Micro-Cap simulation

[tggzzz]

It's time for me to quit on this, I'm spending too much time playing with trying to get this PSU to work. It's not a failure though. This was never about getting the PSU to work, I never expected it to, I was always aware they can be troublesome. It was about learning how to use Micro-Cap (which is why I posted in the  CAD forum). I've discovered a lot about it's features, though there are still more that I don't understand yet. So, just a thank-you to all who responded with your suggestions, hints and tips. No doubt I'll be back with more questions in the future, but I'll try to make them more specific.

One way or another, you may want to try a different simulation software the next time. For example, Kicad + ngspice (they're not ideal and have some rough corners, but both are actively developed). Microcap is abandoned, so it's probably not the best choice to invest time into.

Microcap has/had a good reputation, and can work with IBIS files. I have not used it in anger.

Apart from that, the main requirement of a simulator is that it has good device models available.

LTSpice is widely used. It has a, um, quirky interface (but that's of lesser importance). It is easy to send your design to someone else, since the source file is standard ASCII text - as all Spices really should be

[nctnico]

It's time for me to quit on this, I'm spending too much time playing with trying to get this PSU to work. It's not a failure though. This was never about getting the PSU to work, I never expected it to, I was always aware they can be troublesome. It was about learning how to use Micro-Cap (which is why I posted in the  CAD forum). I've discovered a lot about it's features, though there are still more that I don't understand yet. So, just a thank-you to all who responded with your suggestions, hints and tips. No doubt I'll be back with more questions in the future, but I'll try to make them more specific.

One way or another, you may want to try a different simulation software the next time. For example, Kicad + ngspice (they're not ideal and have some rough corners, but both are actively developed). Microcap is abandoned, so it's probably not the best choice to invest time into.

That is poor advise. Microcap is mature software, there is nothing to fix. Just be happy the author made it available for free after having made a living from Microcap for decades. And very likely Microcap is way better compared to using  Kicad / ngspice or Ltspice.

[Messtechniker]

Yes. MicroCap has a somewhat steep learning curve.
You would probably be better off with a more simple circuit which is known to work.
Or study one of the many examples.
I started MC with a simple resistor ladder voltage divider, since I was at the time interested
in Monte Carlo simulations. Moved on from there.

[JohnG]

That is poor advise. Microcap is mature software, there is nothing to fix. Just be happy the author made it available for free after having made a living from Microcap for decades. And very likely Microcap is way better compared to using  Kicad / ngspice or Ltspice.

I am happy that the author made it available, but after a few goes at it, I went back to LTspice. A small reason was that I have been using LTspice for many years and have many things already done, including several scripts for optimization and so forth (which just process spice source files and data, using the CLI). A big reason was that I had many more convergence problems with Microcap, and this became a showstopper for me. These were mostly switching power converters that I had trouble with.

Perhaps I could have figured this out, but I have so much time into LTspice that it wasn't worth it to me to switch to Microcap. However, I have found the latter to be a great source of models.

John