Shop OBEX P1 Docs P2 Docs Learn Events
Drawing Schematics - Old School? — Parallax Forums

Drawing Schematics - Old School?

HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
edited 2011-02-01 09:08 in General Discussion
For drawing circuit schematics, is it acceptable to draw resistors with a small rectangle and a line at each end representing the wire connections?

The reason I ask, is because the electronics template shown below does not include the typical zig-zag schematic symbol for a resistor. Has the zig zag become old school?

attachment.php?attachmentid=77676&d=1296202450

Comments

  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2011-01-29 00:55
    I think the zig-zag resistor symbol is exclusive to the U.S. AFAIK, almost everyone else uses the rectangle.

    -Phil
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2011-01-29 02:15
    We used the zigzag here in the UK when I was young.
  • MoskogMoskog Posts: 554
    edited 2011-01-29 05:39
    I never used the zig-zag symbol, always been using the rectangle. I also learned to use a circle around the transistor symbol. Fuses are rectangles with a line through (like here), not the sine-wave symbol often seen.
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2011-01-29 15:00
    A rectangle makes a convenient place to indicate the value ... just sayin.
  • davejamesdavejames Posts: 4,047
    edited 2011-01-29 15:28
    ...zigzag old school?

    It, unlike the rectangle, tells the observer immediately what the component is; no guessing its function!

    DJ
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2011-01-29 15:40
    Most schematics have the parts identified: R1, C1, etc. with the value. That removes any uncertainty.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2011-01-29 16:00
    As a matter of personal taste, I hate the rectangles. I also hate it when polarized caps are drawn with two rectangles (one filled), rather than as an arc and a line with a + symbol to indicate polarity. Rectangles are for ICs, dagnabbit! But what I hate most of all are schematics drawn with brown and dark green lines. (Eagle?) Yecch!

    -Andy Rooney
  • ctwardellctwardell Posts: 1,716
    edited 2011-01-29 16:10
    I'm with Phil on this, or was that Andy...
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2011-01-29 16:56
    Oh gosh, I see they're ruined relays now, too:

    relay.gif

    I mean, where's the freaking coil symbol? Just another rectangle. But what's worse is the set of IEC symbols for logic gates. For example, here's what someone thinks will be instantly recognized as an XOR gate:

    exoriec.gif

    Yet another dang vanilla rectangle!

    I contend it's much easier to read a schematic whose elements have distinctive shapes, rather than being just boxes with text in them. This is because human perception is very tuned to geometrical figures. Systems that have evolved over time tend to be much more expressive and recognizable than those designed by a committee. Who are those IEC dweebs anyway?

    -Phil (sitting in for Andy Rooney)
  • davejamesdavejames Posts: 4,047
    edited 2011-01-29 19:46
    ...in my best Gollem voice - "we hates them IEC symbols....yes, we hates them!"

    DJ
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2011-01-29 21:56
    Hmmm,

    Guess it's a good thing I play with squares, boxes, and rectangles then.... lol@Phil
    screen.jpg
    1024 x 781 - 309K
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2011-01-29 22:39
    "Little boxes on the leadframe.
    Little boxes made of silicon.
    Little boxes on the leadframe.
    Little boxes all the same!"
    -with apologies to Janis Joplin :)

    Beau, I'm impressed that you can keep all of that straight. Just out of curiosity, what is your screen resolution?

    -Phil
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2011-01-29 22:44
    "Beau, I'm impressed that you can keep all of that straight. Just out of curiosity, what is your screen resolution?" - 5120x1024 (<-Dual Monitor Heads ; each head 2560x1024)
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2011-01-29 22:49
    Whoa! Cinerama! That must be on a non-PC workstation, then, right?

    -Phil
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2011-01-29 23:19
    Does anyone have a good key to the meaning of all those rectangles?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2011-01-30 04:43
    From left to right:

    Resistor
    Trimpot
    Pot
    LDR
  • MoskogMoskog Posts: 554
    edited 2011-01-30 07:28
    The Pots #2 and 3 from left could also have been with three connectors, the arrow should have been against the rectangle, not through and with its own connector.
  • Bill ChennaultBill Chennault Posts: 1,198
    edited 2011-01-30 07:31
    All--

    Zig-zag was all I ever knew, beginning in 1960. I can see the convenience and utility of the rectangle, but I could never embrace it.

    --Bill
  • Peter KG6LSEPeter KG6LSE Posts: 1,383
    edited 2011-01-30 08:38
    the only bad thing of zig zags is I can mistake them as a inductor if its printed out bad OR heavy JPEG compression is used and muddys the photo ..

    and yes the IEC is so vague ...

    Peter
  • ajwardajward Posts: 1,130
    edited 2011-01-30 09:34
    If I'm doing a quick sketch for my own purposes, I'll use a lot of rectangles (or trapeziods!) with copious notes. If laying the diagram out for someone else, I prefer the "old skool" symbols... zig-zags, lines/arcs, etc... Just me! :-)
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2011-01-30 09:47
    I just checked the schematic symbols supplied with the Pulsonix PCB software I use, and it has a zigzag one as well as the more usual box one that I use. It also has a zigzag pot and trimpot.
  • MoskogMoskog Posts: 554
    edited 2011-01-30 13:54
    Express PCB also have this zig zag stuff. I use to make my own customized rectangle ones, eh...
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2011-01-31 03:58
    I certainly use the zig-zag for a resistor as that is what I learned as standard in th1960's. Some people claim the rectangle is European, but I suspect it is a child of computer graphics.

    Interesting, if you study enough engineering the resistor, capacitor, coil, and amplifiers are analogues for mechanical systems as well and other engineering disciplines use these symbols to represent similar Physics.

    Like most things these days, I've had to learn to read a wide varietly of means of expression in order to study what others are saying, but I retain my own vocabulary for communication that is a much smaller subset.

    There was a time when it seems that industries and governments could enforce standards, but that times seems to have come and gone.
  • ajwardajward Posts: 1,130
    edited 2011-01-31 06:55
    [QUOTEThere was a time when it seems that industries and governments could enforce standards, but that times seems to have come and gone.[/QUOTE]

    Standards are wonderful things... so many to choose from! :lol:
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2011-01-31 10:48
    Give me zigzag resistors every time. Where is the meaning in a rectangular box?

    Whilst we are at it who had the brilliant idea to push simple squares as the symbols for logic gates instead of the nice old rounded AND and the OR with a concave side for the inputs.
  • Peter KG6LSEPeter KG6LSE Posts: 1,383
    edited 2011-01-31 14:28
    Heater. wrote: »
    Whilst we are at it who had the brilliant idea to push simple squares as the symbols for logic gates instead of the nice old rounded AND and the OR with a concave side for the inputs.

    Box logic is NOT logical... bad pun not nor and LOLs
    My head does this with those gates

    Nuclear%20Explosion.gif
    Peter
  • skylightskylight Posts: 1,915
    edited 2011-02-01 08:44
    Just a thought but rather than a rectangle shouldn't a resistor have been designed as a ramp(triangle) as moving up a ramp or hill you meet resistance.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2011-02-01 09:08
    skylight,

    Yes but what happens when you are a current going the other way? Negative resistance! Also when you finally make it up to the top of the ramp the implication would be that you have more potential energy than you had when you were at bottom. Which is clearly not the case for charge carriers in a resistive medium.

    I like the zigzags, it suggests a slalom course for current carriers which is sure to slow them down and drain their energy as they swerve one way and another. Given my mental picture of electrons bumping around in a material as they travel that seems just perfect.
Sign In or Register to comment.