Im having a problem, when I create a custom component in library editor then create the corresponding footprint, my pins in the component dont automatically attach to the pins of the footprint. Is there a way to associate these two? Ive named them the same name and in the component editor the “net name” field is grayed out.
When I go to PCBnew im allowed to put in a net name but i have no clue what the net name is.
Any help would be appreciated on this.
Thanks.
Did you connect the pins in the schematic with wires & created the netlist etc.?
The pin-numbers (not names or whatever) must match between a schematic symbol and associated footprint. Net names will be filled in automatically for connected pins (via the netlist).
Yes, I learned pretty quickly to generate my netlist every time i make an edit on the schematic. The pins are all connected to something else via wires also. Every time I make a change on the schematic and regenerate in PCBnew the connections i had for my part disappear, but none of the other custom parts do that.
Does the ERC show unconnected pins?
It gave me a bunch of warnings on pins that are not connected to anything, but nothing about the part in question. my board is just a simple arduino uno with some 7 segment displays and a custom made rotary encoder. So my warnings were mostly on unconnected pins of the ATMEGA328P IC, and a few on my 7 segment displays, but like i said the warnings were just no connection when I ran the ERC.
Are the files available somewhere, maybe github?
No I don’t currently use Github. Would it have something to do with the pin number in part creation? I gave all the pins names, but not pin numbers.
There is your problem. The pin numbers are what link from schematic symbol to pcb footprint, not the pin names. You don’t have to show the pin numbers, but they do need to be uniquely defined for each schematic symbol.
One trick for shielded connectors that I use: I have a single pin in the schematic symbol (I usually use pin number 0 for this) so I can choose if I want the shield connected to GND. Then in my footprint all the pads where the shield is soldered to the board (often at least 2 places) are defined with all the same pin number. It is perfectly fine to have multiple pads with the same number in the footprint, and they all will be connected to the net that the corresponding pin on the schematic is.
Read my first comment carefully until you get it.