Software for Electrical drawings

[Conficker]

Hi

Can anyone recommend software to do basic to light industrial electrical drawings? I have used both Visio and Smartdraw for a while, but both programs are "messy". It consumes too much time for basic things like aligning components properly etc. I need something that focuses on electrical drawings only rather than a jack of all trades.

Thanks

 

[TheRidDlerX]

We've been using AutoCad since i can remember, although the speficic alignment funcion is a little less clever than most, the overall potential of the package is amazing. For Loopsheets or the like we then export the overlay along with schedules into Dessoft.

 

[bin3]

I would suggest going Linux: there is a huge amount of electronic / schematic type software available: XFig / DIA / etc.

Can't remember the names, but I know there is a group of programs available under electronic engineering if you install the latest ubuntu.

 

[oldhat]

Have you tried XCircuit?

 

[sn3rd]

There are a number of free SPICE-based applications that you could use, even if all you're interested in are the drawings.

Alternatively, if you're feeling adventurous and looking for a really good final result (at the expense of some growing pains early on), have a look at what Tikz has to offer.

 

[Conficker]

After looking at the programs suggested, I realize now that my question might be misleading.

I only want to draw the diagrams/plans of electrical circuits so there's no need to simulate the working functions of the circuit. Many years ago I used an old AutoCAD version that worked very well, but nowadays AutoCAD has exploded into an unusable bloat enterprise system.

The open source app gschem looks interesting, but alas I have trouble using linux/unix stuff

 

[ponder]

TinyCAD?

 

[kayvee]

E3 (Zuken)
sPlan (Abacom)
Visio
Autocad LT
Automation Studio

It all depends how much or little you want to spend.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

AllyCAD

It's free and lightweight. Runs on Windows only.

 

[nahoR]

For Schematic to PCB check out eagle, otherwise orcad is a great piece of software

 

[AstroTurf]

After looking at the programs suggested, I realize now that my question might be misleading.

I only want to draw the diagrams/plans of electrical circuits so there's no need to simulate the working functions of the circuit. Many years ago I used an old AutoCAD version that worked very well, but nowadays AutoCAD has exploded into an unusable bloat enterprise system.

The open source app gschem looks interesting, but alas I have trouble using linux/unix stuff

Make a vm and play around with what is available.

Electric, oregno, and geda come to mind.

 

[Conficker]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I would like to report back that I am so far very happy with sPlan 7.0