SKM Dapper/Captor/A-Fault/ArcFlash etc software

[jbt260]

Ask your local Siemens rep for a CD called "Siemens Design Assistant". On that CD, there is a program called "EasyTCC". It uses the Easypower platform. This would give you a taste of how Easypower works. This CD is a must for any EE. Very useful.

[steve66]

I think you will find the Easypower is a bit pricy compared to SKM.

[weressl]

I think you will find the Easypower is a bit pricy compared to SKM.

Hmmm....that's a surprise to me. Last time I checked - many years ago - the main advantage of EasyPower was that it was less expensive when you did small simple networks, on the other hand SKM did not offer as small networks as EP did.

[bbaumer]

I think you will find the Easypower is a bit pricy compared to SKM.

I'm finding all of them a bit pricey. I know it took at lot of time to develop the software originally and a lot of time to keep it current so I didn't expect it to be cheap. No matter what direction I go, it's a chunk of change for a little guy.

I got the Easypower demo downloaded and a password from them to start it. It is pretty easy to use, but being as how it's a demo you can't save your project or print anything. Just for the smallest shortcircuit / coordination package without arc-fault it runs $7,500.

Looks to me like the top 3 are SKM, ETAP and Easypower. Other than that I can only find cheap and freebie very basic excel-sheet type tools that are not at all comparable to those 3.

Any other choices out there?

[weressl]

I'm finding all of them a bit pricey. I know it took at lot of time to develop the software originally and a lot of time to keep it current so I didn't expect it to be cheap. No matter what direction I go, it's a chunk of change for a little guy.

I got the Easypower demo downloaded and a password from them to start it. It is pretty easy to use, but being as how it's a demo you can't save your project or print anything. Just for the smallest shortcircuit / coordination package without arc-fault it runs $7,500.

Looks to me like the top 3 are SKM, ETAP and Easypower. Other than that I can only find cheap and freebie very basic excel-sheet type tools that are not at all comparable to those 3.

Any other choices out there?

Then there is ESDA.

[mayanees]

Then there is ESDA.

I think weressl means EDSA.... I think...

I run both SKM and Easy Power, and favor SKM. I'm sure that's tainted by my level of familiarity with SKM, because there are folks in our office who prefer Easy Power... and they're weak with SKM.

Our engineering firm designs interconnected UPS systems, and neither Easy Power nor SKM can model that interconnection for stability. ETAP, (Electrical Transient Analyzer Program) is apparently doing just that, and we're about to purchase that software to model the interconnection of rotary and static UPS systems. We are unique in the critical power market with design of an Interconnected Parallel Bus (IP Bus) that's currently in operation at a number of large Data Centers. The system allows load sharing of all interconnected rotaries, and the individual IP choke provides Isolation from the bus and a degree of fault tolerance.
We've analyzed the systems from a stability standpoint with MatLab, but have yet to do full system modeling with a comprehensive Power Systems Analysis package.

To address a statement made in an earlier post that SKM wasn't an industrial level package - that's not true. It's perfect for industrial systems, having done numerous systems... with interface to Utilities - and developed numerous reports that are accepted by the likes of Con-Ed, Niagara Mohawk/National Grid, DelMarVa/Conectiv, Dominion Va Power.....
It's also perfect for these large Data Centers that I'm doing now, with dual 30MW, 35kV services.

The other thing that I'll emphasize about SKM is MY IMPRESSION of their tech support.. FOR ME, they've been excellent. Always responsive with creation of protective device library files, and even responses to 'engineering' type questions, with qualification that 'We can't provide engineering .. but what we suggest....", which gives me the comfort to ask anything. And the other thing that was nice about SKM is that they're West Coast and I'm East. I would come home from my day job and work on Power Studies. If I had a technical problem at 7:30 at night, they were still there to provide assistance.

And to present a balanced opinion of them, I'll state my perceived weak point with SKM.... the software can hang up. In days of old, when it was DOS based, it crashed every 20 minutes, so I saved every 10. And even today, their Crystal Reports function gets hung up on my machine, so I work around it.

If it was me, I'd start with one of their 50 node combo packs at ~$4500. You can upgrade node count when you need to for the incremental cost between the packages.

Funny, I think that was the price in 1992 when I bought my first package.

Oh, one more thing..... I am in no way associated or affiliated with SKM!!

And one more last thing..... With either package you buy, you should plan on going to their training class. There's so much running the software that it's pretty much essential, unless you've got an experienced hand that can assist.

Good Luck

John M

[weressl]

I think weressl means EDSA.... I think...

I run both SKM and Easy Power, and favor SKM. I'm sure that's tainted by my level of familiarity with SKM, because there are folks in our office who prefer Easy Power... and they're weak with SKM.

Our engineering firm designs interconnected UPS systems, and neither Easy Power nor SKM can model that interconnection for stability. ETAP, (Electrical Transient Analyzer Program) is apparently doing just that, and we're about to purchase that software to model the interconnection of rotary and static UPS systems. We are unique in the critical power market with design of an Interconnected Parallel Bus (IP Bus) that's currently in operation at a number of large Data Centers. The system allows load sharing of all interconnected rotaries, and the individual IP choke provides Isolation from the bus and a degree of fault tolerance.
We've analyzed the systems from a stability standpoint with MatLab, but have yet to do full system modeling with a comprehensive Power Systems Analysis package.

To address a statement made in an earlier post that SKM wasn't an industrial level package - that's not true. It's perfect for industrial systems, having done numerous systems... with interface to Utilities - and developed numerous reports that are accepted by the likes of Con-Ed, Niagara Mohawk/National Grid, DelMarVa/Conectiv, Dominion Va Power.....
It's also perfect for these large Data Centers that I'm doing now, with dual 30MW, 35kV services.

The other thing that I'll empohasize about SKM is MY IMPRESSION of their tech support.. FOR ME, they've been excellent. Always responsive with creation of protective device library files, and even responses to 'engineering' type questions, with qualification that 'We can't provide engineering .. but what we suggest....", which gives me the comfort to ask anything. And the other thing that was nice about SKM is that they're West Coast and I'm East. I would come home from my day job and work on Power Studies. If I had a technical problem at 7:30 at night, they were still there to provide assistance.

And to present a balanced opinion of them, I'll state my perceived weak point with SKM.... the software can hang up. In days of old, when it was DOS based, it crashed every 20 minutes, so I saved every 10. And even today, their Crystal Reports function gets hung up on my machine, so I work around it.

If it was me, I'd start with one of their 50 node combo packs at ~$4500. You can upgrade node count when you need to for the incremental cost between the packages.

Funny, I think that was the price in 1992 when I bought my first package.

Oh, one more thing..... I am in no way associated or affiliated with SKM!!

And one more last thing..... With either package you buy, you should plan on going to their training class. There's so much running the software that it's pretty much essential, unless you've got an experienced hand that can assist.

Good Luck

John M

John,

Thanks for your correction, yes, it is EDSA.

I concur all what you stated above.

I would add that since SKM is probably the most used software for the purpose their device library is probably the most extensive. You could - back in the days - also build your own device curve then upload it to them so all users can benefit from their use.