Design Review - Schematic & PCB - Phil's Lab #70

[@kamil13877]

Videos like that are really helpful for people who start their journey in PCB design. They are improving themselves by learning on theirs or/and someone else's mistakes. So great job Phil, as always! You are extremely underrated content creator here on YT.

[@PhilsLab]

I'm glad to hear that - thank you, Kamil! :)

[@msmith2961]

Excellent, constructive criticism of this board and schematic. Being able to access hints from a professional without otherwise having access is gold for us home hobbyists. Thanks Phil!

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks a lot for your comment!

[@AndrewKiethBoggs]

Hi Phil! These design reviews are fantastic and provide insight into common pitfalls for both new and experienced engineers to be mindful of. Thank you again!

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Andrew - very glad to hear that!

[@aswells3]

Excellent feedback, thank you! Enjoyed the video 😁 The series resistor on the oscillator is something I hadn't heard of doing before.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks for submitting your design, Andrew!

[@nhlakaniphombatha5769]

PHIL..YOU THE MAN ..BRO ..MY PERSONAL..HERO 🙌....YOU JUST MAKE THINGS .SIMPLE AND EASY 😅..THANKS A MILLION 👍❤

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks a lot! :)

[@manolisteletos8274]

Hello Phil, I really admire that from every video I watch from you I will acquire at least some knowledge in electronics. Keep it up.

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Manolis!

[@Ziraya0]

"First of all there's lots of space, that's always nice for PCB design because that means we can spread out, and that doesn't mean we can spread out, it means we *should* spread out" 9:36 I love it when a video is generally good and also there's one sentence of advice that really on it's own would have justified watching a much worse video. I have definitely routed traces tightly when there was no reason to. Manually even!

[@jakobhalskov]

Very nice and pleasant to watch! It is nice to see such a constructive review, which I hope believe Andrew will find very useful :) If he just starts to follow half of your tips, he is onto a great route.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks a lot for your comment, Jakob! :)

[@JasonFritcher]

Great review Phil, thanks! I just got my first ever PCB back from JLCPCB, and the only issue I've seen so far is I messed up substituting a different u.FL connector because the one I wanted wasn't available anymore. Footprint looked similar enough, but wasn't right and the signal and ground pins were connected together. Lesson learned, don't rush, and if substitutions need to be made, go back to the design and use that part's footprint.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, Jason - exactly, I've made mistakes simply by rushing as well. Guess it's a good learning experience! Congratulations on finishing your first PCB!

[@certified-forklifter]

thank you so much, these videos are incredibly helpful.

[@PhilsLab]

Glad to hear that, thanks for watching!

[@yellowcrescent]

Nice review. I'm guessing the really close/hugging traces are an artifact of KiCad's bus routing and push/pull routing and then not going back to finesse the placement. 10:07 those tracks going through the middle of a capacitor... not sure I would do that unless absolutely necessary.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks. Yeah, that's probably it or as other's have suggested possibly some form of autorouting. Completely agree on not placing traces underneath passives like that typically.

[@Anticitizen666]

Another good review. One thing I noticed at 7:51 is that the power trace to VIO/VDD is not labelled at all. So it looks like those pins are just being connected to GND via a capacitor when they are in fact power supply inputs.

[@perceptron9834]

Interesting format

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks!

[@marcynarcy]

This was really helpful!!!

[@haraldh.9354]

thx- for doing pcb consulting

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks for watching, Harald!

[@daskasspatzle2396]

Feels better with camera ;-)

[@andymouse]

Valid points....cheers.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, Andy!

[@bartek153]

Great vid with well thought through comments. Btw, it was cool and odd to see you! :D:D

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Bart! Haha I also need to get used to seeing myself on camera..

[@7alfatech860]

Phil, could you please comment on how to choose the size of the vias? Clearly they need larger than minimal manufacturable size, but what about the upper end? And to extend a little, would one choose similar sizing for thermal management? Great video, as always.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks. As boring as it sounds, I'm actually planning a video dedicated to vias (all types, sizing, etc.) - hope that'll help.

[@7alfatech860]

@@PhilsLab 👍

[@rochdimaria]

Thanks for these huge informations. I have two questions about the OR gate and the vcc. In case the battery is connected with the 5v at the same time which power supply will be considered ? And finally what is your vcc ? is it 3v3 ?

[@EfraAv]

Allow me to answer you. In case both the battery and the +5V are connected, the +5V at the PMOS terminal will switch off the PMOS therefore disconnecting the battery from the load. So the +5V has priority. About VCC, yes it is 3V3 because it's connected to the output of the regulator which is indeed +3V3

[@JeromeDemers]

@8:11 the pin layout of U1 in the schematic mentally prepare me for PCB layout. I also understand your point. You can't miss anything crucial if they are regroup.

[@basantsharma2101]

For the display driver Please suggest any video

[@EfraAv]

Great video! Is there a specific method to stitch two ground planes?

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, Efrain. As a rule of thumb, GND planes should be stitched together that reduces resonances of individual ground islands - so generally spacing of 1/10th or 1/20th of the minimum wavelength of interest.

[@EfraAv]

@@PhilsLab thanks for the reply! Do you mean spacing between the stitching vias?

[@NourMuhammad]

Nice work, would you do a review for designs made in Eagle? thanks

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, Muhammad. Sure, Eagle works for me as well (although it quite frankly isn't my favourite bit of software to use).

[@NourMuhammad]

@@PhilsLab What is the preferable method for you to receive the design files? I am an Eagle user since version 5 and it is very hard for me to change (I have tried Kicad but I was not able to adapt its workflow very well). I will try to import the design files in Kicad6 and see if there was no errors I will send you both formats and you see which one is going to do the job! Thanks

[@calvinaizumiramadhan2685]

I really like your content. Can you tell me how can we get the opensource scematic to start pcb design?

[@Ziraya0]

Does Altium have some concept of automated style guides? I'm thinking like in Visual Studio or most other IDEs where once the style guide is set up you can click a button and it'll "beautify" your code to be in compliance with the style guide as much as possible. There is certainly a lot in the schematic section that I can't imagine being being handled automatically, but things like grounds pointing down, positive voltages pointing up, how component values are formatted, nets having their labels visible, labels being upright. My real point though, if this is a feature, would it be possible/practical for you to provide a style configuration? I don't use Altium currently but I might in the near future have the ability to get back into electronics as a hobby, the more I see of Altium the more tired I feel about my history with Eagle. I spent so much time fiddling around in the component library stuff, it was a labyrinth and I would have chosen to use a messy unhelpful component symbol I found online rather than spend quite a lot of time navigating to make a better one. It's been a few years, hopefully Eagle is better than it was.

[@andrewfraser2760]

That is a classic auto routed board - much like Altium, if you do not spend a lot of time creating design rules you will get that type of terrible routing 😞

[@Ziraya0]

I recognize a lot of these weird little details from Eagle's auto-router circa 2016~2017, I got to a point where I was manually routing just about everything and even if I used the auto-router, I would end up re-doing tons of stuff to fix these details. I don't think I thought even once at the time that I could put in time to make the auto-router work better

[@alexisdrosopoulos]

My exact thoughts! Auto-router can be useful after you've manually routed all your important signals, but even then it's always a good idea to go back and fix all these things that are good in theory meaning that they're electrically solid, but can create problems in the long run!

[@PhilsLab]

That makes sense - I hadn't considered that and it definitely looks like one.

[@embed21com]

Thanks Phil for the review! Besten Dank! War echt sehr hilfreich! As it wasn’t clear in the video, for a 2 layer PCB you would recommend to have both copper layers be grounded and run traces for Vcc, correct?

[@PhilsLab]

Gern geschehen, Khaled :) Typically yes - bottom layer GND, top layer signal + routed power. If the top ground plane isn't too cut up (loads of little islands), then I'll add one.

[@christianabt1203]

Hey Phil, i always hear that you should not do 90° Angles in PCB design because they act like antennas. Apart from change in impedance i havent found any reason why they act like antennas. I even saw a paper were actually the 90° corners radiate less than the long parts of a trace. Do you also know about parralel plate impedance? When you have 2 ground planes there will be a impedance between them and return current will create a noise voltage which can for sure radiate easily because planes are usually big. Thx for your videos i really like them!

[@arzamas1988]

Hi! please tell me how does work the ORing? the body diode is won't stop the current. Or am I wrong?

[@maximus6884]

Please look into Dactyl Manuform with wrist support. It's a Foss keyboard design from the future !!

[@bravinraamnaidu2905]

Sir Phil thanks for the content, I am student and new to PCB designing , so I have a question, like for example you I am building a schematic for the circuit and then when i convert it to the PCB layout the earth pin and Vin pin and also the Vout are not shown so when we create our own pin in the PCB layout for those are we suppose to pad them with the circuit or leave them , I am confused.

[@eons_of_ions8651]

newbies always tend to forget the importance of having some test points as well.

[@maxhouseman3129]

Nice! Would be cool to have you in a design review in my company. Greets from a hw dev.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks a lot, Max! :)

[@jtmcfarland3512]

I don’t like when symbols have power and ground at the top and bottom or similar outputs grouped together. I strongly prefer them later out just like the footprint. It makes planning the layout easier and more clear what pins have room and may need to be moved. I don’t like getting blindsided with these things after getting to PCB layout.

[@ianthehunter3532]

liking the webcam

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, Ian!

[@MichaelKingsfordGray]

What is "uf"? Is it supposed to be "µF"?

[@theonlyari]

I have to disagree with cutting the ground plane. For AC signals or signals with fast edges, it's definitely a no no. For this design, those signals are effectively DC and it won't make a hill of beans difference. With that said, I have a design I need to submit to you. I've just been lazy 🙂

[@blagovdaryu]

thanks a lot, pls more videos with webcam

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Egor - will do!

[@CaliBeta]

excellent, I see that you have a lot of experience designing PCBs, I have been designing for many years and I would love it if you could review some of my latest designs, it is worth having the opinion of an expert, greetings from Colombia

[@youtubeviewer7077]

are you welsh?

[@PhilsLab]

Nope. Half-German/English.

[@basantsharma2101]

Hello Sir, My name is basant i am from India I request to you please make one pcb design of the Display driver and also how to select resisters of the IC Please........ ❤️

[@Quantum_Dots]

first

[@nhlakaniphombatha5769]

👍❤

[@nhlakaniphombatha5769]

👍❤