simple electronics question(line-in audio cable)

[Helevitia]

What I want is simple:

I have RCA jacks(audio in). I need to make a cable that connects from a 3.5mm stereo mini jack to the RCA jacks. Easy enough.

Here is my problem. I'm not sure what wires connect to the female mini plug.

It looks like it is just left, right and ground. But how do I know which one is left or right, or ground for that matter! OK, so I probably know which one is ground and I know I can solder on the left and right leads and it doesn't matter up to this point.

Do I need to be concerned with polarity? Help!

OK, let me try to make this clearer

When I look at the end of the RCA cable, I see two wires. One comes through the middle, the other is around the edge(but obviously still within the outer sheeth). Which one is ground? I am assuming the outer wire is ground, correct?

When I look at the stereo mini jack, I see 3 leads. One of them appears to connect to the lower most portion of the stereo plug. That is gound, correct? Now what about the other two sections on the plug, which is left and right, what about polarity?

Thanks,

Dave

[Helevitia]

OK, here is the RCA cable I have:



Trying to find the stereo mini plug.

[Helevitia]

Here is the stereo mini jack:

[spadnos]

The tab on the left side of the mini jack is probably ground.

To see which is left vs. right, plug a pair of headphones into the jack. Then, take a battery (some 1.5V thing, like an AA size), and connect it to the ground and another of the pins - see which ear the click goes to. (for this test, the polarity is unimportant)

Once you see which side is which, connect the ground wires from the two RCA cables together, and to the ground of the jack (polarity is important now). The center wire from each RCA cord should go to the corersponding L or R pin (if you have different color RCA cables, use red for right and white for left).

Alternately, you can go to Radio Shack and get a Gold Plated Stereo Plug (Model: 274-0876), and a Gold Plated Shielded Y Cable (Model: 42-2548) for a total cost of $8.98 + tax.

- Steve

[spadnos]

Oh - another note (plus a higher invisible ZokesCount):

It looks like the right channel is on the right side of the photo (ie, away from the ground pin), and the left is the one closer to the ground pin.

In a standard stereo miniphone plug, or 1/4 or sub-mini for that matter, the tip is the left side, the next contact is the right side, and the large contact at the base (closest to the cord) is ground.

- Steve

[KvHagedorn]

The middle wire in the RCA cable (or the one jacketed in red) goes to the middle pin in the RCA plug.. that's the positive. Ground is outside, or a black or white wire inside the outer jacket.

What exactly are you trying to hook up here? There may be an easier way. There are adapter cables available.. maybe you should just get one of these:

http://www.jandr.com/JRProductPage.process?RestartFlow=t&Section_Id=1&Product_Id=3706324

[Helevitia]

Thanks for the help.

I am making a connector that I will install in my car dash so I can plug my mp3 into the radio. Sure I can buy the pre-made wiring, but it looks messy compared to having the jack mounted into the dash.

[Helevitia]

good news, I got it all figured out and it works well. Thanks for the push in the right direction. Now I have this discreet mini jack that I can plug any external sound source into. It's really nice to have actually.

Dave

[uberlad]

Congrats - I tried doing that once but the accursed Sony head unit required a signal on its proprietary CD changer connector before it would accept that there was anything plugged into the aux connector.

Strangely enough I wasn't able to find the pinout for the conenctor and had to use the tape adapter for my mp3 CD player

Uberlad

[Helevitia]

Originally posted by uberlad
Congrats - I tried doing that once but the accursed Sony head unit required a signal on its proprietary CD changer connector before it would accept that there was anything plugged into the aux connector.
Uberlad

I had the same problem, but what was worse is that my head unit is so new, there is nothing on the market that supports the new 'data bus'. Someone told me that one of the older aux in units would work, so I took a chanc and ordered it. It does work! The only glitch(and I haven't actually heard it yet) is that the sound will cut out about once a day. Worth it for better quality sound over FM modulation.

Dave