Bluetooth is a great way to listen to music on the go without having lots of cables and wires attached to your phone. Unfortunately, very few products can stay connected with each other and not cause any issues with pairing or connectivity. In this article, we’ll show you how to fix Bluetooth headphones when only one side works correctly.
How To Fix Bluetooth Headphones When Only One Side Works?
There are many reasons why you would experience some problems with your Bluetooth headphone set – maybe it’s been exposed to water or sweat, which damages the internal components; maybe there was an issue during manufacturing that means one side doesn’t communicate properly; maybe someone else has tampered with it…or anything in between these possibilities. Whatever the case may be for you, this easy-to-follow guide will show you exactly how to fix the problem.
The first thing to do is identify which side doesn’t work, and for this we’ll need a simple tool called a multimeter. This device looks a little bit like an old-fashioned mobile phone with lots of buttons, but don’t be fooled – it can help you pinpoint exactly where the issue lies.
Plug your Bluetooth headphone set into a power supply so that both sides are recharged; this will ensure that each side has sufficient power to establish whether there’s actually any issues at all.
Turn on your multimeter and completely switch off your headphones (this should be done using the buttons on the right hand side). You need to make sure that no headphones or other electronic devices are connected to the headphone jack.
With no headphones connected, you should have two figures displayed on your multimeter – one figure will be showing voltage in the range of -1 to +1 volts, and the other figure will be displaying resistance in ohms. If there is not enough information available for you to work out whether your Bluetooth device has an issue with its left or right channel, it means that both sides are working perfectly fine.
If one side displays a positive or negative voltage when switched off, then it’s safe to assume that this is the channel which isn’t functioning correctly. We’re going to concentrate on getting this side working again before moving onto testing if the other side doesn’t work too.
Since there’s no power going to either side, you’ll need to use a second pair of headphones from another device. Plug the working side into the headphone jack on the Bluetooth headphone set which isn’t displaying any power when switched off.
With both sides connected and powered up, you should notice that one side displays a voltage in the region of 1-2 volts. If this is not shown, then switch off your multimeter and try again until you get a reading for this figure. If you’ve tested both sides but can’t get a voltage reading at all, it means that there’s an issue with your Bluetooth headphone set beyond repair – most likely caused by water damage or physical damage caused when tampering with the internal components during manufacture or service. Even if your multimeter isn’t showing a voltage, we can still fix the problem with this side.
You need to find out which is the left channel and which is the right channel because you have to plug them into each other so that they create sound – this will confirm if there’s any issue with the internal components of your headphone set, or whether it’s an issue caused by something else. We’ll be using your multimeter again for this step.
With both sides plugged in, switch off your headphones on one side but not on the other side. You should then see a voltage reading displayed on your multimeter between 1-2 volts, just as before when testing both sides independently. If you don’t get a reading here either, try switching off your multimeter and retrying until you get a reading.
If the voltage is far too low when switched off, it’s possible that this side doesn’t have enough power to function correctly. To fix this problem, we’re going to need to give it some more juice – so load up your soldering iron and solder connections between the two sides of your headphone set to increase their output.
Using one strand of wire (30awg or less), cut off a piece long enough to connect each side with each other in series; if the wire is thicker than 30awg then you’ll need more than one strand in order for it to support sufficient current from both sides simultaneously. Strip back 5mm from both ends of the wire, twist them together tightly, then solder the connection. Make sure you don’t use so much solder that it starts dripping off or creating connections between other components on your circuit board – if this happens, remove the solder using desoldering braid and try again.
Once you’re happy with the soldered point where both sides are connected together, connect up your multimeter to each side of your headphone set separately (making sure that one side is switched on but not the other) and measure for voltage between 1-2 volts. If there’s still insufficient power in either channel, slowly add a little more solder to the connection until you get a reading between 1-2 volts when switching off one side and testing for voltage with both sides connected in series.
