Electrical card connector

An electrical card connector assembly comprising:

• an insulative housing defining a card receiving space;
• a plurality of contacts disposed in the housing with deflectable contacting sections extending into the card receiving space for engagement with an electronic card, and solder sections for mounting to a printed circuit board;
• a switch terminal disposed in the housing and having a contacting portion corresponding to a selected one of said contacts, and a solder tail for mounting to said printed circuit board;
• and
• an electronic card fully inserted into the card receiving space and defecting the corresponding contacting sections with circuit pads electrically and mechanically connected to the corresponding contacting sections;
• wherein
• the contacting portion and the contacting section of said selected one of the contacts are separated from each other without electrical connection therebetween before said electronic card is inserted into the card receiving space, while said contacting portion is mechanically and electrically connected to said selected one of said contacts after said electronic card is fully inserted into the card receiving space, and wherein
• said contacting portion and the contacting section of the selected one of the contacts are essentially aligned with each other in a front-to-back direction;
• wherein
• said selected one of the contacts is located between others of the contacts in a transverse direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction, and essentially located forwardly offset from all the others in said front-to-back direction.

An electrical card connector for use with an electronic card, comprising:

• an insulative housing defining a card receiving space;
• a plurality of contacts disposed in housing with tail sections for mounting to a printed circuit board and deflectable contacting sections extending into the receiving space for mechanically and electrically connecting to corresponding circuit pads of an inserted electronic card;
• and
• a switch terminal disposed in the housing and behind a selected one of the contacts;
• wherein
• said switch is not mechanically and electrically connected to said selected one of the contacts when the electronic card is not inserted into the receiving space while is mechanically and electrically connected to said selected one of the contacts when the electronic card is fully inserted into the card receiving space under a condition that the contacting section of said selected one of the contacts is mechanically and electrically connected to the corresponding circuit pad of the inserted electronic card;
• wherein
• the selected one of the contacts further includes a spring arm which is discrete from the corresponding contacting section and directly engages with the switch terminal for performing electrical and mechanical connection between the selected one of the contacts and the switch when the electrical card is inserted, under condition that electrical and mechanical engagement between the selected one of the contacts and the electrical card via the corresponding contacting section occurs before the electrical and mechanical connection between the selected one of the contacts and the switch via said spring arm.