12 volt trigger

[ParadigmDawg]

After I cut the plug off of the 1/4 headphone cable and stripped the wires I noticed there are 3 wires.(I was expecting two) one is covered in red insulation the other in black and the third is just bare. What is the third one?

 

[avaserfi]

After I cut the plug off of the 1/4 headphone cable and stripped the wires I noticed there are 3 wires.(I was expecting two) one is covered in red insulation the other in black and the third is just bare. What is the third one?

The two shielded cables are probably the left and right while the unshielded should be the ground cable. I am pretty sure about this one.

 

[Haoleb]

You should have a single red wire, a single black wire and the bare wire. Headphones share a ground, which is why there are only three conductors on the plug itself. Just use the red and black and dont worry about the third bare wire.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

so just cut the bare down where it stays in the insulation?

You should have a single red wire, a single black wire and the bare wire. Headphones share a ground, which is why there are only three conductors on the plug itself. Just use the red and black and dont worry about the third bare wire.

 

[avaserfi]

so just cut the bare down where it stays in the insulation?

That should do the job just fine maybe put a little shrink wrap on to keep it pretty . If you really wanted to go all out you could carefully pull it out, but that would be a pain in the ***.

 

[mtrycrafts]

After I cut the plug off of the 1/4 headphone cable and stripped the wires I noticed there are 3 wires.(I was expecting two) one is covered in red insulation the other in black and the third is just bare. What is the third one?

If you are using this as a 12v trigger wire, yes, you don't need that bare wire. Use the black as the ground wire and red for hot lead and be consistent at both ends of the cable with the plugs.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

the end that goes to the AVR has the plug on it but I assume it's wired properl to the plug.

If you are using this as a 12v trigger wire, yes, you don't need that bare wire. Use the black as the ground wire and red for hot lead and be consistent at both ends of the cable with the plugs.

 

[mtrycrafts]

the end that goes to the AVR has the plug on it but I assume it's wired properl to the plug.

You may want to unscrew it and see which wires are where on the plug terminals. Are the two ends have the same plug?

 

[ParadigmDawg]

unscrew what? It is a cable with two alike ends that are molded on. I just cut off one end and there were the 3 wires.

You may want to unscrew it and see which wires are where on the plug terminals. Are the two ends have the same plug?

 

[Haoleb]

Just plug the end with the plug to the AVR and turn it on, and measure the voltage so you know which wire is positive and negative. What you really need for 12v trigger is a mono plug but stereo should work fine too. You may need the bare wire afterall. I thought you were just cutting the ends off to use the wire only. You'll need a DMM to measure the polarity of the 12v, Be sure not to short it out either.

 

[BMXTRIX]

As stated above, you really shouldn't be using a headphone jack, which is 1/8" stereo as it has three sections to the connector called the tip, the ring, and the shield. The tip is typically red, the ring is typically black, and the shield is the ground wire.... typically.

I would go with tip and shield if I had to go this route, but it would be far better to get a 1/8" mini MONO plug from your local Radio Shack. They often sell them as stand alone units that you can simply solder a wire onto. If that's a pain, they also have 1/8" mini-mono cables you can cut open and grab the TWO (not three) wires from.

This pic is great...
The second connector is what you want, the third is what most headphones have (1/8" not 1/4") and is stereo, the last is the 1/4" stereo jack.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Yep; I did just that. Rat Shack is about a mile from me and they had the 1/8" mini MONO plug and it worked fine.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Yep; I did just that. Rat Shack is about a mile from me and they had the 1/8" mini MONO plug and it worked fine.

So hard to figure what we have, what we want and need just from words, no hands, no pictures,

 

[ParadigmDawg]

No kidding!

So hard to figure what we have, what we want and need just from words, no hands, no pictures,