Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!uunet!keinstr!chaplin
From: chaplin@keinstr.uucp (chaplin)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Stereo plug wiring
Message-ID: <1991Jun25.145920.384@keinstr.uucp>
Date: 25 Jun 91 14:59:20 GMT
References: <1991Jun19.204344.19095@neon.Stanford.EDU>
Distribution: sci
Organization: Keithley Instruments, Cleveland, Ohio
Lines: 26

In article <1991Jun19.204344.19095@neon.Stanford.EDU> seligman@CS.Stanford.EDU (Scott Seligman) writes:
>Could someone explain how standard and mini stereo plugs are wired
>when used for headphones?  I'll go way out on a limb here and
>hypothesize that the shell is common, but which of the ring and
>tip correspond to the left and right channels?
>
>tnx,
>Scott Seligman
>
>Internet:  seligman@CS.Stanford.EDU
>UUCP:      {decwrl,uunet,sun}!cs.stanford.edu!seligman

I figured it out once, but that was at home and this is at work.

It's really very simple to determine.  Just put a set of headphones on
and connect one terminal of a 1.5V battery to one of the three
conductors on the headphone plug (do I need to say "use a piece of
wire"?).  Touch the other terminal of the battery to one of the other
plug conductors and see if you hear anything.  Repeat the test on all
the combinations of plug conductors and you can deduce the wiring
scheme.
-- 
Roger Chaplin / Instruments Division Engineering / "Though I'd been lost now I
chaplin@keinstr.uucp / CI$: 76307,3506          / felt I was found when He
#include <disclaimer.h>                        / looked at me with His
#include "disclaimer.h" /* cover all bases */ / forgiving eyes." - Michael Card