Hi, I am trying to create my first pcb it’s an MPPT circuit and power line should be able to withstand 15A. I checked for 15A I need to use zones instead of tracks. But I cant use zones with my regular nets (for example net for the drain of mosfet or inductor is not labeled specifically so when I select a zone it doesnt fill for the net but it creates the zone like this picture below.
I saw that when I label every high current wire specifically from the schematics editor I can do the zone filling for the labeled nets but I dont think this should be the right approach for zone filling, do I really need to label every trace with high current to make it like a zone ? Like below picture
Also when I do the labeling and filling, at the end when I try to create ground plane by zone filling it coincide and zone also cover and overlap zones belonging to different nets. What can I do for this problem as well ?
What you mean should be coupled to the required net? I had to create private labels to see the required net for the path like the picture below to create zone. Which just makes schematic complicated I dont think this should be the right way.
I had to create private labels to see the required net for the path like the picture below to create zone
Yes, that’s the way to go if you want to connect the pads with zones.
Which just makes schematic complicated I dont think this should be the right way.
So your thinking collides with the kicad manual. I would recommend to follow the manual, not your thinking.
If you want a cleaner look you may change the size of the label to a much smaller font.
Also when I do the labeling and filling, at the end when I try to create ground plane by zone filling it coincide and zone also cover and overlap zones belonging to different nets.
Every zone needs a different priority.
In general I personally would connect the pads with simple tracks. Use a big trackwidth of 5mm were possible. It’s probably needed to decrease the trackwidth before approaching the pad.
@RobK : Relying on the autogenerated net names for zone fillings is not recommended. The autogenerated netnames can change at every time, this doesn’t produces a robust schematic/board. I would clearly advice against relying on the automatic names.
First, use local labels, not global. Local labels don’t look so prominent. Usually you should use global labels only if you need them to be global. If you don’t know what it means or don’t feel you need global, then you don’t need global.
If you have that checked, you don’t see the automatic net names – but notice what mf_ibfeew said about them. If a connection is important enough to get a zone, it’s important enough to get a name. Create functionally meaningful names which describe the purpose of the net, not “C17_pos” or anything like that. Short but meaningful.
I don’t think “private” is a term that appears in the documentation. There are automatically assigned net names and user assigned net names. The former are not stable as mentioned.
