What Design Software Do You Use?

[Bob B]

Didn't know wher to put this .... so put it here.

I have seen a number of posts with people posting wiring diagrams for systems and batteries. Wondering what software you use ..... not really wanting to go full blown autocad, but may want to do some panel layouts for the roof of my RV as well as some wiring diagrams.

I'm doing a free test of SmartDraw and am not really that thrilled with it so far.

 

[tictag]

Good question, and it would interesting to know: I've seen some fabulous diagrams on here!

Personally, purely for the electronics, I use EveryCircuit because I like to play around with variables and it provides real-time circuit analysis.

I've also dipped into Fritzing every now and again for diagramming stuff.

 

[Bob B]

Thanks for the input. I'm not really interested right now in doing actual electronic circuit design ..... but that software does look interesting. I'm more interested in doing a wiring diagram.
does that Fritzing software have a measuring tool?

 

[tictag]

Not sure, but they have a few videos on how it works on their homepage. I provided the link above.

 

[Bob142]

Here’s a thread from a couple months ago with a lot of good suggestions:

Schematic/diagram/drawing tools for Solar

Hi, just wondering what you guys are using to draw your up you solar layout plans? I do have visio but i'm really not a big fan of it. Love the Blueprints Will produces, would like to do something similar, simply and on the cheap.

diysolarforum.com

 

[Bob B]

Thanks for that link ..... I hadn't found that.

 

[kenkoh]

Photoshop. Well worth the time to learn & you can do anything from simple to complex.

 

[charlesrg]

Free Schematics.com, you can draw and have some features that most will find important:

• You can move components and wire will follow
• You can add your own components
• It will create you a bill of materials
• You can export the files to print
• You can share design with others to collaborate
• It supports multiple plans so you can separate AC / DC diagrams

Here are screenshots of my project:

Here is a sample of my bill of materials: