New to Circuit Lab SOLVED

Hi, I took my first electronic class in college and now I am trying to build a schematic but having some questions. I have created a schematic with an AC voltage source V1 of 1 MHZ in parallel with 3 conductors with values of L1 100 uH, L2 200 uH and L3 300 uH. I have added a ground node to each element. Following are my questions:

1- How do I indicate the current through L3 is 3.18ma? 2- How do I tell the software to calculate the V1, I1 through L1 and I2 through L2 during the simulation? 3- When click on simulate, which options do I need to select (I assume "Frequency Domain)?

Thanks in advance

by hrh747
March 18, 2020

2 Answers

Answer by Foxx

I put your circuit to-gether just to get it working before expounding on it so click on: https://www.circuitlab.com/circuit/ezj6v7prr36j/question/ to see it. If you are new to this, note the following points. 1/ Stick to "Time Domain" to start. Frequency domain has good uses but is more advanced. 2/ Define the inductors with some resistance as shown. Otherwise results can be puzzling. 3/ In the simulate menu, for time domain set the start time, stop time and time step as shown. Once you get it working you can play with these. 4/ In the simulate menu, to define points to record, hover over the point and when the cursor looks like a little pencil click on it. The point volt and amp should show up in the simulate menu panel.*** Beyond this just start experimenting and reading documentation.

ACCEPTED +1 vote
by Foxx
March 19, 2020

Answer by hrh747

Thanks Foxx. Two days ago, I Google search for FREE online software allowing me to draw schematics and perform simulation and Circuit Lab was on top of the search results. Lamentably, today, I can not access the link you provided unless I pay for the monthly membership. After all it's not FREE despite the claim. Thanks again

+1 vote
by hrh747
March 20, 2020

The link I gave shows the circuit as you described it: 3 inductors in parallel fed by an AC source. I've used several circuit simulation packages and this is by far the best I've found and is well worth the money. I'm a long retired electrical engineer and could get it at (I think they call it) the "hacker" level for 79 dollars Canadian per year, probably comes to about $50-$60 US. If you're a student perhaps less. I recommend it.

by Foxx
March 20, 2020

Set the start time at 0 sec, stop time at 0.00001, step at 0.00000001 sec. The series resistance is not critical but 100 ohms or 1000 ohms works well

by Foxx
March 20, 2020

Thank you. I will try to purchase it.

Best Regards,

by hrh747
March 20, 2020

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