Phone Connector

Phone connectors are the most popular among the connectors and they are the oldest connector design still in use since its invention in 1870s. They are designed for low frequency analog signals especially foe audio signals. They are also known as audio jack, phone jack, phone plug and jack plug. They come in male and female pair connector and the male pin is commonly called jack plug and the female pin is called jack socket.

Fig. 1: Image of Male Phone Connector

Fig. 2: Image of Female Phone Connector

The connector is cylindrical in shape with two, three or four contacts. These connectors are usually found in three standard sizes 1?4 in (6.35 mm), 1?8 (3.5 mm) and 3?32 (2.5 mm). The phone connectors in three different sizes are shown in the following image.

Fig. 3: Image showing phone connector in three different sizes

The phone connectors have different number of contact and each of them is used for slightly different applications. The phone connector with three contacts is known as TRS phone connector. The ‘T’ stands for the Tip contact, ’R’ stands for the Ring contact and the ‘S’ stands for Sleeve contact. The phone connector with an additional ring contact is similarly called TRRS phone connector. The phone connector with only two contacts is used for unbalanced mono devices and the phone connector with three contacts is used for balanced mono or stereo devices.

Types of Phone Connector

Fig. 4: Image showing pin identification of TRRS connector

The above shown image helps to identify the pin of a 4 pin TRRS phone connector. Now let us take a look at the applications and the pin-out of common phone connectors.

2 contact phone connector

The 2 contact phone connector as the name indicates has only two contacts, Tip and Sleeve. They are commonly used in unbalanced mono input and output devices loudspeaker, amateur radio etc. In certain devices they are also used as DC power connector. The pin-out for the 2 contact phone connector is given below.

The pin-out of the 2 pin male phone connector for an unbalanced mono device

TIP ——————SIGNAL

SLEEVE ——————GROUND

TRS connector

The Tip-Ring-Sleeve (TRS) connector is a three pin connector commonly used in unbalanced mono, balanced mono and stereo devices. They are commonly used in headsets, computers, guitars, mobile phones etc. The pin-out for the 3 contact TRS phone connector is given below.

The pin-out of the 3 pin male TRS phone connector for an unbalanced mono device

TIP ———————–SIGNAL SEND/RETURN

RING ——————–SIGNAL RETURN/SEND

SLEEVE ——————GROUND

The pin-out of the 3 pin male TRS phone connector for a balanced mono device

TIP ———————–POSITIVE/HOT

RING ——————–NEGATIVE/COLD

SLEEVE ——————GROUND

TRRS connector

The Tip-Ring-Ring-Sleeve (TRRS) connector is a four pin connector with an extra ring before the sleeve pin. They are commonly used in stereophonic devices like portable media players, laptop computers, smartphones etc. The pin-out for the 4 contact TRRS phone connector is given below.

The pin-out of the 4 pin male TRRS phone connector.

TIP ———————–LEFT+

RING ——————–RIGHT+

RING ——————–LEFT-

SLEEVE ——————RIGHT-

Sample specification:

Dielectric Withstanding Voltage ———– 500VAC for 1 minute

Contact Resistance (milliohms) ————- 30 mille ohm

Insulation Resistance ————————- 100 megohms

Summary

{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}· {C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}The phone connector is commonly called as audio jack

{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}· {C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}They have male and female connectors