Electrical Calculation Software

[Rheinhardt]

Hi guys, i'm looking for software where you can build circuits which then calculate current voltages ect.

Mostly Low Voltage 24VDC ect.

Anybody know a good source for this.

Thanks

--Off all the things i've lost , i miss my mind the most--

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Google "electrical spice"

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[mwebster]

Free: LTSpice
Easy(ish): NI Multisim (formerly Electronics Workbench)
Standard: Orcad PSpice

A good option for simple circuits is Paul Falstad's circuit simulator (here - 5th section down under Electrodynamics). The UI is pretty crappy, but it's the best thing I've come across for visualizing how current moves around in a circuit. This thing is awesome for circuits up to ~20 components or so.

 

[mwebster]

I should mention that there are caveats and downfalls for all circuit simulators out there. In a lot of cases, you have to be careful to model in parasitic inductance, capacitance, and resistance, especially when using the basic "ideal" elements. Voltage sources, capacitors and inductors always have some series resistance. Every circuit node has a certain shunt resistance and capacitance to ground. There's no such thing as a ground node (pure 0 potential) in the real world! All your circuit traces or hookup wires have resistance, inductance, and capacitance. Board layout can be critical in many circuits. Components have temperature dependencies that are often overlooked in simulation.
The big trick is to know when and where those those terms will make a difference in your simulation and coming up with good estimates for their magnitudes and there's no good way to get there except through study and experience.