This reminds me of code challenges, its a great way to help new engineers but also just fun to watch. It would be nice to have a challenge where the time should be enough for them to complete their project but under stress. That way, an honest review of their projects can be done and declare a winner.
Yeah, I actually was thinking his looked a little _too_ pretty. Filleted corners? Silkscreened attribution text? Ok, now he's really just showing off...
This is a good video idea, and I think it would be even better if you could add the following (I know it might be difficult, though): 1 - It would be nice to list the potential issues with the layouts one by one 2 - Make a scoring system so we know which one is the best 3 - Have them finish the pcb design after the 2h, until the pcbs reach a a ready to be manufactured state 4 - Make their pcbs and then compare the designs in terms of noise, etc
All great ideas! Thank you. These are definitely things we're working on for future ones. This is all new to me so slowly figuring out the best format. Really appreciate the feedback from everyone!
@@PredictableDesigns I think it's great as is in a quick one, but some thing to kinda give a score/conclusion, would be nice for a video on this format. the things mentioned above would be awesome to have included as well, either in the same video or as a separate "Test of the PCB's" where each person gets to take their 2 hour PCB, finish it, note down what did and did not workout, make those changes and then the final test based on an agreed upon test case, and compare the results. that would bring a lot more value I think by converting the "entertaining" value over to "educational" value, and done correctly I think you could have a winner on your hands
One moment I am watching the restoration of a 200 year old French Chateau, and my next recommended video is a PCB design race.... I know absolutely nothing about PCB's (or Chateaus for that matter).....and I am proud to say, I still don't know anything about either, except that both take a lot of time, dedication, and focus to do it right!
Aye UA-cam has a hold of yourself... I recommend focusing on 1 subject matter per month. Otherwise ur only touching your brain into Thinking ur learning when in reality you arnt. You need to actively engage. Like researching architecture while waiving spiciness about 1600s buildings. Along side a bit of history so your brain places things in the right context and era If you don't do this - you are seeing yourself up for allspice by 60yo
As a junior EE student, I feel amazing that I am able to understand most of what is being talked about with quite a lot of detail, but also ashamed of the fact that this would take me so long to do and they did it in 2 hours lmao. It is so cool seeing all the things I learned in my circuits and power design classes put together. Right now I am designing a robot for the IEEE competition and a lot of this stuff is very relevant like Buck converters, microcontrollers, filtering capacitors, and analog inputs are all things I'm having to do a ton of research with. Unfortunately the coding to make it autonomous will likely be the hardest part I am dreading, planning on using an arduino with motor shields and NEMA 17 steppers so hopefully someone out there already coded it for me and I just have to find the code. Sad that we can't go to the competition because it is during school, but still such a cool and difficult project to undertake as a single class on top of power systems design, signals and systems, analog circuits 2, and many other engineering and core classes. This video shows the light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm gone only speak about the mistakes: Craig's design wouldn't be good. The USB pair is going trough the high frequency(buck converter) area so it is picking up noise. Also putting the sensor at the bottom of the PCB makes the assembly processes harder and it will cost more. The common mistake in all three design is the misplacement of the decoupling capacitors. They should be very close the the uC and not grouped like this.
yeah I see Victoria PCB @9:11 where near the logo U3, the two capacitors don't have the track connected on the pad near the cpu pads, you can see the solder mask on C4, C9.
Honestly, It's the first time I've seen this kind of video and frankly I love it! To be able to compare each person's method in a limited time, to see the way they each think about their designs, it's great fun and it gives you new perspectives on your own designs! It's clear that I'm going to be watching more, I already adored your channel, now it's going to become my bedside kind of videos! Loved it, keep going!
было бы интересно посмотреть то же самое, но без лимита времени, просто три результата одинакового задания, тогда бы ребята мог ли бы всё верно расположить и учесть большинство нюансов и показать уже готовые макеты.
Nicolas is the clear winner, Craig’s has some significant issues, usb data will have to run under his switcher, decoupling caps way off to the side, stub antennas on the ground plane, double sided components are a pain and high cost to manufacture but also positioned to be influenced by the mcu temp. His switcher also has insufficient copper or thermal vias. for power dissipation. Everyone missed mounting holes, fiducials and could do with having a thermal isolation relief routed around the temp sensor to isolate it from the board temps.
As a full-time PCB Designer, I see that all of these designs have potential for improvement. Victoria's design stands out as the best, but there are a couple of areas where enhancements could be made. For instance, placing the capacitors, especially the input capacitors for the buck converter, closer to the IC would improve power integrity and EMC test results. Additionally, the via placement for ground could be improved by positioning the vias closer to the ground pins. Her design could have easily been a two-layer board while still maintaining functionality, which would reduce cost. Overall, considering the two-hour time limit, Victoria's design is a very solid effort.
I never realized how much I wanted something like this in my life! As someone who is still learning PCB design, I enjoy watching the confidence of these engineers as they build one out, and seeing three different approaches is such a blast. Subbed, and I'm looking forward to more!
This is both fun to watch and very educational! I definitely prefer this format over normal tutorials. It would be fun and even more educational to see the unedited version of this too! I assume there is a lot of talk in the video that had to be cut that could be quite enlightening for a newbie like me!
Thanks and that great to hear, and that was exactly my goal:) Several people have asked about getting the unedited version, so it's something I'm considering making available some how. But there was also a good amount of silence while everyone worked, but also lots of extra chatting too:) These are a work in progress and I'm taking everyone's feedback very seriously to make them even better.
I found this to be extremely pleasant to watch despite not being my field whatsoever. Great fresh idea; you have had some awesome suggestions in the comment section, so I am sure you can figure out how to further develop this video format :) Keep it up!
I'd love to see something like this with distributed element / microwave design. Always so interesting to see how different designers implement their networks when you really have to think outside the box. S-parameters would lend themselves nicely to a scoring metric.
Nicolas had the nicest and most functional in my opinion, closely followed by Victoria and then Craig. It was nice to see how they all approached the problem from a unique perspective. For instance Craig put the sensor on the back of the PCB. This might make the pcb a little more costly to manufacture due to parts on both parts of the board, however the reasoning behind that is sound. Nicolas also added a reset button. Just my suggestion: maybe it might be nice to put the temperature sensor in a cut out area of the pcb to isolate it a little more from reading/getting influenced by the overall temp of the pcb. You have earned a subscriber to this channel.
You've heard of FIDE ratings? I propose Évaluation de Compétence en Conception de Circuits (ECCC) - pronounced "é-say-say-say" for competitive PCB design.
I am careless. Been zapped many many times. Once as an Avionics Electronics Technician working on the Harrier Jump Jet on the runway in Arizona. Sweaty hot, just when my Simpson volt meter shot to 220 volts, my hand slid right down the probe to the metal point. Meanwhile my armpit was resting on coaxial cables for the radar warning system which had ground shielding on the outside to ground any stray voltages. My sleeves were rolled up and it was in direct contact with the skin. Fortunately, most of it went from my hand to my armpit and some found the rest of my body. Taken 120 about 20 to 30 times. Last year building a physics cloud chamber I zapped myself on the transformer. This summer I was welding a lawnmower deck hot with 90 amps ground connected to the deck(this is a big mower pulled by a tractor and I was sitting on that hot deck.) First time in my arm as I was inserting a new rod, yes bare handed no glove, and my arm was resting on the hydraulic lines whose metal connectors must have found ground through the hydraulic fluid inside the cylinder. Zappo. About 10 minutes later, bumped my calf on the deck while inserting another rod. Zappo. Damn I'm getting good at this. Then when inserting the next rod I did the calf thing again. Now I am really getting good at this. I do believe I have a tolerance for electricity cause I used to love sticking that fresh 9volt battery on my tongue when I was a kid. Years ago I was replacing 3 porch lights for a little old lady. Front porch, side porch, and back porch. I got zapped on the front porch, then I got zapped on the side porch light. Now I am good at this stuff and I am getting concerned. So I removed the CB for the back porch so I could be sure not to get zapped. I got zapped anyway. It was at this point I could then solve the equation as enough variables had been provided. I realized at that moment that her aluminum siding on her house was shorted to power somewhere at her in box. I got my volt meter out and confirmed my suspicions. The siding was hot as a pancake fresh off the grill. She called the power company who made the necessary repairs. I could go on all day but y'all get the idea. I been goofing with this stuff since I was a kid in the 1970's. I remember running to radio shack for packs of resistors light bulbs transistors wire gosh they had it all. The good old days.
Good to get hold of some files - would be better if we had PDF of each schematic & PCB - Nicolas is on KiCAD v8 and I've not moved to that yet and I'm not sure how to view DipTrace files ...
Okay, I've added PDF versions for all 3 schematics and PCB layouts to the ZIP download. So if you want to you can download the same file again to get the PDFs too.
You don't need the new email. Just click on the same zip link in the original email to redownload it. I just replaced the old zip file with the same link.
In the 80's I would manually draw the lands, and use thin spools of 'pin-striping' tape to connect it all. Vertical camera to take a 100% negative. That would then be used over presensitized PC board, then the ferrochloric acid for 10 minutes... then to a tiny drill press.... you get the picture. Now it is uploading a file, and getting "beautiful" PC boards in the mail.
hi, I'm curious about how to read firmware from PCBs, is a SOIC Pin + cheap microcontroller combo enough for a beginner learner ? I have a broken keyboard that doesn't register key holds so I thought I'd take it apart and inspect the firmware to see what's wrong but I'm a bit overwhelmed by all this new knowledge, seen some youtubers recommending a lot of expensive stuff which is for people who actually design PCBs and are experienced whereas I'm a complete beginner
Actually I do have one coming up soon featuring mechanical engineers designing a plastic enclosure for a PCB. So quite simple by ME design standards but still a lot of fun. We already held this battle and we're editing it now to publish soon.
Nice Format, but I would appriciate it if you would review the designs at the end so even people like me know what is a good/bad design choice or things to improve ... and who was the winner ?
Nicolas is the clear winner, to continue on this i would add a practical test of soldering their boards and testing them to see which one performs the best
I would love a full walk-through of these designs. Like, pretend that that was a job interview question, then walk through an ideal response and explain the principles behind it.
Hey I am a CS student, but am interested in this. I did a unit that did some minor pi stuff, but no sure where to start to aim for this. What do i need to do/where should i look to aim for this understanding?
Just a few ideas: 1) Do different PCBA series (i.e. high speed specific PCBAs; LED Lighting PCBAs; Motor Controller PCBAs; etc.). Attach specific requirements for environment testing (i.e. EMI, ESD, HighPot; etc) 2) Bring on guest judges that are experts for the given PCBA .Have them produce specific criteria. 3) At the end, mark up the schematics and layout, then post the results in a report. This is essentially how most large companies create knowledge bases for internal training, and if you do this for the public, I see it as a net win for future engineers. This is already an awesome idea. Thank you for taking it upon yourself to give this kind of entertaining, information dense, video series. @fernadoi8958 really covered a few of these (just saw it as I was typing). Regardless of what you guys chose to do in the future, I appreciate your time and dedication to educating the masses
Wow, what a fantastic comment! I'm reading every single comment here and taking all of the feedback to heart. These are fantastic suggestions you've made, thank you so much for taking the time to share them with me here! I'm already planning on bringing on independent judges who will review and score each design, and I'll announce a clear winner at the end. The focus will also be more on getting to a good finished design instead of partially completed designs. Thanks again for the suggestions!
Great video and format idea! however I would have liked some sort of conclusion at the end - what was done right, what not, what needs to be improved...
I think next time start them off with a board profile and switches and connectors already placed and fixed. That way they are all designing the same thing, and if they were ever built they would be interchangeable.
This was a great watch. It would've been even greater if there were more noobie explanations for us beginners so there's also more learning to it. Wish there are more videos like this.
Should m I perfect electronic Engineer 🧐? Because I made a perfect project in kicad without errors or problem with norms when I m just automation and industrial computing student.
So this time they HAD to use an STM32 ey John? 🙂Just kidding, this was about the PCB, not the µ-controller. Thanks to all the engineers for showcasing and entertaining - was great to watch the experts at work and listen to your comments. Nicholas gets my vote: this dude just looks so chilled while working and his board looked as if he does 3 of these before lunch every day. Awesome! The comment on the ESP, yep, that's just the way the market is right now, I guess. I think you need to give him something more challenging next time John, like an ESP32 where the BLE doesn't use 80mA. But thanks also to Victoria for considering and showing a 4 layer and Craig for showing us that Diptrace is alive! What I was wondering is if you would perhaps consider a video showcasing any AI tools that may have made it to the EDA's? I would actually expect that by now there must be something that has been trained on the best way to place decoupling caps 🙂. Or whole design snippets, directly in the EDA? I don't really want to bother with finding EDA models from the manufacturer - what I'd like more would be to say to KiCad 12 : "just dump a buck converter in the corner there love?, 3.3V 2A please (because I'm using an ESP32). No, with one of those flat inductor thingies please." Is anything like this available yet? Thanks for another nice video John - these PCB shootouts seem to be winners!
Thank you so much for such a great comment. They all did great. Nicolas is definitely relaxed yet super fast. Yeah I've got an AI battle on my list and I've experimented with some of them.
Thanks for the comment! That's a great question about the full 2 hour version. I considered adding it inside my Hardware Academy for members to access, but also just adding it as a free download. Wasn't sure anyone would want to watch the full 2 hours.
Im studying for my exams, so that i can get into a college. I love electronic engineering more than software, i grew up with tinkering with electronics, boards, microcontrollers and stuffs but sadly i have to choose computer sciennce depending on the college i get. How can i learn it in dept online? Ik there is plenty of courses but idk where should i start with. It would be appreciated if anyone here gives me guidance for the my doubt, thannks
Awesome craft but only know how to spell schematic. Question. I thought that the purpose of using cad software was that once the schematic was done it would convert it into the PCB"s traces. Isn't that what the software does?
If only it was that easy:) The PCB has to be manually designed. The software helps ensure it follows the rules and matches the schematic. You can do auto-routing but it's usually not very good and rarely used.
Why does Craig prefer PCBWays over JLCPCB?What does he mean when he says that JLC's online tools don't work well? I also have to make a bit of a choice now, what do you think about these two brands?
Hello, this is a great concept and it is fun to see the pastiche of "racing" style content and electrical engineering. My only request would be that for future videos you can explain what the PCB is meant to do at the outset of the video, that way the casual observer can ground their expectations for the design, and the engineers in the audience can think about what they would do differently.
I'm with Nicolas (1:09) - The ESP is so cheap and easily available, I don't build with much else these days. Some really simple projects I might use a '328p, but... most of my projects are not wifi or BT projects, but they're just so easy to use as well as affordable, that overkill is not really a consideration factor.
Do you use the bare ESP32 chip I assume? The module with the antenna would obviously be a waste of money and space if you're not using the wireless radios.
@@PredictableDesigns As I usually get blank pcbs to hand-solder, I get the modules as they're easy enough to hand solder. It also means that if I want to add bluetooth later, I haven't locked myself in.
@@PredictableDesigns sorry for my stupid questions. But do you have a video where you explain this step by step? Like why are they looking at manufacturer specs if they are the ones making it. I don't get it exactly.
Well you can learn it from all the other videos on my channel. I also have in-depth courses in my Hardware Academy where you can also get personal help from me and other experts.
Download all of the BATTLE DESIGN FILES and get my STM32 SELECTION GUIDE: PredictableDesigns.com/battle2
Could you please recommend a KiCAD course?
please invite me for the next battle 😇
any chance to find the whole stream somewhere?
@@PredictableDesigns thanks for this link 🙌 ❤
This reminds me of code challenges, its a great way to help new engineers but also just fun to watch. It would be nice to have a challenge where the time should be enough for them to complete their project but under stress. That way, an honest review of their projects can be done and declare a winner.
I don't know how the algorithm got me here, but damn I'm glad it did. I'm still a beginner and this is awesome to watch!
So fantastic to hear!
Can we connect, I'm also a beginner and I want a couple of community to learn and grow with
true, youTube's Suggested Video
check out the world excel championships next
@@akanfahishmael8574 I would like to connect with you too.
If you're still active
haha PCB design race. Now this is my type of sport.
Who knew PCB designers were so athletic:)
Hahahah
we need this in Olympics
Man, you missed the chance here to call this "Trace Race"
hahaha 😀 The lady won for me int he first second!
Nicholas's design is extremely polished for two hours. Thanks for the inspiration guys.
Yeah, I actually was thinking his looked a little _too_ pretty. Filleted corners? Silkscreened attribution text? Ok, now he's really just showing off...
This is a good video idea, and I think it would be even better if you could add the following (I know it might be difficult, though):
1 - It would be nice to list the potential issues with the layouts one by one
2 - Make a scoring system so we know which one is the best
3 - Have them finish the pcb design after the 2h, until the pcbs reach a a ready to be manufactured state
4 - Make their pcbs and then compare the designs in terms of noise, etc
All great ideas! Thank you. These are definitely things we're working on for future ones. This is all new to me so slowly figuring out the best format. Really appreciate the feedback from everyone!
@@PredictableDesigns I think it's great as is in a quick one, but some thing to kinda give a score/conclusion, would be nice for a video on this format. the things mentioned above would be awesome to have included as well, either in the same video or as a separate "Test of the PCB's" where each person gets to take their 2 hour PCB, finish it, note down what did and did not workout, make those changes and then the final test based on an agreed upon test case, and compare the results. that would bring a lot more value I think by converting the "entertaining" value over to "educational" value, and done correctly I think you could have a winner on your hands
@@andreasthomsen852Thank you again, really appreciate your suggestions!
understood nothing
watched everything
great video, well paced, very inspiring
Awesome, thank you!
Same
This format is so fun to watch and quite unique :)
Glad to hear you thought it was fun and unique! I think so too:)
@@PredictableDesigns Yes, more please!
One moment I am watching the restoration of a 200 year old French Chateau, and my next recommended video is a PCB design race.... I know absolutely nothing about PCB's (or Chateaus for that matter).....and I am proud to say, I still don't know anything about either, except that both take a lot of time, dedication, and focus to do it right!
Aye UA-cam has a hold of yourself... I recommend focusing on 1 subject matter per month. Otherwise ur only touching your brain into Thinking ur learning when in reality you arnt. You need to actively engage. Like researching architecture while waiving spiciness about 1600s buildings. Along side a bit of history so your brain places things in the right context and era
If you don't do this - you are seeing yourself up for allspice by 60yo
This is what the Internet was made for
As a junior EE student, I feel amazing that I am able to understand most of what is being talked about with quite a lot of detail, but also ashamed of the fact that this would take me so long to do and they did it in 2 hours lmao. It is so cool seeing all the things I learned in my circuits and power design classes put together. Right now I am designing a robot for the IEEE competition and a lot of this stuff is very relevant like Buck converters, microcontrollers, filtering capacitors, and analog inputs are all things I'm having to do a ton of research with. Unfortunately the coding to make it autonomous will likely be the hardest part I am dreading, planning on using an arduino with motor shields and NEMA 17 steppers so hopefully someone out there already coded it for me and I just have to find the code. Sad that we can't go to the competition because it is during school, but still such a cool and difficult project to undertake as a single class on top of power systems design, signals and systems, analog circuits 2, and many other engineering and core classes. This video shows the light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm gone only speak about the mistakes: Craig's design wouldn't be good. The USB pair is going trough the high frequency(buck converter) area so it is picking up noise. Also putting the sensor at the bottom of the PCB makes the assembly processes harder and it will cost more. The common mistake in all three design is the misplacement of the decoupling capacitors. They should be very close the the uC and not grouped like this.
No doubt there were some mistakes, and these would be caught if I wasn't rushing them so much:)
You're definitely right. I would've fixed it in hour 3 😂 and also redo the entire layout
yeah I see Victoria PCB @9:11 where near the logo U3, the two capacitors don't have the track connected on the pad near the cpu pads, you can see the solder mask on C4, C9.
@@CallistoPili Very surprised by Nicholas' choice for a 6-pin USB-C connector; you're not getting much debugging done through that.
Great feedback! Good stuff! Probably AI designs this in 2 minutes or less 😅
Honestly, It's the first time I've seen this kind of video and frankly I love it! To be able to compare each person's method in a limited time, to see the way they each think about their designs, it's great fun and it gives you new perspectives on your own designs!
It's clear that I'm going to be watching more, I already adored your channel, now it's going to become my bedside kind of videos!
Loved it, keep going!
Wow, thank you! And, frankly, I love your comment so much!!
было бы интересно посмотреть то же самое, но без лимита времени, просто три результата одинакового задания, тогда бы ребята мог ли бы всё верно расположить и учесть большинство нюансов и показать уже готовые макеты.
Nicolas is the clear winner, Craig’s has some significant issues, usb data will have to run under his switcher, decoupling caps way off to the side, stub antennas on the ground plane, double sided components are a pain and high cost to manufacture but also positioned to be influenced by the mcu temp. His switcher also has insufficient copper or thermal vias. for power dissipation. Everyone missed mounting holes, fiducials and could do with having a thermal isolation relief routed around the temp sensor to isolate it from the board temps.
Great feedback, thanks!
This is the best!
Thanks Mike!
this is super cool! Would love to see one where they have another design constraint like size or price
Glad you liked it! Yes, I'm planning another battle soon where small size will be the priority.
Damn, I love this channel and content. Only discovered you today. Keep up the good work, I'm going to be exploring the heck out of this channel.
I love hearing that! Thank you for watching!
As a full-time PCB Designer, I see that all of these designs have potential for improvement. Victoria's design stands out as the best, but there are a couple of areas where enhancements could be made. For instance, placing the capacitors, especially the input capacitors for the buck converter, closer to the IC would improve power integrity and EMC test results. Additionally, the via placement for ground could be improved by positioning the vias closer to the ground pins. Her design could have easily been a two-layer board while still maintaining functionality, which would reduce cost. Overall, considering the two-hour time limit, Victoria's design is a very solid effort.
Great feedback, thanks for sharing!
Can you suggest some good resources to learn pcb design
@arefinshuvo9293 just to name a couple: Robert Feranec and Eric Bogatin have great videos here on UA-cam.
@@DaleMitchell1367 thank you very much
In wich book could I found information about that? Or how could I become a pro in pcb design?
I recently got into PCB design, and I am slowly getting interested towards it. Thanks for this video!
I never realized how much I wanted something like this in my life! As someone who is still learning PCB design, I enjoy watching the confidence of these engineers as they build one out, and seeing three different approaches is such a blast. Subbed, and I'm looking forward to more!
That's so great to hear! Many more are coming, although some will also be on firmware programming, 3D design, etc
We need more of this :D I have been looking for something like this but no one have done anything like this before.
Great to hear that!
This is both fun to watch and very educational! I definitely prefer this format over normal tutorials. It would be fun and even more educational to see the unedited version of this too! I assume there is a lot of talk in the video that had to be cut that could be quite enlightening for a newbie like me!
Thanks and that great to hear, and that was exactly my goal:) Several people have asked about getting the unedited version, so it's something I'm considering making available some how. But there was also a good amount of silence while everyone worked, but also lots of extra chatting too:)
These are a work in progress and I'm taking everyone's feedback very seriously to make them even better.
I found this to be extremely pleasant to watch despite not being my field whatsoever. Great fresh idea; you have had some awesome suggestions in the comment section, so I am sure you can figure out how to further develop this video format :) Keep it up!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you!
Let the PCB Bloodsports begin!
Kinda expected Diptrace to be faster due to easier workflow, but frankly they all were pretty similar.
I think it depends mostly on the user. Some may be quicker circuit designers but just slower at using the software, but some vice-versa.
I'd love to see something like this with distributed element / microwave design. Always so interesting to see how different designers implement their networks when you really have to think outside the box. S-parameters would lend themselves nicely to a scoring metric.
That would definitely be a more advanced topic for a battle:) Thanks for the suggestion!
Nicolas did an amazing job, well done
Great format and lots of fun! Kudos to you! And all three of them are great sports for doing this!!
Yeah I agree they all did a great job! It's quite unnerving to try to design a PCB in public with so little time. Thanks for commenting!
Very nice content. No one is doing these kind of things. If you carry on you will definitely make it big
Edit:
Subbed
Love hearing that! Thanks for subscribing!
Nicolas had the nicest and most functional in my opinion, closely followed by Victoria and then Craig. It was nice to see how they all approached the problem from a unique perspective. For instance Craig put the sensor on the back of the PCB. This might make the pcb a little more costly to manufacture due to parts on both parts of the board, however the reasoning behind that is sound. Nicolas also added a reset button.
Just my suggestion: maybe it might be nice to put the temperature sensor in a cut out area of the pcb to isolate it a little more from reading/getting influenced by the overall temp of the pcb.
You have earned a subscriber to this channel.
Great feedback, thank you for sharing!
Never expected to stumble upon this kind of content, but I'm glad I did.
Wow, I finally found a treasure on UA-cam, amazing content!
Wow, thanks!
Fun watch . . . great job all.
Glad it was fun!
I like Craigs knowledge of ground plane stitching. Having a component on the back, does that make assembly more difficult/expensive?
Yes components on both sides is more expensive so mainly only done when small size is critical.
Great concept , I am looking forward to future updates, iterations and revisions to this playlist;)
Thank you!
If you are interested, we should do a colab. My videos focus on bare-chip stm32, but I typically stay in the prototyping environment and programming.
You've heard of FIDE ratings? I propose Évaluation de Compétence en Conception de Circuits (ECCC) - pronounced "é-say-say-say" for competitive PCB design.
Very cool concept, nice video editing, and impressive results! Keep it up!
Thanks!
KiCad for the win!!! I am so happy to see 2 out of 3 people using open source soultions for their problems
Now that's an Olympic I would love to watch.
Love it, thanks for commenting!
Placing the temperature sensor behind the MCU wasn't the wisest choice unless it was to measure the MCU temperature.
That's definitely true, but it was mostly a joke without giving it much serious thought. Thanks for commenting!
I am loving it. It is great to see as a beginner.
Great to hear!
Bless the algorithm. This is a neat content!
That's awesome to see same board made by 3 differents way.
I'm working in layout and they always want to do my board same way as them...
I am careless. Been zapped many many times. Once as an Avionics Electronics Technician working on the Harrier Jump Jet on the runway in Arizona. Sweaty hot, just when my Simpson volt meter shot to 220 volts, my hand slid right down the probe to the metal point. Meanwhile my armpit was resting on coaxial cables for the radar warning system which had ground shielding on the outside to ground any stray voltages. My sleeves were rolled up and it was in direct contact with the skin. Fortunately, most of it went from my hand to my armpit and some found the rest of my body. Taken 120 about 20 to 30 times. Last year building a physics cloud chamber I zapped myself on the transformer. This summer I was welding a lawnmower deck hot with 90 amps ground connected to the deck(this is a big mower pulled by a tractor and I was sitting on that hot deck.) First time in my arm as I was inserting a new rod, yes bare handed no glove, and my arm was resting on the hydraulic lines whose metal connectors must have found ground through the hydraulic fluid inside the cylinder. Zappo. About 10 minutes later, bumped my calf on the deck while inserting another rod. Zappo. Damn I'm getting good at this. Then when inserting the next rod I did the calf thing again. Now I am really getting good at this. I do believe I have a tolerance for electricity cause I used to love sticking that fresh 9volt battery on my tongue when I was a kid. Years ago I was replacing 3 porch lights for a little old lady. Front porch, side porch, and back porch. I got zapped on the front porch, then I got zapped on the side porch light. Now I am good at this stuff and I am getting concerned. So I removed the CB for the back porch so I could be sure not to get zapped. I got zapped anyway. It was at this point I could then solve the equation as enough variables had been provided. I realized at that moment that her aluminum siding on her house was shorted to power somewhere at her in box. I got my volt meter out and confirmed my suspicions. The siding was hot as a pancake fresh off the grill. She called the power company who made the necessary repairs. I could go on all day but y'all get the idea. I been goofing with this stuff since I was a kid in the 1970's. I remember running to radio shack for packs of resistors light bulbs transistors wire gosh they had it all. The good old days.
Good to get hold of some files - would be better if we had PDF of each schematic & PCB - Nicolas is on KiCAD v8 and I've not moved to that yet and I'm not sure how to view DipTrace files ...
Good point. I'll add the pdf versions later today when I get back to office.
Okay, I've added PDF versions for all 3 schematics and PCB layouts to the ZIP download. So if you want to you can download the same file again to get the PDFs too.
@@PredictableDesigns minor wrinkle, your mailer quite rightly doesn't send if we've already registered on that campaign ... ... isn't tech great!
You don't need the new email. Just click on the same zip link in the original email to redownload it. I just replaced the old zip file with the same link.
I know nothing about this stuff but this was really fun and interesting. Thanks for making this stuff
This was very entertaining, what an awesome idea
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very fun to watch, please do more !
So awesome to hear! Thanks, and we will be doing more:)
This was really relaxing and interesting to watch. More please❤
Thank you! More coming soon!
In the 80's I would manually draw the lands, and use thin spools of 'pin-striping' tape to connect it all. Vertical camera to take a 100% negative. That would then be used over presensitized PC board, then the ferrochloric acid for 10 minutes... then to a tiny drill press.... you get the picture.
Now it is uploading a file, and getting "beautiful" PC boards in the mail.
I'm ready for the PCB Design World Championships!
This was a fun video! Subscribed!!
Awesome! Happy to have you sub.
The best show I ve ever seen! :D
Love it, thank you!
hi, I'm curious about how to read firmware from PCBs, is a SOIC Pin + cheap microcontroller combo enough for a beginner learner ? I have a broken keyboard that doesn't register key holds so I thought I'd take it apart and inspect the firmware to see what's wrong but I'm a bit overwhelmed by all this new knowledge, seen some youtubers recommending a lot of expensive stuff which is for people who actually design PCBs and are experienced whereas I'm a complete beginner
Watching people design have never been this interesting and informative at the same time....❤
Love hearing that! That was exactly my goal with these battle videos. Thanks for watching!
Make more this type of content please
Thank you!
My new favourite sports channel🤣
Great to hear!
I wish there was a version for Mechanical Engineers with shafts, transmissions, etc. Like a CAD design race, that would be sick. Amazing video idea
Actually I do have one coming up soon featuring mechanical engineers designing a plastic enclosure for a PCB. So quite simple by ME design standards but still a lot of fun. We already held this battle and we're editing it now to publish soon.
Nice Format, but I would appriciate it if you would review the designs at the end so even people like me know what is a good/bad design choice or things to improve ... and who was the winner ?
Great point! I considered doing it for this video, but then I kind of forgot about doing that. Will do that for the next one.
This is awesome pls keep doing stuff like this
Thank you, and I will!
Nicolas is the clear winner, to continue on this i would add a practical test of soldering their boards and testing them to see which one performs the best
Thanks. Yes, I got a board assembly battle on the books soon.
maybe I'm just sleep deprived, but the idea of a PCB design race is hilarious
I would love a full walk-through of these designs. Like, pretend that that was a job interview question, then walk through an ideal response and explain the principles behind it.
I do that in the next upcoming battle. Stay tuned...
Hey I am a CS student, but am interested in this. I did a unit that did some minor pi stuff, but no sure where to start to aim for this. What do i need to do/where should i look to aim for this understanding?
I am completely new to this. What would be a good resource to get started learning this at home?
Of course...my UA-cam channel:)
Any way to reach out to any of these people? Im interested in contracting help for a small project
For future battles I'll be giving out the contact details of the winner.
I always trust YT recommendations !
It was Awesome 💌
Please make a wireless communications simulation battle in future
Nicholas did an excellent job with a very good design.
Wow, Nicolas' design is so clean!
Just a few ideas:
1) Do different PCBA series (i.e. high speed specific PCBAs; LED Lighting PCBAs; Motor Controller PCBAs; etc.). Attach specific requirements for environment testing (i.e. EMI, ESD, HighPot; etc)
2) Bring on guest judges that are experts for the given PCBA .Have them produce specific criteria.
3) At the end, mark up the schematics and layout, then post the results in a report.
This is essentially how most large companies create knowledge bases for internal training, and if you do this for the public, I see it as a net win for future engineers.
This is already an awesome idea. Thank you for taking it upon yourself to give this kind of entertaining, information dense, video series.
@fernadoi8958 really covered a few of these (just saw it as I was typing). Regardless of what you guys chose to do in the future, I appreciate your time and dedication to educating the masses
Wow, what a fantastic comment! I'm reading every single comment here and taking all of the feedback to heart. These are fantastic suggestions you've made, thank you so much for taking the time to share them with me here!
I'm already planning on bringing on independent judges who will review and score each design, and I'll announce a clear winner at the end. The focus will also be more on getting to a good finished design instead of partially completed designs.
Thanks again for the suggestions!
Please more of this
Many more are coming soon! Be sure to subscribe you don't miss them.
what is the brand and model of the headphone she wear?
Great video and format idea! however I would have liked some sort of conclusion at the end - what was done right, what not, what needs to be improved...
Thanks! See my most recent battle video where I do actually review each design and pick a winner.
@@PredictableDesigns Its indeed better! Keep up the great content!
Good job! Congratulations!
This is fucking awesome I love seeing people so knowledgeable and enjoying their craft.
Thank you, so glad to hear you liked it!
I think next time start them off with a board profile and switches and connectors already placed and fixed. That way they are all designing the same thing, and if they were ever built they would be interchangeable.
This was a great watch. It would've been even greater if there were more noobie explanations for us beginners so there's also more learning to it. Wish there are more videos like this.
Glad it was helpful!
Great video! Is there a crash course to designing a PCB from scratch?
Thanks! I have several videos on this channel teaching PCB design for beginners.
Is there a Reddit for audio engineering coding, (chip emulator) EDA (Electronic Dynamic Automation?)
why no one uses Eagle PCB or Easyeda? Are those apps not used in Europe?
Should m I perfect electronic Engineer 🧐? Because I made a perfect project in kicad without errors or problem
with norms when I m just automation and industrial computing student.
Woah, did Factorio drop a new update or something? looks so different
Hi, guys!
Could you recommend me articles, videos or books that can help me improve and understand the design and layout of the board?
Yeah, check out the other videos on my channel:) I also have in-depth courses on PCB design for beginners in my Hardware Academy. Cheers.
Nicolas is faster than the others always keep going I enjoy watching
So this time they HAD to use an STM32 ey John? 🙂Just kidding, this was about the PCB, not the µ-controller. Thanks to all the engineers for showcasing and entertaining - was great to watch the experts at work and listen to your comments. Nicholas gets my vote: this dude just looks so chilled while working and his board looked as if he does 3 of these before lunch every day. Awesome! The comment on the ESP, yep, that's just the way the market is right now, I guess. I think you need to give him something more challenging next time John, like an ESP32 where the BLE doesn't use 80mA. But thanks also to Victoria for considering and showing a 4 layer and Craig for showing us that Diptrace is alive!
What I was wondering is if you would perhaps consider a video showcasing any AI tools that may have made it to the EDA's? I would actually expect that by now there must be something that has been trained on the best way to place decoupling caps 🙂. Or whole design snippets, directly in the EDA? I don't really want to bother with finding EDA models from the manufacturer - what I'd like more would be to say to KiCad 12 : "just dump a buck converter in the corner there love?, 3.3V 2A please (because I'm using an ESP32). No, with one of those flat inductor thingies please." Is anything like this available yet?
Thanks for another nice video John - these PCB shootouts seem to be winners!
Thank you so much for such a great comment. They all did great. Nicolas is definitely relaxed yet super fast.
Yeah I've got an AI battle on my list and I've experimented with some of them.
Which role pcb design for electrical engineering
Thats the kind of engeneering content I didn‘t know I needed😂😂😂 Please more!!!
Love hearing that! Thanks!
What subject should I major in to be able to do this?
Electronics engineering
computer engineering
would be nice to have someone on Altium in this competition, to show just how truly viable kicad is
Checkout my other battle video which is Altium vs kicad.
Cool concept of pcb design speedrun;)
Is there a full 2h video available anywhere? Really interesting to watch it in real time
Thanks for the comment! That's a great question about the full 2 hour version. I considered adding it inside my Hardware Academy for members to access, but also just adding it as a free download. Wasn't sure anyone would want to watch the full 2 hours.
Im studying for my exams, so that i can get into a college. I love electronic engineering more than software, i grew up with tinkering with electronics, boards, microcontrollers and stuffs but sadly i have to choose computer sciennce depending on the college i get. How can i learn it in dept online? Ik there is plenty of courses but idk where should i start with. It would be appreciated if anyone here gives me guidance for the my doubt, thannks
Awesome craft but only know how to spell schematic.
Question. I thought that the purpose of using cad software was that once the schematic was done it would convert it into the PCB"s traces. Isn't that what the software does?
If only it was that easy:) The PCB has to be manually designed. The software helps ensure it follows the rules and matches the schematic. You can do auto-routing but it's usually not very good and rarely used.
Why does Craig prefer PCBWays over JLCPCB?What does he mean when he says that JLC's online tools don't work well? I also have to make a bit of a choice now, what do you think about these two brands?
Both are reputable companies that do good work with good service.
Hello, this is a great concept and it is fun to see the pastiche of "racing" style content and electrical engineering. My only request would be that for future videos you can explain what the PCB is meant to do at the outset of the video, that way the casual observer can ground their expectations for the design, and the engineers in the audience can think about what they would do differently.
That's a great suggestion, thank you! I'll definitely do that in the next one.
I saw this video in my feed, watched it, and then subscribed
That's what I like to hear!
Oh hell yeah, fun watch. Learned a lil and I don't even make PCBs.
Wow.. Nicolas layout was so good.
Anyone notice the insane differences in the backgrounds? Guys are one way gals are another. Nicolas won.
Yeah, us guys are messy slobs:)
Its called controlled mess, where everything is seemingly out of place but actually in quick reach 😅
Where do you guys learn this stuff?
I'm with Nicolas (1:09) - The ESP is so cheap and easily available, I don't build with much else these days. Some really simple projects I might use a '328p, but... most of my projects are not wifi or BT projects, but they're just so easy to use as well as affordable, that overkill is not really a consideration factor.
Do you use the bare ESP32 chip I assume? The module with the antenna would obviously be a waste of money and space if you're not using the wireless radios.
@@PredictableDesigns As I usually get blank pcbs to hand-solder, I get the modules as they're easy enough to hand solder.
It also means that if I want to add bluetooth later, I haven't locked myself in.
Can someone explain what is happening. Like are they copying already made designs from the Internet? Why were they visiting alot of websites.
No copying, just reviewing data sheets and manufacturer specs.
@@PredictableDesigns sorry for my stupid questions. But do you have a video where you explain this step by step? Like why are they looking at manufacturer specs if they are the ones making it. I don't get it exactly.
where can I learn all of this? I want to create my own pcb board and then install my own python programs in it.
Well you can learn it from all the other videos on my channel. I also have in-depth courses in my Hardware Academy where you can also get personal help from me and other experts.