Retractable headphone wire?

[Sir William]

I'm sure everybody has seen those retractable mouse cords for laptops...



Here's my issue... on my headphones, the wire that connects to the 1/8" plug literally ripped out of the socket. So, I soldered it back together with another spare wire I had (works perfectly).

My problem is... I now have a 9' headphone wire. What's worse is that they are earbud headphones, so it just looks unusual having such a long wire. Right now, I just use a twist tie to hold the excess wire.

I was wondering if it was possible to mod the wire and make it retractable, like the mice.

Any comments are appreciated (flames will be laughed at ). Thanks in advance!

[millwork]

Hello Sir William,

The wires in those retratable cables are really tiny and I think would be extremely difficult to solder reliably. They make earbuds with retractable cable but I thought they were expensive.

I've seen retractable USB cables with multiple connectors at dollar stores (like Dollar Tree) that might be easier to modify - you may be able to use the connectors to fabricate the plugs needed - easier to solder.

Here's what they look like.


For just a buck, worth a look. If they're not available in your neck of the woods, they are only about $5.00 direct from Hong Kong and that includes S&H. Here's one example and there are lots of 'em out there.

I have one with a mini 5 pin and it works fine with a camera and PicBridge. The retracable enclosure is more sturdy than I thought it would be.

There will probably be lots of other folks with ideas, but this is at least a start for your quest.

John B.

[Sir William]

Thanks Millwork, but I was thinking more along the lines of opening up the enclosure, removing all the USB wires, inserting my headphone wires, and closing it back up. Yay or Nay?

Personally, I don't think that additional soldering would be required, but then again... this IS life.

But thanks anyways... at least now I can start somewhere (and a cheap start too!).

[millwork]

I'd say "Yay" if you can get the enclosure open and the cable will fit. Never tryed to open one, but I doubt they are glued and am pretty sure it is a through cable with no inside connections.

Dollar Tree has at least three other retractable cables.

John B.

[Sir William]

Keeps getting better and better for me.

The only thing I'm starting to doubt now is the enclosure because I don't think it will fit such a great length of wire (the wire itself is about 1/8" thick and I approximate 7'~9' of wire). I'm left with 2 options...

1.) Cut off the excess wire, resolder, and fit in the enclosure.

-OR-

2.) Find a large enough enclosure to actually HOLD all the wire.

I'm not so hopeful for option 2 because... well, it's meant to SAVE space. Making a large retractable wire enclosure wouldn't make much sense.

[millwork]

Oh. I was picturing earbuds with the tiny wire about the size of the retractable cable.

Do you ever really need all that length? Those retractable cables are only about 30 to 36 inches and why I mentioned the connectors.

John B.

[millwork]

Looks like you might end up with something like this.

About $25.00 to $35.00 after S&H.

Lightweight
Mini retractable earbud set
L-shaped 3.5mm stereo plug
Supports all audio players with 3.5mm headphone jack
Enhanced bass response
Comfortable fit

I don't know about quality on this stuff.


John B.

[RockNRoll]

Wouldn't buying some new earbuds be cheaper?

[millwork]

Wouldn't buying some new earbuds be cheaper?

Do you know of a source that's less money than the earbuds pictured?

The retractable earbuds I've seen for less than $25.00 were not too impressive.

I'm sure Sir William would appreciate your input.

John B.

[Sir William]

Do you know of a source that's less money than the earbuds pictured?

The retractable earbuds I've seen for less than $25.00 were not too impressive.

I'm sure Sir William would appreciate your input.

John B.

Don't I always? The thing is... these headphones came with my Nomad and I am very impressed in the sound quality that they put out. Before them, I never liked earbud headphones... now, I actually prefer them. It's not the price that I care about... this is just a small, personal mod that I was interested in doing, cheap or not. Plus, it would be pretty cool to be able to take any simple wire and turn it into a retractable mod, IMO.

[RockNRoll]

I thought the reason he wanted to add the retractable ability to his earbuds was because he soldered a spare wire on making the wire too long. Ah but now I see, are you referring to the Creative Nomad MP3 player? If so then I know what you're talking about, they do sound great. I bought some earphones made by AKAI, which have a little more tone than the creative ones but I can't seem to be able to provide a link to them because I can't find them, but they were only $7.99 when I bought mine at FYE.

{edit} Aw frig, it doesn't appear AKAI makes headphones anymore?

Ah so you're just interested in having some fun modding them? Ok, I had thought you just wanted something with a shorter wire.

[Sir William]

I thought the reason he wanted to add the retractable ability to his earbuds was because he soldered a spare wire on making the wire too long. Ah but now I see, are you referring to the Creative Nomad MP3 player? If so then I know what you're talking about, they do sound great. I bought some earphones made by AKAI, which have a little more tone than the creative ones but I can't seem to be able to provide a link to them because I can't find them, but they were only $7.99 when I bought mine at FYE.

{edit} Aw frig, it doesn't appear AKAI makes headphones anymore?

Ah so you're just interested in having some fun modding them? Ok, I had thought you just wanted something with a shorter wire.

Actually, it's a little bit of both. The wire IS too long, but it doesn't bother me all that much. I just thought that doing this retractable mod would be an interesting alternative. I like having the extra length, it's great for PC use.

And yes, it is the Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra (wow, what a name). The headphones just sound awesome, but I always found the wire to be too short for PC use. Now with my extra long wire, that's not a problem... but I have to rebundle the wire every time I use it, which is very tedious. One day at work, my boss was putting her laptop away and she had a retractable mouse cord... I said to myself "I wish I could do that for my headphones."

Eventually, I began to wonder the possibility and wanted to get some opinions and I knew that SysOpt would be my best bet.

[millwork]

...and wanted to get some opinions and I knew that SysOpt would be my best bet.

You can say that again.

I am a bit suprised that there's only been the three of us. With 96 views, surely someone else would have a helpful idea or recommendation.

John B.

[Sir William]

You can say that again.

I am a bit suprised that there's only been the three of us. With 96 views, surely someone else would have a helpful idea or recommendation.

John B.

I think it's because more people are interested to see if this mod is actually possible and they want to see what my outcome will be.

[rwest]

Here's a thought. You could try using the case from a small cheap retractable dog leash. The cheap cases cost about $4-$5 bucks and they're put together with screws. Plastic is easily modified and you may not have to resplice your cord. Although this may to large for your purposes, I have seen them apx. 3" sq.