• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 02:10
CEST 08:10
KST 15:10
  • 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
[ASL22] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!9[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
Weekly Cups (October 12-18): 5.0.17 era begins0[$1250] International ShieldBattery League36Weekly Cups (October 5-11): Farewell to 5.0.164Rollback Netcode in Brood War1405.0.17 Patch Notes - October 7, 202624
StarCraft 2
General
Weekly Cups (October 12-18): 5.0.17 era begins No more SC2 streamers on team liquid? Server Blocker SCII needs to put more weight on strategy and tact Stellar Fest 2 Replay Pack
Tourneys
WORTEX Challenger Series — Open SC2 LAN in Budapes RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20) Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2)
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[G] How to playtest arcade maps [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Sweltering Sands [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
Mutation # 548 Shining Bright The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 547 Temple Of Terror Mutation # 546 Catch the Train
Brood War
General
Rollback Netcode in Brood War Mineral gathering rate (boosted) for each patch BW General Discussion SOOP Announces New Women's Monthly Tournament [Megathread] Daily Funny Videos
Tourneys
[Women's StarCraft] Tier 8 CK 2026-10-20 [ASL22] Grand Finals [$1250] International ShieldBattery League [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Simple Questions, Simple Answers Replay Review Process - What do you do?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Dawn of War IV Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne General RTS Discussion Thread
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25!
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Artificial Intelligence Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread
Fan Clubs
Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023 Football (Soccer) Thread
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
How Much Genes Contribute to…
TrAiDoS
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
38 yo Retired SWE loo…
PurE)Rabbit-SF
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 10233 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
Germany914 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 4h 50m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
WinterStarcraft538
Nina 289
StarCraft: Brood War
Rain 2710
Noble 25
Icarus 7
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm214
League of Legends
JimRising 667
Other Games
summit1g6032
C9.Mang0265
Livibee179
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick567
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH320
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota2367
League of Legends
• Rush1091
• Lourlo1063
• Stunt424
• HappyZerGling63
Other Games
• Shiphtur679
Upcoming Events
IntoTheTV X SOOP
4h 50m
PiGosaur Cup
17h 50m
The PondCast
1d 3h
Kung Fu Cup
1d 4h
IntoTheTV X SOOP
2 days
FEL
4 days
Patches Events
4 days
FEL
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Weekly
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

ASL Season 22
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HCC Season 3

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
IPSL Winter 2026-27
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
Acropolis #5 - GSC
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026

Upcoming

BSL Season 23
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
eXTREMESLAND 2026
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 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.