Solve Elec is free software to test electrical circuits. Solve Elec lets you design the electrical circuit using the basic electrical components like resistors, capacitors, inductors, and some semiconductor components that include diodes and amplifiers and view the result for the circuit.
Why I like Solve Elec is because you can design the electrical circuit and view the solution of the circuit and see how the solution is carried out. This feature is really helpful when you are learning about working of an electrical circuit. You can view the result on Graphs. Also, you can view the graphs plot for different nodes of the circuit which I really like.
Along with all that Solve Elec offers the option to view Oscilloscope, Transfer function, and Frequency response for AC analysis of the circuit.
I have used Solve Elec to test electrical circuits in Windows 7 in this article. Though, it is available for Mac OS also. With Solve Elec I was able to view the results on graph and circuit solution for DC and AC voltage sources very easily as shown below (for AC source).
Working With Solve Elec To Test Electrical Circuits:
Solve Elec is very simple to use and is meant for anyone who wants to learn the basics of electrical circuits. The user interface gives you the option to draw the circuit for DC/ AC voltage and current sources. Note that the AC analysis does not work for DC voltage circuits.
In order to design your circuit first you have to select AC or DC source of current and voltage. You will have some extra features of AC analysis enabled when you select AC source. Placing and joining the components is smooth and easy. After designing the circuit you can select anyone of the menu options to view the respective result.
Note that you can not view many results at the same time. Solve Elec will ask you to close any one of the result window so that you can open a new one. I did not like this space crunch and the result windows are not customizable.
Features of Solve Elec:
- Easy to use.
- Good basic components.
- Option to add and change the values for the circuit components.
- Option to view the result for the following:
- Circuit’s solution
- Graph Plot
- Transfer Function (For AC source)
- Oscilloscope (For AC source)
- Frequency response (For AC source)
- Option to save the circuit.
- Good help file: If you want the complete tutorial of how to use Solve Elec then you can browse to the help file from the Documentation – > Help . The help file has explanation for each and every feature which I really liked.
You might want to try similar software CircuitMod.
Conclusion:
Solve Elec is very helpful in order to test electrical circuits and it is good for learning about the working and solving electrical circuits. All the options work flawlessly for me, however, I missed the undo option. There is no undo option. In case you place a wrong component then in order to delete that component you have to select the cut option and cut the component from the circuit. Overall, Solve Elec worked well for me.
