Sketching schematics and circuits without "real" components

[eV1Te]

I am sometimes required to draw proof-of-concept circuits or typical connection of some lab setup for reports or presentations. For this it is overkill and much too time consuming to use my normal CAD/EDA software (since I do not need real components, part names, or rule checking etc.).

I have tried using normal drawing programs, but its annoying to have to draw each symbol by hand.

I have also tried searching for free schematic drawing softwares but I have not found one that is not web based (needs to be local) and does not require libraries of components and so on.

TLTR
Can anyone here recommend a standalone circuit diagram drawing program for making good looking illustrations of generic circuits?


I am sorry if this has been asked before, I tried my best to search for it but I could not find it.

[Macbeth]

Microsoft Office Visio?

[Bratster]

Did you already check out KiCad?

It is a full CAD software suite. However just doing the schematics does not require you to build up a whole library of Parts.

I like because for resistors diodes capacitors Etc I don't need to go picking specific components, it has a generic library of discrete components which you can choose from.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[bd139]

I use this and then annotate with Microsoft Paint: http://www.qsl.net/wd9eyb/klunky/framed.html

(no shit. It's actually quite usable)

[Macbeth]

LOL! It's not called Klunky for nothing. Damn that was painful. At least it may work with Netscape Navigator 6.0  So Klunky is at least 17 years old.   

[bd139]

It's like a crack addiction though. I am forever asking "can I bend it to do X". Usually I can

[tycz]

eV1Te,

Try Bsch3V. It comes with a good (but not overwhelming) symbol collection,  full unicode support, muti-layered schematics feature.

[eV1Te]

Thanks for the suggestions, I will see if I can convince my IT department to give me Visio because I don't have it installed at the moment and I don't know if we have licenses for it.

Otherwise I will try some of the other options, such as Bsch3V or KiCad.
I have used KiCad before for PCB design, but I didn't like it back then, maybe its time to try again.

Klunky seemed a little too rudimentary, it barely does its job

[f5r5e5d]

why not a modern, free, Spice with schematic entry - LTspice, Tina...

[b_force]

https://www.draw.io/

Works pretty decent, there is a circuit/electrical option for drawing schematics.
It's free, also for commercial use.

[stmdude]

Another vote for KiCad here. Once you've learned the shortcut keys, it's blazingly fast to throw together a schematic in it.

Only thing that comes close to it is...  Pen and paper.

[David Hess]

I used to use AutoCAD for this which is overkill but worked well.

[Warhawk]

eV1Te,

Try Bsch3V. It comes with a good (but not overwhelming) symbol collection,  full unicode support, muti-layered schematics feature.

I second that 

[bd139]

Oh that's rather nice. Minimalist software FTW.

Also http://ludens.cl/Electron/kisscad/kisscad.html

I have no excuse to continue using Klunky now 

[b_force]

Also love the classic icon visuals!

(much better than most programs nowadays)

[joshund]

Another vote for Microsoft Visio. It's the best I've used for this but it's not cheap. Dia is a decent open source alternative to Visio that has circuit components (http://dia-installer.de/shapes/Circuit/index.html.en). You might also want to check out Fritzing's schematic feature (http://fritzing.org/home/), another free option. It may be a little more full featured than what you're looking for but I've found it useful for simple and quick circuit documentation.

[bd139]

I'll give you that. Dia is pretty good.