How to tell if a wireless instrument cable is bad?

[Mr. Earl]

I have a sennheiser freeport 72 wireless guitar system I got from my cousin. It works, but when I move around with my bass the power to the receiver cuts in and out. I put in new battery and tightened the 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch instrument cable and I noticed as I jiggled the cable the power went in and out to the receiver. Is this common if the cable is going bad and is there a way to see if the instrument cable is bad?

 

[T-Bird]

Hi.

You can use multimeter to check the cable.
Or a cable tester, even though not many have 1/8" jacks, so an adapter has to be used.

Unless the cable is of a low quality, it's usually the jack(s) that cause the cutting out though.

Regards
Sam

 

[monkeyland]

I'm sure that you are talking about transmitters and not receivers as the receiver would sit in one place and not move. Still it should not matter. I see no reason why the instrument cable should make the power go in and out on the wireless transmitter. All of the wireless body transmitters that I have access to(Shure ULX/SLX/PGX) all have power switches on the transmitter and it's irrelevant whether anything is plugged into the transmitter. I suspect that you have a mechanical switch on this transmitter(as opposed to a soft button) and you have a glitchy battery contact inside of the transmitter. Start of trying to clean the contact. Then try a different brand of battery(possibly out of spec dimensions). If neither of those works try adjusting the metal contact points but be careful because they can be delicate.

 

[DWBass]

Check the wires on the battery area. Seems a wire may be loose.

 

[Geri O]

I agree, you most likely have a battery contact problem, not a signal cable problem. Heed the sage advice already given on trouble-shooting the battery contacts, but you might be dealing with a solder issue inside the transmitter pack where the battery contacts are soldered to the circuit board. Unless you are certain of your soldering and tiny electronics ability, this is best addressed by the factory or an excellent local electronics person. We have an outstanding guy here, but he eschews small components like wireless transmitters. Sez his eyesight isn't good enough anymore.