I’m using Kicad 5.1.0 -1 on Windows 10 machine. When I import the net list from my current project to PCBNew it reads it okay except for 2 resistors. The resistors have been associated and annotated in Eeschema. They are from the native symbol library attached to the download for KiCad.
I attempted to add the footprints to PCBNew thinking I could backward associate them to Eeschema but when I went to assign a reference to each resistor the color was different than for the rest of the footprints that imported with the netlist, making me think KiCad doesn’t accept it for some reason. I’m hoping there is an easier way to fix this, or am I missing something. I’m relatively new to Kicad…5th project so far.
Ah yes, you must be a beginner with KiCad. No worries.
Resistors come in very many sizes, from very small SMD’s to very big power resistors.
Therefore the default schematic symbols in Eeschema for transistors do not have any footprint assigned, and it are the footprints that show up in Pcbnew.
So as long as your resistors do not have a footprint, they do not show in Pcbnew.
How did you do those other 5 projects without knowing this?
The simplest way to add a footprint link to a single resistor in Eeschema is to hover over the symbol and press the ‘f’ shortcut key for footprint.
Then press “select” and choose one of the many options from the “Resistor_SMD” or “Resistor_THT” libraries.
There are at least 4, probably more different ways to associate schematic symbols with Footprints in Eeschema. For new schematics I usually associate a footrpint to the first resistor I put in the schematic, and then make copies of that resistor for all the other resistors. Just hovering over a resistor, and pressing ‘c’ for copy is pretty simple and fast.
Also:
If you’re generating netlists, and importing them in Pcbnew, you are using the “old” method of syncing Schematic and Pcb. The newer method is to use [F8].
After posting, I saw you posted this in the CvPCB section, which is another way to associate Schematic symbols with Footprints.
After assigning footprints with CvPCB, you have to save the changes to add the footprints to the schematic.
Alternatively, you can use the “Edit Symbol Fields” spreadsheet in Eeschema to view and copy fields between schematic sybmols.
(This part is not finished in KiCad, but is already quite powerfull. [Ctrl+C] and [Ctrl+V] work in the “Edit Symbol Fields” spreadsheet.
You can find it under this icon in Eeschema:
Thanks for the detailed description. In this case, I have followed standard protocol and Eeschema shows that the symbol is associated with the foot print that I chose. Yet it still doesn’t render in PCBnew.
I do get three error messages but they don’t seem to be related to the resistor issue. The resistors do have unique reference designators. Not sure about import settings? Is there a easy way to check that?
Regarding those three errors on the pin sockets. For J1 you apparently have a 10 pin connector on your schematic, yet you only specify a 9-pin footprint. You probably want the 1x10 footprint. And, for J3 you apparently have an 8 pin connector on your schematic, yet you only specify a 6-pin footprint (2x3). You probably want the 2x04 footprint.
Are the added resistors that you are having problems with R1 and R2 (both seem to be imported ok)? If so, try searching for R1 and R2 using the find tool. They might be there but are hidden somewhere.
You are still using the (old) netlist route instead of the (newer) [F8] method.
If you import the netlist into Pcbnew, it just reads info from a file from disk.
If you do it this way, then you have to manually instruct Eeschema to make a new netlist file before it can be imported into the PCB.
So I put a restor with the same footprint as yours into my schematic:
Then I pressed [F8] and the 0805 resistor gets updated into the PCB flawlessly.
Also:
If you zip your whole project and post it here, then I (or someone else) are very likely to have a look if there are any problems with the schematic.
Turns out the resistors were just buried. I was able to find them using the “find” function. Thanks Sem!
The pin sockets are because I needed 1 9 pin connector but could only find 8 or 10 pin in the libary. I figured it would be harmless to use a 10 pin and tie off the extra pin. Same with the other pin error messages.
Making custom footprints is very easy with the Footprint Editor.
Especially if it can be done with one of the “footprint wizards”.
But I find it strange you could not find 9pin, 10 pin or whatever pin connector in the library.
Both the symbol libraries in Eeschema and the Footprint libraries in Pcbnew have symbols / Footprints for connectors in any pin count upto about 40 or so.
Is it because you use dual row symbols? Because the single row symbols go from 1 pin up to 40 pin in single pin steps. (Symbol Conn_01x09 is what you are looking for)
The dual row connector symbols of course only have an even number of pins.
I agree it seems very odd. Today when I looked the symbols were there. In the past I’ve run into issues not being able to find symbols that turned out to be filter settings. Likely that was the issue this time as well. In any event, all of the error messages are gone now. Thanks to everyone here who chimed in to help me get back on track!
