diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 5ac30d7b..9e4c6434 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ group :development do
 end
 
 group :test do
-  gem "json"
+  gem "json", '~> 1.8.3'
+  gem "json_pure", '~> 1.8.3'
   # Pin for 1.8.7 compatibility for now
   gem "rake", '< 11.0.0'
   gem "puppet", ENV['PUPPET_VERSION'] || '~> 3.7.0'
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 6d747c35..034d207d 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -302,7 +302,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   beaker-rspec (>= 5.1.0)
   hiera
   hiera-puppet-helper
-  json
+  json (~> 1.8.3)
   pry
   puppet (~> 3.7.0)
   puppet-blacksmith
@@ -317,4 +317,4 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   vagrant-wrapper
 
 BUNDLED WITH
-   1.10.6
+   1.11.2
diff --git a/lib/puppet/provider/consul_acl/default.rb b/lib/puppet/provider/consul_acl/default.rb
index 9197ff24..6c7fcf11 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/provider/consul_acl/default.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/provider/consul_acl/default.rb
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ def self.prefetch(resources)
       Puppet.debug("prefetching for #{name}")
       port = resource[:port]
       hostname = resource[:hostname]
+      protocol = resource[:protocol]
       token = resource[:acl_api_token]
 
       found_acls = list_resources(token, port, hostname).select do |acl|
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ def self.list_resources(acl_api_token, port, hostname)
 
     # this might be configurable by searching /etc/consul.d
     # but would break for anyone using nonstandard paths
-    uri = URI("http://#{hostname}:#{port}/v1/acl")
+    uri = URI("#{protocol}://#{hostname}:#{port}/v1/acl")
     http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
 
     path=uri.request_uri + "/list?token=#{acl_api_token}"
@@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ def self.list_resources(acl_api_token, port, hostname)
   end
 
   def put_acl(method,body)
-    uri = URI("http://#{@resource[:hostname]}:#{@resource[:port]}/v1/acl")
+    uri = URI("#{@resource[:protocol]}://#{@resource[:hostname]}:#{@resource[:port]}/v1/acl")
     http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
     acl_api_token = @resource[:acl_api_token]
     path = uri.request_uri + "/#{method}?token=#{acl_api_token}"
diff --git a/lib/puppet/type/consul_acl.rb b/lib/puppet/type/consul_acl.rb
index 509407fd..3720e52d 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/type/consul_acl.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/type/consul_acl.rb
@@ -38,6 +38,12 @@
     desc 'ID of token'
   end
 
+  newproperty(:protocol) do
+    desc 'consul protocol'
+    newvalues('http', 'https')
+    defaultto 'http'
+  end
+
   newparam(:port) do
     desc 'consul port'
     defaultto 8500
diff --git a/spec/unit/puppet/type/consul_acl_spec.rb b/spec/unit/puppet/type/consul_acl_spec.rb
index e74e1a20..c3c4322c 100644
--- a/spec/unit/puppet/type/consul_acl_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/puppet/type/consul_acl_spec.rb
@@ -46,5 +46,9 @@
     it 'should accept a hash of rules' do
       expect(@acl[:rules]).to eq(samplerules)
     end
+
+    it 'should default to http' do
+      expect(@acl[:protocol]).to eq(:http)
+    end
   end
 end