Reterminating Lemo for Sennheiser wireless

S

Scott Helmke

Junior
Jan 11, 2011
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Chicago, IL
www.scotthelmke.com
I've been trying to make sense of what's needed for installing Lemo connectors for Sennheiser wireless. I talked to one of the experts at Sennheiser and got some useful stuff, but figured it was time to ask the community what they knew.

Turns out my company already had the $200 ring spanner which looks it should cost $10, and I already had the 5mm hex crimp dies from something else. I also made my own version of the ring spanner out of a flathead screwdriver, cutting it into the necessary shape with a Dremel tool. The homemade version is good for taking apart an existing connector, since they tend to use thread-locker on that part (warming it up with a heatgun helps too).

There's at least two different versions of the same plug - one needs a crimper, the other appears to only need the ring spanner for assembly. So that's one question right there. One piece of good news is that Sennheiser sells just the crimped part for the crimp version, which is very cool. But the customer lavs that I've been disassembling have used the non-crimp type of strain relief.

Anybody have some insights on this, and perhaps a "here's the part you really want to use" part #?
 

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Re: Reterminating Lemo for Sennheiser wireless

Scott Helmke said:
I've been trying to make sense of what's needed for installing Lemo connectors for Sennheiser wireless. I talked to one of the experts at Sennheiser and got some useful stuff, but figured it was time to ask the community what they knew.

Turns out my company already had the $200 ring spanner which looks it should cost $10, and I already had the 5mm hex crimp dies from something else. I also made my own version of the ring spanner out of a flathead screwdriver, cutting it into the necessary shape with a Dremel tool. The homemade version is good for taking apart an existing connector, since they tend to use thread-locker on that part (warming it up with a heatgun helps too).

There's at least two different versions of the same plug - one needs a crimper, the other appears to only need the ring spanner for assembly. So that's one question right there. One piece of good news is that Sennheiser sells just the crimped part for the crimp version, which is very cool. But the customer lavs that I've been disassembling have used the non-crimp type of strain relief.

Anybody have some insights on this, and perhaps a "here's the part you really want to use" part #?
Click to expand...

I’ve always sent mine out to any one of the local guys or gals in the neighborhood that specialize in this sort of thing. They come back with crimp style strain relief. I think if you search FVB.00 you’ll find the connector I usually see. This is on MKE-1s.

-JS
 
Re: Reterminating Lemo for Sennheiser wireless

Jake Scudder said:
I’ve always sent mine out to any one of the local guys or gals in the neighborhood that specialize in this sort of thing.
Click to expand...

And in my neighborhood that would be me, at least on TA-series and 1/8" wireless stuff. Generally hasn't been worth it to do Lemos on MKE-2 lavs, but these days Sennheiser isn't really doing that particular service any more (I've been told they're talking about doing it again, though).
 
Re: Reterminating Lemo for Sennheiser wireless

They are a major PITA! I tried a few years back, but never really got the hang of doing them correctly. I maybe got 1 out of 5 to work correctly.

My 2 cents: send them off to somebody who specializes in this kind of repair and will warranty their work.



The part number is FVB.00.303.NLAE24 (3-pin with crimp ferrule). I've attached the assembly instructions that were sent to me from Lemo when I was trying this out.

Sennheiser Pro Spares UK has a page designated for Lemo's:
http://spares.sennheiser.co.uk/wireless-3000-5000-series/lemo-connectors


I wish you much more luck than I had working on these!

-Josh



FVB.00.303.NLAE24 REV.0.JPG
 
Re: Reterminating Lemo for Sennheiser wireless

I haven’t touched a lemo connector in a long time. The ones I used to deal with were all metal and had a strain relief that worked like the Neutrik connectors do now. You screwed it in tight and it clamped down on the cable.

As far as the soldering part, that I assume you know how to deal with doing that on small things. I just use a jewels eye loop to see and a good controllable variable temperature soldering iron station with a small tip on the iron.
 
Re: Reterminating Lemo for Sennheiser wireless

Thanks for the comments so far - I'm reasonably good at soldering tiny things, since I have to fix SMT stuff once in a while.

It would be nice to go with the no-crimp version; having to commit to crimping at a very specific spot definitely makes the process more tricky and error-prone.
 
Re: Reterminating Lemo for Sennheiser wireless

OK, managed to do three of them with parts on hand. I've got a page of notes and I think I know what I'm doing now.

One rather frustrating discovery - the two different kinds (crimp vs. clamp) of strain relief put the alignment key on opposite sides! Have to be careful not to mix those strain reliefs and their associated connector bodies up.
 
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