I'm starting my hobby electronics journey. I know how to read all the symbols and know how to solder. But I'm a bit confused with reading schematics that have multiple GND and the difference between VCC vs +5v.
Please take a look at this schematic.
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Where do the ground points physical connect to?
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Do they symbolize the negative terminal on power source and therefore all GND points should connect to each other some how?
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There are VCC points and +5v points. Are they the same? If not, where do the wires connect to?
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Which power adapter can I use to power this station? THe schematics have +5v. If I got a laptop charger that was 19v 60watts 4amps, how would I use it to power the +5volts which is less than 19v of the charger?
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Also from one power adapter how would it get 15v ac and 9v ac power from?
I'm trying to replicate this soldering station. here.
Best Answer
When you see ground or VCC connections they symbolize a common net. That is, it's a shorthand way to show all the pins that need to be connected to those rails without actually having to draw a ground or power wire on the schematic.
As you surmise, all the grounds, and +5Vs and Vccs, are indeed connected to their respective "together".
In this case Vcc is actually mislabelled, and badly so in my opinion.
Your Vcc shown on the schematic should actually be labeled as "RAW". It's simply the rectified and smoothed 9V AC voltage. The +5V signal is generated by the Arduido, and should more rightly be labelled Vcc.
Whether the arduino can actually supply enough current for all the things attached to that pin in unknown.
As for where to get 15V and 9V AC, you would need suitable transformers. If you want to use a laptop charger to get your RAW voltage, you would need to down regulate it to within range of the ARDUINO RAW input voltage range.