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I'm sure we've all run in to the following situation:

Problem statement - opposing pins needs to connect

Here, I need to connect pin 1 and 2 on the left to pin 1 and 2 on the right, and vice versa with pin 2.

I've considered a few options, however all seem to have some downsides:

Connecting using labels:

Labeled

The problem with this approach is that there's isn't always a clear name for every pin, and that it does not immediately tell that the pins don't connect anywhere else on the schematic.

Connecting by crossing the wires:

Crossed wires

I really dislike this approach, since it both is very unsymmetrical and also looks very reminiscent of a swastika.

Crossing diagonally:

Diagonal crossing

This approach works, but it does look slightly ugly in my opinion as schematics usually only consists of vertical and horizontal lines. Also, not all CADs support diagonal wires by default - in KiCAD you need to enable an option for it, and I'm not even sure you can do it in Eagle.

My question is, which of these approaches would be the "best practice" to create professional looking schematics? Are there any other approaches that would work better than those I've listed?

brhans
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Loovjo
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    This is a matter of opinion. I prefer diagonal, personally, but as this is an opinion-based question I'm afraid I have to vote to close it. – Hearth Feb 20 '21 at 13:28
  • You might enjoy [rules-and-guidelines-for-drawing-good-schematics](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/28251/rules-and-guidelines-for-drawing-good-schematics). Connecting using labels is my least-preferred choice but seems to be a popular way of doing it, judging by many schematics posted here - even when the components have clear whitespace between them. – Transistor Feb 20 '21 at 13:28
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    Could you avoid the problem by flipping one of the components? – Peter Bennett Feb 20 '21 at 16:57
  • Flip the components or use net lables – Voltage Spike Feb 21 '21 at 17:33

1 Answers1

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IEEE Std 315 Graphic Symbols for Electrical and Electronics Diagrams provides standards for drawing conductors that cross without forming a junction.

In section 3.1.5 they illustrate two conductors crossing over each other and note that the crossing "is not necessarily at a 90-degree angle". So I think you can do whatever would be most clear for the reader.

Elliot Alderson
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