Pinout check

Pinout check of the new symbol

✍️✍️✍️ 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 When creating or importing new symbols in #kicad I do a manual pinout check. 👩‍💻👨‍💻 I always check both Snapeda.com and Ultralibrarian.com for the availability of the symbol, footprint and 3D

Symbol and footprint checkers

Symbol and footprint checkers in KiCAD

🎩🎩🎩 𝐒𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐂𝐀𝐃 I bet all engineers using #kicad know and use 𝗘𝗥𝗖 (Electrical Rule Check) and 𝗗𝗥𝗖 (Design Rule Check). Not everyone knows and uses Symbol Checker and Footprint Checker in the

Media independent interfaces

Media independent interfaces

🌏🌏🌏 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐈𝐈 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐈𝐈, 𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐈 and 𝐒𝐆𝐌𝐈𝐈 are standards for connecting Ethernet Physical Layer Transceivers (PHYs) to Media Access Control (MAC) devices in networking hardware. They define electrical and signalling characteristics for data transmission between

Custom power symbols in KiCAD

KiCAD custom power symbol edit

🎩🎩🎩 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐂𝐀𝐃 In a nutshell: 1️⃣ You need a custom Power symbol (for a ground or power domain). 2️⃣ Copy the existing generic symbol. 3️⃣ 🔴 Edit 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗹 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲, 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗹 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 and 𝗣𝗶𝗻 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿

BOOT capacitor

Illustrational DCDC converters

📈📈📈 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐂-𝐃𝐂 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 In a DC-DC converter, a bootstrapping capacitor is often used with a high-side gate driver to provide a voltage to drive the gate of a high-side MOSFET (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor). The high-side MOSFET is

Connector boss

Connector boss = connector body pole

🔌 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 „𝐁𝐨𝐬𝐬“: 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 🤗👷‍♂️ We often talk about the „𝐁𝐨𝐬𝐬“ as someone in charge of us, but in the world of connectors, the term „𝐁𝐨𝐬𝐬“ has a different meaning. Connector manufacturers like JST Corporation / Sales

Controllers vs Converters

Differences between DCDC controllers and converters

🔋🔋🔋𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐂-𝐃𝐂 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 ⚡ When working with power supply designs, you’ll often come across two terms: DC-DC controllers and converters. While they may sound similar, they serve different purposes and have unique characteristics. Let’s

Hercules microcontrollers

Hercules microcontrollers

𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬/𝐑𝐌𝟒𝟔 𝐌𝐂𝐔 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐓𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 🔐 When it comes to safety-critical applications, choosing the right microcontroller (MCU) is crucial. The Hercules/RM46 MCU family by Texas Instruments is specifically designed to meet the stringent