I'm not sure if this is the right group to post to but if anyone could
help me I would really appreciate it

I have a Canon Digital Rebel XTI 10MP SLR camera.  I am vacationing in
a remote part of the Adirondacks and have no access to any camera
shops that have accessories for my camera.  I am interested in doing
some time exposures with my camera.  I have found online what appears
to be the remote cable release accessory, Canon part RS-60E3.  I have
noticed this accessory appears to be simply just a push button
presumably to close a switch. I cannot understand then why they have
used a 2.5 mm "stereo" type plug that has three terminals rather than
a mono type having two connections.  I would have assumed that a push
button switch is just closing a circuit to activate this time delay
function and therefore if that was the case it would appear that we
would only have to use two terminals of the plug.  Perhaps that is
what they did but I wouldn't know not having a sample to autopsy. I
have a 2.5 mm plug with a stereo wire on it (3 wires, ground, left and
right). Does anyone think that it would harm anything to short
different combinations of these wires together to try to activate the
time delay function?  I only have a few more days out here and the
scenery is breathtaking and I would hate to miss some moon light
shots.  However, I really don't want to take a chance and damage my
camera either. If anyone has any information on the RS-60ES,
specifically how it's wired internally (so that I might duplicate it),
I would sincerely appreciate hearing from you. I also own a Nikon
8008s that I was able to build my own time release switch for.  (The
Nikon has two pins that when shorted triggers the shutter) and my
simple home made accessory worked just fine.  I would really
appreciate it if you could let me know.  Thanks very much for any
assistance, Jesse.