Connecting a switch to a jack

Question

Firstly i want to mention that I am not even close to an engineer or i have absolutely no experience with electronics. Here is my case. I have an old laptop with broken power button. It is not just the button, the whole circuit for the button is broken from the motherboard. I played a little bit and I found the 2 dots(on the mother board) that i have to connect in order to turn on the laptop. Here comes the idea. I want to solder wires to the dots and then connect them to a a socket like (Mono Chassis Socket). I am not really sure if this is possible because the socket basically has 2 outputs so I want to avoid using 2 different jacks. Wait a second I forgot to mention why i want to use jacks. So, basically i want to have an external BIG button(or switch) which i will be connecting to the socket via male jack for establishing a connection between the dots. I know it is a simple thing but can you lead me in the right direction?

What socket should i use(it have to be really compact one)? Will it even work with jacks? Perhaps a different more interesting solution?

Answer 1

All you should need to do is use any jack with 2 connections that will fit where you need it. This can be a phone jack, RCA or even a 2.1x5.5mm power jack. Just take care to ensure that the jack you use is not easily confused with something else - like using an audio jack where you can accidentally plug in headphones, or a power jack you can mistakenly plug a wall wart into.

I will use a mono audio jack as an example, but you can use whatever you find that works best. Here is a schematic:

Procedure

1. Learn to solder if you haven't already.
2. Determine if you need a latching or momentary solution. If you touch the two "dots" together for a short period, and the computer stays on, you just need a momentary switch. If you have to keep the two connected for the computer to remain on, then you need a latching switch.
3. Wire your two "dots" to the two connections on the jack.
4. Then, wire a mating plug to a SPST (single pole single throw) switch. This can be a rocker, slide, toggle, or pushbutton - whatever you prefer - as long as it meets the requirement determined in step 2. Wire the plug so the tip goes to one switch terminal, and the sleeve goes to the other.