Crap that is crap

Cheap stuff is crap. Everybody knows this, including me, and we just deal with it. Here's one way that bit me last week…

The other day I needed a new heel for my shoe, so I decided to go to Morganville (which is what they called Shelbyville in those days) stereo 3.5mm cable for a couple of projects (a USB audio interface & a simple SDR; details in a later post), so I went down to the local sex-toy shop …

 Then ... and now ;)

… and bought a couple of cheap 3.5mm stereo plugs to upgrade my old home-made 3.5mm mono-to-stereo cable. Did the usual "be vewy, vewy quiet careful" dance when soldering them - gripped firmly (but not too tight!) in the soft jaws of the mini-vice (by the collar, not the shaft [as it were…]), plenty of flux, dialled in an appropriate iron temperature, used pliers to heatsink the terminals while tinning & soldering (so the plastic doesn't melt), etc, etc.

Result?

"We're through the Maggylamp here, people!!!"

Short circuit between tip and ring…

WTF? There's absolutely nothing visibly wrong with it; apart from the solder joints it's indistinguishable from the unterminated original! And yet the plug is definitely shorted internally - I cut the wires & measured the plug to be sure.

Oh well, maybe it was a dud to start with. Let's cut it off (and double check it's the plug that's shorted - yup!) and replace it with the other one I bought. And yes, let's test that one beforehand to make sure it isn't shorted.

This time I was doubly doubly careful when terminating the cable. The result?

Short circuit between tip and ring. F…!

Note to self: cheap crap 3.5mm plugs have gotten cheaper and crappier. And my cable is now a bit shorter…

By the way, I'm not picking on our Friends From The West in particular. Long experience has taught me that, one way or another, all of the cheap phone plugs - and, for that matter, others like RCA plugs & DC barrel connectors - are crap regardless of where you buy them. (Clarification: those DC barrel connectors are crap, full stop. Only the insane and the terminally masochistic use them…). The only real differences are how they are crap, and how crap they are. At least Altronics also sells decent Rean/Neutrik 3.5mm plugs - skip the plastic junk altogether and, if you're looking at the unbranded metal ones, you may as well pay a few cents more for the Real Deal.