fixed dew heater controller

Last night, as I was packing everything up, the CLA of the dew controller broke.

As I unplugged the Cigarette Lighter Adapter male plug of the Kendrick dew heater controller from the 3-way female splitter, the centre metal "button" popped out and the plug puked out its innards. I heard it all happen, in the darkness, rather than really seeing it.

Happily, I had my carpet remnant under the telescope.

I found the metal pin. Upon examination, I remembered that it held a glass cylindrical fuse in place inside the plug. I couldn't see the fuse anywhere. And I wondered about a spring. I was hoping the spring mechanism was firmly contained within the CLA plug but that I couldn't recall. Regardless, I looked for a spring. No joy. I looked under the various bags and boxes on the carpet. I looked in the area surrounding the 'scope. Nothing.

I was too tired to persist and resigned to fix it in the daylight.

Happily, I found "backup" fuses in the Ziploc bag for the controller.

When I had upgraded the fuses to 7 amps, I had put the original and spare into a little plastic bag with the controller. Thank goodness for thinking ahead!

As I pushed the spare fuse into the CLA, I felt increasing pressure. Whew! The spring was integrated into the plug. I was good to go. I did a quick power on test. The red LED glowed. Back in business.