CAD for electricians

There is specialist commercial software for producing wiring diagrams. But I use the schematic entry facilities of my PCB CAD system. You can probably abuse most other PCB CAD systems in the same way, for example creating fake "components" to act as end-points for all the wires.

So I would think geda or Eagle could be used. Or maybe easier to learn would be a general vector graphics editor with "connectors" support. You could try Inkscape, or dia.

All open source except Eagle.

Almost any mechanical CAD program would work if you don't need to extract a netlist - I use Intellicad (an AutoCad clone.). Some programs may come with a library of electrical symbols, but it should be easy to make your own symbols or blocks. The first drawing or two may take some time as you build the symbols you need.

The group for electricians is alt.engineering.electrical.

"Wiring diagram". Another word (used in a different context) is "harness".

Purpose-built apps discussed here:

In this type of thread, Microsoft Visio is often mentioned. It is THE WORST PIECE OF CRAP for this task and will quickly exhaust your patience. . gEDA has been mentioned. (Not especially Windows-friendly.) KiCAD is another open source electronics (PCB-oriented) CAD with a Windoze port.

John Devereux ha scritto:

Thanks John, I'll check them with him. ;-) Massi*U've been really fast answering! :-D

Peter Bennett ha scritto:

Yes, U're right... I'll consider also your suggestions ;-) Massi*thanks

JeffM ha scritto:

yeah, thanks, but it wasn't strictly CAD-related ;-) And he's not an engineer (I will) :-D I chose your NG and it seems I made the right choice ;-)

I always like when english-speaking people tells me how to say something I would express in 100 words ;-)

Another bunch of links to be checked... thanks U all guys, I didn't expect all of these answers, and this quickly! ;-) Have a nice evening! Massi

Many of the free Intellicad versions have gone full commercial but a web search on "free intellicad" will turn up some older but still quite usable CAD programs.

For the symbol library, there's a metric butt-ton of free symbols for AutoCad/Intellicad over at the CAD Blocks Exchange Network

On page 12 of the Electrical section is "Electrical Symbols" that has some symbology that may be helpful to the OP.

Rich Webb ha scritto:

Thanks for this more information... I think it would be OK anyway, cause he isn't much expert in PCs :-)

ROTFL Good!

Thanks again! Massi

Maybe Electric will do the job. This is open source and is available at

Regards Anton Erasmus

Anton Erasmus ha scritto:

Thank U too! U're a really efficient NG! ;-) Massi