Electrical plug connector

#1. Field of Invention

#The invention relates to an electrical plug connector for connection of an electrical cable to an apparatus, and in particular to a sensor or an actuator, or for detachable connection of two electrical cables to one another, and having a housing, including a contact mount, which holds a variety of contacts, and an electronics circuit, which is arranged in the housing, with the electronics circuit having at least one light-emitting element, including an LED, and being electrically connected to the contacts.

#2. Description of Related Art

#FIG. 1 shows an electrical plug connector according to the prior art;

#FIGS. 2a-2b show a rear view of an exemplary electrical plug connector with illuminated and non-illuminated LEDs, according to the invention;

#FIGS. 3a-3b show side and front views of the electrical plug connector of FIG. 2; and

#The figures show various exemplary embodiments of an electrical plug connector 1, with FIG. 1 showing an electrical plug connector 1 according to the prior art and FIGS. 2 to 4 showing two variants of an electrical plug connector 1 according to the invention. The electrical plug connectors 1 illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3 are used for connection of an electrical cable 2 to an electronic apparatus, in particular a sensor, for example a proximity switch, a temperature sensor, a flow sensor, and the like.

#The electrical plug connector 1 has a housing 3, a contact mount 5, which holds a plurality of contacts 4 and an electronics circuit 6 arranged in the housing 3. In this case, the electronics circuit 6 generally includes a printed circuit board on which, in addition to a number of electrical and electronic components, a plurality of LEDs 7, generally up to three LEDs 7, are arranged. The LEDs 7 are in this case used for status indication for the connected sensor. The electrical plug connector 1 is also referred to as a cable plug or a cable socket, dependent on whether the respective contacts arranged in the contact mount 5 are plugs or sockets.

#In order to be able to tell from outside the housing 3 in the electrical plug connector 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 whether the LEDs 7 arranged in the housing 3 are or are not illuminated, the housing 3 is composed of a completely transparent plastic. As indicated in FIG. 1, the electronics circuit 6 with the electrical and electronic components arranged on it, in particular the LEDs 7, can thus be seen through the housing 3, as well. If the electrical plug connector 1 is now subjected to strong external incident light, then it is very often no longer possible to reliably tell, especially when observed quickly, whether one or more of the LEDs 7 is or is not illuminated.