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Works fine for the old lighter but I found that when I shove my USB adapter in it pops the fuse. So I sat there with the housing and retainer and a meter. The extremely technical answer is bendy-bendy fiddle-fiddle until it doesn't do it anymore. I still like it better than the $30-$40 catalog versions of this part which probably do the same thing ... and probably come from the same factory.
After I thought about it a while I felt that having charging cords sticking out of the console of an old 'vette looked like crap. So I went and got me a motorcycle USB adapter. Waterproof(ish), two ports, inline fuse, the same SAE connectors my trickle charger uses. The battery is conveniently close by and I don't have to divine any of the mysteries I have noted going on with the wiring in that console. Haven't installed it yet but will find a handy out of the way spot to tuck it in.
Yes, I can live without my phone. But, I've got a fifty year old car that I have been working on with all sorts of creaky problems and it's nice having it with me just in case. Also been carrying a bluetooth can for the tunes and that's been working out very well.
I'm curious how you got the housing retainer over the ground tang on the housing, and if you didn't use the retainer, how did you secure the housing to the console? Or does the housing come with a retainer, and the ground tang is part of the retainer. It's a little hard to tell from the picture of it in the blister pack.
Last edited by gbvette62; Jun 12, 2018 at 02:37 PM.
I'm curious how you got the housing retainer over the ground tang on the housing, and if you didn't use the retainer, how did you secure the housing to the console? Or does the housing come with a retainer, and the ground tang is part of the retainer. It's a little hard to tell from the picture of it in the blister pack.
The inner part goes through the face of the console and has a lip on it so it doesn't go through. Put it in and then screw the silver outer housing on from the back. The lugs don't get in the way of anything.
The original didn't have a ground tang - apparently the console's grounded when complete. Since it had a tang and the heater switch ground was right next to it I just ran a pigtail.
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