Bluetooth Headphones After

So .. I took a broken pair of these and thought I'd do something useful with them.

Since the only thing wrong with them was the cracked headband, which shorted out the connection between the battery in one ear and the gubbins in the other, all I had to do was connect them directly and add a $3 socket from Radioshack.

I dremmelled the ear pieces .. one to a stub, and with the other I made a little larger hole so they'd interlock well. Then all I did was dremmel down what was left of the headband stalks and wrapped it up in electrical tape.

What does it do? I connect it to my hi-fi and beam the bluetoothed sound from my iPod. Effectively the iPod becomes a remote control. It also works great to stream my Yahoo Music subscription from my wireless laptop to my hi-fi speakers.

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Comments

pt says:

heya, what did you do to these? ipod to wireless to sound out? (pt@makezine.com) i'd like to post about it if you think it's a fun hack.
Posted 47 months ago. ( permalink )

sprockett1 says:

Dude this is sweet. I am about to do this to a pair of creative BT headphones. But my idea is slightly different, Im going to pluck out the BT circuitry, and embed them in my extremely high quality made in germany pride of my life super comfortable velour padded BeyerDynamics headphones.

I doubt the BT output will be enuff to power my mega headphones, so i'll have to embed a tiny amplfied in them as well.

But once im done i'll have the best BT headphones in all the land.

Thank you.
Posted 47 months ago. ( permalink )

Stuart Zero says:

Nice idea sprocket! I'm trying to figure out what to do with my second broken pair, and I'd do the same if I owned some luxury velour padded cans. Either that, or have a BT enabled car stereo.

By the way - once you open up the gubbins, the contacts are fully labelled on the circuit board, which makes the resoldering a cinch.
Posted 47 months ago. ( permalink )

FlickrAnothrBoogr says:

Cool hack! This taught me two very important lessons: First, I need to learn how to do this stuff. Second, don't buy Logitech bluetooth headphones.
Posted 47 months ago. ( permalink )

Stuart Zero says:

About 45ft so long as there's a direct line of sight. Pretty good, I'd say.
Posted 47 months ago. ( permalink )

Calico182 says:

Thanks for the inspiration, yorkie. Did the same with my busted pair. It actually makes a lot more sense to have the bluetooth module on its own, as I can now plug my better quality headphones into the module (without losing their wired capability). Don't know why logitech haven't brought out a module like that. It would be a lot cheaper, and the market interest would be a lot wider. Oh well, thanks again.
Posted 45 months ago. ( permalink )

Stuart Zero says:

Glad it worked for you, Calico. Mine's still going strong, as is my second set of headphones which I reinforced with twined picture-hanging wire & electrical tape. No sign that they're going to fail any time soon.
Posted 45 months ago. ( permalink )

yona4food says:

Hi all.... I have 2 pairs of the the Logitech Bluetooth headphones and would like to hack 1 pair like what Yorkie did... I just don't understand a few things before I do the hack... First of all is the headband on the head set part of the antenna? I would like to add a 3.5mm female plug on the right hand side of the headphone... If anyone has done the hack please give me some info what to look for when I do open up the the headphone....

Thanks,
Speedman
Posted 45 months ago. ( permalink )

Calico182 says:

@yona4food:
the entire bluetooth circuit board (bluetooth antennae etc) sits in one ear (the right i think), and the rechargeable battery sits in the left. There are two wires in the headband travelling from the circuit board in the right ear to the battery and speaker in the left ear. Its a very simple design (i have absolutely no electronics experience and i got mine working first time).
Posted 45 months ago. ( permalink )

rautiocination says:

I did something like this, check it out here:

www.flickr.com/photos/erautio/sets/7215759418 3895764/
Posted 42 months ago. ( permalink )

Stuart Zero says:

benjimatt: I was wondering if your headphones that didnt break were still working good. I bought a pair for 30 dollars and i want to rig it up so it wont break. can you take a picture of your third pair that you currently use and/or tell me how you did it

Yorkie: Good price. It was pretty easy - I took some picture wire (not too light, not too heavy, bent it in half, then twisted it together. Cut the wire down to size, and tape it to the inside of the headband with a spiral of electrical tape. I found it easiest to tape the wire at three points before I wound the tape around from one side to the other. I actually think the extra weight to the headband improves the feel of the headphones - balances out the weight of the ends.
Posted 42 months ago. ( permalink )

Stuart Zero says:

Quick Update
This solution is still going strong over a year later. It's no doubt going to outlast my ipod.
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

jgcbaiz says:

Hello Yorkie! Congratulations on this hack! I found your page as I am trying to use my broken logitech HP to broadcast to a remote set of powered computer speakers. I removed the headphone's speakers and attached the powered speakers to the existing wires, using alligator cables (temp) . However, I get horrible sound, it distorts very much when the volume is raised via the headphones up arrow. Is there a way to fix this? Are there some sort of line level pins where you could solder the powered speakers? Thanks for your help! My email is jgcbaiz at gmail .com
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

Stuart Zero says:

jgcbaiz I don't really have any electronics experience, so I normally figure things out by sight. Thus it's difficult to help you out without seeing your problem. Sounds like you removed the speakers and connected them directly to the headphone out.

In my solution I connected the headphone out to a line-in cable on my amp. Do you think there might be some gubbins between the line-in and the speaker which might regulate the input and control the sound? A quick test might be to reconnect your speakers as they were before, and try and connect the headphones to the line in socket instead.

Like I said though .. I really have no electronic experience whatsoever, so have a fire extinguisher handy at all times ;-)
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

T. Read says:

Yorkie: I just did this last night with my broken logitech headphones. They broke within a couple weeks of buying them although I sort of had this project in the back of my head even at that point. I mounted mine in a convenient Altoids tin and wired it with a spare stereo RCA cable but I really like that how you re-engineered the headphones into a case.
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

tekstyleslr says:

nice mod. i bought a pair of these headphones to make my DIY wireless rear speaker surround sound setup. they work great as a preamp for signal to your speakers.
Posted 19 months ago. ( permalink )

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Bluetooth Headphones After

Comments

pt says:

sprockett1 says:

Stuart Zero says:

FlickrAnothrBoogr says:

Stuart Zero says:

Calico182 says:

Stuart Zero says:

yona4food says:

Calico182 says:

rautiocination says:

Stuart Zero says:

Stuart Zero says:

jgcbaiz says:

Stuart Zero says:

T. Read says:

tekstyleslr says:

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