I’ll try to do that way but easy to make mistake. The reason is that in Polish, speaking about what program is doing, we rarely use ‘he’, but we always use verbs in form like for he. Verbs has different form for I , you, he, she, it, we, you (different that single you, and different if you=mens (or mix), you=womans), they.
I didn’t noticed that. As I were not interested in labels I didn’t read them and I was sure that connection betwean lines were intentional. So some my texts based on error in my understanding were wrong I think.
Hope what I will say will be usefull as some basic, but have in mind - I have not big experience with KiCad.
I think there are two ways of working (and any mix of these two ways).
- Fast, experienced work.
Left hand on keyboard, right on mouse. With mouse you point place of your interest, and hit the right hot-key with left hand. I think usefull be to print yourself the hot key list and have it by the hand. - Slow, beginner work.
Point with mouse the interesting place and right-click for context menu. Not sure, but probably in previous KiCad versions not all functions were accessible this way. In V5 I don’t know - I have not been in PcbNew yet, but maybe all is now accessible.
Generally you should start from setting some PCB parameters. Probably KiCad default can be too conservative which can unnecessary prohibit you doing something, but not sure. If you asked next month I will know more as I plan to use KiCad seriously but I start from doing my own footprint and symbol libs (I am in that now) and go to schematic and PCB after that.
You should draw the PCB outline at Edge.Cuts layer (at right you select the layer you are working). Do it with lines tool (not poligon tool !!! ).
Then you can try to route wire after wire without setting anything. With right click on any connection line end you will probably find the function to start track and while routing track you will (right-click) see function to set track width you need (if you previously set the width to select with you can select from them, if not you probably can set any width manually). The tracks you put on PCB are then easy to modify (hot-keys - I don’t remember, maybe changed from previous versions).
The key in your PCB is current I think. I remember somewhere you said 15A. For me the rule is 1mm track is the minimum for 1A, but I assume the standard copper thickness of 35um and I have currents up to 0.5A. You should probably decide first what copper thickness PCB you will order and then check what are the allowed parameters for that thickness offered by PCB manufacturer. For exaple minimum clearance probably (I have no experience) depends on it. When you know copper thickness you can decide track width for each connection based on maximum current. It would be good to take in mind not the current of normal work but the maximum in unexpected situations. It would be better if fuse break the current first than the PCB thack evaporate.
But I am writeing about thinks I have never been working with.
This is a good nugget of wisdom. I was unaware of this trick!
I am going to try to use PCBWAY and here are the settings I have so far.
10 pcs
1 ounce copper
1.6mm thickness - 2 sided
I think I have is set up correctly. Thoughts?
You mentioned some high current considerations previously. Have you checked the size of tracks that you need and if you might need more than the standard 1oz board? In your earlier screen shot, none of the connections look particularly ‘high power’ - is this no longer a consideration? Other general observations; you might consider rotating J8. Not sure which nets will go when/if you pop a GND or 12V pour as some of your crossing tracks might go.
I connected this up on a prototype and found that the current draw was way under what I had listed it as. I think the heavy side of this is only when I have injectors connected to the ECM which is not the case so my tracks can be fairly small on this board. I was hoping to keep the orientation of all my connectors the same but good eye on J8. I reversed it and the connections make more sense. Maybe I should repin on the schematic and then I can have same orientation that I want plus proper trace layout. Thanks for the help.
Yes, it should be good for PCBWAY.
I was going over my PCB and noticed that I had put power on a round pad on connector J4 and J8. Should incoming voltage always be placed on the square pad? Is this a PCB naming convention or rule? What are the thoughts? Change the schematic or leave it alone? I already swapped J8 around so the wires came out better on the PCB.
There are only two conventions of round vs square pads that I’m aware of:
- Pin one is square to help orient polarized parts. All other pins round.
- Pin one and every 10th pin on a connector are square, all other pins are round. This is to help count connector pins, and figure out counting direction for dual row pin header connectors. (I think I first saw this in the standard libraries distributed with OrCad back in the '90s. I don’t know if I’ve noticed this anywhere else.)
I’ve never seen any convention stating that power pins should be square.
if you are actually using digikey for parts, they’ve their own kicad libraries… symbols with associated footprints
https://www.digikey.in/en/resources/design-tools/kicad
how to use the downloaded libraries, check out the tutorials/faqs here -
New question. I rearranged my schematic but want to add a 2 pin male connector so that I can either add an ammeter or a jumper depending on the system I connect it to. Remember this is mostly a power distribution pass through board.
When using power flags, where do I install my ammeter 2 pin connector? Refer to post 86 for a quick visual. I would think putting it on the ground side may be easier but doesn’t matter to me. Just wondering where to insert it. Thanks in advance.
Hey Guys, I revised my schematic somewhat and trying to put it onto PCB now. Any pointers on anything I have done so far? Should I use vias for my last group of connections that are left?
Here is the revised schematic. If you are jumping in now, this is a pass through power distribution board.
Also like to know how to add text to board such as blue text on schematic?
I may be possible to not having any vias… If you restrict wire direction of top and bottom in perpendicular to each other.
Hey nhatkhai, how are you tonight? I am not sure I follow??
Also wondering about line through J6 and J7??? Not sure where this came from.
EDIT: Okay I figured this one out.
I guest, add vias if needed. But your trace seem to be too thin for carry 1A currents.
Right now I am just trying to get the pathways.
If you are planning on having this board professionally made (check out pcbshopper.com for getting informal quotes from lots of vendors based on board dimensions), I see no reason to avoid vias. Long gone are the days of charging per drill hit.
Also, once you see how boards are priced, you may want to tighten up the design as much as you can so you aren’t paying for excessive board real estate.
That might be a mistake. fatter traces might not fit where you want them (though on this design that might not be too much of a concern, but bad habit to get into), and adjusting trace widths after the fact is more fiddly than defining them properly at the start and drawing them properly in the first place.
2 Likes
After short look at your PCB in the direction to minimal number of vias (I don’t like vias if we speak about who knows how many Ampers).
- Can the J9 be moved to the left (or top left) of everything and rotated.
- In such placement as you done.
- the green wire on the right can be put around J9 and can be red,
- the green wire from F2 can be red and go around 2 pins of J5 to thet third pin,
- then you have no green wires betwean J4 and J9.
And now these 3 connections you can all done (at green) without any via (one directly one around one connector and one around second connector.