[philso]

I am in the process of setting up Altium (apply to get a free license) for documenting our electrical system for the coming season. It is an "electronic CAD" program oriented towards board-based designs. I see AutoCAD Electrical being used more for large electrical systems (not board-based) such as industrial equipment.

Electronic CAD programs are better oriented towards laying out of the components in an efficient manner. The better ones have a "rubber band" feature that allows components to be moved without losing the connections. The better Electronic CAD systems also support hierarchal designs, making much easier to implement and support modular designs. Should one need to make a custom circuit, it becomes one of the blocks in the hierarchy.

I am told that AutoCAD Electrical has all kinds of nice features that are helpful for that application such as producing wiring diagrams for the people assembling lareg and very complicated pieces of equipment. I am not aware that AutoCAD Electrical has a rubber band feature.