BCD396T/BC996T: Headphone jack woes (996T)

[StoliRaz]

So I have a BCD996T and have had headphones plugged into it since I got it a few months ago. It has worked flawlessly. Then yesterday, being an idiot, I unplugged them to listen using the built in speaker for a bit. Worked great. Went to go back to headphones and this is when it all went to hell. It won't switch back from speaker to headphones now. I wish I just left it alone now 🤦‍♂️

In doing some research (after purchase of course) I see that this model is/was notorious for failed headphone jacks. The thing is, every post that I've seen is someone with the issue of the internal speaker not working after using and disconnecting headphones. My issue is the complete opposite- the internal speaker is still working but the headphone jack is no longer switching off the speaker. I do get sound from the earbuds when plugged in AND the internal speaker at the same time. Maybe it's the same issue just the inverse. Anyone have similar issues with a fix?

 

[consys]

Contact cleaners- I use quite a bit of these products, radios, guitars & amps, sound boards ect. Always worth a try before dissembling a unit. Deoxit D5 has been my go to for decades, but its now brutally expensive. CRC is good also and more reasonable cost. Or, a drop of rubbing alcohol on the headphone plug inserted a couple times might free up the switching contact.

Do you have ants? A coke spilled on a church sound console... you get a twofor with contact cleaner.

 

[StoliRaz]

Contact cleaners- I use quite a bit of these products, radios, guitars & amps, sound boards ect. Always worth a try before dissembling a unit. Deoxit D5 has been my go to for decades, but its now brutally expensive. CRC is good also and more reasonable cost. Or, a drop of rubbing alcohol on the headphone plug inserted a couple times might free up the switching contact.

Do you have ants? A coke spilled on a church sound console... you get a twofor with contact cleaner.

I tried some rubbing alcohol on a widdled-down q-tip (not soaked just coated) and a plastic tooth pick flosser thinggie to work and clean the contacts a bit, still didn't work. Also tried unplugging and plugging in a few different 3.5mm headphones into it. Still no dice 😕 I have a can of CRC contact cleaner on my workbench, didn't even think of that. I guess that one is up next

 

[KK4JUG]

Use contact cleaner. I've used it on everything from audio control boards to wireless transmitters for my mandolin to radio controls on the steering wheel of my car. It really works.

 

[wtp]

the problem is in the red circle for the speaker thing. it would not make a good contact to each other.
yours might be at the 'V''s where contact is made with the headphones.

 

[Ubbe]

The earphone jack looks like this, at least according to BCT15x and probably use the same design for the 996:



TP530 and TP531 goes thru a signal reducing 220 ohm resistor to the speakers positive terminal.
TP532 are the negative terminal of the internal, and external, speaker and are normally grounded.
When you insert the earphone plug it disconnects the speaker ground making it silent.

That grounding switch stopped working in my BCT15, no chemicals or cleaning could fix it, and I had to ground it permanently
and use a blind plug in the external speaker jack to silence it when using the headphone jack.

/Ubbe

 

[StoliRaz]

the problem is in the red circle for the speaker thing. it would not make a good contact to each other.
yours might be at the 'V''s where contact is made with the headphones.

I saw this simple video earlier today, I was hoping this was the case.

But I'm now thinking Ubbe's explanation is what likely is going on, unfortunately. Looks like I'm just going to have to use it on internal speaker from here on out. Which means no more bedside use. Bummer. At least I got it cheap. Maybe time to hook it up to Proscan and use it remotely.

Edit: I forgot to mention, I did use the CRC contact cleaner earlier today, didn't fix the issue. I might try it one last time and if it doesn't fix it just write it off as broken

 

[Ubbe]

I do get sound from the earbuds when plugged in AND the internal speaker at the same time.

Use a plug with no speaker in the external speaker jack. Then pull it out slightly when you want to use the internal speaker instead of earbuds.

/Ubbe

 

[StoliRaz]

Use a plug with no speaker in the external speaker jack. Then pull it out slightly when you want to use the internal speaker instead of earbuds.

/Ubbe

Thank you, I'll give that a try