Methodology and sources

Which sources we use

Values come only from primary documents: manufacturer datasheets and reference manuals, official board schematics and design files, and published standards. Each page cites the exact document, with its publisher and, where the publisher gives them, the document number, revision or date, and links to it.

Secondary material such as articles, forum threads and community pinout diagrams helps us find the right document but is not used as the source of a value. When a board has no official documentation, as with many clone boards, the page cites the best available design files and says so. Some classic reference circuits cite an established reference drawing for their topology; their values still come from component datasheets.

How each kind of page is built

• Board pinouts: header pins, functions and power limits from the official schematic, pinout and microcontroller datasheet; board geometry cross-checked between independent design files.
• Connectors: contact numbering and roles from the governing standard, for example from USB-IF or TIA.
• Components: one reference datasheet per page, named on the page. The same part from other manufacturers is shown separately, with the values that differ.
• Schematics: drawn in the CircuitBase editor, which checks the wiring with electrical rule checks. Formulas and component limits come from the datasheets; calculated values are marked as ideal and are not measurements.

How records are checked

CircuitBase is AI-assisted. Records are drafted and reviewed with AI models against the cited documents. The review is done independently of the model that drafted the record, often by a different model, and is stored with its date.

Automatic validators then check the structure of every record, the links between pages, the cited sources, the translations and the diagram rules. Records that fail are not published.

The author, Serhii Shvab, decides what is published, checks samples and the overall picture, and authorises each release. The author does not personally verify every value; the process above is there to catch errors before and after publication.

You can help check

Every page has links to report a mistake or to confirm that it matches your board or circuit. Accepted confirmations are shown on the page, and corrections go through the same review as new pages.

Report a mistake or confirm a page

Corrections and updates

Changes to published pages are recorded with their date in the changelog. Each page lists the documents it is based on.

Open the changelog

How our videos are made

Our YouTube videos are animations built from the same verified data as these pages: schematics, pinouts, formulas and calculated waveforms. Narration uses a synthetic voice. Every number and animation is checked against its source before publishing, and each video links to the pages and datasheets it is based on.

What the checks do not cover

• Circuits and boards are not bench-tested unless a page says so.
• Clones, revisions and parts from other manufacturers can differ from the reviewed documents.
• Pages are not certified for manufacturing or safety-critical use.

Always check the datasheet of the exact part or board revision you use.