Some KiCAD help, PLEASE?

I’m not much of at all a driver guru. I’ve made a few driver boards in Eagle. Since AutoCAD took over Eagle, it has gotten a bit weirder, and I’m trying something new now. So, I want to learn KiCAD. I had tried it before and didn’t like it for whatever reason, and now I’m back to trying it out. I found some tutorials online, but I have a small problem. I need some library parts that I can’t figure out how to get. Namely, I need AMC7135 regulators and I’m also looking for a particular PIC chip.

I know some of you guys use KiCAD. Will you please tell me how/where to get the library files I need? Or, if you had to make them yourself, would you be willing to share them with me? :innocent: Furthermore, if you could give me any tips or tricks to help me move along with learning this new tool, that would be great. Even though I found some tutorials, there is still a big learning curve that I’m trying to get over. I would really appreciate the help.

No help, I use eagle7, but I’d be very interested in replies here and if you could list what you’ve watched / read already.

Here’s a jumping-off page for lots of different tutorials for KiCAD.

So far, I’ve only really read through the Getting Started tutorial, but I’ve glanced at some of the others. I also “searched” for KiCAD libraries and found that Digikey and Sparkfun both have Github repos full of KiCAD parts libraries. But I can’t find AMC7135 in either of them.

Hmmm… bump? Anyone?

You're offering a bump?

Tempting, but I quit doing drugs years ago.

Yeah, I wasn’t a druggie, but this KiCAD… :disappointed:

I’ll probably learn how to use it someday… but today isn’t that day.

For now, it seems your request for help has been met only by crickets and tumbleweeds. Not what you wanted, but it seems to be what you’ve got. So I hope you can cobble something together out of crickets, even if it’s not ideal.

Or, as Enya once said, it’s chickens together for underwear. You gotta do what you gotta do.

Yeah, I just thought I’d ask around first. But now I’m gonna get right to work on making the AMC7135 library myself. If that goes well, I will make other libraries as well later.

I tried KiCAD within the last few months and did not really like it. I moved on to Eagle, and like it better but it’s not perfect either. If I had to pick between the two for the task I am doing (designing a round PCB for the BLF Ultimate Lantern) I would pick Eagle. Primarily because I could find no way to make a round trace in KiCAD, and Eagle has that capability. Both are lacking a 7135 model, and I had to fake the PIC model for the ATTiny85.

Below are images of the current state of affairs, hoping to move if forward a bit tonight:

Nah, there’s definitely a AMC7135 model for Eagle. In fact, there’s more than one because some people made them with custom size GND pads. I don’t know about PIC though. I haven’t tried PIC with Eagle.

yes, you are right, its been awhile since I used KiCAD

Why God, why? :UGHH:

Even if you don't go fully regulated buck and/or boost, why not a regulated MOSFET driver? No chance to blow up emitters this way, and no @#$% with regulation and lower efficiency because of high PWM frequency. PWM freq can be raised much higher if switching a proper MOSFET.

This is not mean to be judgmental at all. I believe we need and are ready for a new generation of drivers.

Cheers ^:)

I’m not smart enough? Best answer I’ve got unfortunately. :person_facepalming:

I don’t know enough about electronics to design a good circuit, so I copy what other people have already made and just put it onto a different shape PCB for my own purpose. The AMC7135 is pretty well understood around here. We all know what it does. Plus, it’s cheap. :money_mouth_face:

Probably because they’re cheap, they’re easy, and they work pretty well.

If you’re aware that something sounds judgmental, before posting, why not edit it until it doesn’t sound that way?

Because the way you are (think, believe, etc) matters. I am responsible for my own beliefs, not of yours. Since this can be read by anyone there's nothing wrong with saying that, all is good.

Cheers ^:)

Well, I found these two ways to convert stuff from Eagle to KiCAD.

The first is this set of conversion scripts. This is meant to convert a whole Eagle project to KiCAD. I don’t know if these scripts actually create new, separately accessible library parts or not. You can find the converter(s) on Github here.

The second thing I found was an online library conversion ‘service’ that can convert among many different formats, including Eagle to KiCAD. You upload the library in whatever format, then download it in whatever format. The website makes you register before letting you use the service. But, registration is free and the service is free as well. They also claim that you can use the service to keep up with your libraries and to share files with others, so it might be a repository of sorts. It is accessible here.

I have messed around a bit with both of these, but I haven’t gotten very far yet, so I can’t even tell you if it will work. I’ll try to remember to update here again once I get a chance to really dive into these.

What PIC do you need? I’ve got several eagle parts. 6Fxxxx?

This one:

Backstory on the PIC: the picture is of a MELD-X driver from tterev3. A while back, he said he doesn’t mind if people copy his board designs and/or build new ones based off his. He only cares to keep the PIC firmware to himself. So, I was planning to make a new driver board to fit in a specific light and never got around to it. Now, I’m trying to get started again, and I need the PIC footprint for the PCB.

I have that part in Eagle…

Pretty sure tterev3 made the eagle footprint I use, that’s his driver, did you ask him if he happens to have it for KiCAD too?

Edit to reply to the post you made at the same time as I made this one: what light? I have MLED board designs for several different lights.