Best Software for Planning and Laying Out RV Electrical Systems

[FiveOclcok]

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a 10kW electrical system for my Imagine 2920 BB and I’m in the planning stage right now. I want to draw everything out to make sure I have enough space and to get a clear idea of where all the components will be installed.

When I look online, I see a lot of layouts and diagrams that show the exact sizes of inverters, batteries, and other equipment, along with how everything is arranged. I’m curious what software or programs people are using to create those drawings.

I’d really like to get this right the first time—my wife will definitely not be happy if this turns into a mess—so I want to make sure I’ve planned for enough room for everything I want to do.

Thanks in advance for any help or recommendations

 

[Primerump]

sorry I can't help you with drawing software, I used to contract that out, most contractors used autocad and some proficad.
I can most certainly help you with system design or review, 10kW is big for an RV. !

 

[jymbee]

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a 10kW electrical system for my Imagine 2920 BB and I’m in the planning stage right now. I want to draw everything out to make sure I have enough space and to get a clear idea of where all the components will be installed.

When I look online, I see a lot of layouts and diagrams that show the exact sizes of inverters, batteries, and other equipment, along with how everything is arranged. I’m curious what software or programs people are using to create those drawings.

I’d really like to get this right the first time—my wife will definitely not be happy if this turns into a mess—so I want to make sure I’ve planned for enough room for everything I want to do.

Thanks in advance for any help or recommendations

Probably not an ideal approach but as far as a layout application, I've found DRAW.IO to be a pretty capable program.

While mainly focused on business diagrams such as flowcharts, it does have an electrical addon as well. Best, you can download the desktop program and play with it, it's free.

Don’t short circuit: use draw.io for your electrical diagrams

 

[Chef Duane]

I use a scaled PowerPoint sheet and just draw out the space available and then plot the space needed within what is available. It's all drawn manually but it usually gets me within about 1/2" accuracy. For instance, I recently put a tongue box on a small TT and wanted to make sure I had enough space for a 300Ah LiFePo battery. See attached. Had to convert from .ppt to .jpg to get it to attach but in PowerPoint the gridlines appear. Got all the measurements then plotted it out. Everything fit fine.

 

[jymbee]

I use a scaled PowerPoint sheet and just draw out the space available and then plot the space needed within what is available. It's all drawn manually but it usually gets me within about 1/2" accuracy. For instance, I recently put a tongue box on a small TT and wanted to make sure I had enough space for a 300Ah LiFePo battery. See attached. Had to convert from .ppt to .jpg to get it to attach but in PowerPoint the gridlines appear. Got all the measurements then plotted it out. Everything fit fine.

Interesting. I hadn't used PP in years. Did not realize you could do the kind of measurements you described.

I'll have to keep that in mind when/if I have a need for that kind of functionality. Thanks for the input.

 

[Wasillaguy]

Yes, I used PP quite a bit when I was still working to make diagrams and schematics. CAD programs are big and clunky unless that's your niche.
Now I don't use any of it. If I'm diagramming a project, it's on paper.

 

[Chef Duane]

I wouldn't use PP for any kid of precision work but for a reasonably close eyeball, it'll work fine. I have used graph paper for some things. It helps to be a bit more precise than PP if you want to get down to the 1/8"-1/4" level. Also takes me back to my high school drafting class.

 

[justlou]

I use Tinkercad for 3d printing designs. It also does circuits. Though im not sure it will do what you want. Its free, you dont need to download anything and it will save 5 plans . There is a paid version too yet the free version is full featured, just limited to what you can save. Might be worth a look

 

[BailinginBC]

I find excel a simple but useful way to create scale diagrams. I equalize the cells height and width, so that they are square (as opposed to rectangular), and then assign a unit of measurement. Shapes and lines are easy to add and move to plot out your components. It's like having graph paper that can be expanded to whatever size you want.