6.99 Cable size calculator tool

Software
#1

Has someone tried the new cable size calculator tool that appeared in the development branch recently, like a week or two ago?

When I try to choose a cable size from the AWG table, or input a diameter or area in mm², nothing happens.
And there is no button to press to calculate, like in the Fusing Current calculator.

If I remember correctly, the very first nightly that contained the cable size calculator did calculate as soon as cable size was chosen or written in the input fields, but with any newer nightly I have tried, it doesn’t work.

I run fedora 35 and the nightly builds from copr, in case it would be build specific.

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I could also add, that unless it has changed, it seemed on the first nightly I mentioned above, that did calculate some numbers, that the two last fields for voltage drop and dissipated power were calculated in Volts and Watts, despite the user interface stating mV and mW.

#2

Yes i think there is some incorrect behavior there. You can open an issue to describe the situation, i was also planning to do so but i am not ready yet.

What is your OS? Fedora i just saw…

#3

Thanks for the reply; then I’m not the only one observing this.

As to reporting an issue:
It has, on this forum, recently been emphatically stated that the number of bugs in the database must be kept down, and that potentially making a duplicate report is about the worst thing you can do to the developers, and I don’t estimate my ability to know for 100% sure that my report isn’t a duplicate, I hesitate to report it.
If someone else who knows how to check for certain to prevent duplicates, and otherwise do it right, wants to report it, have a go at it.

#4

The way to check is just to search in Gitlab issues to see if anything similar already exists: Issues · KiCad / KiCad Source Code / kicad · GitLab

In this case there doesn’t appear to be anything relevant, so please make an issue!

In general, I think there is a small difference of opinion here on how bugs should be reported. I am generally a fan of a cursory check and then reporting. If there’s a duplicate, oh well! It is a large open source project with volunteers to check and label duplicates in addition to the core developers. Better to have duplicates than not report at all.

1 Like
#5

Don’t hesitate to report a bug as long as you’ve made a reasonable effort to look for duplicates (just do a brief search). It’s not the end of the world if a duplicate slips through; their are a number of users who spend too much time lurking on the tracker (like me) who will usually point out the duplicates :slight_smile:

The discussion you’re referencing was regarding a user who was unwilling to do a basic check for duplicates and seemed to value their own time more than others’.

I think blindly keeping the number of bug reports down is misguided; while spurious reports aren’t good, it’s more important to minimize the number of bugs than to minimize the number of bug reports, and bugs don’t get fixed if they aren’t reported.

2 Likes
#6

I think this will work as expected now. JP fixed it with this commit.

@hmk can you try this with the next available nightly?

#7

Now it seems to work properly in metric units, but if you choose linear resistance in the unit ohm per 1000ft, you get a wrong value. It seems to divide the ohm per ft by 1000 instead of multiplying by 1000, so you end up with a value which is 10⁶ (one million) times too small.

I would also find it practical if the last three values under “Application” would have a choice to display in ohms / milliohms, volts / millivolts and watts / milliwatts.

#8

I think the next commit fixed this issue, did you build the commit from my previous comment? With what version did you find that out?

I agree with your last proposal. I will try and we’ll see…

#9

The numbers are now correctly shown in mV and mW, so the previous issue is solved.
The build I tested was until commit c3d95264, so both the cable size commits were included.

What I was dreaming about above, was that the user could choose between mV and V, and mW and W, just like the user can choose units in the other fields of the cable size calculator.