution before doing so… You may not only hurt yourself, but also do more damage than fixing on the mic. If you decide to try it yourself practice a bit first with some unconnected wires.
If the mic’s circuit board still has some of the solder there you might just need to melt it with the soldering iron, put the wire there while melted and then let it harden.
The best option will probably try to find someone who can solder it for you… If it’s only one-wire it shouldn’t take more than a few seconds for someone experienced in soldering.
Using tape is not a solution.
I’m already incandescent light bulbs free (for nearly 3 years since I moved to new place).
I usually don’t do much soldering work so my remaining solder still has lead on it…
fluorescent lights usually do not go well with dimmers…
Trebor, I haven’t fall yet but I’ve learned not to leave objects on floor in the places where I practice the art of “walking in the dark” (I gave up turning the lights on for such brief moments ). But there are some models that turn on almost instantaneously (I actually have one of those in the stairs and now the only place where I practice the walking-in-the-dark art is the corridor).