Software (tool) for documenting your solar setup? Maybe a website?

[Ample]

So @smoothJoey mentioned a website that lets you make logical diagrams of things: https://app.diagrams.net/

I like it a lot. But it got me wondering if there was something like that for documenting or even brainstorming solar energy systems.

A random picture I got off the 'net showing something I'd like to be able to draw is this:



I'd like to be able to move the connections around easily. And paste in small pictures of the actual products I'm planning to use (like the sample above).

What do you like to use?

 

[Dzl]

Draw.io (same deal as diagrams.net), can do most of what you want, and more (it has layers!!). I looked for something that can do the same things as you listed above and its the best I've found. The only thing I wish it could do better was self organize/self adjust lines more logicially (it will do it, but not in the way I would like, or maybe I just haven't learned how yet, so I just do it manually)

This was drawn with draw.io (all images/icons were sourced elsewhere and imported):

 

[svetz]

You might also find this thread of interest: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/what-design-and-drawing-tools-do-you-like-or-dislike.5525/

 

[svetz]

Created a Wiki entry to list the various tools... although could use some feedback on the descriptions.

 

[Ample]

Created a Wiki entry to list the various tools... although could use some feedback on the descriptions.

The screenshot program listed, Flameshot, seems to be Linux only. For screenshooting on Windows, I've been happily using the Greenshot (free) since Windows 7. My kids tell me that Windows 10 now has a built-in screenshot function but I'm too old to change...

Greenshot - Screen Recorder

Download Greenshot - Screen Recorder for free. A free and open source screenshot tool optimized for productivity. Greenshot is a lightweight screenshot software tool for Windows that quickly creates screenshots of a selected region, window, or full screen; you can even capture complete...

sourceforge.net

Another web-based drawing utility is Google Drawings. I saw @Mac6792 mention somewhere on this forum (thanks!).

Google Drawings - easily create diagrams and charts.

Choose from a wide variety of shapes to create diagrams and charts.

docs.google.com

 

[RCinFLA]

Bit of learning curve but Inkscape is good open source drawing tool.

 

[tictag]

I can recommend Snag It for screenshotting. I also use it for quick video demonstrations e.g. to do x, click y and z like this...

For drawings I tend to free-draw them with my remarkable tablet. I don't like drawing on a computer, but that's just a personal preference.

 

[HRTKD]

I normally consider myself to be pretty good with MS PowerPoint, but it didn't work well for lines with multiple connectors (corners). Maybe I'm missing something.

The draw.io URL took me to diagrams.net so they must be the same tool. It took me a bit to get used to drawing connector lines. It's certainly better than PowerPoint. The objects I had in the PowerPoint diagram pasted easily into draw.io. Just do them one at a time or you get a single image.

Images paste into draw.io at the resolution you have them at in PowerPoint. What I mean by that is that lets say you start with a very large image in PowerPoint and shrink the size down to 10% of the original. In PowerPoint you can expand it back to 100% and it looks the same. But take the shrunk image and paste it into draw.io and then expand it it draw.io and the resolution sucks. Before copying from PowerPoint, blow the image back to its normal size, copy/paste into draw.io and then shrink it down.

I'm not very artsy, so my drawings are very rudimentary. What DZL came up with was much better.

 

[Ample]

I can recommend Snag It for screenshotting. I also use it for quick video demonstrations e.g. to do x, click y and z like this...

Snag it!

<Alec Guinness voice> "Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time."

That dates back to the earliest days of computing! (Windows / GUI interface computing)

 

[HRTKD]

Let's go back even further. Who remembers TSR applications? Terminate and Stay Resident. I used one to paste code into the mainframe editor. That was quite a while ago. Before Windows.

I used SnagIt! also. On one of the obsolete computers I can't seem to get rid of, it's still installed there.

 

[tictag]

Can some fetch @HRTKD's medication? He's having one of his funny turns again...

 

[Ample]

Let's go back even further. Who remembers TSR applications? Terminate and Stay Resident. I used one to paste code into the mainframe editor. That was quite a while ago. Before Windows.

Yep! Superkey and Sidekick! A staple on my computers back in the day. They were launched in the autoexec.bat because I was rocking a QuadRAM memory card(*) with LIM EMS 4.0 and thus had memory to spare!

(*) might have been a clone card, purchased bare and populated with RAM chips sourced elsewhere--I was cheap and DIY even back then!

@tictag I might also be missing my meds...

 

[HRTKD]

Sidekick was the TSR I used. I had 640K to play with and Sidekick didn't need that much.

 

[HRTKD]

I'm not sure if this is the better thread to talk about documenting a diagram, schematic or drawing (whatever you want to call it).

I've been using Sketchup 2017 (I refuse to upgrade from a free local version) because I need to know the exact dimensions of things. On the roof of my RV I needed to know which panels were going to fit. For everything else not on the roof, I have a rather small area to deal with. Knowing what will fit and where it goes before actually cutting wire is a huge help.

However, getting objects that are native to Sketchup has been challenging. I've drawn a bunch of my own objects, often just getting the rough dimensions and calling it a day. The 3D warehouse (cloud) available in Sketchup has a few objects, but they weren't what I was using or they were just goofy. The OCD part of me just couldn't take that. I finally figured out that the drawings available on the Victron Energy website were in an industry standard format. Sketchup doesn't import that format directly but I found an extension from SimLab that will read the .stp file and import it into Sketchup.

I'm running a trial license of the SimLab Step Importer. I think it's $79 for a standalone license. That would have saved me at least three hours of DIY object creation (for a less that polished object).

I also found a website traceparts.com that has CAD drawings of a lot of electrical items. For example, the PV circuit breakers that I bought on Amazon were on traceparts.com in the Sketchup native format.

Here's what I imported into Sketchup.

 

[Dzl]

I'm not sure if this is the better thread to talk about documenting a diagram, schematic or drawing (whatever you want to call it).

I've been using Sketchup 2017 (I refuse to upgrade from a free local version) because I need to know the exact dimensions of things.

I <3 Sketchup, such a great and easy to use program!

 

[John Frum]

This is what I am experimenting with

legend {
    zcase_NNN = terminal fuse by littelfuse where NNN is the amp rating
    |NNN| = busbar fused position where NNN is the amp rating
    |UUU| = busbar un_fused position
    <-> bi-directional traffic
    <- = uni-directional traffic
    -> =uni-directional traffic
}
wires {
    1.5mm2 = 016awg
    4.0mm2 = 010awg
    016mm2 = 006awg
    035mm2 = 002awg
}
battery {
    pos = cell_0<->cell_1<->cell_2<->cell_3<->cell_4<->cell_5<->cell_6<->cell_7
    neg = cell_7<->cell_6<->cell_5<->cell_4<->cell_3<->cell_2<->cell_1<->cell_0
}
inverter {
    pos
    neg
    equipment_ground
}
charger {
    pos
    neg
    equipement_ground
}
monitor {
    pos
    shunt {
        upstream
        downstream
    }
}
load_center {
    upstream = {
        pos
        neg
    }
    downstream = {
        pos = {
            1.5mm2|001|->monitor.pos
        }
        neg = {
            4.0mm2|UUU|<->premesis_ground
        }
    }
}
system {
    pos = {
        35mm2|UUU|<->zcase_125<->battery.pos
        35mm2|UUU|->inverter.pos
        16mm2|080|<-charger.pos
        16mm2|100|->load_center.upstream.pos
    }
    neg = {
        35mm2|UUU|<->monitor.shunt<->bms<->battery.neg
        35mm2|UUU|<-inverter.neg
        16mm2|UUU|->charger.neg
        16mm2|UUU|<->load_center.upstream.neg
        16mm2|UUU|<->inverter.equipment_ground
        16mm2|UUU|<->charger.equipment_ground
    }
}