Electronic conventions I hate

[DerStrom8]

**broken link removed**

should be reserved for electrolytic (i.e., polarized) capacitors.

Keep in mind that not all electrolytic capacitors are polarized...

 

[JimB]

Regarding that, the capacitor with the curved bottom should only be used for electrolytics

In all the American schematics I have seen, all capacitors have the bent plate.

JimB

 

[Mr RB]

I grew up drawing "squiggle" resistors and when I later found it was ok to draw them as a neat sensible rectangle it was like a breath of fresh air! Likewise I worked in a drawing office (in pen!) on blueprints, squiggle resistors went out of fashion pretty fast there!

nF are perfectly fine. As an example we use km, m and mm, all by a factor of 1000 and there's no problem with nm and um for that matter.

And 4k7 is vastly superior notation on a schematic with tiny little print than 4.7k. So you're wrong on all three counts Carbonzit.

As for bad conventions; those new euro logic symbols suck! Unlike squiggle resistors there was no problem with the old traditional logic symbols and they are far more attractive anyway.

I REALLY hate the new laser marked IC numbers, one touch with a finger on top of the IC and the tiny brown laser marked code is practically unreadable and needs an eyeglass to try to read it again. But I guess electronic components are just throwaway these days (and never touched by human hand!).

As far as mind-numbingly STUPID conventions, let's get rid of Fahrenheit! What a ridiculous way to express temperature when we've had Celcius since 1744!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celsius

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Mr. RB

I wholehandedly agree with the drawing of resistors. I spent so much time in High School drawing threads manually, I still see them.

Farenheit has better resolution through the comfort zone of 68F (20C) to 80F (26.66).
I hate decimals in environmental temperature.

 

[carbonzit]

Farenheit has better resolution through the comfort zone of 68F (20C) to 80F (26.66).
I hate decimals in environmental temperature.

I agree. Fahrenheit forever!

 

[crutschow]

........
Farenheit has better resolution through the comfort zone of 68F (20C) to 80F (26.66).
I hate decimals in environmental temperature.

Yes. One degree Celsius (I believe that's how his name was spelled) is a rather large minimum setting resolution for an indoor thermostat. It should be no greater than about 0.5 degree celsius (or one degree Fahrenheit) to achieve a comfortable setting point.

 

[Boncuk]

Thanks Ron, saved me some typing.

I may add, I don't like some schematic backgrounds
eg: black, heavy black Grid dots.

Drawings where the connecting lines are like a spiders web, criss crossing at all angles.

Regarding symbols and values text, I don't mind which convention is used

Just to add some more: Besides criss crossing I don't like nets drawn through components like microcontrollers and connectors. Any component area is a "no-go-area".

If I have to draw a schematic I know which pins have to "leave" the component area on the correct side to connect to its net in a clean and clear way and adapt the symbol accordingly.

It takes five minutes to revise a symbol but it might make a user (reader) pull out his hairs when trying to read a schematic which looks a chicken has scratched the ground to find a worm.

Boncuk

 

[Boncuk]

I agree. Fahrenheit forever!

With a positive value at the freezing point of water? (32deg/F)

Crap!

 

[carbonzit]

Just to add some more: Besides criss crossing I don't like nets drawn through components like microcontrollers and connectors. Any component area is a "no-go-area".

Yes. With that I agree.

In the same vein, I also prefer the far simpler (and easier to read) convention where connected crossing lines get a dot, and unconnected ones don't. None of this "lines jumping over other lines if they're not connected" crap. (A convention often used in mid-20th century schematics.)

 

[atferrari]

Just hate

The old style for resistors, it is bad for hand drawing.

European ones with the value inside are good to keep the clutter low.

 

[CraigHB]

Funny the mention of F versus C. I mainly prefer SI units even though I'm American, but Fahrenheit is the only American scale I think is superior. Centigrade is too chunky.

Definitely agree on spaces for credit card numbers when shopping online. And who decided that the old standard way of writing telephone numbers needed to be changed, and changed with any ol' miscellaneous notation as well.

I was also a bit stumped when I first started to see the Euro notation for component values. I finally figured out what was going on. I suppose using a letter instead of a decimal point is better for visibility, but I'm still using the decimal points.

I'm used to seeing threads for resistors, but I can handle boxes I guess. Still using threads myself.

I've been using nF for those values in between µF and pF for a long time. Was actually surprised to start seeing others do that in published stuff as well.

 

[DerStrom8]

I've been using nF for those values in between µF and pF for a long time. Was actually surprised to start seeing others do that in published stuff as well.

Well you can't just leave out a whole power of ten. You don't say 1 thousand thousand, you say one million. Same with nano. You have pico, nano, micro, milli. That's all there is to it. Nano is just another power of ten, and should most certainly not be left out.

 

[Mr RB]

...
Farenheit has better resolution through the comfort zone of 68F (20C) to 80F (26.66).
I hate decimals in environmental temperature.

Interesting to see people defending Fahrenheit!

That's a weak argument about the granularity of the scale. I have digital thermometers all over the house and workshop and all have reading to xx.x'C. Electronic components are usually rated "-40'C to +85'C" and you can see at a glance how much below freezing or how close to boiling point the values are.

Honestly I think people just cling to Fahrenheit because they grew up with it and are used to it. Like those old inches, which are far inferior as an electronics measurement than mm.

But more on topic Boncuk reminded me of a schematic convention I really hate, the one where wires just disappear everywhere with a number, so you have to search the whole schematic (that may be multi page!) to try to find the number or number(s) where it joins to. And there's no indication if "J4" joins to one or MORE "J4"s... So even when you find the second "J4" you have to keep searching to see if there are more... Grrr.

Sure that kind of thing might be necessary on some very large projects, but when the entire project is 5 ICs on one page why should we be made to search the whole page to try to find out what joins to what??? Just use lines already like any sane person would.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Boncuk:

Absolute 0 = 273 C;

Pascals for pressure 26 PSI is 179,263.68928 Pascals

How would you like to inflate your car tires to: 179,263.68928 Pascals

Talk about Yuk!

 

[SPDCHK]

No, you see, we use Pascal and Kilo Pascal the same way you use Fahrenheit. You omit the decimal, the same with pressure. I inflate my tires to 2 Bar (200kPa) Simple.

 

[crutschow]

......................
That's a weak argument about the granularity of the scale. I have digital thermometers all over the house and workshop and all have reading to xx.x'C. Electronic components are usually rated "-40'C to +85'C" and you can see at a glance how much below freezing or how close to boiling point the values are.

I don't think it's totally weak. To display roughly the same resolution with a digital thermometer at room temperature requires 3 digits with Celsius and 2 digits with Fahrenheit. For consumer applications, such as home thermostats, that can be a significant cost factor.

 

[Boncuk]

Boncuk:

Absolute 0 = 273 C;

Pascals for pressure 26 PSI is 179,263.68928 Pascals

How would you like to inflate your car tires to: 179,263.68928 Pascals

Talk about Yuk!

We usually inflate tires on a scale of bar. Knowing that 1 bar equals 14.5038 PSI it's close enough to calculate using 14.5 PSI for conversion.

If you stop at any gas station in Germany to check the tire pressure it's very easy. The pressure gauges indicate bar and PSI. I haven't seen one gas station having that kind of "service" in the USA.

BTW absolute zero is -273K (elvin)

 

[Boncuk]

Hi Mr RB,

I guess you never have dug through 500 sheets of schematics of an entire building with all electric installation.

Mainly if safety switches come into play it's impossible to get them all onto a single sheet. Therefore those schematics are divided in fields of numbers and letters with the numbers for the X-axis and letters for the y-axis starting at the sheet zero position which is usually the left hand bottom corner.

If a relay contactor is used it carries the number of the part, e.g. K301 and the contactor pin numbers. Additionally it carries information about where to find K301 (sheet number and X/Y coordinates). When flipping to the sheet containing the relay you'll find info where the contactors are located, even with their used function (C, NC, NO).

Checking out the appendix of those schematic books you also find a list of all used parts (power switches, relays, micro-switches etc. and their purpose with the information on which sheet you find which pair of contacts.

If those schematics aren't updated after each change you'll have a messy place and it takes hours to find the right connections.

Once getting used to that practice you'll find schematics easy to read and free of any ballast.

Regards

Boncuk

 

[crutschow]

If you stop at any gas station in Germany to check the tire pressure it's very easy. The pressure gauges indicate bar and PSI. I haven't seen one gas station having that kind of "service" in the USA.

That's because hardly anybody in the USA knows what a bar is (other then the kind that serves alcoholic drinks).

 

[carbonzit]

I agree. Fahrenheit forever!

With a positive value at the freezing point of water? (32deg/F)
Crap!

What possible difference could it make (to you as a human bean, not as a pointy-headed scientist) where your temperature scale places the boiling or freezing points of water? Those points are completely arbitrary; nothing magical or sacred about them. Hey, why not base our temperature scale on the boiling point of hydrogen?