Abstract: An instrument cluster for communicating a vehicle's operating status to a vehicle occupant is disclosed. The instrument cluster includes a housing for supporting the instrument cluster. The housing is mountable to a vehicle instrument panel. A circuit board is secured to the housing. A motor having a motor shaft is rotatably coupled to the motor and the motor is secured to the circuit board. A gauge pointer is mounted on the motor shaft and rotatable therewith for indicating the vehicle's operating status. At least one diode is provided for illuminating the gauge pointer and at least one diode “footprint” is disposed on the circuit board proximate the motor shaft for electrically interconnecting the at least one diode to the circuit board. The at least one diode “footprint” has a cathode solder pad and an anode solder pad. The anode solder pad is substantially rectangular and the cathode solder pad is substantially L-shaped.

Abstract: An instrument cluster for communicating a vehicle's operating status to a vehicle occupant is disclosed. The instrument cluster includes a housing for supporting the instrument cluster. The housing is mountable to a vehicle instrument panel. A circuit board is secured to the housing. A motor having a motor shaft is rotatably coupled to the motor and the motor is secured to the circuit board. A gauge pointer is mounted on the motor shaft and rotatable therewith for indicating the vehicle's operating status. At least one diode is provided for illuminating the gauge pointer and at least one diode “footprint” is disposed on the circuit board proximate the motor shaft for electrically interconnecting the at least one diode to the circuit board. The at least one diode “footprint” has a cathode solder pad and an anode solder pad. The anode solder pad is substantially rectangular and the cathode solder pad is substantially L-shaped.

Abstract: A circuit board includes conductive pads formed in a predetermined arrangement to permit a standardized component package to be properly placed in either of two electrical arrangements, such as an input or output buffer circuit, without separate mounting footprints for each type of electrical component, such as a transistor to be mounted on the footprint. A footprint comprising pads corresponding to the arrangement of terminals on a standardized package is provided with an extension including at least one pad so that a standardized package could be mounted in a rotated position. A circuit board arrangement incorporating the minimum footprint can also include adjacent pairs of pads to be located about the minimum footprint.