Since our '88 240 has a switched lighter socket, what's> the best place on the fuse box to attach the leads from one of> these things?> -->

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Michael Cerkowski wrote:> >

Just find one of the fuses that's live all the time, and connect it to> that. The fuse for the clock springs to mind.>

--> Mike F.> Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Michael Cerkowski wrote:> > Since our '88 240 has a switched lighter socket, what's> > the best place on the fuse box to attach the leads from one of> > these things?>

Mike;>

I live near Ottawa Ontario Canada (ie c-c-c-c-old winters), leave my> 240 parked outside and only drive it once a week or less, so a solar> battery charger is useful for me.>

I went to Canadian Tire and bought an auxiliary lighter socket kit> (around $5-10 and includes an in-line fuse) and ran the wire directly> to the battery. (Replaced the bolts on the battery terminal clamps with> longer bolts and some extra nuts and washers)>

I inserted a two-pronged plug and socket into the wire so that I could> disconnect the lighter socket assembly from the wire (from the cabin> interior) in part to avoid the possibility of inquistive fingers poking> around a live socket and in another part, to get it out of the way,> when not in use.>

The auxiliary lighter socket is located just to the right of the> radio/heater control console.>

I made a couple of wire hooks and attached them to the backside of the> PV unit with some nylon mason's line so that the PV unit can be hung> from the sun visor clips such that the PV unit is held against the> uppermost portion of the windscreen by the rear-view mirror assembly so> the PV unit stays in place all of the time, out of the way.>

With this set-up, I've never ever experienced a dead battery.

The clock has its own fuse? That sounds perfect. Thanks.>

-->

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I thought about something similar, but I don't think I could find a > non-chinese auxilliary socket in the US, and I try not to buy from> China.>

Oh, and the used unit I got on Ebay is DOA.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with China. The people there are hard> working people. The Chinese way is to make products for the rest of the> world, hoping that someday its people will be able to buy these same> products. The American Way today is to send manufacturing abroad. I> know; I was a Bell Labs physicist at a Western Electric factory. The> factory went from AT&T to Lucent to Agere. Now it is agone.> see: http://home.earthli­nk.net/~scouters2/rd­gworks.html> Agere is eliminating all manufacturing and is buying all its parts from> abroad. It still employs many people, but it is an import-export> business now rather than manufacturing.>

What's wrong with buying from China? It isn't the people,> or any inherent inferior quality. It's because China uses> prison labor, unpaid (effectively slave) labor, and many> plants pay starvation wages.

In addition, the environmental > standards are virtually nonexistent, to the point where even> the Chinese government is beginning to admit that they are> destroying their own environment.

Oh, and it's a police state.