FidoCadJ is free circuit design software for electronics circuit drawing. In FidoCadJ, you can draw circuits using the circuit elements from the library having the list of elements. FidoCadJ is very light and offers a huge collection of circuit elements for circuit drawing. Apart from the electrical components and circuit elements, FidoCadJ offers layers for drawing the circuit. And once you are done designing circuit, you can export it as image (in PNG, JPG, etc. formats), or as a PDF file.
I have tested FidoCadJ on Windows 7 and it worked great for me. You can see below to get an idea of how circuit drawing in the FidoCadJ looks like.
User Interface of FidoCadJ Free Circuit Design Software:
The user interface is simple and it offers very good but basic options for circuit drawing. You have a Drawing toolbar on top, from where you can select the drawing tools which can be line, curve, shape and even PCB lines. On the right side you have the Library for the list of components. You can browse for any component from the list. Though browsing can be confusing as it can be hard to find a component, but you can try the search option for that. The search option is really useful and it worked well. You can see the screenshot below to get an idea of the user interface.
Circuit Drawing In FidoCadJ:
To draw a circuit in this free circuit design software, you have to just follow the simple steps as below.
- Run the FidoCadJ.
- Select the circuit element from the right side of the screen. You can pick any circuit element from the library of component list.
- Place the circuit element on the space provided for drawing the circuit.
- You can also move or drag the circuit elements anywhere on the space and you can also rotate the circuit components and create mirror images.
- Now just join the circuit elements on the screen using the lines. The line option can be selected from the Drawing Toolbar.
- You can also select the PCB lines to draw lines for joining the circuit components.
- You can either save your work or you can directly print your work.
Features Of FidoCadJ Freeware to Design Circuits:
- Simple and easy user interface.
- Grid Lines: Grid lines are useful for placing the components accurately in the circuit.
- Different Layers for identification: In this you can change the color of the components using the layer feature.
- Large library for Components: The library covers many components some of which are:
- Actuators
- Circuit Breakers
- Resistors
- Transistors
- Capacitors
- Inductors
- ICs (Integrated Circuits)
- Transformers
- Generators
- Motors
- Power Convertors.
- And many more……
- Custom Zoom Option.
- Drawing Tools.
- Unlimited undo.
You can also try 3 free online circuit diagram creator.
Conclusion:
The FidoCadJ is good software for anyone who wants to draw circuits. The features are really good for anyone who wants to draw circuits with reasonable complexity. However, you have limited options and there is no way to resize individual component, but just draw the circuit as it is. Also, FidoCadJ requires Java to work, which most probably you would already have in your PC.
Go ahead and try FidoCadJ.
