The infamous 308 Trouble Light

Years ago, I bought battery charger for my motorcycle battery called the Xtreme Battery Doc. I've found that in addition to keeping my moto battery topped off, it does a good job on the 308 battery. The problem is that getting to the battery to hook up to the battery leads was a pain (open bonnet, remove spare, remove batt cover) so I wanted to install a "normal" cigarette lighter socket. There is a cigarette lighter socket in the 308 console, but it's not the "normal" lighter socket you see today. Rather, it has a small hole where you put the cigarette and I think you pull the black plastic outside ring to heat it up. Honestly, I have no idea how this thing is supposed to work because I've never tried it.



I kind of like the look of the console lighter, so I decided to leave that one alone and try to replace the trouble light socket with a normal socket. On all 308s, there is a 12v socket under the dash to the left of the steering wheel. As part of the 308 tool kit (which I am missing), there is a small 12v trouble light that plugs into this socket. I don't know anyone who has actually used their light or the socket. Having a light has become more of a concours bragging rights thing, as in, "I have the original tool kit roll complete with carb tool, spare bulb holder and trouble light." I've seen pictures of the light, but never one in person. Anyhow, I was willing to sacrifice the trouble light socket for a place to plug in my battery charger.

I went to Napa and bought one of those generic sockets and proceeded to unscrew the underdash piece holding the clock, oil temp gauge and trouble light socket ('78 GTS, before they relocated the gauges to the console). When I set out all the pieces on the workbench, I noticed something interesting.



The battery charger came with three different attachments -- alligator clips, ring connectors and a cigarette lighter plug. I never noticed before but the cig plug had a plastic piece snapped on the business end. When I removed this piece, the plug end was exactly the right size and shape to fit perfectly into the trouble light socket!





You can see that it's a perfect fit -- even down to the ridge on the center shaft to lock into the socket. I put everything back together and sure enough, it works as I would expect. The socket is not keyed so I can just plug in the charger at any point to maintain the battery. Best part is I didn't have to make any modifications at all.

I tried searching online, but it doesn't look like this charger is made anymore. What I'm really interested to know is, what kind of plug is this that fits into the 308 trouble light socket?