Adding a 1/8" stereo headphone jack
Let me start by apologizing for the quality of the pictures, this is the first step-by-step HOW-TO I have ever done, shoulda' turned on Macro Mode eh? Also, I guarantee nothing that follows to be safe, professional, or even generally useful! :P As always, use at your own risk! "Stuff" needed: Dremel or drill Drill bits Exacto knife 1/8" Stereo Panel-Mount Jack Radio Shack p/n 274-246: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F011%5F003%5F001%5F009&product%5Fid=274%2D246 Soldering iron Solder Flux (I use it, some say it will eventually eat your connections, hasn't yet.) Small gauge wire (I used 30 gauge wrapping wire): http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F011%5F010%5F003%5F000&product%5Fid=278%2D501 Heat shrink tubing or electrical tape Patience Start by taking the camcorder apart; start by removing the four screws hidden under the sticker on back (surrounding the screen). This has been mentioned elsewhere. Once the screws are removed there are still some tabs that need to be popped loose; I start at the "port" on top. Once inside there are 2 black screws holding the pcb in place; remove them. I didn't get a picture of the battery "header" pins that connect the batteries to the pcb, but they are quite easy to mess up after many removals of the pcb. I bent one which caused it to bridge the gap + to - and some of the magic smoke escaped. I caught it in time; enough magic smoke remains to run the camcorder. However, it's probably best to remove the batteries when removing/replacing the pcb! At this point I placed some tape over the lens and the lens hole. Don't want any nasty dust getting in there! Okay, now we're inside. I attached a pair of wires the the pads opposite side from the speaker wires, using the same colors as the other side, red and blue. I -*test*-('")ed the connection to make sure it would work, volume-wise etc. Prepare the jack by bridging pins 2+5 and 3+4. This is a stereo jack and we only have a mono output to work with. Turn the pcb over and snip the red speaker wire from the pcb (leaving it attached to the speaker). Add a short extension if necessary (why not?) Notice the all important "splatter-guard". 8) There will now be 3 wires going to the jack. the pair from the lcd side and a single extension leading to the speaker. Work with the lcd pair first. Attach blue wire to pin 1 on jack. Attach red wire to pin 2. Now work on the speaker extension. Attach speaker extension to pin 3. I twisted them together a bit and even used a piece of tape to hold the loop to the pcb. Choose a location for your jack. Mine is shown. Get creative, drill a hole! Reassemble after cleaning any dust from lcd and inside of lcd "cover". You should now have a headphone jack the disables the speaker when in use! I plan to use this: http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp%3Fcatalog_name%3DCTLG%26category_name%3DCTLG_002_001_002_000%26product_id%3D42-2559&e=9797 for volume control instead of hacking a volume control inside. I have not tried one, but the volume level seems quite strong as is. ***Updated: I have now aquired the volume control cable in the above link and it works great!

for the record this isnt going to give you a "stereo" output. it will give you a mono feed R and L channels 180 out of phase which isnt so great for some things and sufficient for others. also you will kill batteries faster if you feed bigger or less efficient speakers. Bottom line: It works, but its not *technically*correct **more things to consider in my next post

:oops:

a few caveats before you cut into your cameras: the speaker measures 7.5/7.6 ohms. Its probably rated an 8ohm. Most headphones run from 20-160ohms there are some are really high, 2k-20kohms. I think my ipod ones were 30ish? Not too often, but ive seen outputs expecting lower impedence dying when they face a higher load. Also plugging and unplugging a trs plug creates a split second short, and in a circuit with insufficient load limiting resistors you can fry the amp after a number plug/unplugs. we dont know if it does or doesnt. Try this jack. It could work just fine. It may work better on some headphones and not others. if you hear low-power distortion or the op-amp(coach?) gets hot youre probably shortening the life of your output amp significantly. This isnt to say this wont work, but i felt obligated to express my concerns. The biggerst bitch about this is that coach chip probably has a headphone amp built in. i seem to recall the coach 5 did. If you try to power speakers with this thing make sure theyre small or try to be on the usb power so as not to drain batteries.

Great mod, im gonna do the same myself...thanks!

Finished and it works great! I followed your tutorial except for the location, which I put on the side, because I want to add a usb port up top in the future. Thanks for the great tutorial! Mandatory Pics:

Well I'm glad someone finally tried it! Good work, and thanks for the kind comments.

I also bought that volume control, and after trying to open it to see inside I cracked it beyond fixability so Im gonna try to intergrate it into the case and post pics If I do.

Hey guys, I did this today but I used part 274-0246 instead. Pinout: 1: common (where the blue wire of OEM speaker solders to) 2: connect to input from camera (where the red wire solders to) also connect a wire to jump to pin 5 3: output to speaker (red wire) 4: not used 5: connect to pin 2 just snip the red wire like the original poster did. This works perfectly and it's good because if you unplug the headphones, the internal speaker still works :) The jack costs EXACTLY the same amount of money as the one the OP used except you only get one in the pack.

I plan on doing this hack today/this weekend... wish me luck :wink:

Please post your results... Good Luck!

Frys FM pen radio headphones
Fry's Electronics sells an FM radio built into an ink pen (found them hanging in the section with the other writing instruments, also scattered randomly around the store) for around $5.00 The headphones included with it have a small blob in the cord with a power switch and a volume control. The connector is a small three contact stereo headphone connector. The radio/headphones actually is a mono device. I think the three contacts are common, power switch, sound. I'll verify this when I get mine back tonight. Would make an easy way to add headphones with volume control to the camcorder. If one got really ambitious you might even be able to remove the FM module from the pen and install it in the camcorder. You would have to bring out the reset and seek buttons and a way to switch between FM and camcorder audio. The FM module does run off of 3V.

Frys FM pen radio
I check the wiring on the Fry's FM pen radio. The tip and the middle ring are the only things connected. The power switch is in series with the ear phones.