Relays library not loading (SOLVED)

[dpetican]

I recently installed Kicad 4.06 a few days ago and have a strange problem with the the relays library. So in my project this is what I am doing:

Preferences->Component Libraries
Click on Add button
Navigate to: C:\Program Files\KiCad\share\kicad\library
Select relays.lib then click on Open
Click on Okay

When I try and place a part I get an error message (see pic). Thanks for the help. Otherwise Kicad has been awesome so far.

[Joan_Sparky]

Did you download the relay library yourself?
Can you attach it’s content or add the first couple lines to a post?

[dpetican]

No I did not download it but I did try that afterwards. Sorry I can’t attach files because I am a newbie. Anyway the files are stock with the 4.06 release. Is anyone else having similar issues?

[Joan_Sparky]

I was assuming you donwloaded them and snatched the html content instead of the library content, that’s why I asked.
The lib seems to be there, it’s got the correct extension, but KiCAD doesn’t like it’s content, thus we would need to look inside.

[Sprig]

@Joan_Sparky

I was assuming you donwloaded them and snatched the html content instead of the library content

I think you are probably correct. I’ve done that, even when I should have known better…

[dpetican]

So to be clear I had the same problem with the relays.lib installed with Kicad v4.06 and the latest version from github. In fact I downloaded the complete library and installed it in place of the one that came with 4.06 Not only did I have the same problem with relays.lib but also some others. I’ve reverted back.

When do I stop being a newbie

[dpetican]

Hmm just checked something. I opened relays.lib with notepad and it was properly formatted. Meaning it appeared to have a CR LF at the end of every line. Opening other libs in the same way seems to indicate they are terminated with a LF only. Linux origins no doubt.

Okay I stripped the CR from the relay.lib and relays.dcm and it did not fix the problem. Nice try though

Speaking of Linux I will have to check if this is a problem on my desktop when I get back to it.

[Sprig]

@dpetican

When do I stop being a newbie

@dpetican

Sorry I can’t attach files because I am a newbie.

When you can attach files?

These are the first two lines of my relay library.

EESchema-LIBRARY Version 2.3
#encoding utf-8

What are your first two lines?

And, Notepad ++ or Atom is much MUCH better then Notepad … oooohhh sorry, I’m yelling again…

[Rene_Poschl]

The path in the error message differs from the path you mention above. (The path where kicad libs are installed by the installer is what you named above.)

Is there a relay.lib file in C:\Users\User\Documents\KicadLib\relays.lib?

If kicad finds a lib in a search path with higher priority then the system libs, it will take this lib.
I just answered something similare here:

Library names in schematic files irrelevant?

In eeschema the library name where a specific symbol came from is not stored with the symbol placed in the schematic. For this reason symbol names need to be unique across all libraries. Kicad takes the symbol from the lib with the highest priority if there is a name conflict. (The priority is determined by the order in the component libraries dialog.) [image] Something similar happens to lib names. If you have multiple libs with the same name, kicad takes the one it finds in the searchpath…

[dpetican]

@Rene_Poschl

The path in the error message differs from the path you mention above. (The path where kicad libs are installed by the installer is what you named above.)

Is there a relay.lib file in C:\Users\User\Documents\KicadLib\relays.lib?

If kicad finds a lib in a search path with higher priority then the system libs, it will take this lib.

Arrrgh! That’s it. What happened is that when I first installed Kicad I created my own private library for custome parts. Then I needed an old fashioned relay. I didn’t know then that the relay library was available locally so I downloaded a copy to my private lib that didn’t work. I forgot to remove it. Thanks.