ERC on imported schematic errors on power connectors

[wsm]

I am running ERC on an Eagle imported schematic on the nightly build, and need to understand this message and how to fix:

1. Will it blend? (Blendtec’s will it blend youtube)
2. Although it is listed as an error, is it really?
3. Will it still let me layout?
4. How can I make it happy? (Where is its stomach? What kind of food?)

thanks!

[wsm]

Also found the following problem. A crossed wire got unconnected and reconnected during the “align to grid” which was done to 25 mil and then again to 50 mil, and the system complains about two labels.

[gkeeth]

See this FAQ: ErrType(3): Pin connected to some others pins but no pin to drive it

The short version is that ERC expects a pin of type “power output” on +12V net, but doesn’t find one, so it thinks the net is undriven. As a human engineer, you can see if that’s actually true, or if the net is in fact driven by something that KiCad doesn’t understand is a power source (for example, a connector to an external power supply). There is a dummy symbol PWR_FLAG in the power symbol library that can be added to the net to politely tell KiCad that the net is actually driven.

to answer your questions:

1. From what I’ve seen, blendtec blends most things
2. It might be or it might not be; is that net actually getting +12V from somewhere? It probably is, and KiCad just doesn’t understand where it’s coming from.
3. Yes, you can layout (but check that it’s not a real design issue!)
4. Add a PWR_FLAG to that net, assuming that it’s not a real design issue.

[gkeeth]

Hard to say here, but check that the wires and there connections match the original schematic, and check that all the labels are placed on the right wires.

[alexisvl]

I know this isn’t the world’s most useful reply, but just in general, I would never bother running ERC on an imported project (unless I was looking to fully port the whole project over to KiCad, in which case there’d be a phase of re-drawing a lot of it). ERC is very coupled to KiCad’s particular quirks/conventions.

[wsm]

I am porting the project over. Just wanted some feedback. The power flag will be a good touch, once I figure that out.

I think that when the “align to grid” happens, if 2 wires are touching, KiCad hiccups. I’ll check that hypothesis out later.

Deleting wires and reconnecting worked for fixing the duplicate label war. Now on to the power connector.

[wsm]

@gkeeth

• From what I’ve seen, blendtec blends most things
• It might be or it might not be; is that net actually getting +12V from somewhere? It probably is, and KiCad just doesn’t understand where it’s coming from.
• Yes, you can layout (but check that it’s not a real design issue!)
• Add a PWR_FLAG to that net, assuming that it’s not a real design issue.

Thanks!

Yes, is an external power supply. Thanks for the PWR_FLAG. Will find it.

The project is adapting the cypress cy8ckit-059 board to a RAMPS 1.4 3d printer interface board.

I have the software at the 85% to 90% mark. Will release just in time for no semiconductor parts to be available anywhere in the world.