Sometimes your cables are too short so you want to join the two cables to make a longer cable, you need a splicer or coupler. Sometimes you want to split the cable ( for example to feed 2 amplifiers the same signals ) then you need a splitter. RCA connectors are commonly used for both audio and video signals ( see picture ), so here we will make couplers and splitters for RCA cables.
Step 1: Tools and Materials
- Salvaged RCA jacks ( old amplifiers, video players etc )
- Bits of wire
- Electrical tape
- Hot glue
- Soldering iron
- Misc. hand tools
- Hot glue gun
- Ohm meter or continuity tester ( useful not absolutely required )
Step 2: Simple Coupler
The wiring here is real simple. Simply connect together the lug for the center conductor on one jack to the other. Do the same for the outer conductor ( which you may find is already connected, if so you can skip this step. The ohm meter or continuity tester is useful here to determine what is what. If you want you can stop at this. I usually continue and add hot glue as an insulator ( and to round off sharp edges), and then finally uses electrical tape to finish off. Look at the pictures for more info.
Step 3: Triple Coupler/Double splitter
In practice RCA type cables are often used in pairs ( ex.: stereo audio ) or even triplets ( ex.: 3 color video ). For these uses simply use jacks with more connections and wire them up as if they were three simple sets of jacks as in the step above. Finish off the same way. Double couplers are done with jacks with 2 sets of 2 jacks.
A splitter requires 3 jacks. This too is simple, for a double splitter get a set of jacks with 6 jacks, wire 3 together, then wire the other 3 together. Finish off.
The triple coupler and double splitter look the same with 6 jacks, so I finally I label them on the back.
Use and enjoy.