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Member's Forum Are there specific mistakes that you now intentionally test for early in new designs?
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Are there specific mistakes that you now intentionally test for early in new designs?

chloro
chloro 1 month ago

The designs that look good in the early stages often have many failures that tend to repeat themselves. I would like to know the ways in which engineers know which failure modes they can intentionally try to expose as early as possible before the design becomes costly to change.

Are there certain errors that you now intentionally test for early based on past experience (such as power sequencing assumptions, thermal margins, EMI susceptibility, connector orientation, tolerance stacking, or firmware coupling)?

More importantly, how do you set up early tests or reviews to intentionally look for these problems?

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  • dougw
    dougw 1 month ago +5
    Analog schematics - I check for any paths for power supply noise to reach analog signals such as any resistor or capacitor connecting a signal to a rail. Schematics in general - check for adequate decoupling…
  • wolfgangfriedrich
    wolfgangfriedrich 1 month ago in reply to OwainM +5
    When in doubt, always do this:
  • dang74
    dang74 1 month ago +4
    For PCBs, I always double check pinout and footprint for new components.
Parents
  • dougw
    dougw 1 month ago

    Analog schematics - I check for any paths for power supply noise to reach analog signals such as any resistor or capacitor connecting a signal to a rail.

    Schematics in general - check for adequate decoupling capacitors and ESD protection.

    On relays and inductors - check for snubber diodes

    On PCB layouts - check for appropriate mounting holes and test points and access to every track that may need surgery.

     - check trace width versus current on all power tracks

    - check for ground loops

    Double check Tx & Rx pins on connectors

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  • OwainM
    OwainM 1 month ago in reply to dougw

    That last one cost me months! In debugging why a custom shaped ESP32 board I'd designed wouldn't program, it turned out the connection between the USB to UART Bridge and ESP32 was connected Tx to Tx and Rx to Rx.

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  • wolfgangfriedrich
    wolfgangfriedrich 1 month ago in reply to OwainM

    When in doubt, always do this:


    image

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  • colporteur
    colporteur 1 month ago in reply to wolfgangfriedrich

    I like. Now where do I put the post-it note to remember this.

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  • colporteur
    colporteur 1 month ago in reply to wolfgangfriedrich

    I like. Now where do I put the post-it note to remember this.

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