Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [best-practice]

A best practice is a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark

A best practice is a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark. In addition, a "best" practice can evolve to become better as improvements are discovered. Best practice is considered by some as a business buzzword, used to describe the process of developing and following a standard way of doing things that multiple organizations can use.

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How to make traces on an universal PCB?

I hope this question won't be closed as too subjective. I'd like to know best practice - how to make traces on universal PCB's with individual holes without traces (like the following image). My idea is to bend the ends of discrete components and…
Al Kepp
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Is circuit design based on min/max values good practice?

Time and again I am arguing with a colleague of mine about the question above. When I design a circuit for mass production (> 10k/a) I want to make it robust against every possible variation of component parameters that I know about. This means for…
christoph
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How do I connect components when using a circuit board with pads but no traces?

Given a matrix board with soldering pads but no traces, how would you connect adjacent components (including the ends of the jumpers for longer stretches)? Some possibilities I've come up with: Solder the individual leads as usual, then bridge the…
Redwood
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Tinning wires that will be screwed in to a chocolate block/terminal strip

This is subjective, but I am looking for other people's experience. If I am going to screw eight wires into a daughter relay board's terminal block, is there a benefit or advantage to tinning the copper end before? The environment that the units are…
kingchris
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Standard PCB Layout Book

Are there any good references on advanced PCB design/layout/routing? There seems to be a large wealth of circuit design books, books about RF PCB design, and books dealing with high-speed digital design. None of these books are what I'm talking…
Joel B
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Is it bad practice to parallel power connector contacts?

Say I'm looking for some power connectors for a design, the current requirements are quite high and although I could get a connector with contacts rated for the full current, they're so bulky that they're unattractive for my design. Smaller power…
VBwhatnow
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Is it ok to 'snake' the flow of my schematic?

I recently watched this video by EEVblog on drawing schematics. One thing he talked extensively about was that the logical flow of a schematic should flow from left to right. Whilst this makes perfect sense to me, I have recently found myself in a…
user205112
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Using a human finger to test a circuit

In this Linear Tech App Note 13, page 28, Jim describes: A final form of probe is the human finger. Probing the circuit with a finger can accentuate desired or undesired effects, giving clues that may be useful. The finger can be used to…
Eagle Shou
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Should all traps always be defined?

I've seen two cases now with dsPIC 30F4013 where the controller was resetting due to an undefined trap. Why these traps were getting raised in the first place is still a mystery, but that's not my immediate question. I'm starting to think it would…
Stephen Collings
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SMD IC mounted upside-down inside a drill hole for extreme low-profile requirements

I don't know if the title is descriptive enough, but I came across this PCB and could stop to wonder about its brilliant design. It is an aftermarket trigger controller for an airsoft gun that works linear Hall sensors, such that you may glue tiny…
andresgongora
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Recommendation for default settings for unused pins on an STM32 (ARM Cortex M3) - pull up/pull down?

We are currently using various variants of the STM32 microcontroller family. I would like to know the following: What are the recommended default settings for pins of the microcontrollers in general if you have the option to select both pull ups…
IntelliChick
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VHDL: Architecture naming and interpretation

Note: I am using Xilinx's ISE and have an FPGA board to work with (with switches and lights and so on), and I've hacked together some simple projects so far. At the same time I'm reading several tutorials to build a foundation for what I'm…
MartyMacGyver
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Is it really a good-practice disable optimizations during the development and debugging phases?

I've read Programming 16-Bit PIC Microcontrollers in C, and there is this affirmation in the book: During the development and debugging phases of a project, though, it is always good practice to disable all optimizations as they might modify…
Daniel Grillo
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Is there a "Design Patterns" for synthesizable RTL?

For software, the book Design Patterns is a set of patterns for doing common things in software and it gives software practitioners common terminology to describe some of the components they need to create. Does such a book or resource exist for…
Ross Rogers
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IC power pin connection for noise immunity and decoupling

There's been much talk on other Q&A threads on how to connect decoupling capacitors to an IC, resulting in two completely opposite approaches to the problem: (a) Place decoupling capacitors as close as possible to the IC power pins. (b) Connect the…
andresgongora
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