Getting Started with KiCad EDA - Eeschema Schematic Capture

KiCad EDA is a free, open-source schematics capture and printed circuit board (PCB) design tool. After many years of development it has become a very capable tool that maybe some day will become the Linux of electronics design CAD tools.

In this video you will learn how to get started with #KiCad EDA and draw your first schematic. It will take you all the way, from symbol creation via the annotation tool and the electrical rules check (ERC) to the netlist.

Version of Eeschema used in this video: (5.1.6)-1, release build.

[marcioandreyoliveira]

Nice and straight to the point as all tutorials should be.

[Sembazuru]

A few points, not necessarily in workflow order.
1. Exporting a netlist in KiCad isn't necessary anymore unless you want it for documentation or to send to a different EDA suite. Update from schematic directly transfers what would be in the netlist to PCBNew through KiCad's internal data model.
2. MM vs inch units in the schematic really don't have much meaning unless you are planning on printing the schematic. But no matter where in the world you are you probably want to use inch units in the schematic, and keep to a grid of 0.100" or 0.050". This is because there isn't (yet) any automatic snap to pin or wire ends and wires ends and pin ends must be coincident to make a connection. The libraries that come with KiCad are designed (mostly for historical reasons, not because USA reasons, KiCad started as a French software project) to fit and be most legible on a 0.100" (or in some situations where space requires 0.050") grid.
3. As one who also prefers the legacy resistor symbol (called the US resistor/potentiometer symbol in KiCad) it warms my heart to see that it isn't just a US preference. I've learned to live quietly with the likes of BigClive using the IEC resistor symbol (empty rectangle). ;-)

[borsi]

Thank you very much for this absolute fantastic video! It helps me a lot as beginner in KiCad 5! I have already built 4 PCBs with this super program. But now I have got a big problem: I cannot connect the green electric wires correctly anymore. That means the wires do not more connect the round points of the components! Earlier I could click on them and they were connected. Now the wire does not find the correct Point. I have to zoom in more and more and try to find the contact point. I feel so helpless! Please can you help me?! Thank you very much and I hope you go on with your superb Videos ‼️ Boris, Switzerland 🇨🇭

[lucvanhove]

Ik gebruik al een 3-tal jaren kicad, verschillende updates en daarna is soms de bibliotheek niet meer bruikbaar (er was eens een versie waarbij de A en K van alle diodes gewisseld werden om schemas van andere cad programma's te kunnen importeren in Kicad, dit was 🤬). Was deze bibliotheek samen met die Kicad versie of komt het van github? Het is wel heel tof om Kikad te gebruiken, ook om zelf nieuwe parts aan te maken lukt vrij goed. Het 3d model kan je ook zelf tekenen in Freecad, deze heeft een macro om het model in Kicad te importeren. Dus er zijn waarschijnlijk nog wat filmpjes op komst. 👍👍👍👍👍

[Berghiker]

Can you SHOW me how to start off with the ground plane first, on the pcb? ALL on one side of the pcb! No one can make a video and show me how to do this. Is it that hard to do? The circuit has 50 components.