26 Aug
2010
26 Aug
'10
12:38 p.m.
Actually, on many boards there was effectively the copper went all the
way thru the hole ("thru hole plating"), thus providing continuity from
Yes, this PCB us through-hole plated.
one side to the other. Only on really cheap / very
early boards did
soldering provide that thru-the-hole connection -- it caused reliability
problems (surprise surprise).
I cna;t think why there are reliability problems if the sodlering is done
properly. I've built a number of prototpyes where I've had to sodler
components on both sides or fint pins to connect traces through the board
and haev never had problems from doing that.
Even without that, grounds specifically tend to be run
as busses, and
Actualyl, this PCB is somehwt odd there. Almost all the signal and power
traces are on the _component_ side of the board. The solder side is
essentailly a ground plane witha few signal traces in it (to 'hop over'
other traces on the top side). So the through hole plating is essential
to provide a gorund to this pin.
But the plating is there. The hole is full of solder, and in fact the pin
is soldered to the pad. I have checked the ground conenciton, it's find.
-tony