I also had some trouble adjusting, especially when all the icons changed (there is a long thread about that on this forum) but KiCad V6 has many enhancements over it’s predecessors.
My best guess is that you are struggling with some basic concepts, and try to use KiCad by using a “bag of tricks”. For example:
Those “flags” are called labels, and if they do not work in some situation, that would be a very serious bug. It’s more likely you are not using them in the right way. KiCad has 3 different sets of labels (Local, Global, and Hierarchical) and labels are also case sensitive and they have a very specific attachment point. (especially with local labels that can be missed).
I’m guessing you mostly started using KiCad by experimenting. It may help if you combine that with reading parts of the available documentation. This likely gives more meaning to your “bag of tricks” and help you to make better PCB’s and make them more effectively.
No. Every connection between pins is a net. A connection can be made with wires. Even a labeled wire, if it isn’t connected to pins, doesn’t form a net. A label connected to wires/pins can be used to give a name to a net explicitly, otherwise the name is automatically generated using the connected symbol/pin data.
Ok no one knows how to make reliable nets in kicad 6
Imported a project from 5 to 6 expecting to find a feature asked for thee
Needed to make a few minor amendments to said project Should have been a ten to fifteen minute job. Took about 2 hours which I will never get back.
A minor edit to the schematic broke random nets in PCB Repairing broken links broke other random links
This could be linked to some unexpected behaviour between symbols and footprints
However the prototype is now signed off and kicad 6.02 consigned to the bit bin. Future projects specifying the kicad platform won’t be on version 6 anytime soon. It isn’t a platform used a lot but is sometimes specified for whatever reason
I have opened at least 10 version 5 projects in 6.0.x to modify them as original parts not available and not had an issue with any of them.
If there was an issue with this then this forum would be full of reports of
which they are not.
It may help if you describe what issues you have had so that maybe forum members can help with your workflow and overcome them.
I have moved some complex 4 and 6 layer PCBs from V5.1 to V6.0.x without any schematic or PCB connection problems
My issues were just3D models missing as these are not cached in the files and I had to add a legacy model path and the improved error checking complaining about badly placed silkscreen refs
I fail to understand what jimmi is meaning here, and my best guess is that he’s trying to something very much against the way KiCad works, or he has an unusual workflow that triggers an obscure bug.
Still they are not synonymous because a net can be created without wires, at least with overlapping symbol pin ends and putting labels directly to pins.
Then, as a technical detail, there are single pin nets. Each unconnected pin forms its own net. I don’t know why.
Wires and nets are very much related. I think we can agree on that.
In KiCad there simply is no function to draw nets.
you can generate a net in the schematic by either drawing wires between schematic symbols or attaching labels to the pins of schematic symbols.
It’s also possible to insert two schematic symbols next to each other, which will add pin connections to the netlist if pin endpoints map.
Or maybe jimmi was referring to the netlist tools in the PCB editor.
The simple reason is that, architecturally speaking, each pin must be in a net. Attaching labels to a pin does not “create” a net, it just renames it. The net list is a list of all the pins in a design, whether or not those pins are connected to other pins. There are valid reasons to want single-pin nets (for example, antennas, capacitive sensors, etc)
Without seeing the project files before and after the edits and a detailed explanation of what happened vs. what was expected to happen, I can only guess.
My guess is you had some nets with automatically generated net names assigned to specific netclasses and/or zones. Then after making changes to the schematic new automatically generated names were given to the nets and PCBNew got lost. If you need to assign a specific netclass or zone to a net, best practices are to manually name the net using a label.
@Andy_P and @eelik - Can we kindly stop the nitpicking arguing about nets vs. wires if we agree that “wires” are a subset of the “net” superset? Getting down into those weeds does nothing but further confuse @jimmi who is trying to get a grasp on the basic concepts.
Are you using KiCad 6.0.3? There was a nasty bug in 6.0.3 that could be causing your type of problem. If so, update to 6.0.4 and see if that resolves your issues.
I got sucked into Kicad 6 too and got grief
Connections in schematic aren’t all transferred to PCB ratsnest. Pads that are connected in Schematic aren’t connected in PCB and show as no net.
Deleting and replacing a symbol sometimes fixes the net in PCB
If there is a junction on a net in Schematic there is no hope of a net in PCB
Global labels don’t connect in PCB as well
Net labels aren’t reliable either. Connect in PCB sometimes and sometimes not. Think it is related to the junction problem
All seems to be related to some tie up between symbols footprints pins pads and nets
Updating Schematic from PCB does not work
Kicad 6 is basically unreliable currently
The work around is to export nets in Schematic and import nets in PCB Seems to work on a small sample of instances
The net function seems to be depreciated in Kicad 6 for reasons unfathomable
PCB DRC is pretty scrappy too. Doesn’t catch all errors
Copying symbols in Schematic isn’t so good now too. Changed to ctrl c and ctrl v. Not a convent as previous where just pressing c copied a symbol ready to place.
Probably not a good idea to use 6 for anything that matters in it current form.
Which exact version do you have / had when you had those problems?
Could you show us the version info from:
Help → About KiCad → Copy version information
If recall correctly, v6.0.3 windows installer was not added to the download page at all (or sit there for several hours only, so I didn’t spot it). This serious bug was reported at early release of kicad version for linux (and maybe mac) only. Linux installer of v6.0.3 was available for day or two, but sadly, ubuntu autoupdater got that for many linux users.