Wiring

Wires carry the electrical connections between component pins. Connections are purely geometric: anything that touches the same point is on the same net, so you never declare connections explicitly — you simply draw.

Drawing a wire

1. Choose Place ‣ Wire (shortcut W).

2. Click the starting point (usually a pin).

3. Click each corner; the wire routes in right-angle (Manhattan) segments.

4. Click the end point. Right-click (or press Esc) to finish.

Fig. 33 Drawing an orthogonal wire from pin to pin.

Junctions

Where three or more connections meet, a junction dot is added automatically so the crossing is unambiguous. Two crossing wires that should not connect simply have no dot. You can also place a junction explicitly with Place ‣ Junction (J).

Unconnected-pin markers

Every component pin with nothing attached shows a small grey square. As soon as a wire reaches the pin — or another pin sits on the same point — the marker disappears; if you later delete or move the wire away, the marker returns. This gives you a running check that the circuit is fully wired.

Fig. 34 Grey markers flag the pins that still need a connection.

Moving wires and parts keeps connections

A guiding rule governs every move:

Moving never breaks a connection. Only deleting a wire removes a connection.

In practice:

• Move a component that is wired up, and the wires stretch to follow it.

• Move a component off a pin it was touching, and a short connecting wire is created automatically so the connection is preserved.

• Move a wire that is connected to a component, and it stays connected — a short bridge wire is created rather than silently detaching.

To actually disconnect something, delete the wire segment.

Editing a wire

• Select a wire to show square handles at its vertices.

• Drag a vertex to reshape a single corner.

• Drag the body of a selected wire to move a whole segment; adjacent wires rubber-band along so the net stays intact.

Tip

After moving a wire segment it stays selected, so you can immediately drag it again — no need to reselect.

Net names

By default the editor assigns net numbers automatically. To give a net a meaningful name, attach a net label (see Net Labels, Ports & Ground).