Hi,
I figured out some of my GND-pads are not connected, like this old topic: Some GND Nets Not Connected to Filled GND Zone?
Now I have to fix all of this manually on my PCB (will take hours…).
I assume you mean KiCad not autocad?
Have you run the DRC on the pcb file?
If the pours are not connected, you should see ratnest lines.
Oh my gosh… of course I mean KiCad 
Nope, I didn’t run the DRC check. But this might only show me which pads are not connected. So what’s the regular workflow?
What I did:
Running the DRC check I got way too much markers (autorouting seems to make less gap between traces and vias than KiCad likes…I’ll have an eye on this next time!)
Not sure what you want.
Dont see uncobnected gnd pads.
You have gnd fills separated with bottom layer tracks. The layout itself could probably be improved. If you need solid planes and cannot improve layout, consider going to 4 layers.
The goal is not just to “connect the GND area’s”, but to make these connection a single continuous piece of copper.
To do this, you have to move almost all of the green tracks that cut your GND plane to pieces to the other side of the PCB.
This does indeed take some time, but the time spent is mostly on learning how to “properly” design a PCB, and later you will make your future designs with those rules in mind and do it right the first time.
In your screenshot, those zones are connected via the through hole pads. (Assuming that there is a gnd zone on the red layer as well.)
Well, I remember, that would be better. How can I test if my manual fix has a big impact on the circuit?
besides the crystal for my AtMega2560 (16MHz) and the crystal for my CH340 there is no high frequency on this board. Function is mainly digital (steppermotor on/off, dc-motor on/of, digital densors for ambient temperature), only measuring battery voltage uses analogpins.
Do I have to connect my GND-plane to my Rigol DS1054z and run FFT?
Exactly. The unconnected gnd-pads I already updated in the layout.
Btu I still would like to highlight seperated GND areas in my ground fill area.
That’s the problem. There’s only a gnd zone on the bottom - so some areas are not connected.
I can see them enabling the ratsnest feature. But I’d prefer them to be highlighted in another color, to get a better overview of what’s wrong…
That was my experience as well, and there was no consistency or efficiency in how the traces were laid out either. I even wound up with a bowtie around one LED!
I eventually redid all the boards in my current project, laying them out 100% by hand. Component placement on the board IS key, as is judicious rearrangement of multiple-section components on the schematic.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
