We launched the Common Parts Library (CPL) in September 2014 to make part selection easier and to speed up the PCB design and manufacturing process. Since our launch, we have iterated several times based on feedback from CPL users. In August 2015, we introduced the Common Parts Library for Prototyping which was designed to complement the original, production-focused library which was renamed as Common Parts Library for Production.

Today, we are announcing a new version of the Common Parts Library for Production. Continuing on the journey to make it easy to design products and get them to production, this new version provides a holistic view of the supply chain for each part, including information about equivalent parts in the Shenzhen supply chain. This is supplemented by real-time pricing and availability information for each part so that you can make part selection decisions faster. Furthermore, the CPL for Production comes with a single symbols and footprints library in popular PCB design tools including Altium Designer, Eagle, and KiCad.

Here are the highlights of the new version:

1. Integration with Seeed Studio’s Open Parts Library:

As a curated list of commonly used parts, the Common Parts Library is useful to find components with good availability in supply chain, but we know that sometimes makers need a more global view of part availability. We wanted to expand the Common Parts Library’s utility for makers who are looking for parts not only in the Americas and Europe but also in Shenzhen. Today, we are excited to announce that Common Parts Library is now integrated with Seeed Studio’s Open Parts Library.

Seeed Studio has a significant presence in the Chinese electronics ecosystem and is an expert in the Shenzhen manufacturing process. Its Open Parts Library (OPL) is a collection of the most popular parts in Shenzhen, and was one of the original inspirations for the Common Parts Library. Our ultimate goal is to have an equivalent part available from the Shenzhen supply chain for every part that is available from US distributors. Currently, the parts from the OPL are being shown with Seeed Studio as a distributor.

For limited time, Seeed Studio is giving $20 discount for their Fusion PCB Service for all Common Parts Library users. Use the discount code CPLG2016 to take advantage of the offer. The discount code is valid from June 3, 2016 onwards.

2. A single library of symbols and footprints for all Common Parts Library parts: 

Since the release of the Common Parts Library, we have gotten many requests to have a single library of symbols and footprints. Our partner SnapEDA has helped us, and we are excited to announce that a single library of symbols and footprints for Common Parts Library parts is now available. You will have access to a symbols and footprints library in one place for all popular PCB design tools including Altium Designer, Eagle, and KiCad. This will reduce the time you spend on making them manually so that you can focus on actual design process. Download the library for Altium Designer, Eagle, KiCad, OrCad, Pulsonix and PADS from SnapEDA and read the setup instructions.           

For CircuitMaker, you can use the Octopart component database to find symbols and footprints for all CPL parts. You can read about the component management in CircuitMaker to get started.

3. Real-time pricing and availability information:

We have replaced the total number of authorized distributors in the previous version with more actionable real-time pricing and availability information. Now we show the top three distributors, as well as pricing (at order quantity of 100), so you have a better view of the supply chain. This will make it even easier to compare pricing and availability information across parts. When you hover over the price, you get stock information and clicking on the prices will take you straight to the distributor’s website.

For example, you can choose between the different ATmega chips by comparing the prices and quantity information from the top distributors:

4. The Common Parts Library For Production is now more data-centric:

We originally created the Common Parts Library by finding popular parts on blogs and forums, as well as crowdsourcing information. This was good but we wanted to use data to back-up the part selections to determine what parts are really popular amongst makers.

For the latest version of the Common Parts Library for Production, we analyzed data from Octopart usage. The result is a Common Parts Library with parts which are really in demand. This includes a better selection of sensors, integrated circuits (ICs), active components, as well as the addition of 0402, 0805, and 1206 parts for some of the popular resistor and capacitor values.

5. A Common Parts Library blog:

The Common Parts Library will now have a blog with CPL news, updates, and tips on how to select different components. Recently, we wrote two guides on passives — How to Select a Capacitor and How to Select a Resistor — which were deep dives into the different types of capacitors and resistors that exist, what their applications are, and how to select the right one for your project. You can expect to see more guides and Common Parts Library related posts in the Blog section of Common Parts Library. If you have suggestions for what content you might want to see, drop us a note in our Slack room.

6. The Common Parts Library for Prototyping has been updated with new parts:

Based on feedback from makers we have added flush diagonal cutters, logic analyzer-digital, stereo-microscope, “wire-wrap” wire, CP2102 Module (USB-to-Serial FTDI Board), WS2812B Breakout Board, step-down voltage converter modules (based off TSR12423 and MP2307 chips) in CPL for Prototyping.

Our goal is to make the journey from prototyping to production easier for makers, which is a long process but we are happy to take a step forward. A big thanks to our partners Seeed Studio and SnapEDA without whom this project wouldn’t have been possible. If you have any comments or suggestions on the part selection, drop us a note in our Slack chat room or in the comments below. We will be releasing more guides for choosing components, and making the Common Parts Library data more accessible soon. Stay tuned!

Over the last few months, we’ve been hard at work updating and revamping the BOM Tool. Today, we’re introducing another update that we hope improves your experience using the tool.

As we’ve been listening to people and how they use our tools, we noticed people were having trouble choosing parts when the BOM Tool returned multiple matches for an MPN. Previously, our BOM Tool had a little caret appear next to the number of distributors available when we found multiple matches to MPNs, but people were having trouble noticing it — it was so small that it was easy to overlook. Even when they did notice it, we’d show a dropdown of all the parts that matched the search, but there wasn’t a lot of information there that would help you decide between them. When we got an email from someone telling us they nearly ordered a ton of the wrong parts because they didn’t realize there were multiple matches, we knew we needed to change this and quickly. We needed to help people make sure that they added the right part to their BOM by showing more information in a way that was easy to see multiple results. So, now when you import a BOM, after you select your columns…

And confirm that they look OK…

You’ll see a red triangle with an exclamation mark denoting that multiple matches were found! Hovering over the triangle will tell you that there are multiple matches to your search:

Clicking on the triangle will reveal the manufacturer name, the part number, and if they are available the description of the part and an image. Clicking on “Details” will take you to the part detail page for even more information about the part.

Please try it out and let us know what you think — we’re always looking to improve the BOM Tool based on your feedback, so please reach out.

When it comes to PCB design tools, you have a lot of different options to choose from. First, there are the high-end, professional software suites. They put everything you need right at your fingertips and make design easy. Unfortunately, they’re a little out of your price range. Then there are the lower cost PCB tools, that provide a lot of the same basic functionality as the high-end models, but in a simpler form, without the bells and whistles, so they won’t break the bank. Finally, there are the free, downloadable tools that you find online. Some of these tools can be quite useful and provide a fair amount of functionality. Unfortunately, you may also find that you get what you pay for. Some of them don’t work very well, or provide you with the features and capabilities that you really need to do quality PCB design.

So which option is best for you? Let’s take a look at some of the most prominent free and low cost PCB tools on the market and examine their pros and cons.

Free and Open Source PCB Tools

KiCad – KiCad is an open source software, which means it’s maintained by its community of users. This gives it a large and diverse library of components, designs, and other resources, contributed by others—all at your fingertips, for free. Unfortunately, many find that the user interface leaves something to be desired. Simple tasks tend to take a long time, and the software can be buggy and difficult to manage. It’s an OK program for occasional hobbyists, but if your time is worth money, you might look into another option.

DesignSpark – DesignSpark is a much better received software suite, which some argue is as good as many of the paid software options. Many free software options are limited in their functionality, but as long as you register with the site, DesignSpark gives you the full range of capabilities, from part wizards and schematic libraries to 3D modeling to tutorials and learning materials. The software does come with ads, though, which must be actively acknowledged before you’re able to proceed with your work.

CADSTAR and CADSTAR Express – The first thing you see on the CADSTAR website is a banner saying, “Free PCB Design Software.” If you look closer, though, you’ll see links prompting you to talk to a sales representative, along with special offers and other paid services. What’s free is CADSTAR Express, along with a few other basic tools, including a design viewer. For free, you get a truncated version of the full, paid CADSTAR program. You’re limited to 300 pins and 50 components. You can also view a limited version of the extensive CADSTAR Online Library, and download another small portion. Basically, the free version is just a taste, to get the user to pay for the full version of CADSTAR.

EasyEDA – Rather than a download, EasyEDA is a web and cloud-based tool, which provides not only free PCB design, but also circuit design and simulation. Its cloud-based format allows you to access your work from any device, and it works on Mac, Linux, Windows, and Android, so you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues. Designed for beginners, its main appeal is its easy interface and design tools that are simple to use. More experienced designers may want something a little more complex, that provides greater design flexibility.

123D Circuits – While EasyEDA is designed for beginners, 123D Circuits is designed to accommodate all different experience levels. It has basic electronics and programming tutorials, which build up to full-fledged PCB design. It even allows you to import designs from Eagle, one of the most prominent low cost PCB tools on the market (which we’ll discuss later). Then when you’ve finished your design, you can order the completed, physical board and have it sent to you. It’s great for prototyping and testing electronics, and even has a gallery on their site of cool designs made by some of their other users. Cloud-based programs do have their drawbacks, however. While they can be accessed from anywhere, how well they work depends on the quality of your Internet connection. A slower connection, particularly with such a complex and intricate program, can cause problems and take up a lot of extra time.

Fritzing – Another open source program, Fritzing is constantly working to improve itself, both in terms of what it offers and how it works. It has an extensive parts library, and it’s easy to integrate parts directly from the library into your project. It goes a step beyond EasyEDA in terms of experience level and flexibility, but it’s still not quite up to the level of professional designers and engineers. It’s an excellent program for hobbyists, though, and makes it easy to share your designs with the Fritzing community.

gEDA – gEDA’s software package includes a set of design applications for a variety of functions, from design automation to integrated circuit design. Released under GNU General Public License, users have the freedom to run, share, or modify the software in any way they wish. It’s generally easy to use, with easy-to-access resources that are continually maintained and updated by a team of programmers. It’s designed mainly for Linux, but will also work with Unix and, to some degree, Macs. Windows compatibility isn’t provided by gEDA itself, but there are hooks available from other sources that will allow some of the applications to be compatible with Windows in a pinch.

Low Cost PCB Tools

Upverter – Upverter’s PCB tools have several different price levels, beginning with a free Starter package. At that level, you get a number of basic features, such as custom parts creation and a personal library. However, it also only allows you two private projects. For unlimited projects, you need the Professional version, which also includes a wider selection of parts, as well as 3D previews and API/Scripting. All-in-all, Upverter’s Professional version is a comprehensive and worthwhile option. On the other hand, when it comes to low cost PCB tools, it’s also one of the more expensive ones, at $125 per month. You can reduce the cost to $100 per month if you pay the entire year up front.

Eagle – The biggest pro of Eagle’s PCB tools is that they can run on Windows, Mac, or Linux, so you can use the software no matter what your preferred OS is. Another pro is that Eagle’s tools are priced annually, rather than monthly, leading to some relatively low cost options at the lower end. Packages begin at $69 for the basic, “Business Lite” version. From there, it moves up to Standard and Professional versions, whose prices vary depending on how many users you have and which types of editors you want to include. For one user to use just the Layout or Schematic editor, it’s $315 per year for the Standard version or $625 for the Professional version. However, if you want the Schematic, Layout, and Autorouter editors, those prices go up to $820 and $1,640, respectively. Different editors have different features, so if you want a lower price, you need to pick and choose which capabilities are most important to you, and which ones are worth sacrificing. Additionally, there’s no unlimited version. The Standard version limits you to 99 schematic sheets and 6 signal layers, while the Professional version limits you to 999 schematic sheets and 16 signal layers.

DipTrace – DipTrace is the low cost PCB tool on our list that offers a perpetual license, rather than monthly or annual payments. These prices range from $75 for the Starter package, to $1,195 for the Full package. It should be noted, though, that if you want unlimited pins, or unlimited signal layers, you need to shell out the full $1,195. All other versions give you a limited number. Also, periodic software upgrades cost money – 25% of the package cost, if you want the latest version.

Quadcept – At $99 per month, Quadcept is one of the more reasonably priced PCB tools—especially considering that support, maintenance, and upgrades are all included in that price. You can also pay an annual fee of $1,089 instead of the monthly fee, which essentially nets you one free month per year. They also provide a free component library of over 250,000 parts, and a variety of other features, from angled trace to automatic test pad generation and more.

CircuitStudio – This is by far the cheapest low cost PCB tool, at $49.95 per month. It also has one of the most comprehensive sets of features. CircuitStudio’s component library features over 350,000 parts, as well as live, integrated supply chain management, to help you keep track of what parts you need and which parts are available. It’s easy to use and gives you what you need to design quality PCBs quickly.

To see for yourself just what CircuitStudio has to offer, click here for a free trial.

 There are plenty of free and low cost PCB tool options out there, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. In the end, it all comes down to which tool can do what you need it to, at a price you can afford. Do your homework and see exactly what each of these PCB tools offers, and which one best suits your needs.

You may have noticed that Octopart search has been running extra fast lately — that’s because we released an update to our web application that makes Octopart extra powerful and even easier to use. The server component of the new application is written in Go. We’ve explored Go for internal tools for a while, and we chose it for our new web app to provide consistent speed and a robust platform for future updates. On average, search on octopart.com is now two times faster than it was before, and the longest load times are up to three and a half times faster.

There are also some changes you’ll notice on our search results pages that we hope will make finding the right component easier. Let’s go on a tour of what’s new.

We’ve simplified the category interface. In the left sidebar, we used to show all the categories we have, regardless of how relevant they were to your search. Now, we highlight relevant categories in a streamlined interface to reduce noise and help you focus on what matters.

Many people who use Octopart have requested the ability to sort search results by part attributes to find the best part for the best price. Now, you can! In matrix view, you can now sort by any part spec available. You can still sort by relevance and price like before, but now you can also sort by attributes, like Supply Current, Resistance, Voltage Rating, Quiescent Current, and more. Click on the target in the middle to see attribute options you can select, and then sort them by ascending or descending by toggling the up and down arrows.

In the card view, clicking “Show more” will expand the card down to reveal more distributors listing the part available. Clicking on Specs and Descriptions to get even more information. In the right corner, we now list the number of data sheets available, as well as the age of each datasheet.

When you open up images, you can tab between them as well.

You’ll also notice that search results pages are a lot more mobile friendly:

With these updates, we’re aiming to make finding parts more efficient. Let us know if there are more features you’d like to see added to Octopart Search by emailing us here.

When I was working on the the latest version of the Common Parts Library, I realized that it would be helpful to explain why you might pick one type of inductor over another. We started off this series by writing “How to select a capacitor,” followed by “How to select a resistor,” and are continuing with a close look at inductors.  

In this blog, we will explain all the different types of inductors, their merits and demerits, and their popular applications. We have included some recommendations for commonly used inductor series with high supply chain availability from the new Common Parts Library, which includes parts from the Shenzhen supply chain via Seeed Studio’s Open Parts Library.

Let’s dive into the world of inductors:

Inductors  

Inductors are two-terminal components used for filtering, timing and power electronics applications. They store energy in the form of magnetic fields as long as a current is flowing. Inductors oppose a change in current by inducing an electromotive force (or e.m.f) according to Lenz’s Law. The inductor can be approximated as an open circuit for AC signals and as a short circuit for DC signals.  The unit of inductance is Henry (H) .  

There are four main factors that affect the amount of inductance of an inductor: the number of turns in the coil, coil area, coil length and core material. When inductors have a magnetic core made up of a ferromagnetic material it results in higher inductance. However, inductors with a magnetic core have losses such as hysteresis and eddy currents.

There are several parameters that are important to keep in mind while selecting an inductor:

• Q factor, or Quality Factor, refers to the ratio of an inductor’s reactance to effective resistance. This value is frequency dependent and test frequency is often specified in datasheets. Q factor impacts the sharpness of the center frequency in an LC circuit. Usually, a high value of Q factor is preferred.
  

• Self Resonant Frequency (SRF) describes the frequency at which an inductor stops working as inductor. For RF circuits, self resonant frequency should be chosen such that it exceeds the operating frequency of the circuit. As the inductance is zero at the self resonant frequency, the Q factor is zero.

• Saturation Current refers to the DC current which causes the inductance to drop by a specified value. The inductance drops because the core can only store a certain amount of magnetic flux density. While saturation current is related to the magnetic properties of the inductor, rated current is related to physical properties, and it describes the maximum DC current that can be passed in an inductor.

• DC Resistance (DCR) refers to the resistance inherent in the metal conductor of the inductor, and it can be modeled as a resistor in series with the inductor. DC resistance is an important parameter in DC-DC converters design as the resistance leads to I²R losses thus reducing the efficiency.

• Tolerance is the variation in the inductance value of an actual inductor compared to the specified value in the data sheet. This could result in unwanted shift in frequency selection of an RF filter.

Recently, Octopart updated search pages to make it easy to filter searches by these parameters, so you can see the best parts that match your search and keep the attributes above in mind. Here’s an example.

TYPES  

An inductor is also referred to as coil or reactor. If an inductor is used for blocking or decoupling higher frequencies, it is called as “choke”. There are different types of inductors based on materials used in cores and construction. Let’s look at some of the main ones below:

I. Air Core Inductor 

Air-core inductors do not have a core, and their biggest advantage is they have a high Q factor and low losses. As they do not have a core, a larger number of coils are required to gain the same value of inductance which results in increase of size. They are mainly used in high frequency applications such as resonant circuits where low inductance values are sufficient.
Part Selection: Wurth Elektronik’s 74491 series for 1.65nH to 120nH

II. Ferrite Core Inductor

Ferrite core inductors are made of a ferromagnetic material which has high permeability. These inductors have much higher inductances compared to other types. They also have low losses. They are used in noise filters, high quality transformers and DC-DC converters.
Part Selection: Bourns’ CM322522 series for 220nH to 100µH [CPL]

III. Iron Core Inductor 

Iron core inductors can have very high inductance values due to their iron core. They can handle high power but are limited in high frequency capacity. They are used mostly in low frequency applications such as audio equipment.
Fine particles of iron powder are used in iron powder inductors which have higher saturation currents than ferrite core inductors. They are commonly used as radio frequency chokes.
Part Selection: Bourns’ SRP7030 series for 100nH to 8.2H    

IV. Toroidal Inductor

When inductors are wound around a ring or circular toroid, they are referred to as toroidal inductors. Since the toroid has a closed-loop core, it has higher inductance and Q factor than an inductor with straight core (solenoid). Because of the symmetry, the magnetic flux leakage is very low. This structure makes toroidal inductors a good choice for  large current and high inductance applications. These inductors are used in DC-DC switching voltage regulators, medical and refrigeration equipment, telecommunication circuits and more.
Part Selection: Pulse’s P/PE series for 10µH to 1.5mH

V. Bobbin Based Inductor 

Bobbin based inductors are wound on a cylindrical bobbin and can be either axial leaded or radial leaded. These are mostly used for printed circuit boards (PCBs).  They vary widely in terms of power rating, operating frequencies, size and other parameters.
Part Selection: Bourns’ 78F series for 1µH to 1mH

VI. Multi-Layer Ceramic Inductor  

These inductors are formed by layering ceramic materials to create an integrated monolithic inductor. They are smaller and less expensive than toroidal inductors. While they have lower Q factor than toroidal inductors do, they provide a good overall balance between tolerance, rated current, size and price. They are used to suppress high frequency noise, RF matching in modules such as wireless LANs and in mobile communication systems.
Part Selection:
0402 Murata’s LQG15H series for 1nH to 270nH [CPL]
0603 Murata’s LQG18H series for 1.2nH to 270nH

VII. Film Inductor  

Film inductors use a film of conductor on their base material which enables them to have an ultra-miniature size. Multiple spiral-shaped thin film coils are created on the substrate which results in compact and highly precise inductors. Compared to multi-layer ceramic inductors, they have low variation. However, film inductors are limited in their maximum value. Their applications are in RF matching circuits that need small inductor sizes and also low tolerance in inductance along with high Q factor. They are also used in DC-DC converters.
Part Selection:
0402 Murata’s LQP15MN series for 1nH to 33nH [CPL]
0603 Murata’s LQP18MN series for 1.3nH to 100nH

VIII. Ferrite Beads 

Ferrite Beads are passive components that remove high frequency electromagnetic interference (EMI) noise from a circuit. Ferrite beads are placed in series with the signal source. Any current that flows through the ferrite bead will create a voltage drop proportional to the DC resistance of the ferrite bead. Hence, it is preferred to have low values of DC resistance. However, it is desirable to have high impedance over some defined frequency range to suppress the noise.
Part Selection:
0603 Murata’s BLM18AG series for 120Ω to 1kΩ (impedance at 100MHz) rated at 0.5A [CPL]
0805 Murata’s BLM21P series for 22Ω to 330Ω (impedance at 100MHz) rated at 1.5A [CPL]

Applications

The two main applications of inductors are in areas of power electronics and RF circuits.  Inductors are an essential component in a variety of DC-DC converters as well as in RF circuits in LC-tuned oscillators. Let’s look at these two applications below:

I. For DC-DC Converters:

DC-DC converters or switching regulators are used universally in almost all electronic devices. They are popular as they have high efficiency during step up (boost converter) and step down (buck converter) of DC voltage. Below is a simplified diagram of a buck converter which is used to step down DC voltage. A controller IC is required to sense the feedback voltage and adjust the switching PWM accordingly. Some DC-DC converters today replace the diode with a transistor for synchronous rectification.

Fig.1  Schematic of a buck converter

To choose the value of the inductor, various parameters, such as input voltage range, output voltage, maximum output ripple, maximum load current, size and the ESR of output capacitors, need to be considered. An inductor should have a high value of rated current so that it can operate in linear range over the entire load. Also, it should have low DC resistance to minimize losses and increase the efficiency of the regulator. It should also have a small size which is important for printed circuit boards (PCBs).

Read this guide on designing a synchronous buck converter, and a guide to select inductors for switching regulators as well as this guide titled `Buck-converter design demystified’ to go deeper into inductor selection for DC-DC converters.

II. For RF Circuits:

Inductors are used in various RF circuits including filters, oscillators and more. Let’s take the example of a Colpitts Oscillator, which is an LC resonance circuit connected between the collector and base of a single stage transistor amplifier. The amplifier is necessary because an LC circuit by itself produces a damped oscillation due to the parasitic resistances of the components. The amplifier in the Colpitts Oscillator ensures undamped oscillations.

To select the RF choke, choose an inductor whose self resonant frequency (SRF) is near the frequency where choking is needed. This is because the impedance of an inductor is maximum at its SRF. For an LC circuit, choose the inductor such that its SRF is much higher (~10x) than the operating frequency. The tolerance of the inductor must also be considered as it might lead to unwanted shift in frequency selection.  Read this guide on selecting inductors for RF applications to learn more.

Fig.2 Schematic of a Colpitts Oscillator

This guide covers some of the most popular types of inductors including selecting them for different applications.  If you have any comments or suggestions on the part selection, drop us a note in our Slack chat room or in comments below. A guide on how to select connectors is coming soon. Stay tuned!

Great news! We’ve adjusted our BOM Tool header to make it easier to see more of your BOM. When you scroll down to see your BOM, the top of the header collapses, allowing you to see more line items. Also, thanks to feedback from BOM tool users, we made the column headers stick to the top of the screen, so when you scroll you know exactly what each column is. Check it out:

Give it a try, and please keep sending us your ideas to improve the BOM tool at contact@octopart.com.

In my last engineering blog, we explored Octopart’s search technology — I explained how the Octopart search engine matches part number searches to the parts stored in our database. Continuing in the spirit that it’s easier to use a tool when you understand how it works, this blog will discuss the ways you can control or change search results on Octopart, and how those functions work.

The search engine has a big task. There are over 40 million parts on Octopart but the first page of results shows a maximum of 10. Surfacing the best ten parts out of over 40 million is a big challenge! It happens in a couple of steps.

The first stage of processing a search request is determining the result set: of the over 40 million parts in the collection, which ones “match”? This step is a binary choice: each part is either matches or does not. The set of matching parts is called the result set or the “hits.” In the above example there are 3263 hits.

Next, the search engine orders the result set. Of those 3263 hits, which comes first, second, third, and so on?

Finally the the result set is split into pages (on Octopart, there’s 10 parts per page). So the parts you see on the first page are the first 10 hits in the ordered list of 3263 hits, which is the matching subset out of the total collection of over 40 million parts.

When you’re doing a search on Octopart, there are several ways that you can control these steps: what search terms you type into the search bar, what filters you add, and what sorting preferences you choose. We all interact with search engines many times per day and use functions like this to help get the results we need. But often we use these functions without considering them individually. This makes it easy to overlook the details of what they’re actually doing and how you can use them best. Let’s look at each more closely.

The most basic way to impact your search results is by adding filters. These are visually represented in the left sidebar of the search results. A filter selects a set of matching parts, without affecting the ordering of those parts. A filter is binary: either a part matches a filter and is included in the result set or it doesn’t match and is not included.

Filters are combined according to boolean logic.

Selecting the “LEDs” category applies a category filter. Out of the total part collection, there are 56,986 parts with the category “LED”. The filter does not impact the ordering of the results. In this example the default Octopart sort order is used, which is designed to bring available, quality parts to the top.

Adding the Manufacturer filter makes the result set smaller: 2,022 hits. These parts are in the LED category AND manufactured by Lite-On. Different filters are combined with a boolean AND. We can think about this with set theory: the category filter defines Set A, the manufacturer filter defines Set B, when we apply both filters, the result set is the intersection of Set A and Set B.

If we select more than one manufacturer we get more results (5,003, still less than the total number of parts in LEDs).

The results are parts matching:

(category LEDs) AND (manufacturer Avago OR Lite-On)

Multiple values for a single filter are combined with a boolean OR. Again, changing these filters only changes which parts are hits, not the order of the hits.

The next thing we can do is to directly impact the order of the results by choosing a Sort preference.

Instead of the default Sort by Relevance, we can choose to order the result set from lowest to highest price. This does not change the total number of hits, which is still 5,003, or which parts hit, but by ordering them differently we see new parts on the first page.

If we choose Matrix view, we can sort by any part attribute.

For example, sort by Viewing Angle descending to see the parts with the greatest viewing angle.

The final function available is the most complex, and was maybe the first thing you thought of: the search terms! Those words you type in the box.

Search terms are particularly powerful because they impact both part matching and ordering. Given a set of search terms like red SMD LED the search engine chooses the set of parts that “match” the search terms (that’s a binary match/no-match choice like a filter). But it also measures how well each part matches the query. This impacts the order of the results. On Octopart that how well calculation encompasses the confidence that each part is a red smd led, as well as supply chain and other part quality data.  

So what’s required for a part to “match” a set of search terms?

Octopart shows parts that contain all the words in the search box. Each part is represented as a document with a set of fields, like manufacturer name, part number (MPN), descriptions, category, and more. A search query like red SMD LED is split on whitespace into distinct words. A part matches when all of the words appears in at least one field. Of course, the concept of a “word” is a little more involved because it includes MPNs and partial MPNs.

We’ve found that this strategy is the best way to provide search results that meet users’ expectations. You get all the parts that reasonably match your query and you don’t get back parts that only correspond with some of your terms. 

Search engines are powerful tools to help humans interact with large volumes of information. Octopart part database is a tremendous resource, but too large to process without advanced tools. By developing an accurate mental model of the search engine machine and the levers available to control it, it becomes easier to manipulate all the information available to us — on Octopart and in the world.

Octopart is growing! We’re looking for motivated individuals who are excited about joining a startup that streamlines engineering workflows and enables the technology of the future.

We’ve got two open positions: a Marketing Assistant and a Sales Operations Coordinator.

The Marketing Assistant will help out with content, social media, brand marketing, and event strategy, making sure marketing team operations run smoothly. The primary requirements for this position are:

• An enthusiastic, creative, go-getter attitude
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• An interest in marketing and identifying innovative ways to share a brand
• An understanding of Octopart’s voice and point of view

The Sales Operations Coordinator will help manage relationships with major distributors and manufacturers in the electronic component industry. We need someone with an analytical bent to take the lead in providing excellent customer billing administration support, customer onboarding and datafeed support, and banner and creative program support. The primary requirements for this position are:

• Excellent follow-through
• Clear writing style
• Intermediate or advanced knowledge of Excel
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail

Octopart offers competitive salary packages, generous health, dental, and vision coverage, and an open vacation policy. For more information, check out our Jobs page. If you’re interested, please consider this an open invitation to apply!

The Common Parts Library (CPL) is a set of commonly used electronic components with recommendations for a few hundred parts for connected device applications. We’ve evolved the Common Parts Library over the last few years thanks to feedback from our community and our own research. As we worked to make the latest CPL better for worldwide part sourcing, we wanted to use Octopart usage data to help us determine parts’ popularity and ensure that we were only choosing the most popular parts in the global supply chain. In most cases, there were no surprises about which parts were most popular and we included them in CPL. However, sometimes a part that is not very popular in general still meets a very important functionality within connected device product development, and sometimes a part that is popular is not really the best engineering choice for a given function. This blog is about the trade-offs we faced in this process and how we made decisions about what to include in the Common Parts Library. Let’s look at a few examples in different categories:

Passive Components:

Passive components form the largest group of components in CPL. Our goal was to choose passives such that there is a selection of general-purpose applications but also specific applications, such as filter designs. Based on activity we measured on Octopart, we found that 0603 passive components are the most popular. This was expected as 0603 SMT passive components are small enough to develop compact designs, but large enough to assemble by hand using tweezers. So, we’ve included mostly 0603 package size.

Next, we had to choose a few among several component values. We found out that certain values of passive components are more commonly available in supply chain than others. For resistors, while 330Ω ±10% is standard 330Ω ±1% is not according to EIA Decade resistor values. However, the “non-standard” 330Ω is more commonly available than the “standard” 332Ω as can be seen in the chart below:

Read more in “Millions of resistors! Using Octopart data to choose parts for the Common Parts Library” which goes in depth about the analysis we performed to choose resistor values.  

After we decided the resistor values, we used data from Octopart to choose the best orderable MPNs for the Common Parts Library. While the 0603 package size was popular on Octopart, we also found that 0402, 0805 and 1206 packages for some common resistor values were also quite popular. We included these packages for 0Ω, 100Ω, 1kΩ, 3.3kΩ, 4.7kΩ, 10kΩ, 100kΩ. 

Similarly for capacitors, we saw that the 0603 package size was popular on Octopart, but 0402 and 0805 packages were also popular for other common values. We included 0402 1pF, 10pF, 1nF, 10nF, 100nF and 1uF as well as 0805 100nF, 1uF, 4.7uF, 10uF, 22uF based on this analysis.

Once we knew the package size and values for capacitors, we could make decisions on their voltage ratings. Ceramic capacitors have a large voltage coefficient – a 50% decrease in capacitance value at half the maximum VDC is common. Hence, we chose 50V voltage rating for ceramic capacitors where possible. 50V voltage rating is common until 100nF, in the range of 1uF and beyond, one has to choose between lower voltage rated ceramic capacitors or tantalum capacitors.

For tantalum capacitors, data might show that 6.3V rated ones are more popular, but we did not include them as they are known to have catastrophic failure events in case of voltage spikes more than rated voltage. Instead, we chose 16V tantalum capacitors where possible, as most connected device applications operate up to 5V.  

For inductors, we chose common nH values for filter designs and some common µH values for DC-DC converter designs. Ferrite beads were also added as they remove high frequency EMI noise for circuits.

For crystals, we selected values for use with MCUs and interface ICs. As expected, 32.768kHz, 8MHz and 16MHz are the most popular values. But we also included 12.288MHz as it allows integer division to common UART baud rates.

All of our research and findings are summarized in our blog series explaining how to select a capacitor, resistor and an inductor.

ICs and Sensors:

For integrated circuits (ICs), FT232, W5500 and MAX232 were obvious choices because they are widely used for interface operations. Balun and chip antennas are included as they are used in conjunction with other interface ICs. ATmega16u2 is included with ATmega328 as it can handle the interface to USB. While we have included some of the traditional and commonly used options such as ATmega328, STM32 and MSP430, we’ve also included some newer chips, like nRF52832 and ATSAMD21, because we saw they were popular on Octopart.

Motion sensing is important in connected device products. For the IMUs MPU-6050 and MPU-9250 are the most popular and we chose both. As for accelerometers, we had a lot to options to choose from. Analog Devices’ ADXL series accelerometers are widely used and we had to choose between the analog ADXL335 and the digital, more recent, ADXL345. ADXL335 is slightly more popular than ADXL345 but in terms of performance, we found that ADXL345 is far better: it has more sensitivity, has inactivity sensing and requires less power than ADXL335. For these reasons, we chose ADXL345.  

Some Common Parts Library users have asked us to include hall sensors in the CPL. Though they are in the overall sensors category, hall sensors are not as popular as accelerometer or temperature sensors are. However, they do play a very important role in applications requiring position sensing of magnetic objects, such as in brushless DC motors, so we decided it should be included in the CPL. We chose A1324 in the SMT package as it is one of the popular hall sensors on Octopart.

Diodes and LEDs: 

For diodes, we started out with a bunch of general-purpose diodes along with Schottky rectifiers and high current rated diodes. Fairchild Semiconductor’s 1N400x series is popular, but among these, 1N4004 (400V rating) and 1N4007 (1000V rating) are the most popular among Octopart users and were, thus, included.

SS12 (1A rating) and MBR360G (3A rating) Schottky barrier rectifiers, while not as popular as 1N4004 and 1N4148, are included to give higher current options, which are necessary for switching voltage regulators which require more current.  

Along with diodes, LEDs also play a very important role in connected device applications for indication, lighting and other purposes. Based on Octopart data, green and red LEDs are most popular, but we have also included orange, amber, blue, yellow and white LEDs to give more options to choose from. However, when it came to WS2812, which is a RGB LED with control IC, we found that it didn’t have the wide availability in the supply chain all other parts in the CPL have. It was important to include it in the CPL because connected device applications often need control for lighting effects, even though it has limited supply chain availability in the United States.  

We did similar analysis for all the other categories including transistors, connectors, voltage regulators and more. Our goal is to make sure the parts in the CPL are popular and widely used, which we can back up with Octopart data, but are also the best choices for a variety of functions within connected device product development. It is challenging to strike the balance, but we believe this will help address some of the challenges people face in designing connected devices, like design for manufacturability (DFM) issues, long lead times and assembly costs.
The CPL is an ongoing effort, and we would love to hear your feedback on how we can make it better for the whole community. Do drop a comment below or send us a message on our Slack room. We are working on getting the CPL data available on Github – we’ll update you soon. Stay tuned!

Last year, we had a fantastic time at the Open Hardware Summit in Philadelphia meeting hundreds of open source hardware makers and enthusiasts and speaking about the Common Parts Library. We’re ready to do it all again at this year’s Open Hardware Summit on October 7th, in Portland, OR. We’ll be demoing some shiny new Octopart search features and BOM Tool updates, as well as the latest version of the Common Parts Library. Will you be attending the Open Hardware Summit in Oregon this year? We want to hear about what you’ve been working on! Be sure to stop by our booth to learn about Octopart and chat about ways to streamline Open Source Hardware design workflows  — plus, we’ll be handing out some pretty cool giveaways for you to take home. Let us know if you’ll also be attending, and we look forward to meeting you in October!

Octopart and Thimble having a blast at OHS 2015

We are pleased to announce that the TI store is now live on Octopart!

The TI store offers engineers the opportunity to buy products directly from Texas Instruments. With over 30,000 TI products in stock and no minimum order quantities, there is a good chance they’ll have what you are looking for.

Keep an eye open for the TI store as you search for semiconductors and dev kits on Octopart.

Do you buy directly from manufacturers? Are we missing anyone? Please let us know!

A few weeks ago, we announced that we’re a proud sponsor of this year’s Open Hardware Summit. We couldn’t be more excited to head over to Portland’s Crystal Ballroom on October 7th to meet fellow open hardware enthusiasts and discuss how Octopart can help boost the open source community.

In advance of this exciting event, we’re giving away FOUR tickets to the Open Hardware Summit! Admission to this all-day event with talks by leaders in the open source community also includes all day coffee, food, and an amazing gift bag from Open Hardware Summit sponsors.

To win one of four tickets to the Open Hardware Summit, please send an email to contact@octopart.com with “OHS” in the subject line. 

Also, on Thursday night before Open Hardware Summit, our pals at CircuitMaker will be hosting a happy hour and we’d love to meet you there. Come say hi and grab a drink with us:

McMenamin’s Ringlers Annex

1223 SW Stark St, Portland, OR 97205

October 6th, 2016

6:00pm

We hope to see you next week!

This giveaway does not include transportation to the event.

Last week, we headed to Hardware Workshop NYC, and over the weekend visited Maker Faire NYC. We heard from hardware development leaders on building and launching products, and saw some incredible projects coming out of the maker movement and the latest and greatest gadgets in desktop manufacturing.

Maker Faire NYC happens annually in Queens and is one of the biggest events for designers, 3D printing enthusiasts, gamers, drone builders, engineers and more to get together and see what’s happening in the maker movement. It’s always an amazing event and this year was no exception: we were blown away by a fully 3D printed dress printed by Shapeways, BBC: micro-bit (handheld, fully programmable computers which have been distributed to secondary schools in the UK), and a piano-controlled Street Fighter game!

One of the fair’s themes was the future of digital fabrication, and it was clearly in line with innovation in the desktop manufacturing space (for more on that, check out our blog on this trend). There were lots of 3D printers and laser cutters Some booths that stood out were Glowforge, Ono, Mr-Beam and Wazer. Wazer is the world’s first desktop waterjet cutter and can cut any hard materials like metals using high pressure water. Most traditional waterjet cutters can cost up to $100,000 and can be as large as 10 feet long. Wazer, which is just three feet wide, is now on Kickstarter from $3599.

And while we were at Maker Faire, why not practice some soldering skills ourselves? Here’s new Octopart team member Jerrica and me in the “Learn to Solder” station at Maker Faire!

One of the striking images from Maker Faire was a little boy hacking on a Raspberry Pi hooked up to a monitor. As we work on self-driving cars and dream of colonizing Mars, I feel optimistic that our future is in bright hands.

We also headed to the Hardware Workshop, a two day event for hardware startups in New York (this year, it has already happened in Boston, Seattle, London, Paris and San Francisco). It was great to hear from some of the thought leaders in the hardware design and product development space. There were sessions on building brands, making press relationships, prototyping devices, building a team, raising capital, and product development. Here are some of the key takeaways from the event:

Dakota Boin (@DakotaBoin) from Highway1 talked about choosing the right prototyping resolution for your product. Building integrated “looks-like” and “works-like” prototypes takes a lot of time and money, and it is best to iterate in the initial few steps of prototyping to define the product. He used Sensassure as an example, which is a product for elderly comfort and care. While working on their product to improve senior care, the founders realized that comfort and fit was equally important as the technology behind it. They built several prototypes without any electronics in them to find which ones were the most comfortable for users.

Chris Quintero (@chris_quintero) from Bolt spoke about how innovation in hardware is followed by commoditization. He used Jawbone as an example to illustrate this. Jawbone was one of the first ones to launch bluetooth speakers in the consumer market, but had their margins reduced by several competitors such as Beats, Sony, JBL, Sony and others. According to Chris, it’s important to build network effects to avoid commoditization.

Ben Einstein (@BenEinstein) from Bolt gave a great overview of the product development process, and he used DipJar to explain this process. DipJar is a way to give countertop tips from your credit card at coffee shops. Ben explained how the founders did extensive market research and talked to many baristas to understand their problems around tipping. Chris Reel from Canary (@canary) suggested that the new teams leverage on the already existing technologies such as AWS IoT service instead of building solutions from scratch.

The final session in the workshop was a founder panel that included Idan Cohen (@idancohen), Alexandra Fine (@damefine), Lady Ada (@adafruit), and Phillip Torrone (@ptorrone). When asked about what inspires her, Lady Ada spoke about how people are changing the communities around them. She gave example of some makers in Harlem who used temperature sensors and data loggers from Adafruit to sense and record temperatures in their extra-hot apartments, and were able to convince their landlords to fix the heating systems. Phillip Torrone said that he is motivated by seeing so many people become engineers because of the projects Adafruit has inspired them to build.

I got a chance to get a pic with Lady Ada too! That was a really nice way to wrap-up the workshop!

We’ll be at Open Hardware Summit later this week, and also at Electronica. Do say hi if you are coming down.

While you’re here, why not sign up to our Slack room and chat with other makers and Octopart users.

‘Till next time!

Following our visits to the NYC Hardware Workshop and Maker Faire, we went to the Open Hardware Summit (OHS) last week in Portland. It was great to meet hackers, makers, PCB designers, industrial designers and everyone involved in the hardware space. We also got to meet lots of people who use Octopart to find electronic components, which was really fun!  

While we were at the Open Hardware Summit and Hardware Workshop, we noticed a few trends that kept coming up.  

1. People are focusing more on Design for Manufacturability (DFM):
With the rise of development boards, software platforms, and desktop manufacturing, prototyping is getting easier but getting prototypes to production is still a big challenge. Over the last week, we have noticed that there is an increasing emphasis on designing for manufacturability (DFM). Making sure that a prototype is manufacturable early on in the process ensures that the final product can be shipped in time and within expected costs.

Dakota Boin from Highway1 mentioned about keeping the end-of-lifecycle (EOL) status of parts in mind while starting the designs. Peter Bakhirev from PCB:NG talked about making sure that the parts in your design can be assembled with reflow soldering to avoid having parts melt, like this one does. Anna Thornton from Dragon Innovation mentioned the importance of keeping assembly, testing as well as transportation/shipping in mind while designing a product.

As more and more product creators go to Kickstarter and IndieGoGo for crowdfunding their ideas, DFM planning will be critical in making sure that products are delivered on time. Choosing parts that are widely available in the supply chain, using IPC-compliant symbols and footprints for PCBs, keeping well-managed BOMs, and choosing the right CM early on in the process are some of the steps that can be taken to ensure it. Tools like the Common Parts Library and SnapEDA are helpful for choosing parts that are available in the supply chain, and for managing BOMs, check out Octopart’s BOM tool or Google Docs Add-On.

2. Licensing for open hardware products is getting more attention:
While the open gear logo is ubiquitous now for open hardware products, lots of creators are using the open gear logo without complying with the community definition.  There was a discussion on how to improve the licensing such that it is enforceable and the creators who are using it are traceable. Michael Weinberg from OSHWA announced a new open source hardware certification program to make the community definition legally enforceable. Adafruit, Sparkfun and Lulzbot among others have agreed to certify atleast one of their products by end of 2016.        

                   
As the open hardware movement grows, it will be essential to have clear and enforceable licensing for products. It will be interesting to see how the open hardware community adopts it. The White House mentioned about the new certification in an article on resurgence in American manufacturing. The new certification program for open hardware is a step in the right direction.

3. Open hardware is expanding into more and more non-traditional areas:
The open hardware movement is growing quickly, and we saw open hardware projects being used in non-traditional areas such as music, space industry, and exhibits in national parks. David Perry introduced his 3D printed violin and also played a tune on it – and it sounded pretty nice. David has publicly released the CAD files and people have been doing interesting variations.

Aaron Baker and Andrew Greenberg talked about how they are using open hardware in space vehicles at the Portland State Aerospace Society. They have been using open software and open hardware systems to build rockets. Rianne Trujillo talked about how she has been working to use open hardware to make the interactive displays and exhibits in national parks. All these projects have grown out of the traditional hardware movement, and are already making open hardware more accessible to the public  — people with different interests who the movement may not have originally reached. 

We loved talking to you at the OHS! You can also reach out to us on our Slack channel or drop a comment below. 

If you’re a long time Octopart fan, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve introduced some design changes over the last year (remember this!?). Throwbacks aside, we’re very excited to announce that our product detail pages have been updated in Go, joining our recently updated search pages.

Here’s what’s new:

All price breaks are now displayed graphically to make it easier to scan prices quickly and which reduces repeated information. Each part detail page now has a simplified header, so you can easily and quickly view information and navigate to datasheets, price alerts, and price history.

Also, clicking on the image thumbnail shows an improved image browser:

We also improved the how technical specs and documents are displayed:

And these pages look a lot better on mobile now, too:

Check out our new product detail pages and click around! Let us know if you have ideas for more useful improvements by emailing contact@octopart.com.

Continuing our series about choosing parts, inspired by the latest version of the Common Parts Library, let’s take a close look at how to find and select connectors. In this blog, we will explain all the different types of connectors, their merits and demerits, and their popular applications. We will also recommend some commonly used connectors with high supply chain availability to help you find the right connector.

Let’s dive into the world of connectors:

Connectors      

TYPES   
Connectors are used to connect power adapters, batteries, memory cards, audio, video, antenna and data interfaces in circuits and systems. This table presents a summary of some of the main connectors, how they are used, and what their properties are:

Connector	Main Applications	Properties	Part Selection
Phone	Analog audio	Available in 2.5mm, 3.5mm and 6.25mm sizes. 3.5mm is most common	Switchcraft’s 35RASMT series
RCA (Phono)	Audio/Video	Used with yellow RCA cable for analog video, red for right audio and white for left audio	Switchcraft’s PJR series
HDMI	Digital audio/video	Type A – most common Type C – mini-HDMI Type D-  micro-HDMI	Type A- FCI’s 100294 series Type C- TE’s 2013978 series Type D- FCI’s 101182 series
Barrel	Power – for development boards like Arduino Uno	Connects with AC wall adapters as an alternative to battery	Switchcraft’s RASM series
JST	Power – with RC and Li-Po batteries	VH Series – 3.96mm pitch XH Series – 2.50mm pitch PH Series – 2.00mm pitch	JST’s VH(LF)(SN) series, JST’s XH-A(LF)(SN) series, JST’s PH-SM4-TB(LF)(SN) series
USB	USB-A: for terminating of cables, USB-B: development boards, micro-USB: consumer devices	Allows for data communication and charging, mini-USB is slowly getting phased out	USB-A- TE’s 1734366 series USB-B–  FCI’s 61729 series Micro-USB–  FCI’s 101035 series
Headers	To connect boards and shields	Available in male and female versions, 0.1” pitch is most popular	Male headers- TE’s 4-1037 series Female headers- TE’s 5-53423 series
Screw terminals	To hold wires temporarily	Holds wires via adjustment of screw, but wires can be undone easily	On Shore Technology’s   OSTTH series
IC Sockets	DIP- ICs, resistor networks, LEDs PLCC- ICs such as flash memory	Can be soldered directly onto a PCB for easy replacement of ICs	DIP Socket- TE Connectivity’s 1-2199 series
BNC	For video, lab and radio equipment	Handles up to 4 GHz, with bayonet connection while TNC/N uses threaded connection	TE Connectivity’s   5-16345 series
SMA	Coaxial connection in compact spaces	Handles up to 18 GHz, but needs torque wrench to connect	TE Connectivity’s 10525 series
Backplane	Computer systems	Provides a “backbone” to connect many different circuit boards in parallel	Molex’s 850 series
D-Sub	RS-232 communication, video	DB-25 with 25 sockets and DE-9 with 9 sockets most popular	TE Connectivity’s 17343 series
FFC / FPC	Alternative to rigid connectors and PCBs	Provides flexibility, but costlier than rigid PCBs	FCI’s SFW series
Modular / Ethernet	Initially for telephone, now for Ethernet	8P8C is most common type	Molex’s 48025 series
Memory	Used in dev boards like Raspberry Pi	Provides storage space on circuit boards	Molex’s 503 series

There is a huge variation between types of connectors: they can have retaining elements like pegs, they might need selective soldering, and some are even a “hybrid” of SMT and through-hole. All of these differences can make connectors harder to assemble on a PCB, so it is important to be aware of potential manufacturing issues before choosing a connector. To help out with design for manufacturability (DFM), our friends from PCB:NG helped us pick out some things to keep in mind while choosing a connector:  
1. Avoid through-hole connectors as they incur the highest manufacturing costs. All-SMT design is typically going to be less expensive to get assembled. Even though through-hole components might seem cheaper, additional manufacturing costs typically eat up into those savings. For “hybrid” connectors, read this blog to learn more about manufacturing issues.
2. Avoid connectors that require selective soldering. In an otherwise all-SMT design, a connector that needs selective soldering requires the assembler to do an SMT/reflow pass, then do another pass with selective solder. It may require additional labor to mask out the components. All of that can drive up the price and can potentially reduce yields.
3. Prefer “pure” SMT connectors without retaining elements (such as pegs). Connectors that are SMT, but use retaining elements, are typically more expensive to place. Not all such components work well with many pick and place machines. If using retaining elements is a must, it’s a good idea to make the receiving holes as large as possible. While using SMT connectors, assemblers can and will use SMA (surface-mount adhesive) which is usually strong enough to provide more than enough physical strain relief, and typically incurs zero extra labor.

Now, let’s deep dive into the world of connectors:

I. Audio/Video Connectors  

a. Phone connectors, also known as headphone jacks, are used for analog signals most commonly for audio. They come in three standard sizes: 2.5mm, 3.5mm and 6.35mm diameters. 3.5mm is most commonly used for audio cables in portable applications. It is the miniature version of the classic 6.35mm jack (which dates back to late 19th century!)

While designing a PCB, a female connector is required to connect with the headphone jack.
Part Selection: Switchcraft’s 35RASMT series for 3.5mm audio female connector [CPL]

b. RCA connectors, sometimes called phono connectors, are commonly found in audio and video equipment. They are usually color-coded with yellow for composite analog video, red for right audio channel, and white for the left audio channel.

While designing a PCB, a female RCA connector is needed to connect to a cable with RCA connectors.
Part Selection: Switchcraft’s PJR series for right angle female RCA jack [CPL]

For professional audio equipment, XLR connectors are commonly used. They can have between 3 and 7 pins and come in both female and male versions. XLR connectors look similar to DIN connectors (which are also used for analog audio signals) but are not compatible.

c. HDMI connectors are used for transferring digital audio and high definition uncompressed digital video. HDMI is a replacement for analog video standards (such as composite video with RCA jacks). HDMI connectors come in a few variants.
Type A is the most common standard and is used in most consumer devices. Type B is for very high resolution applications but is not commonly used. Type C is the mini-variant for smaller mobile devices. Type D is the micro-variant. Type E is for automotive applications and is moisture and dust resistant.

Type A, mini (type C), and micro (type D) HDMI cables

HDMI receptacles are required to connect to HDMI cables in PCBs.
Part Selection:
HDMI type-A receptacle: FCI’s 100294 series [CPL]
HDMI type-C (mini-HDMI) receptacle: TE Connectivity’s 2013978 series
HDMI type-D (micro-HDMI) receptacle:  FCI’s 101182 series

II. Power Connectors 

Barrel Connectors are commonly found in some consumer electronics devices and in development boards (like the Arduino Uno). They can be plugged into the wall power using AC wall adapters instead of using batteries.  
Part Selection: Switchcraft’s RASM series for current ratings upto 11A

JST Connectors are another common way to power up circuit boards, especially for rechargeable batteries, like Lithium ion Polymer (Li-Po) batteries. They are compact and sturdy, and can be very difficult to disconnect.  
JST connectors vary by their pin-to-pin pitch (spacing) and number of positions. Let’s look at some of the common ones:
I. VH series – Pitch: 3.96mm; Current rating: 10A; Voltage rating:250V  
With a large current carrying capacity, these are used with signal, power supply and output circuits.
II. XH series – Pitch: 2.50mm; Current rating: 3A; Voltage rating: 250V
The spacing on the XH series is very close to 0.1” (2.54mm) and works with 0.1” male header pins in various perfboards and breadboards. JST-XH connectors are commonly used with RC batteries for balance charging.
III. PH series – Pitch: 2.00mm; Current rating: 2A; Voltage rating: 100V
These are used for high density connection of wires to printed circuit boards. Many Li-Po batteries come with JST-PH connectors to connect to the circuit boards.

Since there are different series, it can be confusing to identify the exact series of a specific connector. It is good to check the exact pitch, as well as the number of positions of a JST connector before buying.

IEC connectors are commonly used for AC power input. IEC-to-wall cables are widely available and are commonly used with PCs and lab equipment.

Part Selection:
VH series: JST’s VH(LF)(SN) series for 2 to 10 positions [CPL]
XH series: JST’s XH-A(LF)(SN) series for 2 to 20 positions [CPL]
PH series: Through Hole: JST’s PH-K-S(LF)(SN) series for 2 to 16 positions [CPL]
PH series: SMD: JST’s PH-SM4-TB(LF)(SN) series for 2 to 16 positions [CPL]

III. IC and Component Sockets 

DIPs, which stands for dual-in-line packages, are popular packages for integrated circuits (ICs), resistor networks, LED displays and DIP switches. A DIP package device can be mounted on a PCB either by using through-hole soldering or by using DIP sockets. DIP sockets allow easy replacement of devices and prevent risk of damage during soldering. A SIP, or single-in-line package, has only one row for connecting pins and is not as popular as DIP.
Part Selection: TE Connectivity’s 1-2199 series

A PLCC, or plastic leaded chip carrier, is a four-sided flat integrated circuit (IC) package. A PLCC IC can either be surface-mounted or installed on a PLCC socket, which is especially useful when an IC needs to be removed on a regular basis or when the IC needs stand-alone programming like flash memory devices.   

PGAs, or pin grid arrays,  are also IC packages. These can provide more pins than the older DIP packages. PGA sockets can be used to mount ICs.

IV. RF/Coaxial Connectors  

BNC Connectors are one of the most commonly used coaxial connectors with applications in video wiring, laboratory test equipment, and radio equipment.  They are constant impedance connectors, which is particularly useful for RF applications since they provide same impedance throughout the cable’s length, with 50Ω the most widely used value. They can handle signal frequencies of up to 4GHz.
Part Selection: TE Connectivity’s 5-16345 series

TNC connectors are similar to BNC, except BNC connectors use bayonet connections while TNC connectors use threaded connections. This makes TNC connectors more robust. They operate more reliably at higher frequencies.

N connectors are larger versions of TNC connectors and are used in applications where RF performance is very important. They can handle higher signal frequencies — up to 11 GHz (precision designs can reach 18 GHz). Frequency response-wise, they are similar to TNC connectors, but they are tougher because of their larger size.

SMA connectors are compact and can operate up to 18 GHz. A torque wrench is usually required to connect them. If cables need to be connected/disconnected more often, BNC connectors are usually a better choice over SMA connectors. Other than SMA connectors, there are SMB and SMC connectors which are smaller. SMB connectors can operate up to 4 GHz.
Part Selection: TE Connectivity’s 10525 series

U.FL connectors are used when the space is critical — the connection is only 2.5mm high. Male U.FL connectors are soldered directly to PCB boards and can handle frequencies up to 6GHz.
Part Selection: Hirose’s U.FL-R-SMT series

V. USB Connectors 

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s and USB connectors are common in many consumer products. Most USB cables have one end terminating with a USB-A male connector and they connect with host USB-A female connectors which can be found on most devices that support peripherals.

Male USB-B, mini-USB or micro-USB connectors are commonly found at the other end of the USB cables and are used for charging/communication between computers and peripheral devices.

USB-A, USB-B and micro-USB cables

Female USB-A, micro-USB, mini-USB and USB-B connectors are used to connect with USB cables for data communication/charging. Mini-USB is slowly getting phased out and being replaced by micro-USB in mobile devices.
Part Selection:
USB-A female connector: TE Connectivity’s 1734366 series [CPL]  
USB-B female connector:  FCI’s 61729 series [CPL]
Micro-USB female connector: FCI’s 101035 series [CPL]

VI. Headers and Terminal Blocks  

Headers, which come in both male and female versions, are commonly used to connect expansion boards. They can also be used with jumpers. Cables with female headers are available and can be connected with the male headers on the boards. The most common pin headers are 0.1” single or double row connectors, the standard pitch of a breadboard. Headers are commonly used in most prototype boards, like Arduinos.   

Terminal Blocks are useful for connecting wires to a circuit board. Screw terminals hold wires and allow temporary connections to PCBs. This happens through the adjustment of a screw. Care needs to be taken as wires can be undone fairly easily.

Part Selection:
Male headers: TE Connectivity’s 4-1037 series for 1 to 80 positions [CPL]
Female headers: TE Connectivity’s 5-53423 series for 3 to 10 positions [CPL]  
Screw terminal blocks: On Shore Technology’s OSTTH series for 2 to 12 positions

Other Connectors

VII. Backplane connectors:     

These are used to connect several connectors in parallel, such that pins on one connector are linked to corresponding pins on other connectors. They provide a “backbone” for connecting many different PCBs together to make up a system.  
Part Selection: Molex’s 850 series

VIII. D-subminiature (D-sub) connectors:
These have two or more parallel sockets with a D-shaped metal shield surrounding it to provide mechanical support. The most popular D-sub connectors are DB-25 connectors, which have 25 sockets, and DE-9 connectors, which have 9 sockets. They are most commonly used as video connectors and in RS-232 serial communication. However, they are getting replaced by much smaller and cheaper USB, Thunderbolt, and HDMI connectors.        
Part Selection: TE Connectivity’s 17343 series
IX. FFCs (flexible flat cables) and FPCs (flexible printed circuits):
These provide an alternative to rigid PCBs and connectors. They are used in applications where space is critical, such as cellular telephones. While they provide flexibility, they are more costly and harder to use than rigid PCBs.
Part Selection: FCI’s SFW series

X. Modular/Ethernet connectors:
Modular connectors were initially designed for telephone wiring, but are now usually used for Ethernet connections. 8 position 8 contact (8P8C) modular connectors are preferred for Ethernet over twisted pair. In this context, the 8P8C connector is frequently referred to as an RJ45 connector, but this is technically incorrect – RJ45 is a telephone system standard.
Part Selection: Molex’s 48025 series  

XI. Memory connectors:
Memory connectors are used to connect SD and SIM cards on circuit boards. Development boards like the Raspberry Pi have an inbuilt SD or a micro-SD card slot to provide storage space without a computer.
Part Selection: Molex’s 503 series

Apart from these, there are solar / photovoltaic connectors, fiber optic, card edge connectors and automotive connectors among others, which provide unique advantages in different applications. However, in most projects you are likely to see the connectors discussed in this guide. If you have any comments or suggestions, drop us a note in our Slack room or in comments below. Be sure to check out the other blogs in this series: how to select a capacitor, resistor and inductor.

Going to Electronica in Munich this year? Stop by our booth!

 In 2014, Octopart sent a team of four to demonstrate our electronic component search tools to engineers. Electronica 2014 was the first time Octopart exhibited on the trade floor and the results were exciting! We got so much valuable feedback from engineers, designers, entrepreneurs, and students who were long time fans or brand new to our part search tools — feedback that helps us decide how to improve Octopart. We can’t wait to demo the latest and greatest Octopart updates and hear how Octopart can make it easier and faster to find electronic components. We’re eager to learn more about your needs and how we can meet them. Meet with us in Hall A1 Booth 572!

Electronica 2014

The post Meet Octopart at Electronica! appeared first on Octopart Blog.

We are happy to announce that Common Parts Library data is now available on Github!  
So far, the CPL has only been available as a list on our web page. It is great if you’re searching for a few parts, but when you want this data to integrate better into your workflow — say, to auto-populate passive components in a spreadsheet — CPL data needs to be in structured format. This was our motivation to release both the CPL for Production and CPL for Prototyping in YAML files, which are now available on Github!

You can parse YAML data in all the major languages.
An example on how to parse the YAML data in Python is shown on the Github page. It returns all capacitor MPNs with a value of 1 pF in the CPL for Production. 

Let us know what you think – either in comments below or in our Slack chat room!

The post Common Parts Library now on Github! appeared first on Octopart Blog.

This is a guest blog post by Kaspar Emanuel, creator of Kitnic. It also appears on blog.monostable.co.uk.

Kitnic.it is a site to share electronics projects. If a project is on Kitnic, you can download the Gerbers and put parts into a retailer shopping cart with a single click.

These are early days for Kitnic: our submission process currently involves opening a pull-request on GitHub.

In an effort to encourage people to give it a go, I often look over open source hardware projects that I come across to see if I can get them into a state that is ready to be put up on the site. The challenge is almost always in sorting out the bill of materials (BOM). Really, this is the issue that Kitnic is trying to address: there is no standard way to record a BOM.

Whether you are looking at someone else’s project or your own work months after it’s creation, trying to find the right parts can be a tedious exercise. The main culprits are often generic components, like resistors and capacitors, where you care about the basic values and specification but not about the exact manufacturer or retailer part.

The 1-click BOM browser extension that goes along with Kitnic makes the process of adding items to shopping carts a seamless experience. In its first few iterations, this only worked if you specified exact retailer or manufacturer part numbers. In an effort to reduce the tedium of creating bills of materials, I added a smart, semantic match of surface mount resistors and capacitors to those in the Common Parts Library (CPL). This was only possible thanks to Octopart providing the CPL data in an easily parse-able format with a Creative Commons license. The result is best illustrated with the GIF below and should save many engineers a lot of frustration and time.

Everything mentioned here is free and open source, and is available on GitHub so if you spot any issues or have ideas for new features don’t hesitate to get in touch — and maybe even dig in and make improvements yourself. We are also currently running a promotion for Kitnic for early adopters: you get free PCB manufacturing for registering your project.

The post Kitnic.it, 1-click BOM, and the CPL appeared first on Octopart Blog.

The latest way to customize your Octopart experience is here! Now, you can save preferred settings across the whole website, whether you’re searching for electronic components or uploading BOMs.

Now, you can add your preferred country and preferred currency to your account. You’ll see your preferences reflected in the BOM Tool and in our search tool. You can change these at any time in your account settings. You can also add or change preferred distributors for the BOM Tool in your account settings — these are the distributors that you’ll automatically see pricing and availability from in the tool. Should your favorite distributors change from project to project, you can also choose preferred distributors on each BOM that you create.

If you don’t have a preferred currency saved already, you can also save it from the BOM Tool. After you change the currency, we’ll ask if you’d like to save that currency as your preferred currency – if you click “Save” we’ll use it as your currency across all Octopart tools (you can change this at any time from your account settings).

Start saving your country, currency, and BOM Tool distributor preferences today! Plenty more ways to customize your Octopart search experience are coming soon, so make sure you stay up to date with what’s new: sign up for our once-monthly newsletter here.

The post New Saved Settings for BOM Tool and Part Search appeared first on Octopart Blog.