The Evolution of Heavy Duty Connectors for Vehicles!

Over the years, vehicle-mounted heavy-duty connectors have developed from bulky metal parts with contacts to strong and lightweight connectors that can be used with other manufacturers' products. They can also route signals, data, power and pneumatic devices in a single housing through the housing wall, and can use adapters to let the cables of the connectors pass through plastic bellows. This article integrates the connector manufacturers to share with you the development and evolution of vehicle-mounted heavy-duty connectors! Once aluminum was the primary material choice for vehicle-mounted heavy-duty connector housing designs, today plastic has become a reliable and viable housing material choice. Plastic housing connectors are typically less expensive to manufacture than metal connectors, and lower material costs for manufacturers can lead to lower-priced connectors for users, plus plastic is lighter in weight and reduces shipping costs.

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Meeting the impact resistance test requirements of IK08 is essential for high vibration or impact applications, today's on-board heavy-duty plastic connectors can meet the same IK08 requirements as aluminum connectors, and some connector suppliers go a step further with roll testing of plastic connectors according to DIN IEC32196-1, which is performed by rolling a forklift truck weighing several tons on the housing. Where shielded connectors need to be considered, connector housings are usually made of die-cast aluminum, which prevents noise or EMC from propagating onto the cable wires, and users must be careful to purchase cable glands that provide the same EMC protection as connector housings. Because vehicle-mounted heavy-duty connectors have been around for some time, there are some requirements that cannot be changed, and the connectors need to be compatible with products still installed in customer machines and systems. For similar-sized housings, the panel cut-out sizes will be the same across connector manufacturers and standard industrial punches will be used, and the new contact inserts will need to be compatible not only with traditional products, but in some cases with similar-sized products from other manufacturers. Many advancements have been made in vehicle-mounted heavy-duty connectors over the years, with both fixed-position and modular plug-in designs to meet the higher current or voltage requirements required by today's customers, with some connector fixed inserts handling up to 80A and modular connector inserts handling up to 200A. Most voltage ratings will be the normal UL600V class, with some rated at 1000V or higher. In addition, connector manufacturers are providing new connection technologies for vehicle-mounted heavy-duty connectors, including popular push-in connections, while in-line connections help reduce wiring time and save labor costs. Push-in connectors accept solid or ferruled stranded wires, and screw connections are still the most popular connection technology in many industries, but as users realize the savings in assembly costs and time, push-in connections have become a common technology for heavy-duty connectors in vehicles.

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