5-Pin DIN Headset Connectors – Repairable?

[WingMan71]

All,

My rider’s headset connector (the bike end at the left side fairing) is shorting out intermittently and also fails the “wiggle test”. Whenever I wiggle it, pull on it, or twist the cable a bit, an ear-piercing high-pitched tone comes through the line to my helmet speakers and just about deafens me! It’s definitely the bike connector, not the headset lower cable, since I have now tried four different lower cables on it.

So, I need to repair or replace that connector. Here are my questions:

1. Is it possible to remove the rubber boot from the actual connector in order to get at the internal wire connections on it and inspect/repair them? It looks like you should be able to slide the outer rubber boot back up over the cable to access the internal connector but I have not been able to get mine off. I’m afraid to pull on it too hard.

2. Is it possible to actually cut the cable and splice on a new length of cable with a good connector on the end? Or, is there a static shield or something else inside the cable that would make a splice impossible?

I would appreciate any and all experience with this type of repair.

Thanks,

[GoneForTheBorder]

You should be able to push the rubber boot back and/or push the cable forward through it, revealing the 5-pin DIN connector. The boot may be hardened by age and weather; a little silicone spray lube will help.

You should then be able to push back the sleeve, split the housing and inspect the connector. If it's nothing worse than bare conductors touching when the connector is moved (which is what it sounds like to me), you can spread them apart slightly, then insulate them with silicone sealant or brush on insulation. Let the insulation dry completely and test the connector for shorts between pins before reassembling it.

It may also be a single conductor breaking contact when the connector is moved, which can be resoldered. If the connector itself is bad, take careful note of the wires and their pin connection, get another 5-pin DIN connector at your local electronic supply store, cut the old one off as close to the pins as possible and solder the wires onto the new one. The cable will still be almost the same length as before, so you shouldn't have to reroute it.

One note: Using a high-powered (100 watts or more) soldering gun in the high-power setting will melt the connector's insulator as fast as it melts solder into the pin wells. My slightly scorched fingers are proof. Don't keep heat on the pins too long.

Glen

[WingMan71]

Job done! I'm back to report my efforts:

My existing 5-pin DIN connector was damaged beyond repair, particularly by the time I got it apart!

I ended up “fixing” my shorted 5-pin DIN intercom headset connector by splicing in a replacement piece from a GL1500. It worked great.

Seems that mother Honda figured out that having a headset connector that is not replaceable separately from the entire “terminal component box” (the box into which both headset connectors come together, located at the very front of the inside left-hand fairing forward of the stereo system power amp) is a BAD idea!

The replacement part from the GL1500 is about a 9-inch long pigtail with the 5-pin DIN headset connector at one end and a rectangular 6-pin connector at the other end (of which only 5 pins are actually used). The part is Honda code 3112927 – “Lead, Headset Junction”. My dealer’s SKU was 39245-MT2-010. The part was $20.83.

I bought the GL1500 replacement part and cut off my shorted 5-pin DIN headset connector at a point on the cable just below where it disappears through the grommet in the rubber cover and heads south to the left of the front forks. Then I spliced on the new GL1500 piece.

After doing a pin-out with an Ohm meter to see which pins/wires on the old connector matched which pins/wires on the new connector, there was only one point of confusion. The old GL1200 connector had 6 wires whereas the GL1500 part had only 5 wires. On the GL1200, there are separate braided ground wires over BOTH the left and right headset speaker wires. On the GL1500, those two grounds are on the same wire. So, all that was needed was to twist both of the GL1200 speaker ground wires together and connect them to the single wire for the speaker grounds on the GL1500 pigtail. All other wires served the same function on both DIN connectors. However, the wires were NOT the same colors! Here’s the match-up:

PIN/FUNCTION - - - GL1200 - - - - - - - - - - - - - GL1500
1-mic input: - - - - yellow wire - - - - - - - - - - - white wire
2-mic grnd: - - - - yellow wire grnd shield - - - - - dull black wire
3-headset grnd: - -white & red wire grnd shields - -glossy black wire
4-headset right: - - red wire - - - - - - - - - - - - yellow wire
5-headset left: - - -white wire - - - - - - - - - - - red wire

Important: You’ve got to cover each of the five soldered splices with heat shrink tubing to keep them from shorting out on one another! Particularly important is the yellow ground wire braided shield. It MUST be kept isolated from the two other ground wire shields. Put heat shrink tubing on all of the splices and make sure they don’t touch. Then wrap all five spliced wires in electrical tape to waterproof it.

My local Honda dealer’s service shop actually found a used 6-pin connector for me that mated with the 6-pin connector on the GL1500 part pigtail. So, now I actually have a pigtail assembly that I can remove and replace easily should the headset connector ever die again.

The splice or 6-pin connector can be positioned under the large rubber connector cover just underneath where the headset intercom cable heads south through the grommet in the rubber cover. Nice fix and cheap!

PS) I actually tried to find a used terminal component box complete with both headset (and other) attached cords. When I did find them, they wanted a couple of hundred bucks for one. Plus, that darn thing would have been a nightmare to replace, based on its location buried deep in the fairing.

Hope this helps someone with a similar repair.

[GoneForTheBorder]

Nicely done and well written report!

Glen

[SIR tricky]

Good work, I don't know how many times I have repaired one of my headsets bought in 1985. Finally replaced one set this week from Sierra.

[SIR tricky]

Thanks Wingman. You just told me what is wrong with mine. When I plug the headsets in and turn the switch to H/S nothing but squealing. :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Make sure that the two grounds, one for the mike and one for the ears are on separate pins and not touching, this will cause a squeal.

[WingMan71]

Thanks Wingman. You just told me what is wrong with mine. When I plug the headsets in and turn the switch to H/S nothing but squealing.

fysty-1,

Unless you have a really bad kink in your headset cable somewhere, or a melted spot, I think you will find that most of these fail at the internal connections to the back of the 5-pin DIN connector itself. That's where mine failed. Probably from the repeated pulling apart of the two connectors when unhooking the helmet lower cord. Lesson: don't pull on the cable, pull on the connector! I follow that rule, but I guess some of the POs did not.

Tricky is right about taking care to keep the ground shield wires electrically isolated. As I mentioned, particularly important is the yellow (mic) ground wire braided shield. It MUST be kept isolated from the two other headset speaker ground wire braided shields, which actually need to be tied together to effect this repair.

I really needed to get mine fixed. Every time the thing shorted and squeeled, my wife yelled and slapped me across the back of my helmet! :?