US 11,697,314 B2
Cable system for a truck trailer
Adam Slade, Madison, IN (US); Sankalp Pampattiwar, Madison, IN (US); and Cesar Perez-Bolivar, Madison, IN (US)
Assigned to Grote Industries, Inc., Madison, IN (US)
Filed by Grote Industries, Inc., Madison, IN (US)
Filed on Jan. 19, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/151,742.
Application 17/151,742 is a continuation of application No. 16/397,108, filed on Apr. 29, 2019, granted, now 10,926,594.
Prior Publication US 2021/0354521 A1, Nov. 18, 2021
Int. Cl. B60D 1/62 (2006.01); B60R 16/023 (2006.01); B62D 63/08 (2006.01)
CPC B60D 1/62 (2013.01) [B60R 16/0239 (2013.01); B62D 63/08 (2013.01); B60Y 2304/01 (2013.01); H01R 2201/26 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A cable system for a trailer, comprising:
an electrically conductive power cable electrically connectable with one or more trailer components mounted to the trailer, wherein the one or more components include a vehicle tail lamp, or a vehicle turn signal lamp, and wherein at least one of trailer components includes:
a component control circuit electrically connected to the power cable, the ground cable, and the communications cable;
wherein the component control circuit is responsive to the commands sent by the master control circuit; and
wherein the component control circuit is configured to selectively control operation of the at least one trailer component accordingly;
an electrically conductive ground cable electrically connectable to the components of the trailer;
a communications cable separate from the power and ground cables, wherein the communications cable is electrically connected to the trailer components;
a master control circuit electrically connected to the power cable, the ground cable, and the communications cable, wherein the master control circuit is configured to generate and send commands to the trailer components via the communications cable;
an adapter plug with multiple connection terminals corresponding to trailer connection terminals of a truck tractor, the multiple connection terminals including a ground cable connection and multiple power cable connections;
wherein the master control circuit is electrically connected to the ground cable connection and the multiple power cable connections; and
wherein the master control circuit is configured to determine the commands to send to the trailer components based on power received from the multiple connection terminals.