which simulation software you use?

[wealth210]

I only use Protel99 to simulate my design electronic circuit,I think it's not the best one,so I wonder which simulation software you use?

 

[ericgibbs]

I only use Protel99 to simulate my design electronic circuit,I think it's not the best one,so I wonder which simulation software you use?

hi,
For electronic circuits I use LTspice, its a free download from the web.

https://www.linear.com/designtools/software/ltspice.jsp

 

[wombweller]

Hi
I tend to use Livewire-
Livewire - Products - New Wave Concepts Limited

It's a good tool but I think eventually you will find it's limitations!! oh and it costs

Circuit wizard and pcb wizard from the same company are also neat little pcb. tools.

Maplins sell it-
**broken link removed**

Not tried Ltspice but I intend to !!!

Cheers

 

[Chippie]

I do all my simulation in hardware...build it if it works fine...If it dont time for a rethink

 

[dknguyen]

Yeah, I use reality as my simulator. It accounts for everything and has flawlessly perfect accuracy.

 

[alphacat]

You cant just build up the circuit, see if it works and then worry about what to to next if it doesnt.
I mean, you probably do some calculations whether on a piece of paper or using a simulator software, before you build the circuit up and test it.

If you dont have much experience, that you can find yourself waisting lots of time on soldering and placing components on breadboard, when you could know before that it wouldnt work.

 

[Chippie]

You cant just build up the circuit, see if it works and then worry about what to to next if it doesnt.
I mean, you probably do some calculations whether on a piece of paper or using a simulator software, before you build the circuit up and test it.

If you dont have much experience, that you can find yourself waisting lots of time on soldering and placing components on breadboard, when you could know before that it wouldnt work.

Cobblers!

If you want to run a 555 timer at a particular frequency, you dont go running to software to find out if the cct is going to work...

There are formulae for working that kinda stuff...ok on the back of a fag packet...but I dont reach to the pc and fire up EWB...

 

[wombweller]

Cobblers!

If you want to run a 555 timer at a particular frequency, you dont go running to software to find out if the cct is going to work...

There are formulae for working that kinda stuff...ok on the back of a fag packet...but I dont reach to the pc and fire up EWB...

Hi

I use the sim. to experiment as being quite new to the world of electronics I've had many projects inside my head without any idea of what components I need to use to get these projects up and running.It's very easy to say go straight for the components and the breadboard or soldering iron if you have some experience of how components work and act together.
I for one have sat hours and hours just experimenting in simulation this does save me purchasing unnessacry components or even blowing them up !! oh and is quite enjoyable

Even some of the most experianced people use sims in one form or another!!!

Simulators do however tend to be sporadic in there simulation capabilities which can lead to even more confusion but in the most for me they have been a valuable tool.

Maybe in a few years when my knowledge grows my sim will become redundant but for now they work for me!!!

Each to their own.

Cheers

 

[dknguyen]

You cant just build up the circuit, see if it works and then worry about what to to next if it doesnt.
I mean, you probably do some calculations whether on a piece of paper or using a simulator software, before you build the circuit up and test it.

Calculations != simulation.

If you dont have much experience, that you can find yourself waisting lots of time on soldering and placing components on breadboard, when you could know before that it wouldnt work.

I think the phrase "garbage in, garbage out" applies here. If you don't have a good idea of whether the circuit even works or not, a simulator is not going to help you out. Simulators are supposed to verify functionality, not test it.

 

[MikeMl]

Calculations ...If you don't have a good idea of whether the circuit even works or not, a simulator is not going to help you out.

I strongly disagree. I use simulation extensively. I used to do VLSI design, and you cannot create a design with hundreds of thousands of transistors without extensive simulation.

Simulation is great for testing feasibility of a design before building it. You can start out simulating only idealized components. If you can make the circuit do what you want it to do in a highly abstract form, you can then keep adding more non-ideal behavior (parasitics) to see how that effects the circuit.

Simulation doesn't just apply to the electronics part of a design; you can model the behavior of physical systems, too. It is also great in optimizing a system because you can vary so many parameters at a time.

Getting a concept turned into a functional schematic is made easier because you have to go through the exercise of creating a circuit topology that the simulator will accept.

Simulation makes it possible to display all voltages, currents, power dissipated in components that would take hours to measure in an actual circuit. In the case of VLSI, there is no way to probe the innards of a complex circuit, the only way you can observe the internal nodes is using simulation.

btw-simulation is a great teaching tool. You can demonstrate behavior of circuits to a large group using a computer coupled to a projection system.

 

[wombweller]

I think the phrase "garbage in, garbage out" applies here. .

And what sort of IC. do you use to get that result!!!

If you don't have a good idea of whether the circuit even works or not, a simulator is not going to help you out. Simulators are supposed to verify functionality, not test it.

Sims have helped me immensely!!

Do you use PIC's ? and without any sim. ? perhaps I'm being spoiled or as I see it taking advantage of the tools available.

Cheers

 

[dknguyen]

Yes, I use PICs. I was referring to garbage in, garbage out for simulators, not ICs.

 

[ericgibbs]

hi,
I guess you reality guys as you call yourself, use a calculator from time to time to do the maths for your circuits.???

A simulator will do the maths in a fraction of the time you take and will make far less errors.

It will also give an indication of the circuits performance under various temperature and voltage conditions and overall efficiency.

No one is suggesting an engineer should use a sim to calculate the time constant for a 555.!!

A simulator is like any other engineering tool, if you dont know how to use it, you will suffer from garbage i/o.

They say, a poor workman always blames his tools.

 

[wealth210]

Dear Eric
I　have installed LTspice software in my pc computer.but I don't know hou to use it,would you like to give me some indication or show me some good books about the using of this simulation software.Thanks in advance.

 

[ericgibbs]

Dear Eric
I　have installed LTspice software in my pc computer.but I don't know hou to use it,would you like to give me some indication or show me some good books about the using of this simulation software.Thanks in advance.

hi,
There are many tutorials on the LTspice website.

Also Google for LTspice tutorials

 

[ericgibbs]

hi wealth,

Attached are two ltspice asc files that I looked at for the toy car motor bridge, you may find them useful for study.

 

[DamoRC]

I use LTSpice but I also found this nice (read free) logic algorithm thingy at:

Logic Friday - Free software for boolean logic analysis

You give it a truth table (inputs and outputs) and it will give you the logic operators in a "circuit" that implement the truth table.