See the circuit diagram. Enter the design data and can see the output voltage ripple and current on circuit.

You can try with different capacitor values, different loads and different transformers. This is a very good and easy to use tool.

It is very seductive to increase the capacity in order to have a low ripple, but doing so will increase the inrush current.

Besides power supplies that use transformer, you can also use the software to simulate basics of mains power rectifier circuits (use transformer model to model the incoming mains power).
Many swich mode power suplies that accept 230V AC use internally 400V rated bridge rectifier with 400V DC rated bridge rectified to get around 300V DC. Remember that this generated DC is potentially lethal high voltage and in connection to mains voltage.

A collection of software tools that enable our community to better design, prototype, and produce both Maker and enterprise-grade projects alike.

Nice software list.

Not I think I have found one software that seems to match those needs, and it is called sigrok.

When sigrok project started, the developers focused on logic analyzers because those devices used to be expensive. Nowadays heap FX2-based boards that work with sigrok can be had for as low as $15, and there is even hardware specifically sold for this software. The scope has expanded as Sigrok can also handle analog signals and the developer consider any kind of test and measurement equipment in scope of the project; “if it can be queried or controlled, we’ll take it on“. Nowadays sigrok is a software suite for extracting data collected by various types of analyzers and displaying them or analyzing them using protocol decoder plugins.

The sigrok project aims at creating a portable, cross-platform, Free/Libre/Open-Source signal analysis software suite that supports various device types. At the current state sigrok is a portable, cross-platform, free open source signal analysis software suite that supports various device types, such as logic analyzers, MSOs, oscilloscopes, multimeters, LCR meters, sound level meters, thermometers, hygrometers, anemometers, light meters, DAQs, data loggers, function generators, spectrum analyzers, power supplies, IEEE-488 (GPIB) interfaces, and more. It supports a wide variety of hardware and many protocol decoders (new decoders can be written in Python).

This suite consists of several sub-projects:

• libsigrok: a library written in C that standardizes access to different test and measurement devices. libsigrok is a shared library written in C, which provides the basic hardware access drivers for logic analyzers and other supported devices, as well as input/output file format support.
• libsigrokdecode: a C library that provides an API for protocol decoding. The decoders are written in Python 3 and later.The libsigrokdecode library ships with a collection of various protocol decoders out of the box (but you can write your own too, of course; see Protocol decoder HOWTO and Protocol decoder API for details).
• sigrok-cli: a command line interface to manipulate sigrok.
• PulseView: a Qt GUI to manipulate sigrok.
• Fx2lafw: sigrok also provides an open source implementation of the Cypress FX2 chip firmware, which is used — among others — by Saleae in all versions of its logic analyzers except the logic Pro 16. This firmware can program the embedded logic to function as a single logic analyzer hardware.

I write in this article mostly about PulseView and sigrok-cli. They at  downloadable for Linux, Windows and OS X from http://sigrok.org/wiki/Downloads.  This video introduces how to use sigrok PulseView: Cheap logic analyzer + Sigrok pulseview = timesaver (LHT00SU1)

I decided to test sigrog on Windows. Sigrok provides nightly Windows installers for sigrok-cli and PulseView. PulseView is a Qt based logic analyzer, oscilloscope and MSO GUI for sigrok. PulseView can record signals from suitable device and display then nicely on the screen. PulseView software provides also decoders for many popular types of communication protocols including UART, CAN bus, I2C, SPI, JTAG, PWM, etc.

For initial testing I used first the Demo device, that generates semi-random signal you can look at without need for any hardware. I did the first tests with this Demo signal.

To be able to record real world signals, I need some supported hardware that can capture signals. Luckily I had several hardware that should be suitable. First I tried PulseView Windows to work with 8 logic channel Saelae clone device. It worked pretty much  “plug and play” when I just plugged it in and selected to use FX2-based boards driver fx2lafw: Sigrok found the device with the drivers I had in my computer.

Next I tried to do the same with with USBee AX clone, that should be compatible (I think), but did not work “plug and play” as PulseView failed to find it. It seems that it would need some more work with the drivers. At the moment I did not want to mess up with the drivers as described at How to use it with PulseView (I think I would risk compatibility with some other software doing that). Maybe some later time.

Next I tried RGB LED decoder with signal captured from my WS2812 addressable LEDs test circuit.

PulseView has a quite good list of supported protocol decoders (PDs) as the libsigrokdecode library ships with a collection of various protocol decoders out of the box. If that is not enough for your special needs, you can write your own too, of course; see Protocol decoder HOWTO and Protocol decoder API for details. Every protocol decoder is a Python module and has its own subdirectory in libsigrokdecode’s decoders directory. Protocol decoder HOWTO offers a minimalistic example of how a protocol decoder looks like.

Sigrok links:

Sigrok Downloads

Sigrok at GitHub

https://sigrok.org/wiki/PulseView

https://sigrok.org/wiki/Supported_hardware

http://sigrok.org/wiki/Input_output_formats

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigrok

https://www.sigrok.org/blog/blog

Related articles on signal analysis:

Signal analysis using Sigrok blog posting tells how to install Sigrok on Ubuntu and and capture signals with command-line utilities.

Rocking with sigrok article gives introduction to using sigrok commant line tools in Linux.

Logic analyzer: visualizing latency between two digital signals in real time with sigrok and matplotlib tells how to manipulate data extracted fromlogic analyzer with Python, to view the latency between two digital signals

High-Level Automated Hardware Debugging article shows how to use logic analyzers based on the FX2 chip with sigrok to debug hardware.

Collectd Wiki Plugin:sigrok page tells that sigrok plugin is a fully fledged libsigrok client, and can use any sigrok supported hardware to feed measurements to collectd and output data to RRDtool.

Sigrok: Using Logic to Debug Logic presentation slide set from Linux Foundation event gives introduction to usign sigrok

Hackaday sigrok postings

Information on logic analyzer hardware options:

fx2lafw is an open-source firmware for Cypress FX2 chips which makes them usable as simple logic analyzer hardware. The fx2lafw firmware is meant to work on any FX2-based hardware, including logic analyzers, FX2 eval boards, or other hardware which has this chip on-board.

How to use it with PulseView article tells how to use cheap “USBEE AX” logic analyzer with PulseView on Windows (tells the tricks how to configure Windows drivers).

Hobby Components low cost 8 channel logic analyser was first dedicated hardware for sigrok. Together with sigrok’s PulseView or sigrok-cli (command line version) software you can capture up to 8 digital logic channels at sample rates up to 24MHz.

Arduino logic analyser article tells how you can turn Arduino Uno R3 board to open logic sniffer compatible device (that should be supported with sigrok). You need code from Implementation of a SUMP compatible logic analyzer for the Arduino.

USB-PD Sniffer article describes a USB-PD sniffing dongle with Type-C connectors.You can use the opensource Sigrok framework to acquire and decode USB Power Delivery traces with the USB-PD dongle.

Raspberry PI Logic Sniffer project turns the Raspberry PI into a logic sniffer that is compatible with sigrok. The logic sniffer runs on “bare metal”

A BeagleBone Logic Analyzer article tells that BeagleLogic realizes a logic analyzer on the BeagleBone Black using the Programmable Real-Time units and matching firmware and Linux kernel modules on the BeagleBone Black. BeagleLogic Turns your BeagleBoard into a 14-channel 100Msps Logic Analyzer page tells that with the sigrok project, BeagleLogic gets support for software triggering and decoding a large variety of digital communication protocols.

Related postings in this blog:

http://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2012/10/10/low-cost-logic-analyzers/

http://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2010/10/26/saelae-logic-analyzer/

http://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2013/01/28/debugging-rs-232-with-logic-analyzer/

http://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2013/02/11/open-logic-sniffer-software-and-hardware/

http://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2014/06/17/ht-usbee-axpro-review/

http://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2012/10/11/diy-logic-analyzers/

It was pretty easy to use the tool to convert the design to a circuit board. I opened the circuit board design, moved the components to suitable locations, and used auto-router to get board routed. In this kind of pretty slow speed circuit with enough space the default auto-router seemed to do decent job.

As the result I got the circuit board designed. I can get the view of the assembled circuit board:

Here is the view to circuit board copper traces:

I got the Arduino Nano + WS2812 LEDs example working nicely. Some other examples has some issues, for example CH340_USB to TTL could not be converted to PCB as it is (some issue with USB connector case type not correct). Other issues with Auto-router was that on one location with tight firewall rules, I could use EasyEDA editor nicely, but trying to use autorouter ends up with “Network Error.” Manual routing worked well. Here I do some manual routing to ESP8266 example circuit:

There are some worth to check out tutorial videos on EasyEDA:

EasyEDA – Free Electronics Circuit & PCB Design + Simulation Online Software Review video gives a nice overview on how to use EasyEDA.

EasyEDA also advertises option to use clever spice circuit simulator to verify analog, digital and mixed signal circuits.  Use spice to simulate subcircuits and models! EasyEDA Toturial – 4.1 Electronic circuit simulation_How to create Schematic Simulation File video and Spice Simulation Tutorial give overview hot to use circuit simulator.

EasyEDA looks like a very promising electronics design software that I plan to spend more time with in learning how to use it well (for example test the circuit simulator and maybe embed some schematics to this blog). If you got somewhat interested, just start experimenting by opening the EasyEDA editor (no registration needed to start testing with example circuits). You can find an useful tutorial and lots of example circuits on the EasyEDA site.

KiCad is an intereresting open source EDA software for Windows, OSX and Linux. Create PCB circuits for free with the most advanced features. With the schematic editor you can create your design without limit; there are no paywalls to unlock features. An official library for schematic symbols and a built-in schematic symbol editor help you get started quickly with your designs. It can make professional PCB layouts with up to 32 copper layers. KiCad also includes a 3D viewer which you can use to inspect your design in an interactive canvas. You can rotate and pan around to inspect details that are difficult to inspect on a 2D view.

EEVblog #253 – KiCAD Install & Schematic – First Impressions video is a continuous 45min screen cast of Dave installing and running KiCAD for the first time, along with his first impressions and rants about things he finds along the way, mainly with the schematic editor portion of the program. How easy and intuitive is it to use the schematic editor for the first time?

For more advanced introduction check out  KiCad video series: from concept to manufacture. It shows people how to design and build their very first PCB using this software

Here is some more information links related to KiCad:

CERN Shows Off New KiCad Module Editor CERN, the people that run a rather large particle collider, have just announced their most recent contributions to the KiCad project. This work focused on adding new features to the module editor, which is used to create footprints for parts. The update includes support for DXF files, which will make it easy to import part drawings, or use external tools for more complex designs. CERN has already implemented a new graphics engine for KiCad, and demonstrated a new push and shove routing tool. Check out the CERN KiCad Developers Team on Launchpad.

A Simple (and Dirty) Bill of Materials and Stock Management Utility introduces you to a simple bill of materials generation too “For a better BOM in Excel“, which can also do simple stock management.

If you need to export to other tools, check out KiCad Script Hack for Better Mechanical CAD Export article for ideas.

So what are the existing solutions worth to check out? There are font-based solutions that let you “type” the timing diagrams. We found Xwave is a TrueType™ font that has electrical waveform gliphs. Timing Diagram Font is another font created for same purpose. Latex users can use tikz-timing, which makes sketching out your timing diagrams as much fun as laying out a very complex table in Latex (that is: not fun at all).

After reading Timing waveforms posting at Hackaday I ended up testing Wavedrom. It looked quite promising for drawing digital circuit timing diagrams. Give the online editor demo a try. You can easily make simple drawings without looking at any manual or tutorial.

WaveDrom is a JavaScript application. WaveDrom renders the diagrams directly inside the browser using SVG technology. You can start experimenting with Hitchhiker’s Guide to the WaveDrom and online editor. WaveDrom looks like an excellent tool for creating simple waveforms (although has some challenges on file access).

Clearly, some good thought has been put into the waveform description language, WaveJSON; it’s mostly readable and makes the essentials quick and easy. WaveJSON is a format that describes Digital Timing Diagrams with WaveJSON grammar rules.

What if you already have data on some other format that you want to convert to WaveJSON format to use with WaveJSON?

Any way to generate WaveJSON code? discussion offers this example script for converting sampled data into WaveJSON code.  It looks super easy, and worked when I tested it. Just put this code inside WaveDrom Editor:

Design in Package Flexibility into Your Next PCB tells that to err is human: to order the wrong component foot print is just part of engineering – it happens to us all who work with hardware. David Cook has a solution that could save your bacon. He shows you how to design multiple footprints into your board to avoid the most common mistakes such as voltage regulators with different pin-outs than expected.

PCB Design Patterns web page has a few tricks and tips that from prototype to production PCBs to provide flexibility on parts, easier assembly, and faster circuit testing. It shows that PCB layouts featuring a few extra holes and a little bit more copper can increase flexibility, speed installation, and improve reliability of your printed circuit boards. You can find following tips: Flexible Voltage Regulator Layout, Choice of Trimmer Potentiometers, Choice of Capacitors, Error-Free Part Insertion, Button Choice, Faster and More Reliable Soldering of Through-Hole Parts, Solder Mask Issue, Copper Fill to Reduce Heat and Increase Efficiency, Wire Loop for Test Probe Hook and Traces.

Here is one example: Universal layout for three-pin linear voltage regulators that can cover practically all TO-220 and TO-92 packages regulators.

Universal layout for three-pin linear voltage regulators

For the circuit design I would say that this list from  Mostly free engineering software article is a good list of free/cheap software I can agree:

• KiCad seems the best known open-source EDA system.
• gEDA looks very similar.
• EAGLE is a commercial package with a free version that will handle small double-sided boards.
• DesignSpark PCB is not open-source, but looks very capable given the cost ($0). It is adware

From has done some playing with KiCad and gEDA (years ago) but I felt that they were lacking something in easy to use (some improvement needed here I think). From those alternatives EAGLE feels the best for me.

Here are also some new on-line focused alternatives:

CircuitBee is an online platform that promises to allow you to share live versions of your circuit schematics on your websites, blogs or forums that I covered three years ago.

Digi-Key Corporation and Aspen Labs launched two years ago one-of-a-kind online ‘Scheme-it’ tool for drawing schematics.

HackEDA is an interesting looking new on-line electronics design tool introduced last year. The premise is simple: most electronic projects are just electronic Lego: You connect your microcontroller to a sensor, add in a battery, throw in a few caps and resistors for good measure, and hopefully everything will work.

circuits.io was promising looking free circuit editor in your browser introduced two years ago. I has browser based schematic and board layout. Anyone familiar with Autodesk knows they have a bit of a habit of taking over the world. Autodesk started with 123D modeling tool that is suitable for designing models for 3D printing. Now Autodesk has followed with 123D Circuits: Autodesk’s free design tool. 123D is web-based software, and using it requires account creation on the circuits.io website. Anything you design sits on the cloud: you can collaborate with others and even embed your circuit (with functioning simulation). All your work is public unless you pay. There are many things similar to Fritzing in this.

CircuitMaker from Altium posting that tells that Altium recently announced CircuitMaker, their entry into the free/low-cost PCB design tool market. They’re entering a big industry, with the likes of Eagle, KiCad, gEDA, and a host of other tool suites. CircuitMaker from Altium posting has introductory video on CircuitMaker and discussion on it. CircuitMaker’s website is pushing the collaboration aspect of the software. The software is still in pre-beta phase.

EasyEDA is an integrated tool for schematic capture, circuit simulation and PCB layout that you use with your web browser. Read more about it from my posting on EasyEDA.

Related links: Check my postings on electronics design software.

Related links: ePanorama.net has  also some useful RF calculators in on-line toolbox: ePanorama.net – - dBm Calculator and ePanorama.net – - Radio Link Loss Calculator