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General discussion

Tip of camcorder cable stuck inside the socket

Aug 9, 2006 4:22AM PDT

Hi,
My ZR70 canon camcorder has got a tip of a cable stuck inside, breaking loose from the rest of the 3.5 mm connector of a RCA cable. As a result of this we cannot playback video directly to TV anymore.
Due to this I have to transfer the video to the PC using firewire whenever we need to watch the recordings, which is annoying. I used an S-video cable to see the video on TV, but I have no short-cuts for the voice, and only option is to fix this issue. Can someone help please?

Regards,
Ranjit Kumar.

Discussion is locked

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Any decent electronics tech can fix this.
Aug 9, 2006 4:48AM PDT

It's something they see a lot of.

Bob

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Hmmm......time for a bit of surgery
Aug 9, 2006 3:22PM PDT

This sounds like a very annoying problem, but here's what we can do:

1. Send me a digital picture of the connector and, if possible, a view of how deep inside the connector is.

2. I will mimic the problem using my many junked camcorders and see if I can find the best ''tool'' for removing it.

3. I'll post the fix to my website.

Despite having fixed lots of electronics for friends, I haven't had to tackle this particular issue before, so nothing like a challenge....!

I am working on several posts regarding common camcorder issues - like head cleaning, stuck tapes etc. We'll add this to it.

Regards,

Tim
electric@electricalrepairlinks.com
http://www.electricalrepairlinks.com

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Thanks tim.
Aug 10, 2006 1:23AM PDT

Thanks in advance for the kind offer. But beware the Cnet forum policies. If you post a tagline, please leave off the http part of your url to avoid post removal or editing.

This is friendly advice and I hope you will see it as such.

Thanks for the posting and offer.

Bob

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CNET policy
Aug 10, 2006 10:40PM PDT

Thanks for the advice - I wasn't aware of the policy, although in hindsight that makes sense. Will heed this from now on -

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Thanks Tim for your proactive help
Aug 10, 2006 3:00AM PDT

Hi Tim,
I will email you a photo of the 3.5 mm male connector whose leading tip came off. A person suggested using a strong glue on the tip of this connector, reinserting it into the camcorder, wait so that it sticks to its missing tip and pulling it back. I don't know if this is safe enough, and if so - a glue brand/model that sticks steel parts.

Regards,
Ranjit Kumar.

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In progress
Aug 10, 2006 10:49PM PDT

I snapped a bunch of pictures of a dissasembled camcorder with a broken tip in one of the RCA jacks. Now I am working on what will help draw the part out. The fun part here is that the RCA jacks are open all the way through - if you accidentally push on the pin, it may fall through into the mechanism of the unit.

For a tech, one solution is to dis-assemble the unit and push out the broken tip with a miniature screwdriver from behind the circuit board. Obviously, this is beyond the average DIY'r, and is also a major pain in the **s as getting to the rear of the jacks requires taking almost every board out!

So, I will work on solutions this weekend. The danger of glue is that it can easily get between the pin and the jack; I know what kind of glue might work, but I will fashion something that at least gives some assurance of it not leaching out.

I will post once I have it on my site -

Regards,

Tim D.
electricalrepairlinks.com