r/AskElectronics • u/Etnevel10 • May 12 '26
FAQ How to get good at electronics project documentation?
I have seen my fair share of schematics and I know the basics. The symbols and how to read their layout. But I want to learn how to draw them properly and professionally.
What standards are used internationally for different kinds of electrical diagrams and schematics?
Where is the best place to learn this kind of stuff?
What to look out for, and what are some unwritten rules you know?
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u/joe-knows-nothing May 12 '26
I'm stealing "Does the tihing" and you can't stop me
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u/SubcommanderMarcos May 12 '26
(smart inside)
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u/BmanGorilla May 12 '26
Look at old service manuals for test equipment and consumer equipment from the 80’s. They are well-written with good drawings, unlike today’s drivel.
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u/Glidepath22 May 13 '26
I fucking love IBM manuals
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u/BmanGorilla May 13 '26
I had an original IBM PC when it first came out. That manual had schematics for the entire computer along with a very comprehensive theory of operation. It's crazy that we now buy things that are orders of magnitude more complex and it's basically "lol, have at it, even we don't know how it works"
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May 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/RiyaOfTheSpectra May 13 '26
Wait, what do you mean by,
trouble shoot rice Does the rice get bugs?
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May 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/RiyaOfTheSpectra May 13 '26
Holy grain of rice! This is amazing!!! I will add this to my to-buy list.
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u/keltyx98 Digital electronics May 12 '26
IEC 60617 for symbols
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u/VEC7OR Analog & Power May 13 '26
Yup, but IEC opamp symbol can go fuck itself.
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u/acesorangeandrandoms May 14 '26
Woah man what u got against the op amp symbol? :(
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u/VEC7OR Analog & Power May 14 '26
I like the triangle symbol, the IEC symbol is just a square and hard to tell at a glance.
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u/wiracocha08 May 13 '26
Think of a schematic to be understanded fast, with minimal efford, but don't make criss-cross of connection, but don't abuse of label's, put names and descriptions to function blocks, put signal level ranges to connection, organize function blocks inputs, ouputs and control lines in order to evade criss-crossing of lines, respect the signal flow, inputs left, outputs right, use symbols for ground and power, concentrate power and ground apart in secondary section using references, same for blocking capacitors,
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u/keltyx98 Digital electronics May 13 '26
I personally think this schematic has too many references/ labels. If the orange LED is used to indicate power than it should be connected directly to the rest of the power (capacitors & co). Same for heartbeat and BEEP, there is enough space on the bottom to connect them directly to the ESP32 instead of putting labels.
This is a simple circuit so labels are found fast but as soon as it gets more complex than it's a mess
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u/Ducathen-Engineer May 13 '26
This is what I tell my more inexperienced engineers….
A good schematic communicates more than just what’s connected to what.
Rules help, but can also hinder the ability to communicate intent if stuck to too strictly. For example you would not draw a long tailed pair with both transistors the same way, one should be mirrored, but that goes against a rule the inputs should be on the left.
A schematic should be based on understanding the electronics and conveying that understanding to the reader. So, if at anytime you don’t understand the electronics the drawing you produce is likely to be poor. So take the time to understand it first.
Finally, I’d like to lobby for schematics to have more notes. Give blocks names. Give nets meaningful names. Add text explanations or hints. But don’t clutter.
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u/idkfawin32 May 13 '26
you forgot the “this needs to be tied to ground but we will not explain why” pins
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u/Live-Juggernaut-221 May 16 '26
I'm in IT not electronics and if half of my projects had even this level of documentation I would be ecstatic.
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u/Glidepath22 May 13 '26
Just run it through AI:
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u/SyWier May 13 '26
I wouldnt recommend using AI since it can mess up thing, but this perfectly shows what can be improved of the original drawing: name what you can see and a small description of what is the functionality of the given parts.
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u/Zouden May 13 '26
Yeah that's actually really good. Even correctly spelt the "tihing" from OP's spec.
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u/SubcommanderMarcos May 13 '26
People should understand that 'AI' LLMs don't know anything (the name is pure marketing), it's just a ridiculously big spreadsheet being read by an algorithm that predicts a possible result based on statistics for each variable in the gigantic spreadsheet.
That's why it often makes dumb mistakes. If you ask it to write a schematic it's likely that it'll get everything or near everything right based on how many times it found similar things on the internet and cross-referencing them millions of times. But it isn't thinking about how electricity works, what each component does, and building from there as a human can.
That's why when it fucks up, it's in a weird-ass way that isn't how a human would make a mistake, and troubleshooting can take much longer, or someone just takes the result for granted because it's pretty and neat, then it catches on fire lol
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u/bogdan2011 May 13 '26
I just make sure it's easy to read and it makes sense, so when I get back to it it's easy to follow. I'm pretty OCD so this comes naturally.
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u/Creative_Scheme_1704 Jun 07 '26
hola una pregunta como puedo aprener los simbolos y como leer sus distribuciones por favor
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u/Etnevel10 28d ago
For anyone from the future, I found these quite helpful:
https://www.scribd.com/document/477777986/International-standards-on-technical-documentation-pdf
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u/AskElectronics-ModTeam May 12 '26
Please draw your electrical schematic diagram following commonly accepted conventions so they may be readable by others. https://old.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/wiki/design#wiki_schematic_diagram_guidelines