repairing an electret microphone

[Peter]

To replace a wire which broke in the swivel
of the boom, I reconstructed the boom of an
Altec Lansing headset. This included
resoldering the wires to the back of the
electret capsule. The speakers still work
but the mic does not after this repair.

Found a similar failure after soldering a
new electret onto the wires of an inexpensive
Creative/Telex desktop mic.

Is the electret mic particularly heat sensitive?
If so, what technique is recommended? Already
I was careful to apply minimal heating.

Thanks, ... Peter Easthope

 

[GregS]

In article <05f7de32-806e-4481-9d2c-ca652a29834a@r36g2000vbr.googlegroups.com>, Peter <peasthope@shaw.ca> wrote:

To replace a wire which broke in the swivel
of the boom, I reconstructed the boom of an
Altec Lansing headset. This included
resoldering the wires to the back of the
electret capsule. The speakers still work
but the mic does not after this repair.

Found a similar failure after soldering a
new electret onto the wires of an inexpensive
Creative/Telex desktop mic.

Is the electret mic particularly heat sensitive?
If so, what technique is recommended? Already
I was careful to apply minimal heating.

Thanks, ... Peter Easthope

If your continuity is good, try another capsule. Try attaching small
wires first with speed. The only thing that could go wrong is melting
the flexible parts of the diaphram.

 

[GregS]

In article <grifge$18f$1@usenet01.srv.cis.pitt.edu>, zekfrivo@zekfrivolous.com (GregS) wrote:

In article <05f7de32-806e-4481-9d2c-ca652a29834a@r36g2000vbr.googlegroups.com>,
Peter <peasthope@shaw.ca> wrote:
To replace a wire which broke in the swivel
of the boom, I reconstructed the boom of an
Altec Lansing headset. This included
resoldering the wires to the back of the
electret capsule. The speakers still work
but the mic does not after this repair.

Found a similar failure after soldering a
new electret onto the wires of an inexpensive
Creative/Telex desktop mic.

Is the electret mic particularly heat sensitive?
If so, what technique is recommended? Already
I was careful to apply minimal heating.

Thanks, ... Peter Easthope

If your continuity is good, try another capsule. Try attaching small
wires first with speed. The only thing that could go wrong is melting
the flexible parts of the diaphram.

You should heat sink the outer container.

 

[Eeyore]

GregS wrote:

Peter <peasthope@shaw.ca> wrote:
To replace a wire which broke in the swivel
of the boom, I reconstructed the boom of an
Altec Lansing headset. This included
resoldering the wires to the back of the
electret capsule. The speakers still work
but the mic does not after this repair.

Found a similar failure after soldering a
new electret onto the wires of an inexpensive
Creative/Telex desktop mic.

Is the electret mic particularly heat sensitive?
If so, what technique is recommended? Already
I was careful to apply minimal heating.

If your continuity is good, try another capsule. Try attaching small
wires first with speed. The only thing that could go wrong is melting
the flexible parts of the diaphram.

It's a job that needs a lowish power or thermostatically controlled iron ( or a fast hand ! ). As someone else
mentioned, the capsules are polarised.

Graham

 

[Adrian Tuddenham]

Peter <peasthope@shaw.ca> wrote:

To replace a wire which broke in the swivel
of the boom, I reconstructed the boom of an
Altec Lansing headset. This included
resoldering the wires to the back of the
electret capsule. The speakers still work
but the mic does not after this repair.

Found a similar failure after soldering a
new electret onto the wires of an inexpensive
Creative/Telex desktop mic.

Is the electret mic particularly heat sensitive?
If so, what technique is recommended? Already
I was careful to apply minimal heating.

My experience with soldering hundreds of Panasonic WM 55A103 electret
capsules is that it takes quite a bit of abuse and clumsy
soldering/desoldering before anything goes seriously wrong. You
wouldn't normally expect to experience a problem from using ordinary
soldering techniques. If the job looks as though it might turn into an
awkward one and require a bit of messing-about, it may then be a good
idea to provide some sort of heat sink on the capsule body.

Where you might have got a problem, however, is if you have accidentally
smeared a whisker of solder or dross from the live contact to the
capsule body and cause a short-circuit. That can sometimes be difficult
to spot unless you are really looking for it. It is best removed
mechanically with a scriber point; if you try to unsolder it, the
chilling effect of the casing on the solder blob will just create a
worse and worse mess.

--
~ Adrian Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

 

[whit3rd]

On Apr 9, 3:35 am, Eeyore <rabbitsfriendsandrelati...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

GregS wrote:

Is the electret mic particularly heat sensitive?
If so, what technique is recommended?  Already
I was careful to apply minimal heating.

It's a job that needs a lowish power or thermostatically controlled iron ( or a fast hand ! ).

If the job is heat sensitive, you want the iron HIGH power, up to
temperature,
and do the joint fast. A low power iron, especially if it's not
thermostat controlled,
is likely to take too long to get the joint up to temperature, and
THAT cooks
the nearby items.

If a joint takes more than three seconds to heat and draw solder, your
iron is too cold. If your iron stays on the joint for more than five
seconds,
the operator is too slow.

If the work is or might be critical, I always use an artist's small
paintbrush with
water-washable flux to prepare it. And, I wash it afterward (small
squirt
from a poly bottle with distilled water).

 

[Eeyore]

whit3rd wrote:

Eeyore <rabbitsfriendsandrelati...@hotmail.com> wrote:
GregS wrote:

Is the electret mic particularly heat sensitive?
If so, what technique is recommended? Already
I was careful to apply minimal heating.

It's a job that needs a lowish power or thermostatically controlled iron ( or a fast hand ! ).

If the job is heat sensitive, you want the iron HIGH power, up to
temperature, and do the joint fast.

Not given the size of these babies. They're minute.

Graham