How to wire Laptop port?

[Loli Pits]

Hi... I'm planning on converting my old laptop into a desktop pc thingy... I want to use an after market dc power port for it so that the final product would look cleaner... How do I wire it? The original port had 4 wires, 2 red and 2 black... The new port has only 3... I did try to find info online but best i could find is that the 3rd pin on the new port is a sense wire to detect if its plugged in... Im assuming the 2 red wires can be soldered to 1 pin on the new port and same for the black wire?

 

I haven't bought parts yet so i don't know if the new port is labelled or not...

 

Where do I solder the sense pin and how do I identify which one is the sense pin?

[lieder1987]

I dont have any advice, but be very careful because the wrong power lead on a laptop can cause catastrophic harm.

[artuc]

On 11/11/2020 at 8:50 PM, Loli Pits said:

find is that the 3rd pin on the new port is a sense wire to detect if its plugged in..

It may be a socket designed so that if no plug is inserted there is 2 positive terminals that are closed and then inserting a plug opens/breaks the circuit, so say disconnects a battery or load when charging or on wall power.

 

Just check with a DMM, if you don't have one, get a $5 cheapie (only use it for extra low voltage though).

[Loli Pits]

2 hours ago, artuc said:

It may be a socket designed so that if no plug is inserted there is 2 positive terminals that are closed and then inserting a plug opens/breaks the circuit, so say disconnects a battery or load when charging or on wall power.

 

Just check with a DMM, if you don't have one, get a $5 cheapie (only use it for extra low voltage though).

I'm not sure if I understood you correctly... you want me to probe for continuity the 4 wires and check if a pair opens/breaks a circuit when I plug the connector in... and then solder those 2 to the sense pin on the new port? Am I right? Also which one is the sese pin? is it labeled?

 

*EDIT* 
either that or did you mean to check if it is opening/breaking a circuit and that if it is... then I no longer need to solder anything to the sense pin?

[artuc]

3 hours ago, Loli Pits said:

 

*EDIT* 
either that or did you mean to check if it is opening/breaking a circuit and that if it is... then I no longer need to solder anything to the sense pin?

See this:

 

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/2381/deciphering-a-dc-jack-schematic

 

If you don't need the pin that switches you just short them together.

 

I'd suspect the 4 pins from the original connector is just doubling up the wires to allow for greater current capacity and is only the positive and negative power.