shockking
Member
- Location
- Sacramento, CA
- Occupation
- engineer
What programs do you like for drawing circuit diagrams or single line drawings, especially for power distribution systems, for rough drafts and informal communication?
More context:
We operate a campus with a 115 kV substation feeding ~500 distribution transformers. I often find I want to do a quick sketch of a single line, but I don't want to hand draw it or breakout ACAD. For example, to post a question here the forum, I might want to draw a simplified version of whatever I'm working on.
I've I've used Visio quite a bit for other diagrams, but I find the stock component library lacking. Is there a library package I'm missing? I know there are some paid libraries, but really I only need a dozen symbols or so. I set out to create my own at one point but that project had its own issues.
I've been thinking about using ACAD for this. It seems like overkill though, and I haven't looked for a good symbol library yet.
We also have SKM PowerTools, which is definitely overkill. I'm looking for something to do rough drafts with, before then going on to ACAD and SKM.
Pretty much the same arguments apply (in my mind) to Etap, EasyPower, Solidworks... 1-to-1 alternatives to SKM and ACAD.
I use and highly recommend Yed (www.yworks.com) for block diagrams. Similar to Visio, it auto arranges blocks. This would be almost perfect if it had power system symbols.
Googling, I know there are tons of apps out there; anyone recommend any in particular? E.g.:
https://www.google.com/search?q=circuit+diagram+software
Anyone taking power systems classes right now; what do your classes use?
TIA
More context:
We operate a campus with a 115 kV substation feeding ~500 distribution transformers. I often find I want to do a quick sketch of a single line, but I don't want to hand draw it or breakout ACAD. For example, to post a question here the forum, I might want to draw a simplified version of whatever I'm working on.
I've I've used Visio quite a bit for other diagrams, but I find the stock component library lacking. Is there a library package I'm missing? I know there are some paid libraries, but really I only need a dozen symbols or so. I set out to create my own at one point but that project had its own issues.
I've been thinking about using ACAD for this. It seems like overkill though, and I haven't looked for a good symbol library yet.
We also have SKM PowerTools, which is definitely overkill. I'm looking for something to do rough drafts with, before then going on to ACAD and SKM.
Pretty much the same arguments apply (in my mind) to Etap, EasyPower, Solidworks... 1-to-1 alternatives to SKM and ACAD.
I use and highly recommend Yed (www.yworks.com) for block diagrams. Similar to Visio, it auto arranges blocks. This would be almost perfect if it had power system symbols.
Googling, I know there are tons of apps out there; anyone recommend any in particular? E.g.:
https://www.google.com/search?q=circuit+diagram+software
Anyone taking power systems classes right now; what do your classes use?
TIA
