Pin not driven - yet connected

[Curtis_Newton]

Hi,

this is driving me crazy

I am a complete noob to kicad, so I try to make a schematic, then subdivide it for clarity, using pin labels (ports?)

now when I run a check all my pins are triggering errors in the rule checker

what do I do wrong ?

thanks for your help

[paulvdh]

https://forum.kicad.info/search?q=pin%20connected%20to%20other%20pins%20but%20not%20driven%20by%20any%20pin%20category%3A19

[Curtis_Newton]

it’s connected to a power pin (vcc and +5V) it should not trigger an alarm
hence my post

[paulvdh]

You have to add the: “PWR_FLAG” symbol to the Vcc net (and probably also to the GND net. Search this forum for “PWR_FLAG” to learn what it is and how it works.

[Curtis_Newton]

@paulvdh

PWR_FLAG

why is it not automatic, if I choose VCC or +5V, it’s obviously not a piece of chicken

[bobc]

@Curtis_Newton

why is it not automatic, if I choose VCC or +5V, it’s obviously not a piece of chicken

If it was automatic, it would defeat the purpose, which is to help the designer think about what they are doing.

Seems to have worked perfectly

Btw, you probably only need the +5V power label. But none of them provide power.

[paulvdh]

@Curtis_Newton

why is it not automatic, if I choose VCC or +5V, it’s obviously not a piece of chicken

Please do some reading before commenting.
There are very good reasons and this subject has been spelled out tens of times on this forum.

[Curtis_Newton]

yep indeed, makes sens…so as far as I understand it is needed for standalone boards not connected to regulators and such

sorry for the dumb question, it will take a while to change my habbits from eagle

[bobc]

You also only need one GND label.

[Curtis_Newton]

is it not what I’ve done ?

[Jonathan_Haas]

You don’t need a GND global label as well as the GND symbol. Use one or the other. GND symbols are connected automatically anyway.

[Curtis_Newton]

thx, I was wondering which one to use, labels or components

[bobc]

For GND or power, I prefer the power symbols. Some people use global labels for power.

You have also added local labels which is superfluous, and will be overridden anyway.

[Curtis_Newton]

local labels ? you mean +5V ? I’ll remove them

[Rene_Poschl]

@Rene_Poschl

Connections Without Wires (Power Symbols and Labels)

KiCad has 3 ways to make connections without needing to draw a wire.

• Global labels: two (or more) labels with the same name are connected no matter on which sheet they are.
• Power symbols: These are special symbols that work as a global label
• Local labels: two (or more) local labels are connected if they are on the same sheet.

There is also a fourths type of label, the hierarchical label. This label is special as it is used to define the interface of a hierarchical sheet. See: Hierarchical or flat schematic design, what is best for me? (How to deal with multi page schematics?)

The following picture shows the 3 label types next to their respective buttons that add them. As with a pin or wire the thin square marker shows where you can connect something to the.

Edit: i just added a screenshot to my tutorial to show how each label type looks like and what button adds each of them.

[SembazuruCDE]

Also regarding the need for PWR_FLAG (@Curtis_Newton seems to have sorted, but I’m adding this to others who find this thread searching for help), there is this useful FAQ entry:

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

Additional reading about pin types in general: Electrical type of schematic symbol pins (KiCad 4 and KiCad 5) A good explanation about power symbols can be found in this stackexchange answer by @Seth_h KiCad does check if every component is connected to supply lines (*1) as a missing supply is a common mistake to make. Getting the error “ErrType(3): Pin connected to some others pins but no pin to drive it” means that KiCad thinks that some supply pin is not properly connected. Either because …

Personally, because PWR_FLAG is necessary in some cases I like to make it necessary on my schematics for all cases for consistency reasons. Especially since I use the PWR_FLAG symbol as documentation for the source of power. Thus, even on power regulators I use power input type pins on the outputs. If you want to also follow suit, please recognize that my technique will then no longer trap the error of connecting the output of two different regulators together.

[bson]

You can also edit the connector and save it locally for your project, as a power connector with the pins properly categorized. Then you won’t need the PWR_FLAG hack (which only adds a token output pin to a net otherwise consisting of all inputs and passives).