Electrical Analysis / Design Software

[usieengineer]

Is anyone using either SKM Power Tools or ESA Easy Power software? If so, I would really appreciate your thoughts, opinions, preferences, experiences, etc. My firm is looking at purchasing one of the two packages, and at this point, all input is welcome.

 

[dpc]

My suggestion is to obtain a fully functional evaluation copy of each program and try them both out, creating models from scratch and running the types of analysis, reports, etc that you would be using the software for.

Focus on ease of use, intuitive interface, integration of functions, data entry and database interaction.

The specific differences in analysis capabilities don't matter much if you will never use a particular feature, or if using it requires so much time and effort it won't be worth it.

You really need to test drive the software with your projects and systems to make an informed choice.

 

[gepman]

I have used SKM Power Tools and ETAP. I haven't used ESA Easy Power. I found coordination studies easier to perform on SKM rather than ETAP but otherwise I was able to use both easily.

I agree with dpc that you should make a list of the modules that you need now and what you think that you will need in the future and then try them both on a real project. You don't really know how easily they work until you actually use the software.

If you are an end user (of engineering) then it may make sense to ask whatever electrical engineering consultants you may occasionally hire which software they use so you can be compatible. If you are an engineering firm you may want to ask your clients which software they use so you can be compatible with them.

The engineering firm for which I worked where I used both ETAP and SKM had clients that used both and we found it cheaper to just buy the second software package and use the models that they clients already had on file than to re-enter the information into the software that we had.

 

[wbd]

I have been using EasyPower for about 8 years now and have been satisfied with it. My use has been for studies done on existing systems. These studies have been Protection & Coordination, Load Flow, and Arc Flash Hazard.

You can download a functional evaluation copy from EasyPower. I don't know about other companies. I would suggest you look at your needs (ie studies most likely to do) and have a model to evaluate for each software package. This way you can compare on how easy it is to build the model, manipulate it and run different scenarios. I would also look at the device library and see how easy it is to customize.

Look also at the support agreements, how much per year and what you get for that yearly fee.

I have been very satisfied with EasyPower's customer support. Always very responsive and have added additional equipment to the device library at my request (very prompt, less than 2 weeks turnaround).

You should also search this forum, as well as the engineering programs forum as this topic has been discussed before.

 

[Morquea]

I have used SKM Power Tools and CYME PSAF. I haven't used ESA. I think that SKM has better tools for electric analysis of industrial plants. But I would prefer CYME for a utility kind of client. I don't have both and CYME can do the job as well for industrials plants. My actual firm choose CYME for customer service in our business language (french) and based in the same time zone (Eastern Canada/USA). Althought I would like some of the plus value tools in SKM, the easier access for customer service for us proves to be a superior advantage.

SKM customer service is great, no doubt with that. But I had to cope with the 3 hours differences between their business hours and ours. Very irritating when you discovers software issues at 8:00AM and have to wait until 11:00AM. And Murphy's Law insured that such a situation happened. The language difference is a minor difficulty for me, but it could be more important for some of my colleagues.

In the end, dpc's suggestion is in my opinion a no brainer. Test drive both software. Still, SKM Power Tools is my favorite.