help with wiring something

Posted on

Member Since: Jan 18, 2003

hey i'm doing a repair and could use an answer to something.

i own a twenty dollar irockĀ® FM transmitter which i use to send the output of my mp3 player to my car stereo wirelessly. i love it. it has made listening to my home recordings in my car (which i do a lot) very simple. and i can take this little thing to other peopels' houses and easily play my stuff through their stereo. its great!

anyway, its a cheap piece of crap.

it started cutting out and became "position dependent." adjusting the input wire would fix the problem. i had to prop it in certain ways. the problem was clearly shoddy construction/a loose connection.

so i'm re-wiring it. i was hoping someone could explain this to me:

basically, the antenna is housed within a thick rubber cord *along with* the 2 wires for the actual audio input. the rubber cord itself (and the anetenna and the audio wires inside) is about a four-inch long cord with a male 1/8 jack on the end. two black sleeve ring things make it stereo.

i cut it open and looked atthe connections to the circuit board. there are three copper wires somehow, plus the antenna.

the third wire confuses me.

the antenna attaches to its own solder-joint on the board. theres a red-coated wire (audio) attached to another solder-joint. there's a green (audio) attached to another joint. and theres a copper one attached to another joint that SEEMS TO breifly wrap around a bare spot on the green and then go over and do the same to the red. but i havent undone this yet to verify it for fear of destroying my visual reference. it might actually just connect to the red.

what is this wire? do i need to have it breifly touch both audio wires?

i'm just using this grumbling man icon for everything from now on.

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Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jul 22, 2004 09:15 pm

It sounds like a sheild wire, but not sure. I have never heard of a shield wire that would short out both right and left audio wires like you describe. You should have a common lead for the stereo audio signals, but again, that would short out to both the red and green like that.

I wonder if the copper wire is the antenna wire by chance?

Member
Since: Jan 18, 2003


Jul 22, 2004 09:22 pm

no, the antenna wire is silvery. it leads to nowhere. just runs up the length of the rubber housing and then ends.

i don't know what a sheild wire is. but i took apart a pair of headphones i'm not using (to steal the jack and wire for my re-wiring--this will become the new audio jack) and inside of THAT wire, you had, you know, two seperate wires, and inside each one of those, once you stripped them, was another very tiny plastic coated wire. one white in one of the wires, and one red inside the other one.

the irock has nothing like this. just the red and green and the plain copper short thingie and the antenna.


Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jul 22, 2004 09:55 pm

Well, I guess I would just duplicate exactly what you see then and go from there. I still think it odd that they would have a bare wire that short the audio feed lines together. but I didnt desing it so I am guessing they must a have a reason.

Member
Since: Jan 18, 2003


Jul 22, 2004 10:03 pm

ok i'll take it apart real carefully and make sure thats what's happening, using a magnifying glass, and then just rebuild it that way.

while we're talking about this, do you (or does anyone) know how to build a device that would amplify a radio signal? i'd like to get some more range out of this. i've seen some stuff online, but i'm not sure what i'm looking at since they use specialized lingo.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jul 22, 2004 10:05 pm

I have seen a kit for an antenna amplifeir bit I dont remember exactly were. I know you can still get them for about 15 or 20 dollars at some auto stores, like AutoZone and the like. I think the one I still have in a drawer in the garage is made by Kraco. :-)

Nothing doesnt give me gas
Member
Since: May 25, 2004


Jul 23, 2004 12:46 am

KRACO!!!!!!!???? MAN!!! I havent heard that name in YEARS!!!!!! HAHAHAH......

Thats too funny Noize

Member
Since: Jan 18, 2003


Jul 23, 2004 01:26 am

antenna amplifier? i thought those amplified incoming signals? i need to boost the output :(

Member
Since: Jan 18, 2003


Jul 23, 2004 08:08 pm

ok, well it turns out that the single copper wire is a combination of two copper wires. packaged alongside each colored audio wire is a counterpart naked copper wire. at the end of the line they are twisted together and go to a single soldier joint on the circuit board, whereas the colored wires each have thier own solder joint.

i don' know what this does but i wish i did. in any case, the thing works now.

have you used this antenna amplifier noize? what does it do?

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