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I'm now almost done with a schematic in Kicad's Eeschema, but some links to the "outside world" are still missing, and I don't know yet how to add them to the schematic, so that they will appear as soldering holes in the PCB later. Here is the relevant part of my schematic:

7 IC pins & connectors

As you can see, it's all about 7 pins on a microchip (TDA7318 mixer): 3 of them belong to its I²C interface, and the other 4 ones are audio outputs, which shall lead to an amp residing on another PCB.

Now I'd like to know the following: Which parts shall I add to the schematic, so that Pcbnew will add one soldering hole per pin? For the I²C link, I've already added a GS3 connector (sadly without knowing whether this is the correct part). In real life, I would attach a level shifter with a 3-pin 0.1" header here. For the 4 audio output pins, I would simply solder one short wire each, which would then lead to the amp PCB.

Any suggestions?

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2 Answers 2

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Use Connector_Generic, Conn_01x03 and then for the footprint, choose Connector_PinHeader_2.54mm, Connector_PinHeader_2.54mm:PinHeader_1x03_P2.54mm_Vertical.

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If you do any amount of PCB layout, you WILL have to make your own schematic symbols and PCB footprints - either by editing existing parts, or from scratch.

Standard 0.1" pitch connectors are convenient, but the pin holes may be a bit small for wires.

For solder points for individual wires, I use a one-pin schematic symbol (perhaps called "testpoint" in KiCAD's libraries),and a one-pin footprint - you can make the pad in that footprint whatever size is required to accept the wire you are using. I had footprints called "spad35", "spad50", etc. for solder pads with 0.035 or 0.050 inch holes.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Do you rather mean a SolderWirePad_single0-8mmDrill? \$\endgroup\$
    – Neppomuk
    Dec 1, 2021 at 21:43
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Neppomuk: I made my own schematic symbols and footprints - don't know what might be in the default KiCAD libraries. If you find something likely, check that the hole size is appropriate for your wires. (I often found it was easier and quicker to make my own parts, rather than seaching through the default libraries for something, then having to check that it was really suitable.) \$\endgroup\$ Dec 1, 2021 at 22:07

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