There are thousands of automotive wiring harnesses. Some modern vehicles contain nearly 40 different wire harnesses, as many as 700 connectors and more than 3,000 wires. Wiring harnesses made for heavy-duty vehicles and equipment used in construction, agriculture, and other off-road environments require additional changes.
In addition to maintaining weight, cost, and space while servicing a growing number of auxiliary components, wire harness manufacturers for heavy-duty applications face unique challenges. Heavy-duty vehicles are subjected to greater stress and strain than consumer vehicles, and require ultra-durable wiring and connectors. Regulations in the United States and around the world are constantly changing. As data- and signal-driven applications become more common, their thin wires — while beneficial for weight savings — present challenges in terms of durability.
Biggest Challenge: Component Availability
Not surprisingly, product availability is the biggest issue facing harness manufacturers today. Like many other industries, wire harness manufacturers are grappling with ongoing pandemic-related shortages and transportation bottlenecks, as well as uncertainty from world events.
Connector availability has eased since the early days of the pandemic, but is still under strain. Connector manufacturers are having trouble getting the resins and other materials they need from Asia. There are now concerns about nickel prices, which could further reduce supplies of terminals, relays and other components.
Increased acceptance of connector equivalents.
One thing that is helping the connector revolution is the accelerated acceptance of the demanded connector alternatives. For example, the common DEUTSCH-type connectors and Amphenol’s A-series connectors are interchangeable and fully compatible with industry-standard similar products.
Although proven equivalents have been around for some time, customers are generally reluctant to use alternatives. However, the pandemic and international political uncertainty will affect the supply of some connectors, thereby accelerating replacement.
In addition to the key technical difficulties of the connector, on the other hand, the reliability of the product cannot be ignored, including the reliability design, evaluation and testing of the product. Many times people are discussing whether quality is important or reliability is important in connector products, and some people think that good quality connector products represent high reliability of the connector. This view is wrong. The reason why people have this view is that they lack the overall understanding and understanding of the connector. In fact, 90% of the technical requirements of the connector are the same or the same. The technical division of the connector products is to master the connector technology. effective means.
The birth of new connector products requires two types of technologies: design technology and manufacturing technology, where manufacturing technology is not specific to connectors, but part of all manufacturing technologies required for connector manufacturing. The connector’s own expertise and technology will be applied in connector design, so mastering the connector’s expertise is a must-have skill for design engineers. The new energy vehicle connectors, rail transit connectors, aerospace connectors, etc. that we commonly see are divided from a market perspective.
On the other hand, from a technical point of view, connectors should be divided into two categories: power connectors that transmit high current and high voltage and signal connectors that transmit low current and low voltage; from the design goal, connectors can be divided into functional design. and reliability design. Therefore, a reasonable technical division of connectors is an effective means to master connector technology. The basic laws of connector technology can be sorted out and mastered in a short period of time, but reliability design needs to invest more energy in research and improvement.
Post time: Sep-30-2022