I ran 2 XLR microphone cables in the attic of the church building. I ran them opposite of what they should be. The female ends are at the mixer sound box and the male ends are at the microphones. We have attempted to remove the wires and rerun them correctly, but they are stuck in a crawl space in the attic that is inaccessible! We found (doulbe female) adapters for the microphone ends and that part of our problem is solved. What we cannot figure out how to do is at the mixer sound box end. They make (double male) adapters that can be used, but...we do not have enough room in the cabinet front to use the adapters because of the length. The length of the adapters added to the connection already on the cable would be too long for the cabinet door to shut. I have searched everywhere to find a right angle adapter that has a male on both ends without any luck. We also found a right angle male connector that we could use if we removed the existing female connection. I hate to do that since I do not know how we would match up the wires correctly with the pins on the right angle XLR connector.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I guess you're not happy using a soldering iron? Find someone who is and just swap the ends round. Shouldn't cost more than a couple of pints.

Edit to add: Where are you. I'll do it if you're close to me.

Or you could make up an adaptor, a male to male with a short length of cable inbetween.

Marks way is definatly best though, simply swap the connectors around.



Likewise.

Rich

Well, I still have the problem at the mixer, in that I don't have enough space to insert the straight connector. I really need the right angle connector. I can use a soldering iron, I am just not sure (once I cut the connection off) which wire will go to which post?

Mark, I appreciate the offer, but...I am in Texas (US)

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We really messed up when we got the cabinet for the system. We should have done more in measuring. Then we could have allowed for extra space for wiring. Oh well, 20/20 hindsight.

Doesn't matter as long as it's the same at both ends. However if you open it up first then you can see how it's wired before you cut it off.



I'm sure Mark will be there in no time at all..... If you pay his travel and accommodation.

Errr Screen must be pin one. The other two must match & since pin two is "hot" then that's usually red. If you're buying the right angled ones, please make sure the "bend" is the right way so that don't cover other sockets you need (there's someone sitting at my computer right now who go this wrong a couple of weeks ago )



Yep

is there no way you can adapt the cabinet to make space to get the normal XLRs in? You'll probably find it a pain in the future should you want to add any more mics or inputs after all.

It will most likely be cheaper for me to try and give it a go, rather than pay the airfare and accomodations.

I am going to buy the right angle adapter that has the capability of rotating the connection. That way I will be able to attach other connections to the mixer without blocking the way.

I am still a bit confused about re-attaching the wiring to the new (right angle) adapter. If the ends were not so far apart I could do a continuity test on the individual pins in order to make sure I am connecting the new adapter pins to the correct wires. But, I'll figure out a way to make sure they are connected right. I don't want to damage the mics or mixer.

I am sure glad I found this forum! Thanks for all the replies and help.

Tuf

Are the XLRs that are currently on the cable not re-wireable? If they are, when you cut the ends off have a look inside the connectors and make a note of what wires go to what pins then just repeat that when you re-terminate. The pins should be labelled with numbers, just watch out as looking at a male and female connectors the pin numbers will go in the opposite direction to each other.

Yes, you are correct. They are not rewirable. They are molded ends. Not detachable or capable of being opened up. I see what you mean, and I imagine that is what everyone has been trying to tell me. And, as I said before, I will only be changing out the ends of the 2 microphone cables at the mixer. Bot are female. I will be replacing them with the 2 new right angle male connections. Once I cut them I will be able to take the old connection apart and determine which wires go to which posts, and duplicate that with the new connection.

Thanks.

Does the desk have polarity reverse buttons? If so, it doesn't matter, does it? Don't bother taking the old ones apart (you said they won't come off) - just meter the pins.

Hi
FYI The standard wiring(at least over here!) is:

Pin1 :Screen/shield
Pin2 :Hot - usually core that's coloured red
Pin3 :Cold - usually core that's coloured blue, white or clear.

Total solution:

Step 1: I suggest you rewire the mixer ends to that convention.
Step 2: Remove one of the gender benders you have fitted at the stage end. This will enable you to attach the cables to each other.
Step 3: Now use a multimeter at the mixer end to check for continuity pin to pin and remember to check that there are no shorts across different pins.
Step 4: Smile and know that the cabling is correct, or frown and fix it!

Hope all goes well.

Andy

Moulded XLRs? That is weird... Never seen those anywhere! Mind you when I lived just down the road from tufunuf I was a bit young to be taking an interest in these things, so the Americans may well have such oddities.

Once you cut an end off, use a meter to check what is wired to which pin by stripping back the short end. Then it is easy to replicate.

Thanks for all the help. If I can't fix it now it's my fault. You all supplied all the information I need. I'll post a follow-up and let you know how it worked out.


Tuf

If you join another excellent discussion forum ( link ) I'm sure that there will be willing volunteers in Texas to help you!

Simon

Moulded XLRs here http://www.planetwaves.com/Pcablesdetails.aspx?ID=3 and swivelly ones !

Too bad I didn't find a cable like that before I started. :-)

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Here is a picture of the two XLR connections that I will be working with on Monday.

I will be removing the female connector from the cable, and replacing it with the Male connector. I have drawn lines (with arrows) to show which pins I will be connecting the wires that were originally on the female connection to on the new male connector. In other words, I will only be changing the orientation of #1 and # 2 wires. Does this seem correct to you all?

It may be incorrect, but it appears to me that the change has to be correct since both connectors are shown side by side. Am I missing something in my assumption?

I know I have wasted enough of your time, but I thank you in advance for any input. I just hate to wire it improperly and cause damage to the church's system.

Almost there
Don't swap the wires from pins 1 and 2

Make the wires go so that pin 1 = pin 1, 2=2, 3=3

Time for an "avoidance of doubt" post here...

I think I see what you're doing with your connecting arrows but, on any XLR you can solder for yourself, you should find that the pin numbers are actually indicated on the inner side of the connector (where the solder tags are). You should find that this numbering takes account of the way the two outer pins have to swap sides to mate correctly. Assuming there ARE numbers inside your connectors, you just wire 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3.

If there aren't small numbers embossed into the moulding, take them back and buy a higher quality connector. Seriously.

Bob

Ok. So, I keep the numbering the same. It just seems that with the female end in my hand and holding the male (that I will be soldering in its place) side by side to coincide to it, that the # 1 and # 2 pin wiriing would swap? But, I will keep the orientation the same. Boy...is this confusing to a novice

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Bob,

The connectors on the XLR cable I have are marked on the very ends. When you look at the end of the cable they are marked there, (beside each piin hole on the female, and next the the actual pins on the male). I have not checked the inside (connected to the cable) to know if they are marked also. I will know once I cut the female end off on Monday.

The easy way to think of it is to connect an XLR cable together and take the backs off the connectors. You will see that the cables are the same colour on each end of the connected pins.

I think the main reason your getting confused is that the in numbers are reversed on the XLR's. So if you take a male and female XLR apart you will find that the pin on the far right of the male is numberd 3, however the far right pin on a female connector is numbered 1, therefor when you mate them together, pin 1 on the male mates with pin 1 on female ECT.

Heres a simple diagram to try and help explane, look carefuly at the pin numbering.


So to summerise this rather confusing post, stick to the numbers;

Make sure ground always goes to Pin 1 and it dosent really matter about the other two too much, aslong as there connected the same at each end, however the standard is to put Red (Hot) to pin two.

2's hot, 3's not.

Hope this helps
Rich

Wrong.

3 is the middle pin. Also saying left & right is confusing as it depends which way up you are holding the connector.

So, given that you know that 3 is the middle one, you can work out 1&2 by remembering that females go clockwise, & males go anticlockwise when viewed from the side you're soldering.

Most XLRs have the numbers written anyway, but they can be hard to read.

you might find this useful in the future http://www.soundcraft.com/pdf/palz/connections_lead1.pdf (from the wiki)


I know that the desk end of the cable has been sorted out now but out of interest would it not make sense to change the other end of the cables as well?

if nothing else the adaptors look a bit silly in the end of a mic, it would also mean you could solder the same colour cable to the same pin number with out the problem of opening up the one that are already on the cable.

you would not have to worry about trying to find the adaptors that some body borrowed for something else or they did not get put away in the right place etc
( speaking from experience !!)


just a though

simon

Fellas, you finally got through to me I don't know why I didn't see it sooner, but I got it now. And, I may go ahead and change out the other ends to make it look "normal". I won't bother you anymore on this project but I'll let you know how it turns out when I finish.

I REALLY appreciate all the professional help.

Tuf

Well, I thought I would post a follow up on my project/problem with the connections at the church building.

I got to the building and decided to try one last ditch effort to free the stuck microphone cords in the attic crawl space. IT WORKED! I was able to free both cables. We reran the cables and now the connections are in the correct place and other than some minor problems the system functions as it should. I am going to post a new topic and see how you all would handle the minor problem.

Thanks again for all the wonderful help. I learned a lot.

Tuf