ERC: Voltage relative to other pin

[Simon Richter]

For components with multiple different supply voltages, it would be good to have a tighter ERC.

Proposal:

- for power_out and power_in type pins, allow specifying a reference pin (typically GND/AGND) and a relative voltage
- verify that all pins connected to the same net have consistent voltage requirements
- create an analog to the PWR_FLAG that documents and enforces a certain voltage

[Josh Leverette (coder543)]

I just thought of this while I was working on some stuff as well. Nearly slipped up and left a 5v output directly connected to a 3.3v input! That's a fast way to break something. Being able to specify in the part's schematic as to the voltage levels on each pin would be helpful. Some things should be able to say they don't care about voltages though, and resistors are a great example of that kind of components, but for ICs, it can be really good to make sure the right voltages are going to the right places.

[RyanFav (rerouter)]

I feel this would require a fair bit of rework to accomplish, as currently the power nets are literally just strings,

However it would be helpful, e.g. allowing specifying voltage limits for power in and power out pins, to catch obvious bugs like a 3.3V device hooked up to lipo battery

[KiCad Janitor (kicad-janitor)]

KiCad bug tracker has moved to Gitlab. This report is now available here: https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/1984