1. An electrical terminal for electrically connecting an integrated circuit (IC) to a printed circuit board (PCB) comprising:
a base portion;
a contacting portion extending from the base portion;
a solder portion extending from the base portion for connecting to the PCB; wherein,
the contacting portion is provided with a nickel-plating layer, a wear-resistant layer disposed on the nickel-plating layer and a gold-plating layer disposed on the wear-resistant layer, wherein said wear-resistant layer is different from said nickel-plating layer and said gold-plating layer.
2. The electrical terminal as described in claim 1, wherein said wear-resistant layer is a silver-plating layer.
3. The electrical terminal as described in claim 2, wherein the thickness of the silver-plating layer is 3-6 times of that of the nickel-plating layer.
4. The electrical terminal as described in claim 2, wherein the thickness of the silver-plating layer is 3-6 times of that of the gold-plating layer.
5. An electrical terminal stamped from a conductive strip comprising conductive base material, nickel-plating layer disposed on the conductive base material, silver plating layer disposed on the nickel-plating layer and gold-plating layer disposed on the silver-plating layer.
6. The electrical terminal as described in claim 5, wherein the terminal comprises a base portion, a contacting portion extending from the base portion and a solder portion extending from the base portion.
7. The electrical terminal as described in claim 6, wherein the plate layers are disposed on the contacting portion.
8. The electrical terminal as described in claim 6, wherein the thickness of the silver-plating layer is 3-6 times of that of the nickel-plating layer.
9. The electrical terminal as described in claim 6, wherein the thickness of the silver-plating layer is 3-6 times of that of the gold-plating layer.
10. A method for manufacturing an electrical terminal comprising following steps:
(a) stamping step for providing a general terminal shape from a conductive strip;
(b) forming step for providing the terminal normal configuration;
(c) nickel plating step for providing nickel-plating layer on the terminal;
(d) silver plating step providing silver-plating layer on the nickel-plating layer; and
(e) gold plating step providing gold-plating layer on the silver-plating layer.
11. The method as described in claim 10 further comprising silver pre-plating step prior to the silver plating step.
12. The method as described in claim 10 further comprising splitting step for cutting the terminal from the strip.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A vehicle charging equipment, comprising:
a charging equipment main body;
a charging cable to be pulled out of the charging equipment main body;
a charge connector that is provided at a tip of the charging cable, is to be fitted to a vehicle-side connector on a vehicle and has a release button to be pressed for removal from the vehicle-side connector;
a release button circuit to which voltage is applied from the vehicle to detect depression of the release button, the release button circuit having a resistance value that varies depending on whether or not the release button is pressed;
a winding-up device on the charging equipment main body to wind up the charging cable;
a fit determination means for determining whether or not the charge connector is fitted to the vehicle-side connector; and
an automatic winding-up controller for controlling the winding-up device to wind up the charging cable,
wherein the fit determination means comprises a voltage detection unit and a fit determination portion, the voltage detection unit detecting the voltage applied to the release button circuit from the vehicle to detect depression of the release button when the charge connector is fitted to the vehicle-side connector and the fit determination portion determining, based on the voltage detected by the voltage detection unit, whether or not the charge connector is fitted to the vehicle-side connector, and
wherein the automatic winding-up controller determines removal of the charge connector from the vehicle-side connector based on the determination made by the fit determination means and causes the winding-up device to wind up the charging cable after the charge connector is removed from the vehicle-side connector.
2. The vehicle charging equipment according to claim 1, wherein the charge connector conforms to one of SAE J1772 (trademark) and IEC 62196 part 3.
3. The vehicle charging equipment according to claim 1, wherein the fit determination means is provided on the charging equipment main body, and
wherein the charging cable comprises at least five cores including a core wire for detecting the voltage applied to the release button circuit from the vehicle to detect depression of the release button.
4. The vehicle charging equipment according to claim 1, further comprising a release button depression determination means that determines depression of the release button based on the voltage detected by the voltage detection unit.
5. The vehicle charging equipment according to claim 1, further comprising a release button depression performing means that renders the release button circuit into a same circuit condition as the release button-pressed state when a remote interrupt signal is input from outside.
6. The vehicle charging equipment according to claim 1, further comprising an alarm means that stops winding the charging cable and sets off an alarm in the event of occurrence of abnormality during winding up of the charging cable.
7. The vehicle charging equipment according to claim 1, wherein the automatic winding-up controller is configured to control the winding-up device to wind up the charging cable at a predetermined time after removal of the charge connector from the vehicle-side connector.