Gary Lewis

Ahhhh! I see said the blind man. By "position" I thought you meant where it is in the truck. But you meant whether it is open or closed. But "fuse box clip"? Don't know if I have one of those. So apparently the wiring isn't there for the power windows, but with the right clip into the fuse box I can run a wire over there for that function. Right? And I'm starting to find a few USB-A/C socket-mount chargers. Here's one: 36W Socket Dual USB Type C PD 3.0 (36W) + USB A QC4.0 (18W): "Both ports, when used at the same time, provide 18W each of power. Plug only one device into the USB Type-C port to get 36W." I've searched for QC 5.0 and have found nothing for use in a vehicle. I'm beginning to think the one above may be the way to go. Thoughts?

COOL! That is such a neat story, Ron! Thanks for posting. And I hope you keep the story going. An early Bronco for $600!?!? That's crazy. Then sell many of those parts and buy another? Then buy a Bronco in a box? It is like a chess game, but I see where it is going, and I like it. I see the door from the first one you bought on the new shell. And I assume the "mint" dash will go in it? And the interior w/o a tear? And the steel top? Like I said, it is a chess game. Well done!

Scott - I'm not disagreeing, but what's the ash tray's position have to do with it? I'm missing something. And, how would you do switched power? I'm thinking of a couple of possibilities, but what would you do? Relay: Put a relay in to switch the cigar lighter circuit, probably triggered by the radio circuit which is right above that area. Power Windows Circuit: Pick up the power window circuit, assuming BB has the wiring for it, as it isn't used for anything else since the truck has manual windows.

That's actually the plan for the tablet. However, if there's a better solution then why not?

So, the power is off but somehow it is still drawing the battery down? I'm beginning to think I need to convert the ash tray outlet to switched power. I'm just not too confident about how much current these things will draw, and Big Blue doesn't get driven all that often. And stories like yours kind of reinforce that thinking.

Ok, here's another option. Put this 60w charger board in the ash tray, which we've only used to collect Sonic straw wrappers, and we can easily find another home for them. It is said to measure 49.00mm(L) x 45.00mm(W) x 11.92(H) which is 1.93" (L) x 1.77" (W) x .47" (H), and there's plenty of room for that - although some packaging is needed, I looked at this, but it is said to measure 88.48mm(L) x 50.88mm(W) x 26.32(H), which I calculate to be 3.48" (L) x 2.00" (W) x 1.04" (H), and I don't think it'll fit, although I'm going to check tomorrow.

Bill - I've gotten good stuff from Amazon in the past. But when I saw three recent "purchase verified" reviews of that game where the pieces were said by the manufacturers to be counterfeit and yet no response from Amazon I got skeptical. There is something rotten somewhere. Jim - I'm not so sure Aukey isn't now captive. Check out their form to submit a "support ticket", which requires an Amazon order number - I know 'cause I tried w/o a number. No go. So I gave it another order # and got that sketchy response. And this is the only way to contact them from what I can find on their website. At the very least the only way to get Aukey components appears to be via Amazon.

A counterfeit charger could do a whole lot of damage to phones or other devices. But the way Aukey's site works implies they only sell through Amazon. Meaning it is a captive brand. Is that everyone's understanding?

That charger would work as it doesn't appear to have an LED. But I'd really like a USB-C port awa an A port or two - w/o an LED.

I'm having a similar problem with Big Blue, so I don't have answers. The idle just doesn't come back down all the way unless you blip it quickly, then it will. But the high idle isn't high enough to be a problem, just annoying.

Scott - I don't think a step bit would work, but I don't have one and have never used one so I really don't know. The issue is that the existing hole is not centered. And while it is hard to see in the pic below, you have to put the hole in the center as the flange on the power port is the same size as the ash tray. So I'm afraid that the step bit would force you to drill where the hole is rather than where you want it. On the screws/nuts, I could use that ash tray/door setup if I wanted to. They worked out very nicely, and with the way the ash tray is dented in for the pivot points the screw heads are recessed. But, as you said, I won't have to drill the rivets out on Big Blue's ash tray since the chassis punch will fit in there.

Bill - Ships, night. I'd rather not have to change to switched power as I want to be able to use it any time. And I really don't want to have to remember to pull the charger out of the socket each time I stop. IOW, I want a charger that has no LED, and preferably one with both USB-A & C that screws in rather then plugs in. On the vibration, I think I'm going to have to get someone to run the throttle while I watch things under the hood. At this point I can't say that the vibes come at 3600, but since I had a resonance at 1800 and a vibration somewhere above 3000 I jumped to that conclusion. However, I need to do a lot more testing to find out at what RPM it is, what gears, etc. But thanks for the suggestions.

Believe me when I say it is a gift! I wish I could help regarding the electrical questions... I look forward to what the others with more knowledge of this type suggest! Thanks, David. I appreciate you using your gift on my "issues". Not necessarily problems, but issues. (Since when is "wanting", as opposed to needing, a this or that a problem?) As for what I did today, several things. First, I troubleshot the lack of fan on the heater. I guessed that I might have shorted something somewhere so I pulled the fuse to check it. Or, maybe I should say I attempted to pull the fuse, but it didn't want to come out. I enlisted a fuse puller and got it out, but it wasn't blown. However its connections were suspect. So I cleaned it and put it in my HF ammeter and plugged that into the fuse box and the blower came on. And, by the way, I discovered that the current the fan pulls varies by the function you set it on. Apparently some have more resistance to air flow than others. Anyway, I pulled the fuse out, put a tiny bit of my favorite anti-seize on the connections, and put it back in the fuse box. Problem #1 solved - I hope. Next I decided to track down the annoying screech we had yesterday whenever we leaned forward a bit. I guessed it had to do with the seatback latch, and sure enough it did. The inverter is pushing the seatback forward such that when you lean forward the seatback moves just a bit, sliding the latch on the bar on the seat bottom. I thought a bit about what to use to lube it w/o making a mess and then remembered what Dad always used for door strikers - Door Ease. Here's a pic of a "crayon" of it that I inherited from him. Problem #2 solved. Then, having solved two problems, I thought it was time to play. And with the discussion of power points, chargers, etc I thought I'd put one of the ones I have in a spare ash tray and see what I thought. However, the hole in the ash tray measures .991" and the power points and chargers need a 1.125" hole. My first thought was to try a hole saw. Yes, I knew in my heart that it wasn't the best idea I'd ever had, but with a bit of shimming and positioning I thought I had it secured quite well. But the instant the hole saw touched it there was chaos and this was the result: Hmmm, I have some chassis punches.... Yep, I have a 1 1/8". And sure enough, after straightening up the mangled mess as best I could it punched through fairly well, although the ash tray is not something I want to use. So out came another spare, and here's a comparison of the two: Now, I should admit that I drilled the rivets on both ash tray units to take the plastic door off of the metal ash tray. But that really isn't necessary when using the chassis punch so when I do the one on Big Blue I'll not drill the rivets out. However it works pretty well to use 8-32 screws to replace the rivets. I tapped the plastic door, drilled out the ash tray to let the screw slip through, and then backed the door up with a nut. I'll include a number of pics below to show how I did that, but I did discover that the USB charger I have holds the door open slightly, as shown below where you can see the door hits the charger before hitting the stop. Given that, I'd really like to find a charger that fits in a 1 1/8" hole and has both USB-A & C ports. That way when the cords aren't connected the door will close properly. I realize that going with a screw-in charger instead of a a plug-in one means it wouldn't be as easy to upgrade, but I don't think changing out the screw-in charger will be that big of a deal once I've added one the first time.

David - That's interesting! How'd you find that? I think I'll try the suggestion of placing a "chalk mark along the edge of the belt and watching it while vibrating". That should tell me if there's a problem. But, not today as it is drizzling and COLD. But I'll do it. Thanks!

I just went to the Aukey site and tried to ask them the question below through their only method shown of contacting them - Submit A Support Question: It wouldn't go w/o an Amazon order number, so used another one of ours. It finally took it and then popped up a message that said "Network is not stable, please contact support@aukey.com". So I sent them an email at that address. But I'm getting suspicious of Amazon. Janey was looking at a board game for the grandkids that normally runs ~$50 and found it on Amazon for $22. She asked me about it and I read several of the comments, many of which said they'd gotten counterfeit games, as confirmed by the manufacturer. Amazon said they were verified purchases, and yet hadn't responded to the claims. Am I paranoid?

This is strange. Amazon clearly says that is an Aukey CC-Y16. But at the Aukey site they don't show that charger. EDIT: Oops, wasn't done. Anyway, is it an old one? Is it a knock-off?

On the URL, I think we may be on the cusp of changing to the new website, meaning not running on the Nabble servers. Let me think through what all is involved in that and whether it is a good time to change to another URL.

Mark - I like that charger! And while I agree with Jim that it won't charge the tablet, it does have the -C port that can be used to quickly charge iPhones, or anything else for that matter. Jim - I don't know what pulled the battery down, but it wasn't flat. It still started the engine fine, just didn't spin it as fast as I'm used to it spinning. And that charger was probably on the whole time. But the dome and courtesy lights were on quite a bit as well, as was the underhood light at times. As for the wattage thing with the charger, I don't know how they are doing it but something is controlling the voltage, and taking it up to 20v in some cases. So I'm assuming whatever that is has some losses to it and that means it'll get warm. And the rounded points on the chargers don't offer much surface area for transferring heat. That's why I was wondering if a charger that mounts in the ash tray might use the metal as a heat sink.

Thanks, David. But I have "polygroove" belts, meaning two serpentine belts. Do you think that could be part of the vibes? On a different subject, I need help both in thinking through what I want to do with charging ports as well as in finding the right things. I'm going to revive the USB Charging Port Questions thread to get answers, but need to set out the issues here as well. Yesterday when we got ready to go on our road trip I checked the battery voltages and found the starting battery at 11.85 and the aux battery at 12.5 volts. I was puzzled at why the starting battery was so low since I thought the only thing I'd had on were the dome and courtesy lights, and then only while working on it. The truck started, albeit noticeably slower than it should have with a fully charged battery, and the Smart Isolator didn't parallel the batteries for quite some time so the starting battery was certainly down. But later in the day I think I discovered why - the USB charger has a bright LED and it had been plugged into the cigar lighter for all the time the truck's been sitting in the shop. So, I'm rethinking the plan for the always-hot spot in the ash tray, and I invite y'all to chime in on the other thread to help.

I'm going to try to revive this thread as I have a few questions and some info. As anyone who is silly enough to be following along on Big Blue's Transformation will know, I'm doing all sorts of things to provide charging capability for mobile devices. And that includes having copious amounts of AC available as well as several charging ports behind the seat. But these questions and info have to do with the always-hot port in the ash tray. And as a lead-in, yesterday I discovered that in the month Big Blue has been sitting in the shop being transformed the battery got pulled down quite a bit. At first I assumed that the fact that I'd had the doors open for ~8 hours/day with the dome and courtesy lights on must have done it, but then I realized that the USB charger has an LED in it and it had been on 24x7. So, I've come to the conclusion that whatever I put in the ash tray's spot cannot have an LED. With that I started going back through this thread awa recent publications on the topic of charging standards. One of the good reads I found was this Digital Trends page. And it gives this table of USB charging standards: But, Qualcomm produces some of the most widely used charging circuits, so their standards are important as well: Given that, it seemed to me that the best approach would be to go with a DC power port, which would let me upgrade chargers as the technology continues to evolve, but make sure that charger doesn't have an LED. And right now the best appears to be a charger with both a USB-A (USB 1-3) port and a USB-C (USB 3.1) port. Danny G has one and it doesn't appear to have an LED, but in reading through this thread I've not found what the brand/model is so I'll email him and ask him to chime in one this thread. But beyond that, all of the A/C chargers I've found have LEDs. Further, I've found that there are USB-C charging cords that will charge this Surface Pro tablet. However, they all say that the charger has to have at least a 45w rating, and all of the cigar lighter plug-in chargers I've found are well shy of that rating. But I wonder how much of that is due to the lack of heat transfer capabilities the plug-in chargers have through their small terminals. Maybe there's a metal charger that would fit in a 1 1/8" cigar lighter hole in a metal ash tray that could handle higher power? So, I'm looking for input. Please! Who knows of a plug-in USB-A/C charger w/o an LED? How about a high-power USB-C charger?

I'm reading the mail here but don't want to comment too much as I'd like to see what others think. Having said that, if I had it to do over again I'd have used some other name for the website besides garysgaragemahal. I now find that ... arrogant. Ostentatious. Etc. But here we are and while I do have some other URL's "rented", I'm not sure we should change due to all the bookmarks out there. On the other hand, there are redirects..... Anyway, I'd like to see whatever we do take the emphasis off of "Gary".

Mark - Please check the map to see that I did it correctly. Basically Bedford? As for previous help, I hadn't made the connection. But glad it was a help.

Neat way to teach your son! I love it! So, the '80 is the parts truck and it is the '81 that is running and being brought up to snuff? Quite a change of plans. So, are you staying with the 255 or changing to the 300?

You are now, quite literally, on the map.

Welcome! Glad you joined. We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and could put you on if we had a bit more info than The Bay Area. Maybe a zip code? As for the truck, that one is beautiful! As is the pic.