Stereo/Mono Jacks

[filth]

Hi

i´ve tryed to build an LPB but i stumbled over an problem: My mono/stereo jacks have got 4 (Stereo) or 3 (Mono) connctors. On every schematic i can find, they are shown with 3 and 2 connectors.

Can anybody tell me where to connect now and why there are more connectors here?

Thanks
Alex

[smoguzbenjamin]

4 connectors? For stereo? :shock: If you'd have said 6 connecors for stereo I would have known, but 4? Could you take a pic of that and post it somewhere, it'd make it a lot easier to figure out...

Because a stereo jack normally has 3 lugs (ground/left/right) and mono has 2 lugs (Ground/signal).... Get a pic up and we can all see

[zener]

Look for the lug that will make contact with the enclosure when you mount the jack in it. It is the one in the bottom for both mono and stereo jack. This lug will just function for another one for ground, nothing so special about it.

[filth]

here is an image of that stereo jack:





i´ve marked the connectors 1-4

[aron]

zener is right. Find the tip lug and then the ground lug, then find the one lug that connects to the "ring" of the jack.

This is the one that will connect to ground when you plug the jack in.

BTW: you need a multimeter to make your life easier on this. Use it in continuity mode or set to ohms. Zero ohms is a connection when in ohms mode. A beep in continuity mode is a connection.

[filth]

nr. 2 is the ground connection, havent figured out the others yet

[aron]

Find the lugs that connect to the tip and ring:



Use your multimeter as described above.

[zener]

No, just forget my first post, filth. I also have those 4 lugs stereo jack. I WON'T BE USING YOUR NUMBERING. Here it is:

Check out the DIY FAQ above and see the stereo jack. Take note of the tip, ring and sleeve. Now, look at your stereo jack. The first lug from the top is the sleeve. If you can see,  there's an extra lug (the second from the top, I think. If not, just trace it) there that makes contact inside the tip. If you insert a plug at the jack, the tip will back off a bit and lose contact with that. That extra lug would just serve as another grounding lug. You can connect anything to it that is supposedly connected to ground. The third from the top is the ring and the bottom is the tip. To make sure, do as what Aron suggested

With the mono jack, the one with three lugs (as what you have), the only difference is that it doesn't have a ring.

You can easily trace it. :wink:

Zener

[aron]

From casual observation, it looks like the 4th lug is so that you can silence the jack when a plug is not inserted. The input can shunt to ground. I could be wrong though.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

True, a multimeter will mae your life easier.. but only if you have a lead plugged into the socket when you are checking it!
Yeah, there is nothing I havn't fallen for.. but the most annoying is, connecting to the 'wrong' side of a switched jack, because I forgot it was going to change when switched..DUH!

[aron]

hehehehe!!!!

[Mark Hammer]

Always, always, always look at each lug and follow it very carefully to the contact point, verifying with a continuity meter if you have one.  For a variety of reasons, lugs for the same contact point will be arranged around the skirt of the jack in different orders, so that you can't be guaranteed that the leftmost is the tip contact, etc.  Jack lugs are not nearly as predictable as pot lugs.