comparison

[Anonymous]

So I don't get ripped a new one.  I have been working with Autodesk products since the days of DOS.  But due to a lack of work in my own owned company I have been forced to go to a regular job.  And this is painful, I am now using SolidWorks.  Believe me it is painful.  Never had so much fun 😞

Anyway, I am trying to talk my management into getting Autodesk's Electrical vice SolidWorks Electrical.  Can anyone give me an honest comparison no hype please.  Do they compare.  I found a blurb on the web but all it did was toast Autodesk and praise SolidWorks.  I have to pick one or the other within the next day or so.  So any one have any input for me?  It would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

[ccad2509 · Accepted solution]

you cant make an informed decision in a day

if your after an electrical desingn package no matter what autodesk and solidworks want you to think there are more players out there some have been in the markets for a number of years

eplan been arounfd for 40+years

wscad been around for 25 years

which is considerbly longer than solidworks

And if you want to see something very scary google  "eplans can your cad do this  ?" video which i count 50 plus features that dont exist or are poorly implemented in ACADE  

My simple rules

1) If they have a trial version on their website download and play with it

2) Make a list of what you want the software to do

3) Get the representatives from the various cad vendors to come and give you their supper demo probably a webinar now days (remember the demo is to showcase what's good and hide what's not)

4) Have a serious think about what you have seen does it do what you want? Is it easy to use? Do you need training? What the technical support like? What’s the ongoing costs?

5) Get back the various vendors and force them to demonstrate what you want to see the product do if they cannot do what you want or end up doing something extremely complicated this tells you something about the product if vendors software demonstrators have problems then you will definitely will have problems

6)But this may all be redundant as you may be forced to use the same cad products as you main clients or are in an industry where only one particular cad product is used

7) remember it’s your or your companies money if they want some of it then they will have to earn it

Products that I know about

Aveva electrical http://www.aveva.com/en/Products_and_Services/Product_Finder.aspx#open:12953794-EAE9-4F0B-96B9-37A12...

Cadprofi

http://www.cadprofi.com/main/en/products/cadprofi-electrical

Cosmos

http://w3.siemens.com/mcms/plant-engineering-software/en/comos-platform/Pages/Default.aspx

Ecscad

Sold by Autodesk

Elecdes

http://elecdes.com/electrical-cad-software/elecdes-electrical-cad-software

Eleckworks

http://www.elecworks.com/index.aspx

Electra E6

http://www.xetec.eu/

Elprocad

http://www.elprocad.com/Comparison-Feutures.html

Engineering base

https://www.aucotec.com/landing/aucotec.php

Eplan

http://www.eplan.co.uk/uk/start

Ige-Xao

http://www.ige-xao.com/software-editor/electrical-cad-software.html

PCschematic

http://www.pcschematic.com/en/index.htm

Promis e

http://www.bentley.com/en-GB/Products/promise/

QC Cad

http://www.qcecad.com/qc/en

Schemelect

http://www.ftz.fr/v4/en/cad-software-design/electrical-drawing-schematic-diagram

Smartplant Electrical

http://www.intergraph.com/products/ppm/smartplant/electrical/default.aspx

Solidworks Electrical

http://www.solidworks.co.uk/sw/products/electrical-design/solidworks-electrical.htm

Winrelay

http://www.ingerea.com/WinRelay.html

Wscad

http://www.wscad.de/en/electrocad/

Zuken e3

http://www.zuken.com/en

Im not a consultant

Just someone who has to work with them on a day to day basis

[dbrblg · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, no matter who you ask or where you seek advise you'll find bias one way or the other.  Sooner or later you'll have a 50/50 split and be no better off.

The best advise I can give is to list what you want out of the packages and see which gives you what you want.  Take the pros and cons - ease of use, time to setup/configure, what output you require, how much training is required etc etc and see which feels right.  Remember there is more than just the software itself involved - what you do with it afterwards is important and may bias one way or the other if cost is of importance!!

Get the reseller in and ask for a demo showing what you want, not their bog-standard demo which they show every potential customer.  Get one that is specific to your requirements.

Hopefully you'll narrow the list down quite quickly

[Anonymous]

Kudo,

Thank you very much.

Since you have dealt with multiple types of electrical software.

This is what I am interested in finding out between the two softwares:

I am not interested at this time in making PCB schematics.  (not warranted)

I am only interested in building cables (mil spec type)

I want to develop a global wiring diagram wherein each cable is on its own layer.  This way I can peel off the information about that cable and have it put onto a separate drawing.  (I have done this with Autodesk electrical 2012-2015)

I want to be able to develop a 3D model of the cable.  (I did this using Inventor Pro).

I want to be able get enough detail within the 3D model so that the cable fabricator knows how to build up the cable.

I want to be able to develop 2D drawings of the cable utilizing the 3D model where applicable.

Now in the past with Autodesk 2012-2015 I used Electrical for the 2D portion of the task and used Inventor Pro for the 3D.

As I understand it now but haven't tried it yet, 2016 allows linking between electrical and inventor.  In your opinion is it true?  Once one masters the linkage issue is it truly bi-directional?  Have you seen any issues or pitfalls?  I sort of know enough about Autodesk electrical up to 2015 but lack any experience with 2016.  I plan on getting my feet wet with it shortly (this weekend).  But since time is of the essence, (project driven) I need to work something out quickly.  I am going to try and get the solidworks guys to give me a demo as you suggested.  Then I will have to pick one.

[ccad2509 · Accepted solution]

if your doing cable harneses thern you should be looking at this http://www.te.com/usa-en/products/harnessing/harness-software-harnware.html