Multiple

Harnesses at Connectors

There are several features to support the representation of complex harnesses. For example, you can draw a composite harness with option-tagged bundles and slots, and variantly-placed devices. This topology can then be filtered to display particular vehicle configurations. However, you may want to manage multiple, composite harnesses targeted at a particular region or other major vehicle variant.

For example:

Rather than have a single complex instrument panel (IP) harness, you may prefer to manage a composite left-hand drive (LHD) harness as well as a separate, composite right-hand drive (RHD) harness.

To model multiple, complex harness variants, you model the interface between two or more harnesses on one side of an inline and a single composite harness on the other. For example, where the LHD IP and the RHD IP meet the body harness, there is a single inline connector on the body harness which needs to mate to either the LHD IP or the RHD IP.

Graphically, this displays as multiple bundles connected to the same inline. You add option expressions to the bundles to allow them to be filtered.

The primary scenario for multiple harnesses at a connector is at an inline connector, for instance, modeling wires poked home at an inline. However, there are some cases where you may want to have multiple harnesses at a connector on a slot, for example, if the LHD IP and RHD IP harnesses connect to the same junction box. In this case, you may not want to duplicate the connectors on the slot.

Figure 11: Example of Complex Harnesses Modeled without Multiple Harnesses at a Connector

LHD IP and RHD IP are shown as filtered in the first two pictures. The third picture shows both harnesses unfiltered. Note that a dummy harness is required to join the two IP harnesses to the door harness.

Figure 12: Example of Complex Harnesses Modeled with Multiple Harnesses at a Connector

Both IP harnesses are connected to the single door harness via a single inline connector.

Scenarios Modeled Using Multiple Harnesses at a Connector

The use of multiple harnesses at a connector enables you to model various scenarios.

• Mutually exclusive harnesses and connectors (including many-to-many mating) In this case, the cavities on the connector are connected to wires from multiple harnesses. You apply option expressions to the harnesses to ensure that only one is active at a time. You can connect a cavity to wires from different harnesses only if the signals on these wires are the same. If the connectors for these harnesses have different library parts, you must model this in connector refinement.

• Modular connectors (multiple harnesses that meet at a single modular connector) This is where the topology connector represents multiple physical connectors and it would be modeled in connector refinement.

• Poke home wires (wire from one harness plugged into the connector of another harness at installation) This is where a wire is to be connected to a connector at harness installation time rather than harness manufacture time. This setting is not reflected graphically in the topology design but is passed on to Capital Harness Designer during synchronization. When this information is transferred to Capital Harness Classic or Capital Harness Designer, the connector is marked as Not on BOM. If any wire in a bundle is poked home, all wires in that bundle are poked home. A simple case being where a harness has only poked home wires at a connector; all bundles at that connector for that harness contain only poke home wires. A more complex case is a modular connector where one or more wires from one harness are poked home into the connector of the other harness. Figure 13: Modular Connector with Poked Home Wire Here P1 and P2 are modules of a single modular connector. You can model this with a takeout near the connector such that WIRE3, the poke home wire, enters the connector on a bundle of its own. This matches how the harness would be manufactured. Figure 14: Topology Modeling of a Modular Connector with Poked Home Wire You apply constraints to the poke home bundle to ensure that the correct signals are routed that way. The poke home setting displays and edited in the Routes tab of the Edit Properties dialog box for the slot connector. You can model this scenario with two slot connectors, one for each module. Figure 15: Modeling of Modular Connector with Poke Home

Composite Wiring Synthesis and Multiple Harnesses at a Connector

In some scenarios, composite wiring synthesis creates a jumper wire at a connector. Generally, the jumper wire is just placed into the harness connected to the connector. With multiple harnesses, the wire is placed in the first suitable harness found. You can, however, use constraints on bundles or harnesses to control the placement of the wire.

Synchronization with Capital Harness Designer

If you synchronize a design containing multiple harnesses at a connector with a Capital Harness Designer design, Capital Harness Designer recognizes that not all the nodes at a connector belong to the harness being edited. In addition, it recognizes that just because a cavity has no wire in this harness, it does not mean a plug should be inserted into the cavity. The cavity might be required for a wire on another harness.

Example High-Level Flows Using Multiple Harnesses at Connectors

The following examples give high-level details of how multiple harnesses at connectors may be used.

Example Flow 1

1. Add a new bundle that either starts or finishes at a connector that is already connected to another bundle; the system treats this as a new connection to a complex connector junction.

2. Add option expressions to the bundles to identify their applicability.

3. Specify bundles at the connector that contain poke home wires.

4. Synchronize the data with a design in Capital Harness Classic or Capital Harness Designer; the system treats the complex junction as if there is a connector applicable to each harness. Note All other tools that access the data (including reports, design rule checks and Capital E/E Reporter) treat the complex junction as if multiple bundles are connected to a single connector.

Example Flow 2

In this example, there are two mutually exclusive harnesses for the engine, a LHD and a RHD harness. They both need to connect to the IP harness, currently they are connected via two separate inlines. There are no constraints on either harness or inline.

1. Select the inline for the RHD engine harness and delete it.

2. Connect the dangling bundle from the RHD harness to the remaining inline that is connecting the LHD harness to the IP harness; both harnesses now connect to the same inline.

3. Run Composite Wiring Synthesis; the results show the wiring for both harnesses passing successfully through the inline and into the correct harness.

4. Check the signal map for the inline; the wires for signals that are common to both harnesses flow through the same cavities.

5. Synchronize the data with a design in Capital Harness Classic or Capital Harness Designer; the system treats the complex junction as if there is a connector applicable to each harness. Note All other tools that access the data (including reports, design rule checks and Capital E/E Reporter) treat the complex junction as if multiple bundles are connected to a single connector.

Parent Topic:

Creating Bundles and Harnesses

Capital Systems Integrator User Guide, 2512.2606

Unpublished work. © 2026 Siemens