A connecting terminal provided with an arc discharge contact protruding forwardly and integrally formed at one side of a contact protrusion of a male terminal. The arc discharge contact comes into contact with the side surface of a side wall of a female terminal body before the contact protrusion of the male terminal comes into contact with a contact spring of the female terminal when the male terminal is connected to the female terminal.

A configuration is described for making electrical contact between a flexible printed circuit board disposed on a supporting element and a contact spring has a sliding element which is disposed between the flexible printed circuit board and the contact spring so as to be incapable of being displaced with respect to the supporting element. When the contact spring is pushed onto the supporting element, the contact spring on the sliding element slides into its end position.

An electrical connector (100) for receiving a mating plug (200) having a number of plug contacts and a metal shell. The electrical connector has an insulative housing (10) provided with a base portion (13) and a tongue portion (14, 15) extending forwardly from the base portion. A set of first electrical contacts (21) and a set of second electrical contacts (22) are arranged in the isulative housing for engaging with the plug at a front and a rear position respectively. Each contact (21, 22) includes a contact section (214, 222) electrical connected with the contacts of the plug. An insulator (40) is located in front of the first electrical contacts for avoiding an improper connection between the contacts and the plug.

A protective cap and method therefor for preventing the build-up of electrostatic charges on network communications cables and also for protecting the cable ends and connectors from physical abuse. The protective cap comprises a socket housing for receiving a connector of a network communications cable that has a plurality of wire mediums, and a shorting electrical conductor to electrically connect together the wire mediums when the connector is received in the socket housing. The build-up of electrostatic charges on the cable wire mediums is prevented by the shorting electrical conductor electrically connecting the wire mediums together. The network communications cable is protected from physical abuse by the socket housing at least partially enclosing the cable connector. A network equipment connector is also disclosed that causes the discharge of electrostatic charges on a network cable as the cable is being mated with the equipment connector.

A connector apparatus is adapted for determining cable connection status and comprises a first connector. The first connector comprises a plurality of contacts capable of coupling to a corresponding plurality of conductors in a cable, a substrate supporting the plurality of contacts, and an insulator layer encasing at least a portion of the individual contacts of the plurality of contacts and mutually isolating the contacts. The first connector further comprises a shroud enclosing the plurality of contacts, the substrate, and the insulator layer. The shroud is electrically conductive and separated into first and second electrically isolated segments. Each of the first and second segments is electrically connected to respective first and second reference contacts.