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LESSONPCB Design with KiCad · Part 9EP.244 · 24 s

PCB Design with KiCad L09: how wide should a track be?

Cover of the lesson: PCB Design with KiCad L09: how wide should a track be?Coming to YouTube soon
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// WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

More current needs a wider track: 1 A ≈ 0.3 mm, 2 A ≈ 0.8 mm, 3 A ≈ 1.4 mm (1 oz copper, outer layer); signals stay at KiCad's 0.25 mm; KiCad's PCB Calculator has a Track Width tool.

// LESSON NOTES

This copper track just burned like a fuse! 🔥 Why?

⚡ It was too thin for the current it carried.
🌡️ A thin track has more resistance, and more current means more heat — enough to burn right through.
📡 Signal tracks can stay thin: KiCad's default is 0.25 mm.
🤔 So how wide for 1 amp?
✅ About 0.3 mm! 2 A → about 0.8 mm, 3 A → about 1.4 mm (1 oz copper, outer layer, about +10 °C).
🧮 KiCad has a free calculator for this: PCB Calculator → Track Width.
⌨️ Tip: press X to route a track, and give power tracks their own wider width.

Read the voiceover (transcript)
  1. This track burned like a fuse! Why?
  2. It was too thin for the current it carried.
  3. Thin track, more resistance. More current means more heat!
  4. Signal tracks can stay thin: about a quarter millimetre.
  5. So how wide for one amp?
  6. About point three millimetres!
  7. Two amps? Point eight!
  8. Next: vias, tracks that jump sides. Follow for Part 10!

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