Universal Cable Connecting Box for Vehicles

The present invention relates to a universal cable connecting box which simplifies the cable layout and connection in a vehicle and collectively manages the cables for facilitating installation and later service work.

Nowadays, a modern car is optionally equipped with more and more equipments for achieving more comfort and ensuring safety. Almost all such equipments are electrically activated. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional control circuit 1 of a car may incorporate various optional equipments, such as a burglar-proof device 10, a remote control starting device 20, a speech device 30, a car condition displaying system 40, a globe positioning system 50, and a telephone remote control burglar-proof system 100, etc. Usually, the car owner selectively adds these equipments to the control circuit 1 not at a time. As a result, the wiring cables in the car cannot be tidily managed and are often arranged at random. For example, in case a burglar-proof device 10 necessitates 16 cables and a remote control starting device 20 necessitates 11 cables, then it will require 27 cables to connect these equipments to the original control circuit in total. If additional equipments are further added to the car, the arrangement of the cables in the car will become more random and difficult. This also leads to difficulty in finding the proper wiring cable in later service of any of the equipments. Moreover, the power supplying cables of these cables will be subject to short circuit in case of improper connection. This will result in damage of the battery or even burning down of the car. Furthermore, the complicated terminals of the cables of the conventional control circuit 1 often result in poor electrical contact of the cables.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a car-used universal cable connecting box in which by means of the arranged connectors and soldered copper foil of the circuit board, the common cables of the equipments of the car can be connected to the same connector so that the consumption of connector parts may be reduced and the circuit layout may be simplified.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an useful cable connecting box in which the in-car cables are collected in the universal cable connecting box so that the usage and path of the cables can be effectively managed to facilitate installation and identification for the service man and save installation and service time.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide the above cable connecting box in which a fuse is disposed at the power end of each row of connectors for protecting the equipment. This also helps in removal and diagnosis of failure.

The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic functional block diagram showing that a car circuit incorporates a various optional equipments;

FIG. 2 shows the layout on the soldered surface of the circuit board of the universal cable connecting box in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows the arrangement of the component mounting surface of the circuit board of the present invention;

Please refer to FIG. 2 which shows the layout of the circuit board of the universal cable connecting box in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. An array of copper foils are arranged on the circuit board 60 as a matrix pattern. Several rows of soldered points 61 are disposed in X axis direction. Each row of soldered points 61 includes multiple independent soldered points. Multiple strips of copper foils are disposed in Y axis direction to interconnect the soldered points 61 on the same line. Accordingly, the soldered points 61 along X axis are disconnected from each other, while the soldered points along Y axis are interconnected with each other. On right side of the circuit board 60 are disposed a power source input contact 62, a power source output contact 63 and a grounding contact 64. The power input contact 62 is connected to a positive end of a power source, such as a battery. A fuse seat 80 (as shown in FIG. 3) is disposed between the power input contact 62 and the power output contact 63. The grounding contact 64 is connected to a grounding end of the battery.

Please refer to FIG. 3 which shows the arrangement of the components mounting plane of the circuit board 60. When soldered, a plurality of connectors 70 are located in the X axis soldered points 61 and soldered with the circuit board on the other face thereof. The fuse seat 80 is soldered between the power input contact 62 and the power output contact 63. Then a power socket 90 is soldered between the grounding contact 64 and the power output contact 63. In such a design, the respective signal lines and power cables of the equipments of the car may be one by one inserted into the connectors 70. Therefore, the cables can be connected in a simple, convenient and time-saving manner. The above circuit board 60 can be received in a box or housing (not shown).

Therefore, the consumption of cable material is reduced and the in-car layout is simplified. Moreover, the usage and path of the cables can be effectively managed to facilitate installation and identification for the service man. Accordingly, the installation and service time can be greatly saved.

In conclusion, the present invention has the following advantages:

1. By means of the array of connectors and soldered copper foil of the circuit board, the common cables of the equipments of the car can be connected to the same connector so that the consumption of cable material is reduced and the in-car layout is simplified.

2. The in-car cables are collected in the universal cable connecting box so that the usage and path of the cables can be effectively managed to facilitate installation and identification for the service man. Accordingly, the installation and service time can be greatly saved. The cable connecting box can be mounted in a position of the equipment panel of the car.

3. A fuse is disposed at the power end of each row of connectors for protecting each equipment. This also helps in removal and diagnosis of failure.

It is to be understood that the above description and drawings are only used for illustrating one embodiment of the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Any variation and derivation from the above description and drawings should be included in the scope of the present invention.