My preferred ECAD software is KiCad. It is now at version seven, and over recent years has been developed to be more and more powerful. I used to use CadSoft Eagle CAD until it was taken over by Autodesk and became part of Fusion 360. I use KiCad for both […]
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Contactors are more than just a large relay, their internal construction is designed to be capable of carrying far higher currents and “making and breaking” on large loads. Rather than moving the common contact back and forth on a pivoting armature, contactors move a large bar towards or away from […]
Similar to the KL15, KL30 etc. wiring codes in Automotive Wiring, Automotive relays have their own nomenclature. Automotive OEMs (manufacturers) such as Citroen, Jaguar Land Rover, Ford and others (I don’t know if Tesla does as well, but I suspect not) use automotive relays. The labelling of which utilises the […]
Relays are a kind of electrically operated switch that opens and closes the circuits by receiving electrical signals from outside sources. In this post, we are going to look at mechanical relays. Relays receive an electrical signal and send the signal to other equipment by turning the switch on and […]
The IPC 2221 voltage and spacing standards have two general voltage levels for creepage and clearance, which it defines as “Low Voltage” and “High Voltage”, Some of the “High Voltage” would be considered SELV (Safety Extra Low Voltage), the IPC 2221 Low Voltage is <15 V DC or AC RMS, […]
Using IPC 2221 to work out creepage and clearance track widths for use in KiCad for both Low and High Voltages.
I have recently had reason to try out Rapid Harness to draw harnesses for assemblies, I found Rapid Harness to be a bit clunky; A fair while ago I came across WireViz via Hackaday and decided to give that a go for CADing up the loom drawings. WireViz is Free […]
You may have heard the saying “never trust the autorouter”, you may have even seen it written on a t-shirt! Back when I used Eagle ECAD (Before AutoDesk did their thing), there was a built-in autorouter that was a handy tool to use to help with working out if you […]
In a previous post, I talked about the MCP23017 and MCP23018, and why the MCP23017 was a better device for my use in this case (this case being my Remote control K9). The MCP23017 can only output a digital high of the same voltage as VDD, which is capped at […]
In my previous post, I talked about some of the advantages of the MCP23018, and how it was easier to address… Well, it turns out that I made the standard mistake of not reading the datasheet… It’s not as though the MCP23018 obscures the lack of current source deep in […]
The MCP23017 is a popular I2C 16bit IO module, it can be used to allow you to have more GPIOs available, There is also the MCP23018 available, which does fundamentally the same as the MCP23017, but with a few differences: On an I2C bus, each device has a unique address, […]
When you spend any time more involved with vehicles than reading a Haynes manual at some point you will need to know what someone means by KL31 in regards to automotive wiring for 12 V vehicles. ‘KL’ is the abbreviation for ‘klemme’ which is the German term for connector/connection, or […]