Welcome to Electronics & PCB design
From your first LED and resistor to a four-layer board with a microcontroller on it, this is the place to learn and share electronics: schematic capture and layout in KiCad, EasyEDA and other tools, circuit theory, choosing parts, ordering boards from fabrication houses, assembly and testing.
What belongs here
• Learning electronics: Ohm's law, power, transistors, op-amps and how to read a datasheet
• Circuit design and review requests
• PCB layout: footprints, routing, ground planes and design rule checks
• Preparing Gerbers, drill files and assembly files for ordering
• Test equipment: multimeters, oscilloscopes, bench supplies and logic analysers
What goes elsewhere
• Programming microcontrollers: ESP32 & microcontrollers
• Raspberry Pi and SBC projects: Raspberry Pi & SBCs
• Repairing existing devices: Soldering & repairs
• Finished gadgets: Custom tech & builds
• Handheld PCBs as part of a full build: DIY handhelds & portables
How to ask for help or a design review
1. What the circuit should do
2. The schematic, exported clearly as an image or PDF
3. Layout screenshots for layout questions, with layers labelled
4. Part numbers for the key components, and their datasheets
5. Supply voltage and expected current
6. Expected behaviour versus what actually happens, with measurements
7. The tool you are using, such as KiCad, and its version
Starter knowledge
• Every LED needs something to limit its current, usually a resistor.
• Put decoupling capacitors close to the power pins of every chip.
• 3.3 V and 5 V logic need level shifting where they meet.
• Every connected circuit needs a common ground.
• Size supplies, traces and connectors for the current they carry, with margin.
• Run the electrical rules check and design rules check before ordering, and check footprints against the real part.
• Handle components with ESD care.
Safety is part of the rules
• Mains voltage can kill. Designs that connect to mains should be designed and checked by qualified people, with proper isolation, creepage and clearance. We will not walk beginners through mains projects.
• Lithium battery circuits need protection: a proper charge controller, over-discharge cut-off and short-circuit protection.
• Capacitors can store dangerous energy, so discharge them safely.
• Ventilate when soldering, wear eye protection and wash your hands after handling leaded solder.
Board rules
• Share your designs if you like, under a licence of your choosing, and respect the licences of others. Do not reupload paid or non-commercial designs.
• No selling boards or components, and no paid design services.
• No malware and nothing piracy-friendly.
House rules apply: be kind, English only (other languages are translated automatically), no spam, no keyboard mashing and no self-promotion spam. Use Report when something needs a moderator. This thread is locked, so start a thread to ask or share.
Dexter
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