The dogs have once again decided it’s time to prove to us how much we love them. They’ve chosen to do this by destroying a composite cable that connects an iPod to the TV. They do this to make us realize we won’t kill them for doing something like this. I still feel it’s ill advised in my own opinion. Especially since Wishbone and Zu-Zu were essentially free, and even though Piggy technically had a greater retail value I believe he has depreciated considerably over the years. The cable by comparison has only been used once to watch Big Trouble in Little China, making it the most expensive Kurt Russell movie I have ever viewed.

Wishbone was kind enough to avoid making eye contact with the cable when questioned, however as his tail never stopped wagging there’s serious doubt to the sincerity of his remorse. Piggy didn’t seem to grasp the concept that something was amiss. And Zu-zu as always didn’t seem to grasp the concept that the world and events surrounding him in time and space related to him in any significant way.

My first reaction seeing the mess was it was a total loss. Part of the cable is a charger and it could drop some voltage over sensitive output pins if it’s wired up wrong. On closer inspection however it looked like you could easily tell apart the AV lines and power lines coming out of the iPod connector. There also didn’t appear to be enough lines going down to the RCA jacks but a closer examination with a sharp knife revealed something interesting and inconvenient. What looked like one line was actually a very thin conductor with a plastic coating surrounded by tubular braided wires surrounded in a second plastic coating. The smallest coaxial you’ll ever find.

Strip and burn

I made a few attempts as stripping the wire at two levels but the inner wire was fine as a spider’s thread. What worked eventually was stripping the outer plastic, tufting loose the braid and pulling it to the side, and burning away a quarter inch of the inner plastic.

Tin and solder

The next step was to tin a short length of wire and solder the small inner wire to the end of it. The length of wire I used was the end of a resistor because it was convenient to stick the other end into a breadboard. You only have two hands after all.

Solder and complete

After the second small inner wire was soldered to the resistor’s wire I clipped it off and half of the circuit was repaired. The second conductor was much easier to repair by simply tinning the frayed braids on either end and solder a short length of wire between them.

It works

And the final question! Did it work? One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that you never put the case back on the computer before you test it. It’s a sure way to guarantee something won’t be quite right. So without taping over anything I connected the iPod to the TV and it’s all good again. (It’s a Diggnation podcast from Amsterdam if you’re curious.)