So i have these Rode Wireless Microphones at Work that you connect to your phone with a USB-C cable. Thing is the cable they ship with is absolute trash and breaks after about 3 uses. So i got the idea to try and build a 3d printed thingie with a protruding usb-c port that you could slide onto your phone sort of like the old iphone music docks. Then on the back you could slide in the rode receiver, thus eliminating any cable twisting. I thought this would be easiest if i had the pictured usb-c breakouts, because they have mounting holes that i could fix firmly into the 3d printed part. I picked a 24 pin version thinking this would cover all the necessary usb-c specs to get at least something like a usb 3.0 connection as I don’t think the rode mics need super high data transfer or power delivery above 5v. Alas the pictured “cable” didn’t do the trick and the mic wasn’t recognized by the phone. So I’m wondering would it even be possible to build something like this with breakouts or am I missing things. Do usb-c cables usually have chips that negotiate voltage and transfer specs between devices? Am i missing shielding, or is my wire gauge totally off?

I can probably still build a mic holder thingy using a short premade silicone cable, but I’m still curious if this setup could work in theory or if there are other breakouts that could make this work.

Thanks for your help!

  • cynar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 day ago

    Confidence and flux. A lot of cheap solder skimps on the flux. It strips the corrosion of the contacts, and lets the solder flow smoothly. Rosin is also used for violin strings, and it’s the same stuff, but far cheaper than “proper” flux.

    As for the confidence. When soldering, you apply heat and solder until it joins, or you back off completely. The worst thing to do is the tap tap tap method. The heat spreads to surrounding material and components, but is never concentrated enough to actually do the job.

    Those 2 will get you VERY far. The other things to improve is hand position (brace your wrist on the work surface) and lighting. Office lighting is no good. You want as many lumens as you can, preferably daylight levels on the board. It lets your pupils close down, and increases your depth of vision.