Generating ECO takes so long using REPEAT function

[naveen0312]

Hello everyone,
I am Naveen, I have an issue with a delay in GENERATING ECO when I do Update changes to PCB in my design.

I would like to design a PCB with 100 x 100 matrix LEDs, each LED has same layout and Schema, so I use hierarchical design and REPEAT function in my design. When I click 'Update changes to PCB', the process is taking 30 mins to finish, precisely, Altium takes abnormal amount of time to add Component class members in ECO list. Whereas in an example project C:\Users\Public\Documents\Altium\AD22\Examples\Min i PC\Mini PC - Motherboard, without REPEAT function ALTIUM takes normal amount of time to add Component class members in ECO list. I have the same PC and settings.

Has anyone faced similar issue ? Please help me out.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards,
Naveen

[robertferanec]

Maybe a bug? I would maybe try to uncheck "create rooms automatically" checkbox - just to see if that is the problem.

[qdrives]

Like robertferanec the first I thought was to disable component class generation (just as rooms), but then, you probably want to copy the layout to all LEDs?
Do note that a 100x100 matrix creates 10,000 copies. That sounds simple, but few people design boards with that many components (not even counting if multiple components are in the repeat).

[naveen0312]

Hello robertferanec ,
Thanks for your reply. I tried that but still I have the same issue. The delay is arising when ADDING COMPONENT CLASSES in the ECO list is being executed. When I disable GENRATING CLASSES and enable CREATE ROOMS, the issue goes away.


Hello qdrives thanks for your reply. If I copy paste the LED, I have improper nets.For example I have a 45pin connector, each pin is connected to the LEDs and if I copy paste the LEDs layout, I do not find the net corresponding to the nth pin of the connector. If I have to change the net name correspondingly, then it takes alot of time.

Regards,
Naveen

[qdrives]

What I mean with copy the layout is: Design / Rooms / Copy room formats.

[robertferanec]

probably you may need to come up with an unconventional solution .... maybe create a "footprint" which will be your whole block ... or something like that? I am not sure how big and complex the block is.

[naveen0312]

Hello qdrives thanks for your reply. Yeah to use Design / Rooms / Copy room formats, we need ROOMS, to incorporate all the components into THAT ROOM we need CLASSES. So if I have a LED matrix of 50x 90, it becomes 4500 different CLASSES + ROOMS to generate during ECO process and AD22 takes 11hrs to create these many classes for me( to complete the Applying ECO ).

Hello robertferanec thanks for your reply.
In fact I found another workaround, I disabled Create Rooms and disabled Create Component Classes in the Project Options. I did Update changes to PCB, the process was very quick. Then I used pip file to place my component in the form of Matrix. I did layout for 1 LED and copied that to all the LEDs.

I also created a ticket in Altium Support and I was in contact with a support guy, he also faced the same issue. He has reported this issue to the R&D team and my ticket has modified to 'Submitted for developement' so I guess they might solve this problem in the next build or next version of Altium.

Thanks for your help !