(new to PCB design) VGA connector footprints driving me crazy - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Neywiny
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 22, 2021, 01:22:18 am
content: Hello,TL;DR I don't think the footprint I downloaded looks right, need more gold standards to compare against.I made a PCB in EasyEDA but a higher power wanted it done in KiCad so I did it in KiCad. In EasyEDA I could pull the footprint and 3D model from the selector thing from LCSC and it was fine. But for KiCad, I picked outhttps://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/amphenol-icc-fci/ICD15S13E4GV00LF/1536418and got the UltraLibrarian stuff. Go to put the 3D model I found in, and it only lines up upside down. I looked at my Basys3 boar, and it has the middle row shifted to the left if you look at it like this:(connector)(first row)(second row to the left)(third row)(PCB).So I'm thinking "ok, must've spec'd an upside-down connector." Found a GitHub project with this board:That's what I want. They go to the left. I look at the BOM... as far as I can tell it's the one I picked without the extended nut things.https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/amphenol-icc-fci/ICD15S13E4GX00LF/1536501The difference is GX vs GV, but the drawings sayQuoteSo the GitHub picked the GX (pdf says nothing about GV, I have to assume it's the same as UV. I notice in the footprint of minehttps://app.ultralibrarian.com/details/7174734F-C5BA-11E9-AB3A-0A3560A4CCCC/Amphenol-ICC/ICD15S13E4GV00LF?ref=digikeythe pin 1 is in the top right. Whereas on the GitHub it's the bottom left. As if the footprint is rotated 180*, but the rest of the connector looks fine. I've been trying to find other footprints. I found thishttps://app.ultralibrarian.com/details/FF5850C5-103E-11E9-AB3A-0A3560A4CCCC/TE-Connectivity/5177802-9?ref=digikeyand it's like what I'd expect, but it's a $14.62 connector, so... even if it is correct it's too much for a VGA connector.I tried finding the one from LCSC (which is $0.36) and it's herehttp://en.connfly.group/product/xVkr=EusQssAN0gN=Aos=mU+UrVkR9kqEAN0gN0IWqcNB+A. Can't find the footprints/models even though they show up in EasyEDA. The PDFhttp://outer.connfly.group/static/upload/file/pdf/DS1038.pdfshows that bottom view again. Does this mean the UltraLibrarian footprint is upside-down? I am not confident in my "this looks wrong" detectorto be able to tell. If anyone has used VGA connectors recently, please help me out. I really don't want to find out I put it in the PCB upside-down.Thank you.

author: oPossum
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2021, 01:50:42 am
content: Male and female have mirror image pinouts. Did you choose the proper gender?

author: Neywiny
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 22, 2021, 02:07:21 am
content: That was one of my first thoughts. All the drawings show the male gender having the middle row shifted the other way. I told Digikey to show female and that's what popped up. But it's not my first day doing digikey searches (just first week on PCBs), so I double checked that because their search can be a bit off sometimes. And it is indeed female looking.Here's the photo they provide:And the 3D model I found has it as female as well.

author: oPossum
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2021, 02:37:34 am
content: I know this is correct for female VGA. Built and working.

author: Neywiny
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 22, 2021, 10:46:07 am
content: Thank you. Not only for the VGA connector confirmation, but also I've been considering using that DAC and having a working schematic in a PCB view makes it look not as complicated as I'd thought.Do you mind sharing which VGA connector you used?

author: oPossum
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2021, 04:10:51 am
content: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/amphenol-icc-fci/ICD15S13E4GX00LF/1536501That is the part I used. The footprint is quite common and there are many other parts that would work.

author: Neywiny
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 23, 2021, 01:10:04 pm
content: So that's the part from the GitHub and the one very similar to what I picked. Interesting. I think unless I source from LCSC I'll use that one since it's pretty much the same price as what I picked before and frankly 10c or whatever the difference was is much better than needing to re-spin the whole board. I'm sure as I build up my internal repertoire of preferred parts I'll know enough to choose something different, but I just need something that works and isn't through the roof expensive.Thank you.

author: oPossum
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2021, 12:32:20 am
content: I think all the parts you listed in the first post will work. Get at least one of each and then you will know for sure

author: Neywiny
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 31, 2021, 02:06:37 am
content: (I should look into email notifications…)Thanks. I'm on an already overstretched budget (on an EE project? crazy talk) but it's better to spend $4 on connectors vs new boards and needing the new connector anyway.

author: javascripter
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 31, 2021, 04:36:41 pm
content: looks like initial problem is pretty much solved, but I will give my advice anyway:never trust, always measure footprints against the datasheet (I personally don't use ultralibrarian parts (or any downloaded parts) since it is so fast to make a footprint and that way I can make sure the pin one marking is sensible and I don't get parts with a bunch of nonsense (?) on layers I don't care about)Quote from: Neywiny on March 31, 2021, 02:06:37 amif you have time and access to a printer get ahold of the components and print the gerber files on paper (make sure 1:1 size ratio) to check that everything fits fine before ordering the board

author: Neywiny
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 01, 2021, 12:05:17 am
content: Always looking for more information, so by all means even though it's solved.I think mostly my lack of desire to make footprints is that I wasn't too sure on the drawings of the connector either, which was why I couldn't tell definitively if I should trust that one or not.Quote from: javascripter on March 31, 2021, 04:36:41 pmThat seems like a really good idea, problem is as you mentioned it's conditional on having time to get ahold of the components and I don't have that. But I'm sure it'll be fine, maybe I'll order the safe connectors now along with the cheap ones I'm unsure of and then next time I do a board I'll be able to not need this whole discussion. I don't have any components at the moment save for a few through hole things from a few kits, so this will really bring my stock levels up. Should make future boards a lot easier. Thank you.