INDEX
Recent months have seen Linear Technology become absorbed into Analog Devices. The good news is that LTIV remains available (although unsupported) for legacy systems running older operating systems.
The successor to LTIV is LTXVII which is under constant development, just as LTIV used to be. Both these simulators are now hosted on the Analog Devices site.
Users just starting out with LTspice and running modern hardware should consider using LTXVII over the older unsupported version. Much of what is written here is applicable although subtle differences in operation will become apparent as you dig deeper.
1/ Installation. Post #1 (you are here)
2/ Running a simple DC simulation. Post #2 and #3 HERE
3/ Running a simple AC simulation. Post #7 HERE
4/ Simulating a one transistor Amplifier. Post #14 and 16. HERE
5/ Distortion and FFT's. Post #19 and 20 HERE
6/ Squarewave Testing. Post #31 Here
7/ Measuring AC voltages. Post #35 Here
8/ Setting up multiple signal sources and running two simulations in parallel. Post #39 Here
9/ Adding ripple to the PSU. Post #51 Here
10/ Simulating a simple PSU. Post #59 Here
11/ Adding and simulating a voltage doubler and regulator. Post #67 Here
12/ Testing under load and dynamically. Post #71 Here
13/ Adding models to use in a simulation. Post #85 Here
14/ Adding a PSpice 3rd party model to a simulation. Post #146 Here
15/ Measuring amplifier output impedance. Post #214 Here
16/ Stepping a component value. Post #222 Here
17/ Stepping the bias of an amplifier. Post #225 Here
18/ Adding your own Subcircuit Model to LTXV11. Post #2272 Here
Subsection... Ideas and Tutorials submitted by diyAudio members
A/ Using LTSpice simulation command for a DC sweep for resistors. For a worked example see post # 560 Here
(submitted by
pr)
B/ Functional LF198/LF298/LF398 Sample and Hold, post #754 here (submitted by
FdW)
C/ Limit the length of figures to a set length independent of the exponent while at the same time rounding the number,
post #1915 Here (submitted by
FdW)
D/ A gyrator calculator in LTSpice for graphic EQ design. Thread is
Here (submitted by
Cabiro)
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The purpose of this thread is to show how to both install and to use LTspice, hereafter just referred to as LT, the free circuit simulation program from Linear Technology (now Analog.com). I consider myself very much at the beginner end of the spectrum, but I'm hoping that as the thread develops we can gather input from those more seasoned users amongst you all...
A picture... or two or three... are worth a thousand words.
Can you believe it took me many days to figure out how to include a simple model for a device into a simulation. For a newbie it needs to be a click by click instruction with pictures.
Credits... firstly to Bob Cordell and his excellent book "Audio Power Amplifiers". I can say with certainty that I would still be staring at the blank grey workspace of LT had it not been for Bobs excellent introduction to this fantastic program. I would urge anyone with an interest in simulating amplifiers to "go buy the book". You won't regret it.
Thanks also to Keantoken who has a prety comprehensive
WIKI on the site. Take a wander over when you've a few minutes spare and have a read.
So lets get started.
LT is best downloaded from Analog.com Be sure to download
LT IV (for the purposes of this tutorial), or you may wish to install both versions (LT IV and LTXVII) and retain LT IV as a legacy program.
Old URL which currently redirects correctly to Analog Devices.
Linear Technology - Design Simulation and Device Models
Direct Analog.com URL
LTspice from Analog.com
The version marked for Windows XP is LTIV. All other options are for LTXVII. There is also a Windows and Mac version with this thread being based on the Windows version.
Install LT as you would any other program. On Windows the installer will probably say you have
UAC (user account control) enabled and that it may cause issues with file paths. I have used LT on Vista, W7 and W8.1 with no unresolvable issues by leaving
UAC on.
When you have installed LT you should find you have a desktop icon to open it... the usual stuff. What you should now is change the icon (or whatever means you yourself use to open programs) to
run as administrator. This is important because LT will not run and update correctly if this is not done.
To do this, right click the icon and using the <properties> tab, change the shortcut to "Run as administrator". This picture show it for Windows 8.1, W7 and Vista are similar.
Next thing we do is open LT and set a few basic options. Setting these options as shown ensures that LT doesn't accumulate a lot of temporary files... even then its not foolproof... we'll cover that later.
Nearly there, but first lets get to know where LT lives on your PC and how it handles files and folders. This is important in order to keep your system tidy and to make it easy to keep track of things.
Depending on your operating system, go to the run box and type C:\Program Files.
You should see something like this with LTC being the folder of interest. Click your way through the folder to open it. You will see this.
The <scad3> line is the program shortcut. If you are using W8.1 then this is probably the best place to alter the settings mentioned above to "run as admin". There is a folder of examples in there too, as well as all the models and files LT needs to run.
I recommend that you
DONT add to, or change anything in those folders at this stage.
Lets just jump ahead of ourselves at this point because there is something worth mentioning. If you run a simulation (such as from one of the examples), or you create one of your own, then LT by default wants to save it back in the LTC folder in program files when your done or when you close it. My advice... dont let it. Save all your work in a normal folder in your documents. This then leaves all the program files untouched. If you want to use an example as a starting point then I recommend the first thing you do is save the simulation again under a different name and as suggested, save it to documents or some dedicated area away from the LT folder in program files. Doing that preserves the original installation and leaves all the files and examples untouched.
So if you are creating your own simulation and design then I suggest just opening LT first and then click <file> followed by <new schematic> followed by <file> once again and then <save as> giving your intended design both a name and then saving the blank workspace somewhere such as your documents folder.
So we now have LT installed, we can move on to actually using it to do something useful. This will be your first simulation.
Note on updating LTspice. Updates to the library files are frequent. By default LT seems to warn you after 60 days have elapsed that you have not updated the installation. These updates are mainly for database of models adding new ones as they become available. The updates are incremental and simply add new items to the already installed files. The update typically takes around 3 minutes to complete, however you
must be logged on as an administrator (in Windows) for the update to run correctly.
To manually check for and install updates
1/ Open LT with elevated privileges. In Windows this means right clicking the icon you use to launch the program and selecting the
'run as admin' option.
2/ Under
'Tools' there is a dropdown menu. Select
'Sync release to allow LT to check for and install updates.
When the update is complete the program automatically closes with a message saying the update was successful.
(note... this thread isn't something that can be completed quickly. I shall add things to it as and when I have the time)