• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 05:16
CEST 11:16
KST 18:16
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection2Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview5[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO12 Preview2herO wins GSL Code S Season 1 (2026)7
Community News
[BSL22] Non-Korean Championship from 13 to 28 June0Weekly Cups (May 25-31): Clem doubles, 2v2 circuit heads toward finale0StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th138Weekly Cups (May 18-24): MaxPax wins doubles0Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League5
StarCraft 2
General
The Death of Cheese: From a Professional Cheeser StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th Oliveira Would Have Returned If EWC Continued SC2 Parody - "Somebody That I Used to Troll" On design and lattest PTR patch notes
Tourneys
Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League GSL Code S Season 2 (2026)
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 528 Infection Detected Welcome to the External Content forum Mutation # 527 Hell Train
Brood War
General
FlaShFTW vs A.Alm Grudge Match Event [BSL22] Non-Korean Championship from 13 to 28 June vespene.gg — BW replays in browser Quality of life changes in BW that you will like ? Data analysis on 70 million replays
Tourneys
[ASL21] Grand Finals [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 [BSL22] WB Final & LB Semis - Saturday 21:00 CEST
Strategy
Any training maps people recommend? Muta micro map competition [G] Hydra ZvZ: An Introduction Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
ZeroSpace Megathread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
How cold is too cold to be outdoors? US Politics Mega-thread Dating: How's your luck? Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Trading/Investing Thread
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Esportsmanship: How to NOT B…
TrAiDoS
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 4291 users

Electronics

Blogs > mantequilla
Post a Reply
mantequilla
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
Turkey781 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-09-21 13:24:31
September 21 2016 12:33 GMT
#1
I hope there are electronics people here who will see this.

I am a CS graduate. I wish to be able to:

- identify electronic components on a board

+ Show Spoiler +
[image loading]


* what are "c32" and such? I assume c means capacitor, and 32 is just a number to identify it. But there are also J5 and N252 ...


- have a general idea how does it work when I look at a board

- diagnose and replace/repair broken parts on a board

- design my own circuits...

What kind of books should I read, which sources should I study? Can you provide me with a little know-how?



Age of Mythology forever!
Cryoc
Profile Joined July 2011
Germany912 Posts
September 21 2016 13:35 GMT
#2
For identifying components:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_designator
It is almost impossible to know how a board works by just looking at it without a schematic, unless it is very simple, has only two layers for wiring and doesn't have microchips on it.
http://www.twitch.tv/cryoc
ChapatiyaqPTSM
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
France1887 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-09-21 16:04:11
September 21 2016 16:03 GMT
#3
C32 is a capacitor as you have guessed.
J5 is a connector, probably unmounted (the white rectangle below represents the space it would have taken), or maybe on the other side of the board.
N252 is probably not linked to a component in particular, but more to the board in general.
U4 is for the CREATIVE chip.
X1 is a quartz

Cryoc's wikipedia link can help you to understand all that.

Sometimes a simple cheap broken capacitor can cause a board to stop functioning, and is cheap (at worst a few bucks) to replace. You can find on Google good ways to visually identify such a broken capacitor.
A multimeter could be even better to find broken components. It will be harder to identify on complex components (like the CREATIVE chip).
It could also be that two tracks which are close to each other are slightly connected, causing a short circuit.

Looking at the references of the complex components (often the biggest) give you an idea of the global function of a board. Here I'm guessing it's a sound board, because of U2, U3 and mainly U4.

Schematics will help you get deeper into things, because it is generally organized by functional blocks, while the printed circuit board is sometimes organized to make things work (you need to have two components close to each other, you need to have all the connectors on one side of the board...)

To design your own circuits, if you're only speaking about schematics, you can draw them by hand. If you want to design the printed circuit board, you'll need a software. I have not used free software in a while so I don't know which one is good nowadays, but after a quick Google search, CircuitMaker seems like it could be good enough for you. The most difficult is to find component libraries, where you can find the components you want to use. But you can always create the entries yourself using data from the component datasheet.

You can learn by doing. There are some cool small projects you could read about in the internet, though sometimes it also includes programming as Arduino and Raspberry Pi have helped make things more accessible. Datasheets of complex components often come with advice about how it should be used, like what resistors and capacitors you should use with it.

If you want, you can also try to get general knowledge, though it's less fun. I learned at school, but there are probably good things in the internet. You can always find a book called "Introduction to electronics" or more advanced stuff if you want, then google the chapter titles if the price is too high.
LiquipediaBoy, these pretzels are makin' me thirsty.
Korakys
Profile Blog Joined November 2014
New Zealand272 Posts
September 21 2016 23:46 GMT
#4
The white numbers on the board refer to matching numbers in the circuit diagram and in other documentation that you probably don't have. The more interesting numbers are those on the actual components themselves. They tell you what the components are so you know what to replace them with if they are broken. For example R36 says 221 on it which means it's a 220ohm resistor.

If you want to have general idea of what the board does I suggest finding the biggest chip on it and putting the number on it in a search engine. That should give some data as to what the board is for. But yeah, you can't glean much just by looking at a board, schematics are critical to conducting any but the most basic of repairs and even then it is not easy.
Swing away sOs, swing away.
wholesaleelectronics
Profile Joined March 2026
1 Post
March 18 2026 13:57 GMT
#5
--- Nuked ---
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 44m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
WinterStarcraft756
Livibee 75
StarCraft: Brood War
Rain 13377
Calm 9998
Shuttle 1938
Sharp 222
BeSt 158
ToSsGirL 88
hero 45
sSak 43
Shinee 24
Hm[arnc] 23
[ Show more ]
sorry 14
IntoTheRainbow 6
Counter-Strike
olofmeister1258
shoxiejesuss794
allub96
Other Games
ceh9611
Sick83
RuFF_SC216
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick718
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 88
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 38
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 5
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Nemesis4987
• Stunt1043
• Jankos721
Upcoming Events
The PondCast
44m
Kung Fu Cup
1h 44m
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
5h 44m
Maestros of the Game
6h 14m
ByuN vs herO
Rogue vs Bunny
Replay Cast
14h 44m
Replay Cast
23h 44m
WardiTV Spring Champion…
1d 1h
OSC
1d 3h
Maestros of the Game
1d 6h
Serral vs Percival
SHIN vs ShoWTimE
Replay Cast
1d 23h
[ Show More ]
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
2 days
Maestros of the Game
2 days
Clem vs Lambo
Zoun vs SKillous
Replay Cast
2 days
Solar vs Classic
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
3 days
Grudge Match
3 days
FlaShFTW vs A.Alm
GSL
3 days
herO vs Rogue
Maru vs Cure
Patches Events
4 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
4 days
BSL
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Monday Night Weeklies
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

KK 2v2 League Season 1
RSL Revival: Season 5
Heroes Pulsing #1

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
SCTL 2026 Spring
WardiTV Spring 2026
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
Murky Cup 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026

Upcoming

BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Heroes Pulsing #3
Heroes Pulsing #2
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.