Design/Schematic software

[forqnc]

I was wondering if any of you know of a software design package for laying out panels and wiring schematics. I inherited designs at my company and these had been created using Orcad (about 1% of the programs abilities). Having been shown the way it was done I continued. Now I am looking at buying a better software program for my particular use. I've tried Visio and just didn't like the feel of it compared to what I am used to. The other side is I would like to be able to import my existing designs. One design has 3 files there 'types' are file, DXF and DBK. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[JRoss]

I've heard good things about AutoSketch, which is developed by Autodesk, the makers of AutoCAD. It's basically a cheaper, 2D only version of AutoCAD that is meant primarily for home use, but works well for your needs. No promises, as I haven't used it myself. One of my coworkers got it to use for house plans, and said it's great.

[ECSI]

My first choice would be AutoCAD Electrical v2007 but its quite expensive, so for now I am quite happy using AutoCAD LT 2004. After using LT for years I have a pretty good parts library built up so drawings can be done very efficiently.

[TERdON]

EasyEl, FastEl, ElProCad (heavy Swedish bias, I don't think they're very widely spread abroad)

[BobLfoot]

I've worked for several different end users and one System Integrator and they all chose some flavor of AutoCad. The SI was even developing AutoCad to the point they had macros to strip the I/O labels off modules and covert them to excel files for import in RSlogix as symbol tables.

[rpraveenkum]

EPlan is wonderfull Electrical design software

[JesperMP]

Dont use 2d or 3d mechanical CAD software to make electrical diagrams. A proper software has a complete library, follows the EN60294-1 and EN61346 standards, can generate parts list, cable lists, terminla lists, wire lists, generates cross references, etc. etc. We use DPS PCSchematic in our department. It is easy to use and is relatively inexpensive. Another department uses EPLAN. It is much more expensive and also more difficult to use. It should give some advantages in being able to structure projects even more than PCSchematic can do. Another contender for us would have been CADDY++. edit: Also factor in if there are component databases available. We have for all the major manufacturers, Siemens, Grp. Schneider, AB, Phoenix Contact etc. etc. Having to create your own database is a very timeconsuming job Edited November 24, 2006 by JesperMP

[OkiePC]

I recently went googling for a cheap or free cad software for home use and came across Intellicad. It functions just like Autocad which was great for me and is compatible with some of autocad's older .dwg file formats. The trial version is free and they offer a full version for well under $200. I would compare it to Autocad Lite. At my new job they use AutoCad Electrical. I have only used it a couple of times and found the capabilities overwhelming. One day, I spent more time trying to figure out how to resize some line numbers than it would have taken to redraw the whole page with Lite. I have a feeling I need a class or full tutorial with AutoCad Electrical even though I have used Autocad Lite and 2000 for years I also expect to find that our company may not be using some of the features correctly. Our drawings appear to have a mix of plain hand drawn objects, and library symbols... Just my first impressions... Paul