What the checks catch
Every finding the engine can raise, documented: what it examines, the physics of why it matters, and how to fix it. These are structural electrical checks computed from your actual schematic — not a simulation, and honest about the difference.
29 rules · severities: error · warning · info · recommendation · unknown
Voltage
Over-voltage at an input✕ error
Every input pin declares the voltage range it tolerates. This check follows each net to its worst-case voltage — including ranges like a 9–18 V wall supply — and compares it against every pin the net touches.
Brown-out risk at an input▲ warning
The mirror of over-voltage: each net's worst-case LOW voltage against each pin's declared minimum. A supply declared 9–18 V is checked at 9, not at its nominal.
Capacitor voltage rating✕ error
The DC solver computes the real voltage across every capacitor with a declared rating, then compares. An error past the rating, a warning past 80% of it.
Diode reverse voltage (PIV)✕ error
When the solver finds a diode OFF, it knows the exact reverse voltage across it — and checks it against the part's declared peak-inverse-voltage rating. Error past the rating, warning past 80%.
Block self-test failed✕ error
Blocks can carry assertions — 'this node sits at this voltage when I'm working'. The DC solver computes the actual value and compares. A failed assert means the block no longer does what it claims.
Current & power
Rail over budget✕ error
Sums every declared load on a power rail and compares the total against the source's declared current capability. A warning fires when the rail works but has little spare.
Connector contact rating✕ error
Current entering or leaving the board through a connector pin, checked against that pin's declared contact rating. Errors past the rating, warns when it runs close.
Signal pin overloaded✕ error
A signal output's declared drive capability against the sum of what's hanging off it.
USB inrush (bulk capacitance)▲ warning
Adds up the bulk capacitance hard-attached to a USB-fed rail (no soft-start or current limiter between the port and the caps) and compares it with the USB specification's 10 µF inrush limit.
Diode reverse leakageℹ info
When a diode with declared leakage (the datasheet's I_R at V_R) blocks, the solver models that leakage as the real resistance it is and reports the actual backwards current at the solved operating point.
Over-sized source💡 recommendation
Flags a rail whose source rating is far above (less than 40% utilized) its actual declared draw.
Connectivity & buses
Open net▲ warning
A terminal that connects to nothing — a power pin with no rail, an output driving nobody.
Undriven rail▲ warning
A net with loads attached but no declared source anywhere on it.
Multiple drivers▲ warning
More than one output terminal driving the same net.
Short to ground✕ error
A driven terminal (power or signal output) wired directly to a ground-typed terminal with nothing between them.
Block-internal short✕ error
A single block whose own internal schematic ties two terminals with conflicting declarations (different voltages, or hot-to-ground) onto one net — collapsing them everywhere it's placed.
Dangling wire✕ error
A wire whose endpoint no longer exists — usually because a block was re-authored and a terminal renamed or removed.
Isolation bridged✕ error
You declare that two blocks must share no conductive path; the check walks the full conduction graph — nets plus every block's internal paths — and names the exact bridge if one exists.
Bus termination missing▲ warning
For nets declared as a terminated bus class (RS-485 and friends), verifies a termination resistor of roughly the right value actually bridges the pair.
I²C rise time▲ warning
For nets declared as an I²C class, computes the RC rise time from the actual pull-up values and estimated bus capacitance against the mode's specified limit — and tells you the pull-up value that would pass.
Thermal
Resistor dissipation✕ error
The DC solver knows the real current through every resistor, therefore the real power. Checked against the declared rating, or the footprint's typical rating (an 0603 is a 0.1 W part), or flagged past a generic ¼ W when neither is known.
Linear regulator dissipation✕ error
For a linear regulator, heat is (Vin − Vout) × Iout — computed from the actual connected input rail and actual load, not the datasheet's worst case.
Linear regulator efficiency💡 recommendation
A design-level cousin of the dissipation check: flags a linear regulator whose drop × load makes it an inefficient heater, using the circuit's actual rails and draws where resolvable.
Polarity
Completeness & engine honesty
Block self-test unverifiedℹ info
An assertion the solver couldn't evaluate — typically because the node sits behind an unmodeled part or the block isn't powered in this design.
Missing component value○ unknown
A component whose value can't be parsed into a number the solver can use. The part is honestly left out of the math rather than guessed.
Empty block (interface shell)ℹ info
A block with declared terminals but no internal components — a typed placeholder.
Connector full💡 recommendation
Every pin of a connector is wired — zero spares.
Debuggability
See them fire on your own design
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