Wire harness including short circuit and production method therefor

Abstract

A wire harness capable of forming a short circuit by use of a plurality of electric wires and a joint connector while being slenderized and reduced in weight. The wire harness includes a plurality of circuit modules each forming a short circuit. Each of the circuit modules, includes a plurality of electric wires, and a plurality of external-connection connectors, connected to respective first ends of the electric wires, and a joint connector, connected to respective second ends of the electric wires to short-circuit the electric wires. The electric wires constituting the circuit modules are bundled together so that the joint connector of each of the circuit modules is discretely disposed so as to be located in a vicinity of at least one of the external-connection connectors included in the circuit module, around which electric wires a binding tape is wound.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for producing a wire harness which comprises a plurality of circuit modules for forming a plurality of short circuits, each of the circuit modules including a plurality of electric wires respectively, a plurality of external-connection connectors connected to respective first ends of the electric wires; and a joint connector connected to respective second ends, opposite to the first ends respectively, of the electric wires to short-circuit the second ends of the electric wires, the method comprising:
 a trunk-line forming step of bundling the electric wires included in the circuit modules to form a trunk line;   an external-connection-connector connecting step of connecting the external-connection connector to the first end of each of the electric wires, before or after the trunk-line forming step;   a joint-connector connecting step of connecting the joint connector commonly to the second ends of the electric wires included in a common one of the circuit modules, before or after the trunk-line forming step, to short-circuit the second ends; and   a step of winding a binding tape around the electric wires constituting the trunk line to keep the electric wires bound and continuously winding the binding tape across and around the joint connector and the trunk, in a joint-connector setup location on the trunk line, to thereby fix the joint connector onto the trunk line, following completion of the aforementioned steps,   wherein the trunk-line forming step includes wiring the electric wires included in each of the circuit modules in such a manner that the joint connector to be connected to the second ends of the electric wires of the circuit module through the joint-connector connecting step is discretely disposed so as to be located in a vicinity of at least one of the external-connection connectors included in the circuit module.   
     
     
         2 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the joint-connector connecting step includes: extracting specific ones of the electric wires included in the trunk line formed through the trunk-line forming step, as a plurality of branch wires; connecting the joint connector to ends of the branch wires to short-circuit the branch wires; and continuously winding the binding tape, in the joint-connector setup location, across and around the joint connector, the branch wires connected to the joint connector, and the trunk line, to fix the joint connector onto the trunk line. 
     
     
         3 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein: the trunk-line forming step includes a use of a combination of a copper-based electric wire comprising a conductor made of copper or a copper alloy and a non-copper based electric wire comprising a conductor made of a material other than copper and a copper alloy and having a weight per unit length and a diameter at least one of which is less than that of the copper-based electric wire, as the electric wires included in at least one of the circuit modules; and the joint-connector connecting step includes attaching a plurality of wire terminals to the respective second ends, opposite to the first ends respectively, of the copper-based and non-copper based electric wires and fitting the wire terminals with a short-circuiting conductor included in the joint connector and adapted to be fitted with the wire terminals to thereby short-circuit the second ends of the electric wires. 
     
     
         4 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the binding tape is wound, consecutively following at least one turn around the joint connector in the joint-connector setup location, across and around the joint connector around which the binding tape has been already wound and the trunk line continuously to thereby fix the joint connector onto the trunk line. 
     
     
         5 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the binding tape is preferably wound, consecutively following at least one turn around the joint connector in the joint-connector setup location, across and around the joint connector around which the binding tape has been already wound and the trunk line continuously to thereby fix the joint connector onto the trunk line. 
     
     
         6 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein, a first binding tape and a second binding tape are used as the binding tape, and the first binding tape is wound around the electric wires constituting the trunk line to keep the electric wires bound and, in a setup location of the joint connector, continuously wound across and around the joint connector and the trunk line, while the second binding tape is wound from outside of the first binding tape in a setup location of the joint connector on the trunk line in order to assist tightening the joint connector onto the trunk line by the first binding tape. 
     
     
         7 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein: the binding tape is wound around the trunk line; thereafter the joint connector is placed on the binding tape wound around the trunk line; and the binding tape is continuously wound across and around the joint connector and the trunk line around which the binding tape has been already wound.