Circuit Design Software

[dfmoss]

Does any one know of a decent Electrical Circuit Design program? I would prefer Shareware or Freeware (based on my current budget! ), but will also consider commercially available software.

Thanks all,

Don

[Tim B]

kicad. It won't do simulation, but it's very good for circuit diagrams and PCB layouts.

Cheers,

Tim B.

[TerryKing]

Don, contact me offlist; I may have stuff that will help... I'll be in motion between China and USA shortly, so we'd have to do it sooner, else later.
Regards, Terry King ..On the South China Sea in Shekou
terry@terryking.us

[bobg3723]

Hello Don,
There a $30 shareware circuit designer. This is their lite version. I think it does output files to SPICE. If I'm not mistaken, SPICE is a free simulator. The mirror site.

http://www.brothersoft.com/proteus-vsm-10132.html

Good luck,
BobG

[dfmoss]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I appreciate the help.

Don

[BillyDoc]

dfmoss,

I assume you are looking for something like an "electronic CAD" program, but if you want some design assistance as well it's always a good idea to check out the chip manufacturers web page for "reference designs" and in some cases software tools to take care of the tediousness of some heavy-math approaches (like with filter designs).

Check out Linear Technologies tools here http://www.linear.com/designtools/software/ as an example.

Bill

[dfmoss]

Billy,

On looking more closely at the forums available here, I think that I should have posted this under "Boat Design Forums > Construction > Boatbuilding > Electrical Systems." Maybe an admin type will move it.

I am looking for a simple program to draw an electrical circuit, to wire a boat. Not an electronic circuit design program. No getting into the black boxes for me, not right now. (My liberal arts education just doesn't help much there!)

The easiest thing would be to get out paper and pencil and get to drawing. But who wants the eassiest way?

I am not in any hurry, being at least a year away from beginning construction of a Mark V 39 (probably).

Thanks,

Don

[BillyDoc]

OK, I see what you need now. Personally, I use Rhino for all my circuit design. And since my "dream boat" is also designed in Rhino/Delftship, I can just open yet another layer for the electrical stuff and draw it in superposed on the hull, or whatever. Color coding as well.

Check out the forum on software. I think any general purpose CAD program would work fine for your needs (and I think there are free ones). The time needed to learn to use a CAD system is well worth it if you have to do some complex wiring.

Otherwise, a good CAD-rated pencil can be very useful, and the learning curve is pretty shallow too.

BillyDoc