Connections, Conductors & Mates

This page covers the three core relationships in your design: bundles route physical paths between components, conductors are the individual wires or cable cores running through those bundles, and mates define how components physically pair (separate from the wiring itself).

Drawing Bundles

Create bundles in Layout view:

1. Press L to enter Add Bundle mode (or right-click a component → Add Bundle to…).
2. Click a source node (component or branch point).
3. Click a target node.

The bundle appears as a single line with a conductor count badge. Bundles are also created automatically when connecting pins in Schematic view. See Bundle Operations for insert branch point, join, consolidate, merge, redirect, and other editing operations.

Bundle Properties

Select a bundle to edit in the Properties panel:

Connecting Pins

There are several ways to create conductor connections between components:

• Bulk Connect — batch-wire two components at once via the context menu.
• Pin-to-Pin — click a source pin then a target pin in Schematic view.
• Properties Panel — click the link icon on a pin row to open a connection picker, then select a target component and pin.
• Bulk Components Editor — same connection picker, available on every pin row across all components at once.

Bulk Connect

Bulk Connect batch-wires components.

1. Right-click a component.
2. Select Bulk Connect.
3. Click the target component.
4. The Connection Matrix opens — choose a wiring pattern or click individual cells to map pins manually.

Set wire color, stripe, and gauge per row before clicking Create Connections.

The behavior depends on the components’ mating behavior (see Terminology: Mate):

Pin-to-Pin (Schematic View)

Click a source pin, then click a target pin. The result depends on the components’ mating behavior and where you click on termination nodes:

Circle vs Body on Terminations

Termination nodes (ferrules, ring terminals, etc.) have two distinct click targets:

• Circle (pin dot) — Creates a conductor connection. Clicking the circle on a termination and then a pin row on a terminal point triggers auto-ferrule creation: a new ferrule is inserted at the terminal point, connected via a bundle and conductor.
• Body (main graphic) — Creates a mate. Clicking the body of a termination and then a terminal point creates a direct mate relationship with no conductor.

Visual cues distinguish the two targets: the circle glows orange on hover (matching auto-ferrule target highlighting), while the body glows green (matching mate target highlighting). These cues become stronger when a connection is already active.

Auto-Ferrule Creation

When a connection involves a Terminal Point, Splice automatically creates ferrule nodes. This is triggered by:

• Bulk Connect — Connector ↔ Terminal Point, Termination → Terminal Point, or Terminal Point ↔ Terminal Point.
• Pin-to-Pin (circle click) — Clicking the circle on a termination and a pin row on a terminal point (or vice versa).
• Bulk Mate — See below.

For each pin pair, the auto-ferrule flow:

1. Creates a ferrule node — A single-pin component positioned near the terminal point, aligned to the pin row.
2. Creates a bundle from the source (connector or termination) to the ferrule.
3. Creates a conductor from the source pin to the ferrule pin.
4. Creates a mate from the ferrule to the terminal point pin.

If a mate already exists on that terminal point pin, it is replaced by the new ferrule mate.

Tip: Auto-ferrules save time at terminal blocks or PCB headers — each wire gets its own ferrule with mate relationships and BOM tracking.

Mates

A Mate defines how two components physically pair — separate from conductors. See Components & Pins: Mating Behavior for how mating behavior determines valid pairings.

Creating Mates

From the context menu:

1. Right-click a component.
2. Select Mate.
3. Choose the target component from the list.

For terminal points with multiple pins, a position submenu appears with occupied pins grayed out. Pin mappings are auto-generated: matched first by label, then by ID.

From Schematic view:

Click the body of a termination, then click a terminal point pin (or vice versa) — a mate is created automatically. Clicking the circle (pin dot) instead of the body triggers auto-ferrule creation rather than a mate. See Circle vs Body on Terminations and the Pin-to-Pin table above for the full connection matrix.

Bulk Mate

Bulk Mate creates mates for every pin on a terminal point.

1. Right-click a terminal point.
2. Select Mate > Bulk Mate (requires pins configured).

Tip: “Create New” is the fastest way to set up a terminal block with individual ferrule terminations.

Align Mated Connectors

Auto-arrange mated components:

1. Right-click a terminal point with existing mates.
2. Select Align Mated Connectors (only shown when mates exist).

Terminations align vertically (by pin index, centered on hub) and horizontally (30px from hub edge). Works in both views.

Align all mates at once: canvas right-click → Align All Mates to Pins.

Conductor Properties

Editable in the Properties panel or Bulk Editor > Bundles:

See Signals & Nets for net display name resolution.

Rerouting Conductors

When multiple paths exist between a conductor’s endpoints, you can change its route. See Bundle Operations: Reroute Conductors for details.

Wire Groups & Cables

Conductors can be organized into wire groups (twisted, bundled) and cables (multi-conductor assemblies with core mappings). These appear as visual indicators on the schematic, affect BOM generation, and carry over to generated assemblies.

See Wire Groups & Cables for details.

Splices

Pass-Through vs Splice

At a branch point, each conductor is either passing through or spliced:

• Pass-through — The conductor passes through the branch point with no physical join.
• Splice — The conductor is split into separate segments joined at the branch point.

Splices are managed in the Routing section of a branch point’s Properties panel (select the branch point, then look in the right sidebar). The same controls are available in the Bulk Branch Points Editor.

Converting a Wire to a Splice

1. Select a branch point (requires 2 or more connected bundles).
2. In the Properties panel Routing section, find the conductor you want to split.
3. Click the split button (call_split icon) on the conductor row.
4. Two conductor segments are created, joined at the branch point with an auto-assigned designator (SP1, SP2, etc.).

Converting a Splice to a Wire

1. Select the branch point containing the splice.
2. In the Properties panel Routing section, find the splice.
3. Click the merge button (horizontal_rule icon) to combine the segments back into a single conductor.

Note: Merge is available for 2-conductor splices. For splices with 3 or more conductors, remove individual conductors from the splice instead.

Splice Types & Parts

Use the splice type dropdown on each splice row to set the join method:

Each splice can reference a part from the library for BOM tracking. Designators are auto-assigned sequentially (SP1, SP2, SP3…).

Moving a Splice to Another Branch Point

1. Select a branch point and open its Properties panel (or the Bulk Branch Points Editor).
2. In the Routing section, click the swap icon (⇄) on the splice row.
3. Select the target branch point from the dropdown.

Conductors are auto-rerouted to the new branch point. Unreachable conductors are removed. Designator, type, and part are preserved. Single undo step.

Tip: Only reachable branch points appear. If you don’t see the target, check that a bundle path connects the two branch points.