Software for Making Electrical Circuit Drawings

RSWire?

http://www.freebyte.com/cad/cad.htm#electricalsystems

These are all free or shareware. Take time to look at the whole site though there is some extremely useful stuff on there

Al

Having read all the posts, I realize this Software may be "off-the-mark" (?)...

but I am surprised that none of the links thus far given mention TinyCAD:

http://tinycad.sourceforge.net/

It's got some pretty cool features, being for FREE.

Best Regards ~

Revit MEP is very useful

One of the Gentlemen that works in the same office as I do uses Microsoft Excel. I was blown away, because I had no idea that Excel could be used for that.

Hi

I some times using Visio. Why don't you try this

Altan

you can use e-Plan software it very very flexible in use, i am also using e-plan for electrical circuit drawing

Protel, OrCAD are 2 of the professional stuffs used in the manufacturing industry but they cost.

AC Wing.

there is a difference between the PCB layout and the schematics. Visio is excellent for schematics, but there has been autorouting PCB software around for years. which are you looking for? Are you planning on doing multilayer boards. Is this just for school? doesn't your school use software for the activities that you are planning on doing? what do they use?

Most circuit boards have 2 artworks, even if it is a single sided board, you will still need an artwork for the solder resist mask. If it were me, If it is a simple small job, then use autocad, viso, or something simple. If a large board, then get professional software. Also, circuit boards are never just circuit boards. They are 3D objects usually integrating with other components in a tight space, and it is really worthwhile to create them as 3D models, in order to model the fit of all the components together. If you were to use solidworks, you could have your PCB layout and electronic components, and packaging all in one set of files, plus scaled drawings, plus presentation graphics... then use viso for schematics.

i used viewdraw, orcad and now i am using PCad all very similair programs

We use Circuit Wizard, available from Australia to UK, for circuit design, simulation and finally it will do Autorouting to design the circuit board on transparency via laser printer for photo etching. Its the simplest I have used with fully professional results.

Did you try Eagle?

http://www.cadsoft.de/

friends i did not mean electrical design for PCB, i mean a software that can used to design power wiring & control wiring diagram etc.. i am using auocad for this...

i am asking is there any software to do elecrical drawing alone in a best way..

You can try TurboCad ... You can find there, more or less, all interesting symbols for electrical drawings.

http://www.turbocad.com/

This is still not clear enough. Are you creating schematics? if yes, then visio. If you are diagramming or drawing a physical 3D wiring with terminations, then use solidworks with the Routing add-in.

Still don't know what you are trying to accomplish!

Guest.

Reply to posts 7, 8, 9 and 11.

I've noticed before one of the problem areas of translating from UK English to US English is that in the US: the term electrical engineering seems to cover electrical and electronic engineering. In the UK the two terms mean very different things.

I'm pretty sure that the OP (Original Poster) was looking for what UK English users would call electrical CAD software. Posts 7, 8, 9 and 11 all refer to electronic CAD tools.

I could easily be wrong: perhaps DRajesh could clarify?

Hello Randall,

The original poster has clarified. But i think the initial post is clear enough.

The only area of slight confussion is were people responded and made referrence to PCB design which i think gives more information to the discussion.

Apart from auto CAD, many of the suggested softwares can be used for power and electronic systems wiring design. I also use visio and will try out excel as MCofSacramentoCounty referred to one of his friends using it.

Now, what if Electrical engineering is used as a generic term that includes, power systems, elctronics/communications, instrumentation and any area dealing with electric power? It should indeed be so. IEEE is setting a very good example.

Cheers

ethobil

NAPKIN AND PENCIL

PCB = Printed Circuit Board.

Isn't it confusing in saying "doing my electrical circuit design for panel boards"?

We always say electric circuit design, do we say electronic circuit design?

Guest.

I like using ExpressSCH. It is free at:

http://www.expresspcb.com/index.htm

The download file will install both ExpressSCH and ExpressPCB.

ExpressPCB allows you to layout the Circuit Board, and is linked with the Circuit you made with ExpressSch. Then you can email the circuit design file to them and get 2 or 3 PcBoards in the mail in 3 days. They are of good quality.

The help tips are great too.

I've used this in the past to make small custom circuit boards. Very reasonable pricing and quick turnaround.

Orcad & Pspice.

Quite costly. (During college days), they have hardware keys inserted in the parallel port to operate. Their security sucks, it doesn't take long for me and my drinking buddies to hack the code and make our own keys.

You can get 90 day versions and student versions of PSPice for free from orcad. Just make sure you down load the component libraries when you install it.

I apologize in advance for offering unsolicited advice, but you may be better off in the long run by staying with AutoCad, or at least another industry standard like Visio.

You do not say why you want to switch, but if it is because your drawings are relatively simple in relation to the capabilities of AutoCad, and you feel you could be more productive with a simpler application, then I would advise staying with AutoCad and investing the time to become proficient at it.

Since you are a new engineer you will have new job opportunities within your current company or with other companies. Being proficient in AutoCad is, in many cases, a big advantage, and possibly a requirement.

AutoCad has always been the standard for professional engineers. Stay with it if you can.

This advice is in light of the fact that it seems like you are making relatively simple ladder logic type drawings, not something that needs to generate circuit board layouts and 3D images.

we used to use a software called " pi" during our days at university 2004 im not sure if still available try googling it.

it had all suggestive components on a library and and all you had to do was click and drop and it also had tracks on the tool bars as you required.

the final cct would then be printed on a normal page then a photocopy made on transperency film, im sure you know the rest.

zaid ally (south africa )

sorry for misunderstanding

i have found auto cad to be the simplest and most efficient methods for panel design

and been using for many years

if your struggling with it please compile a list of areas thats bugging you post on and will help you

remember that you might have to also super impose a lot of your work on other professional drawings and from my experience most are based on similar principles

If you have Autocad already, upgrade to Autocad Electrical. The upgrade price isn't too painfull. Most of your commands will be what you already are famillar with. Then if you need to design cable harness, Inventor talks directly to Autocad Electrical and vise versa. We are using these packages now for machine control cabnets, and it works well.

Well I've made my designs in three platforms one is protel other ORcad other Eagle and recently I've discovered Catia but i dont know how complex is this last but from the three first i prefer Protel and Eagle are Easier to use, to build libraries and check de circuit. Also i have to say that Eagle is freeware and in the website there are a lot of contributions for libraries and components in schematics and PCB desgins.

I believe confusion arise from the fact that, the question sound something to different fields of engineers. Apart from 7 (it was me), 9,..., there still are people answering using OrCAD... It is because, we all think we know what was the question and what should be the best answer! Confusions because of English may play a part, but the most important thing is, the question itself is so general, that it can be asked to people of different fields!

Apart from the 3-D drawings, Protel, OrCAD, and a lot of those packages can do almost all electrical stuffs, like CIRCUIT DESIGN, layout of different screen, ....on top of just doing PCB layout, printing...

The problem is, no clear intentions if he/she wants what! At least I still am not sure! I may have left something out, if that is the case, let me offer my sorry here!

For 3-D drawings, I used UG, ProE, AutoCAD and Solid Work, I found Solid Work most user friendly, easy to use, and possess powerful MIS features like PDM. It is worthy of learning for young guys, especially it's got the future development young people need and it does not take long for new comers to pick up. The catch is, there is always something wrong with its database engine! Solid Work 2006 was very bad (mixed up R and diameter when you do a circle with different commands, sweep boss or circular extrusion), but Solid Work 2008 improves a bit. For electrical circuit design, simulations... I used Protel, OrCAD, Pspice (merged with OrCAD now), they are both good and have their own draw backs and merits! To be honest, I haven't use them for a while after moving into management position, not because of I don't want to!

Which to choose, depends very much on what are the tasks to be accomplished!

Cheers,

AC Wing.

Hi,

Dia is a free circuit program with lots of options, and is easy to use.

http://www.gnome.org/projects/dia/

S