The Most Common Schematic Symbols Used in Electronics

To be able to read schematics you must know the basic schematic symbols used in electronics. But you don’t need to memorize them all. To start with, it’s usually enough to know the battery, resistor, capacitor, transistor, diode, LED, and switch.

Later when you come across symbols you don’t know, you can come back here to identify what it is.

Below is an overview of the most used symbols in circuit diagrams.

What is Ground in Electronic Circuits?

An example circuit with lots of connections to ground

When you start learning about circuits, you’re bound to ask “what is ground?” at one point or another. Are you actually suppose to connect your circuit into the ground??

First of all: grounding in electronics is different from the earth connection in wall outlets (although they sometimes are connected).

Electronic Schematics – What You Need To Know

Electronic schematics are like recipes for electronics. They tell you what ingredients to use and how to mix the ingredients. But instead of using text to explain the recipe, a drawing is used.

They are also called circuit diagrams. Read how to read schematics here.

How To Design Your Own Schematics From Scratch

Circuit design from scratchHow can you make a circuit design of any idea you have, from scratch?

How can you take that idea you have in your head – and turn it into a schematic diagram?

How do you choose the right components, and put them together in the right way?

A lot of people have asked me these questions. Yesterday I had a glimpse of inspiration, so today I am going to tell you exactly how you can do this.

Circuit Diagram: How To Read And Understand Any Schematic

When you start learning about electronics, you might see a circuit diagram drawn with realistic looking drawings of the different components.

But this method is not very effective.

To make them more effective, all electronic components have been assigned much simpler symbols. And wires are drawn as lines to show how to connect them.

It’s not always easy to understand a circuit diagram. But with practice and experience you will understand more and more.

Free Circuit Drawing Software: SchemeIt

Recently I have been using this free circuit drawing software from Digikey. It’s called SchemeIt.

Schemit circuit drawing software screenshot

If you need a simple and fast way to draw a schematic diagram, it’s the best. It’s browser-based so you don’t have to download anything.

You don’t have to register. But if you want you can register and save your designs.

Reading Schematics Is Easy

Reading schematics is just a matter of recognizing the symbols and see how they connect.

A symbol usually represents a part. Except for the ground and VCC symbols which just means connection to supply power.

The lines between the symbols represents

Creating Circuit Schematic Diagrams – An Overview

Very few start drawing circuit schematic diagrams from scratch. You usually start with a picture of a circuit diagram that you found in a book or on the web somewhere.

Either you start with a complete circuit where you only need to do minor changes or you combine several smaller circuits into a larger one. For example, you take the reference circuit for a microcontroller and add a LED driver circuit to drive some LEDs and an amplifier circuit to drive a speaker.

Free Electronic Circuits And Schematics Online

I have compiled this list of online resources that offer free electronic circuits. The circuits include free schematics and many of them also include explanations on how the circuit works and pcb layout.