lighter wiring

[FordPrefect]

I'm going through some wiring diagrams, trying to figure out the reasoning behind the mess that is the lighter/flashers.

There is a 16 amp in-line fuse between the fusebox and the cigarette lighter. (on my 76) I've never bothered with it (until recently) as I don't really care about the lighter, the clock, the light, or even the hazard switch, I suppose.

Anywhoo, I replaced that fuse for giggles, and I heard the clock ticking (though it's impossible to set, and probably doesn't even work behind that foggy 'glass'). I didn't check the lighter or flashers. After replacing this fuse, the battery started getting run down very quickly, so I just pulled the wire from the other end. The other day when I was working on the wiring to the radiator fan, I shorted the wire and got a nice spark.

Well, the fuse blew. I don't know if it was related to that short, but it seems at least likely.

Now, I'm contemplating making the lighter work so I can plug in a charger for my phone, and I'm considering just disconnecting everything else on that circuit to isolate the lighter. I can definitely disconnect the clock, and I assume, the courtesy light, but then the wiring goes into the flashers somehow, and I'm not sure whether I should mess with that.

So I can either mess around and disconnect stuff, maybe pull the lighter and install a new one, or be really lazy and just install a new one from a new power source.

Ideas? Hazard switch secrets? Let me know!