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A Simple Schematic Drawing Tutorial for Eagle

July 1, 2012 By Øyvind Nydal Dahl 21 Comments

This is my step-by-step guide to schematic drawing in Eagle. Let us say we find the circuit above interesting and want to build a real electronic circuit out of it to test in the real world. The first step is to recreate the schematics in Eagle.

Beginner’s guide to Eagle CAD

Create new project and schematic

We start our schematic drawing by creating a new project and a new schematic in Eagle. Open Eagle’s Control Panel and choose “File->New->Project” from the menu.

Add a new schematic to the project by selecting “File->New->Schematic” from the menu.You now have a blank schematic ready for drawing.

Add components

We continue by adding the four resistors to the schematic. Select “Edit->Add..” from the menu in the schematic editor. The “ADD” dialog box appears. Here we want to locate a resistor.

Write “resistor” in the search field and press Enter. You will probably find many alternatives. I chose a through-hole resistor called R-EU_0207/10 from the “resistor”-library. Choose one and press “Ok”.

Place the resistor on your schematic by left-clicking. Do this four times to get four resistors, then press ESC to return to the “ADD” dialog box.Continue to add the capacitors, transistors and LEDs in the same way.

Tips: To place the two transistor as mirrors to one another like I did, use the Mirror function “Edit->Mirror” in the menu.

Add component values

Now we’ll add values to the components. To do this choose “Edit->Value..” from the menu. Then click on the component you want to set value for. Enter the value and press Ok.

Add connection between components

To connect the components we need to add nets between them. Add nets by choosing “Draw->Net” from the menu.

Note: Never use “Wire”, always use “Nets”. The “Wire” does not always create the electrical connection you want.

Tips: If you want diagonal lines, choose the second “Wire bend” button from the toolbar.

Add power connection

If you want to create a practicable electronic circuit you will also need to connect power somehow. You can add two header pins for this. Search for “2 pin header” in the “ADD” dialog box to find a suitable part in the “con-molex” library. Add this and connect the two pins to the circuit.

Electrical Rule Check

Now we are ready to run an Electrical Rule Check (ERC) to see if there are any mistakes that need to be fixed.

Select “Tools->Erc” from the menu.

When I run it I get two warnings telling me that the LEDs don’t have any defined values. I know that this is not necessary for the LEDs so I click “Approve” on both of them.

Our schematic drawing is now complete.

Now, it’s time to create a PCB from the schematics.

Return from Schematic Drawing to Electronic Schematics

Filed Under: Article

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ivan Gheorghe says

    June 19, 2014 at 8:43 pm

    Hi!
    Could you help me a little ?
    How do i know to choose the right component when I need one ?
    There are a lot !
    For example if need a common 12 v zener diode .
    Thanks !

    Reply
    • admin says

      June 23, 2014 at 11:37 am

      Hey! If you don’t have any other requirements, then one way is to just pick any 12V Zenerdiode with the preferred component package. Another way is to google for schematics similar to the one you are making and then see what they picked, maybe send them an email and ask why they chose that one..

      Cheers!
      Oyvind

      Reply
      • Ivan Gheorghe says

        June 24, 2014 at 8:30 pm

        Thank you for your answer Mr. Oyvind !

        Now I know what to choose .

        Thanks a lot !

        Reply
  2. arun says

    October 1, 2014 at 8:09 am

    its very nice site…i am also electronics and telecommunication engineer….great job….

    Reply
  3. Jane says

    November 17, 2014 at 1:01 pm

    Hi there, can I request for your assistance, please. I am trying to add the components but the components are not showing it. Thanks

    Reply
    • admin says

      November 17, 2014 at 6:48 pm

      What happens?

      Oyvin

      Reply
  4. Russ says

    December 11, 2014 at 4:12 am

    Many thanks for this excellent tutorial.

    Reply
  5. Smitha says

    February 5, 2015 at 1:41 am

    what is the above circuit? How does it function?
    ..I mean what is its functionalty/
    Explain please..

    Reply
    • admin says

      February 6, 2015 at 11:53 am

      It blinks two LEDs.

      Cheers!
      Oyvind

      Reply
  6. willy says

    September 15, 2015 at 8:18 am

    Thank you for your tutorial. No more confuse :)

    Reply
  7. Holley Mullet says

    September 13, 2016 at 5:10 pm

    Hey commentary ! I am thankful for the info – Does anyone know where I could possibly obtain a fillable NY DTF ET-117 version to work with ?

    Reply
    • Sandie Knepper says

      September 14, 2016 at 3:11 pm

      Hello Holley ! my partner accessed a template NY DTF ET-117 example with this link http://pdf.ac/1YZrYq

      Reply
  8. Heinrich says

    May 2, 2017 at 5:17 pm

    Hi there!

    I want to add a loudspeak to my circuit, but I can’t find that symbol in Eagle.

    What can I do to add it ?

    Thanks in advance !

    Reply
    • admin says

      May 16, 2017 at 12:52 pm

      Think about how you will connect the speakers to the board. If you want to use a screw terminal for example, use that in eagle. Or just a 2-pin pin header if you want to holes to solder the wires into.

      Best,
      Oyvind

      Reply
  9. Heinrich says

    May 2, 2017 at 5:21 pm

    And how can I find the symbol for electrolyte capacitor ?

    Thanks again ?

    Reply
    • admin says

      May 16, 2017 at 12:54 pm

      Hi Heinrich,

      There aren’t different symbols for different capacitor types (except for polarized vs non-polarized). But electrolyte capacitors are usually (or maybe always) polarized, so just just a polaried one.

      Best,
      Oyvind

      Reply
      • Heinrich says

        June 10, 2017 at 3:41 pm

        Thank you very much !

        Reply
  10. kwabena reuben says

    October 9, 2017 at 6:41 pm

    what are the values of the capacitors

    Reply
    • admin says

      October 10, 2017 at 9:44 am

      10 µF

      Reply
  11. Becko says

    January 10, 2018 at 10:16 pm

    Thanks for the tourtial such simple & soft

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Tutorial: Building cool projects with MCUs (Part 4) | Bits & Pieces from the Embedded Design World says:
    November 21, 2014 at 4:32 pm

    […] Now, we need to decide if we want through-hole components or surface mount components, then create a schematic diagram in Eagle. […]

    Reply

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