So I broke down and busted the plastic end to see what it was hiding.
I still have no idea what this thing does. The cord just separates at the end into the two small metal rods, that were slid into opposite sides of a glass tube (that I busted, oops). The rods overlapped each other before I broke the glass. The tube was at the fat end of the plastic piece. What the hell is that?
I'm still interested if anyone knows, just so I know what to look for if I need to replace it.