As you know, if you have an iPhone, the headphone jack is recessed. This was apparently done for esthetic reasons: pulling it out would have resulted in a big bulge--not something Steve Jobs would approve of.
I happen to have some accessories that don't work with the iPhone because of this little design decision. There are adapters, but they are bulky, stiff, ugly, and expensive. So, I decided to make my own. The results were OK--not perfect.
Here's what you need:
- A pair of earbuds with a plug that fits into the recessed socket. I had an old pair from an iPod that worked perfectly.
- A soldering iron (and the skill to use it without inhaling toxic fumes or burning yourself) along with the usual soldering stuff (like solder, for example).
- An in-line 1/8 inch phono jack. I got part number 274-274 from Radio Shack. I'm not wild about this jack since it's bulkier than I wanted.
- A length of 1/8 inch I.D. shrink-fit tubing. I use this as a strain reliever since the one in the Radio Shack jack is a little too big.
Here's all the parts on my workbench:
![](/albums/iphone_adapter_howto/DSC_0005.sized.jpg)
The first thing to do is cut the plug and about 8 inches of wire off the sacrificial earbuds:
![](/albums/iphone_adapter_howto/DSC_0006.sized.jpg)
Strip an inch of insulation from the end of the wire. I used a razor blade to gently cut the insulation and remove it. You'll see four wires: red (R), green (G), red/green stripped (RG), and copper, like so:
![](/albums/iphone_adapter_howto/DSC_0007.sized.jpg)
Put a 1.5 inch length of the shrink-fit tubing and the plug casing on the wire before you solder the jack in place. It won't fit otherwise.
![](/albums/iphone_adapter_howto/DSC_0009.sized.jpg)
The red/green stripped wire is the common. Solder that to the jack housing. There's a nifty little hole you can feed the wire through. Note that there's no need to strip the wires--in fact you can't. Just solder them in place.
![](/albums/iphone_adapter_howto/DSC_0011.sized.jpg)
Next solder the red wire to the silver tab and the green wire to the bronze colored tab.
![](/albums/iphone_adapter_howto/DSC_0012.sized.jpg)
Push the shrink-fit tubing under the crimp on the jack and shrink it. Then crimp the tabs on the jack housing around the tubing. This is also a good time to trim the excess wire.
![](/albums/iphone_adapter_howto/DSC_0015.sized.jpg)
The final step is to push the housing up and screw it onto the jack. All done!
![](/albums/iphone_adapter_howto/DSC_0016.sized.jpg)
The wires on the iPod earbuds aren't easy to solder. I had to keep playing with them to get a good connection. Testing them will tell you how good your solder joints are. The unit is also bulkier then I'd like--the Radio Shack plug is the culprit. I'm looking for a smaller, more svelte phono plug. Still for the cost of $3, I've got an adapter that works fine. Not bad.