Easily gripped cigarette lighter adapter with balanced, solderless ground contacts

An adapter for establishing an electrical connection between an electrical power system of a vehicle and an electronic device situated within an interior portion of the vehicle, said vehicle having a cigarette lighter receptacle and the vehicle power system having a hot contact and a ground contact associated with said cigarette lighter receptacle, the adapter comprising:

• an elongated housing, the adapter housing having a body portion and a barrel portion sized to fit within said cigarette lighter receptacle, the adapter housing having an internal cavity extending between said body and barrel portions;
• a circuit board disposed within said housing, the circuit board having a connecting circuit disposed thereon for providing a connection between said electronic device and said vehicle power system, said connecting circuit including a hot portion and a ground portion;
• a first contact member disposed in said adapter housing barrel portion in opposition to said cigarette lighter receptacle hot contact, said first contact member being connected to said connecting circuit hot portion;
• and,
• a pair of second contact members disposed in said adapter housing barrel portion in opposition to said cigarette light receptacle ground contact, each of said second contact members having a base portion and a contact arm portion, said base and contact arm portions each further including a free end, said free end portions being angularly disposed with respect to each other, said base portion free end being engaged by said adapter housing and said contact arm free end engaging said adapter housing, said engagement of said second contact member free ends biasing said second contact members into a first tensioned position wherein said second contact member base portions contact with said circuit board and said connecting circuit ground portion thereof, said second contact members being disposed in opposing alignment with each other on opposite sides of said circuit board such that forces they exert upon said circuit board when in said first tensioned position generally balance each other to thereby avoid the imposition of detrimental unbalanced stress on said circuit board.