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Electrical Schematic Capture Software
Getting to the point in the build where I need to get my electrical schematics into shape (from the back of the envelope scribblings) and looking at something better than Visio 2003. I ran across KICAD - it is a open source schematic capture and PCB design tool and while it has some interesting features is pretty straightforward to use and has a comprehensive library of components suplimented with the Digikey library of parts. It runs on Mac,Windows PC and Linux, and the price is right. Worth taking a look if you dont have a current copy of Autocad or the Solidworks schematic capture tools.
KT |
Ive been using tinycad the last few days. Free. Easy to draw/
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Use a schematic capture package
For a long time, I had access to an industrial-grade schematic capture package (Altium), but not when I started my RV7 electrical system. I decided to go with Visio since I didn't want to go through the tedious task of making all the symbols for all the component (connectors, pin numbers, etc) or did I want to spend any $$$.
However, now that I'm at the other end of the job, I would do it over with a basic schematic capture package. Though the schematics aren't as "pretty", one of the most useful things you can get from the capture package is a netlist of connections. This is super useful when you're running wires through the ship and routing them to the correct boxes. I had to basically do a manual version of this to make the install efficient. The schematic capture packages do it for free, and maintain it for free. Find your favorite free version (kicad is good) and spend the time up front; it will pay off in the long run |
One possibility:
https://www.expresspcb.com/expresssch/ |
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As for KiCad and Eagle... despite developing the precursor to Eagle in the early 80's for integrated circuit design (with a grad student named Corina Lee who wrote the VAX simulation extraction) on a Calma GDS-II system, I hate it. KiCad is better but buggy. There is no more exquisite torture than learning a new ECAD system... but expresssch is easy. V |
Schematic capture Tools
Thanks for the link to Expresssch. Downloaded it and gave it a try. Very intuative and easy to use took me less than half the time for doing the same schematic in kicad and that was straight out of the box. None of the ? features? of kicad - which is good. Will make the switch to Expresssch.
KT |
Does anyone know if the express sch will work on an iMac?
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You could run it in a Virtual machine though. |
I had decided to just go ahead and use a drawing package that I was familiar with (Canvas Draw for Mac) to avoid the learning curve of an unfamiliar CAD program. But I guess I don't understand what a "netlist of connections" is. Is it somehow better than following a trace on your schematic?
I also didn't see having a library of electrical and/or electronic components available would be an advantage. I didn't figure that a significant percentage of the devices wired into an airplane would exist in such a database. I presume that many such devices would have to be created by the user. The only advantage that I saw was not having to redraw connections when a component was relocated in a schematic. Please help me understand where I'm wrong and why it's worth the learning curve. |
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