OBD2 Type B Cable for Medium-Duty Truck Pinouts

Q: What is the minimum order?

Prototypes start at 5 pcs with a 3 working day turnaround. Production starts at 500 pcs and ships 14 working days after sample approval.

Overview

An obd2 type b cable covers the medium-duty chassis that do not follow the light-duty Type A pinout. Delivery vans, box trucks, motorhome chassis and a long list of cab-over and cutaway platforms present the same 16-pin J1962 shell with a different assignment behind it, and a passenger-car scanner lead simply lands on the wrong pins — which shows up as a tool that powers up and then cannot talk to anything. This cable is built to the Type-B definition you supply, with unswitched battery, ground, ignition sense and the bus lines broken out the way your telematics device needs them.

Key Specifications

Connector A	Type-B 16-pin plug, pinout per chassis definition
Connector B	16-pin female socket, or bare-wire breakout / ring terminals
Cable length	1 m standard; other lengths to order
Jacket	Flexible PVC or TPU in black, selected by build
System voltage	12 V / 24 V
Build option	In-line extension or hardwired breakout with ignition sense
Documentation	Printed pinout card supplied with each build

Why we do not publish one Type B pinout

Type A is defined: SAE J1962 fixes the connector and ISO 15031-3 fixes the assignment for on-board diagnostics, so CAN sits on pins 6 and 14 and battery on 16. Type B is not one thing. It is a family of chassis-level assignments that share a shell and a mounting position, and several of them differ from each other as much as they differ from Type A. Any page that prints a single Type B chart is guessing.

What to verify	Why it differs	How to confirm
Which pins carry the CAN pair	Not always 6 and 14 on medium-duty platforms	Chassis service manual, or meter the port
Whether a second bus is present	Some platforms run a separate low-speed or proprietary bus	Manufacturer pin list for the platform
Where unswitched battery sits	Determines whether the device sleeps with the key off	Meter pin 16 and the candidate pins against ground
Which ground is which	Chassis and signal ground are not interchangeable on some ECUs	Continuity to the shell and to the battery negative
Manufacturer-discretion pins	Frequently used for fleet or body-builder functions	Body builder drawing where one exists

So the honest answer is: send us the pinout, or send us a known-good cable and we will copy it. We build to that, and every build ships with a printed pinout card so the next installer does not have to guess either. The 16-pin side of the comparison, including the full Type A pin list, is in our J1939 vs OBD2 connector guide.

Two builds, and which one fleets actually order

Build	Ends	Best for
In-line	Type-B 16-pin plug to a female 16-pin socket, 1 m	Dongles and trackers that plug in and can be removed for service
Breakout	Type-B 16-pin plug to flying leads or ring terminals, 1 m	Hardwired telematics mounted behind the dash or above the fusebox

The breakout build is the one most telematics installers ask for. A hardwired unit cannot be unplugged by a driver, it frees the port for the next service visit, and it lets the device hide above the fusebox rather than dangle in the footwell where it gets kicked. The in-line build still wins where a device has to move between vehicles or come out for warranty work.

Installation notes from the field

Confirm the pinout before you crimp anything. The 16-pin shell is used with several assignments and no single cable fits every chassis.
Fuse at the take-off point, not mid-cable, at the value your device maker specifies. An inline fuse in the middle of a lead protects the lead, not the vehicle.
Route along the existing dash harness, clear of the steering column, pedal arms, seat slide mechanisms and the heater outlet.
Secure every 150 to 200 mm with factory-style clips or loom tape, and leave a small service loop at the connector.
Do not let the plug body carry the weight of the device. Strain relief belongs on the cable and on the device mount.

Ignition sense and battery drain

Where an installation has to sleep with the key off, the optional ignition-sense lead is the cheap answer, but it only helps if the chassis actually presents a switched feed at the port — on some medium-duty platforms it does not, and the device has to derive sleep from bus activity or a timer instead. Tell us which of the three you are designing to and we will populate the lead accordingly.

Typical applications for this obd2 type b cable

Fleet telematics on mixed medium-duty fleets, one cable per pinout group rather than one universal part
Hardwired tracking units that must not be unplugged by the driver, often with our OBD2 splitter USB charger cable on the in-line port
Insurance and driver-behavior dongles on van and box-truck fleets
Tachograph and compliance downloads where the tool has to sit at the port for a full shift, alongside our OBD2 extension flat cable
Body-builder and upfitter harnesses that need battery, ground and ignition at the dash

What we need from you

Chassis make, model and model year — or the VIN range if the fleet is mixed.
The port pinout, or a known-good cable, or a clear photo of the vehicle socket.
In-line or breakout build, and the end treatment on the breakout.
Whether ignition sense is required.
Length, and quantity.

Where a fleet runs several platforms we usually quote one part number per pinout group. Compatibility is checked per order; we are not an OEM supplier to the vehicle manufacturers named above.

Workmanship and testing

ISO 9001 covers the system and IPC/WHMA-A-620 Class 3 covers the work on OBD2 Type B builds, across 32 to 12 AWG. continuity and pinout are tested on each OBD2 unit before it is packed, and seal checking is quoted whenever an ingress rating is on the drawing.

RoHS and REACH declarations are provided per project together with the agreed test reports; the documentation scope is listed under certifications and compliance. If your drawing specifies a UL style, we build to that drawing and supply the UL reference with the shipment instead of substituting an equivalent. The molded body is shot on our own presses; material choice and bond behavior follow the process described under overmold materials and injection parameters. The wider context is covered under our automotive and EV work. Any tooling we cut for this part stays yours, maintained in our own tool room under your part reference.

Custom builds and ordering

OBD2 Type B lots run from 1 to 50 pcs, out in 3 working days; volume starts at MOQ 500 pcs shipping 14 working days after approval. Tooling not already held adds around 10 working days. OBD2 orders go out under your part number and labeling, OEM or ODM, and material certificates and first-article reports are on offer.

Related OBD and telematics leads

Full range: automotive cable and wire harness assemblies.

Frequently Asked Questions

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For a related configuration, see the OBD2 Extension Flat Cable, 16-Pin Male to Female Ribbon Lead.

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Is Type B the same as a heavy-duty 9-pin port?

No. Type B refers to a 16-pin J1962 shell with a non-light-duty assignment. The round 9-pin port is a different connector entirely and takes a J1939 adapter.