Sony BlueTooth HBH-DS200 Repair

Like my other Instructable, I had this gadget for a little while.  I put it aside, unused for about a year.  I decided to use it again on a flight and found that once I plugged my headphones in, the connection was sketchy.

So, I took it apart and found that the piece that the headphone jack plugs into, was not making a proper connection to the circuit board.  After many times of plugging in and unplugging, the piece lifts itself off the board, so you get a hit or miss connection. Tunes or no tunes.

What you'll need:

Soldering iron
solder
helping hands
patience

Disassembly is pretty simple.

1. gently twist and slide the bottom silver piece down and away from the unit.  It is held in place with double sided tape. (The Sony-Ericsson emblem is held on by tape as well, so be careful not to lose that piece if it pops off).
2. gently twist and slide the short top silver piece away from the unit.  It too is held in place with double sided tape.
3. pull the two halves apart.  The clip is the bottom half and the display is the top half.

Be careful as the power/play button will probably fall out

Once everything is pulled apart, you will find the problem. The mini-jack connector is held in place by two plastic bumps.  The metal contacts are not soldered in place.  So when you place your headphones in, the mini-jack connector will lift off the board resulting in a bad connection.

Simply pushing the bumps back into the holes on the board is not enough to secure the contacts.  I tried a little glue the first go, but it did nothing to keep the contacts touching.

The next step requires some patience as the contact points are small.

use the helping hands to mount the mini-jack connector
tin the soldering iron
tin the 5 leads of the mini-jack connector

The next step is a little tricky.  I found it was easier to tin the contact points of both the mini-jack connector and the contacts on the board.  Without doing this, the connector will not adhere easily to the board.

mount the board to the helping hand
tin the 5 contacts.

**Be careful with the iron as you could melt the surrounding plastic or damage the board**

The last step is to complete the connections.

Place the mini-jack connector on the circuit board.  Try to line up the contacts as best as you can
Apply a little heat to the connectors - this should melt the solder on both surfaces.

Be careful not to apply the heat for too long a period of time; you don't want to damage the board.

The next step is to reassemble and test the unit.

Reassembly is simple - push the covers back on, and pay special attention to that power/play button as it is a little stubborn for staying in place.