Sealed electrical connector with secondary locking

An electrical connector matable with a mating electrical connector and comprising a housing and terminals positioned in the housing, the electrical connector including a secondary lock shiftable parallel to a mating face of the housing into an engaged position in which the secondary lock prevents retraction of terminals from the housing, the secondary lock including a protrusion extending toward the mating face and accessible on the mating face to provide means for shifting the secondary lock into the engaged position.

An electrical connector matable with a mating electrical connector and comprising a housing subassembly and terminals located in the housing subassembly;

• the housing subassembly comprising a main housing, at least one lock member and an alignment plate;
• the lock member being shiftable relative to the main housing to a locking position and comprising means for securing the terminals in the electrical connector;
• the alignment plate being movable relative to the main housing and the shiftable lock member during mating with the mating electrical connector, the alignment plate comprising means for guiding terminals during mating with mating terminals in the mating electrical connector, the alignment plate also including a first surface engagable with a second surface on the shiftable lock member to shift the lock member into the locking position if the shiftable lock member has not been previously shifted to the locking position.

An electrical connector comprising a molded housing and terminals positioned in the housing, the housing including a front housing member attached to a rear housing member with a slot extending between the front housing member and rear housing member, the connector also including a locking plate shiftable in the slot between a first position permitting insertion of the terminals into the housing and a second position in which the locking plate retains the terminals in the housing, wherein the locking plate can be positioned between the front housing member and the rear housing member before attachment of the front housing member to the rear housing member to simplify molding the housing.

An electrical connector assembly comprising a plug connector and a cap connector;

• the cap connector comprising first terminals in a cap housing subassembly including a molded rear cap housing including a molded front cap housing attached to the rear housing with at least one cap locking plate located between the front and rear housing, each cap locking plate being shiftable relative to the front and rear cap housings in a cap lock slot formed between the front and rear cap housings;
• the plug connector comprising second terminals in a plug housing subassembly, the plug housing subassembly including a molded rear plug housing and a molded front plug housing attached to the rear plug housing with at least one plug locking plate located between the front plug housing and the rear plug housing, each plug locking plate being shiftable relative to the front and rear plug housings in a plug lock slot formed between the front and rear cap housings;
• wherein each cap lock plate can be positioned between the rear cap housing and the front cap housing before the front cap housing is attached to the rear cap housing and each plug lock plate can be positioned between the rear plug housing and the front plug housing before the front plug housing is attached to the rear cap housing to simplify molding of the cap and plug housing subassemblies.