KiCad Library Simulation Errors

[controlsfreek]

Hello!
I am very new to KiCad, but have been able to successfully build and simulate simple circuits using passives. I’ve added a MOSFET to a simple circuit and started to get errors when I run the ngspice simulation.
I started by installing KiCad 5.1.5 from their website. I then installed the digikey library per this post:

Importing the Digi-Key KiCad Library into KiCad 5.0.0+

There are several different ways to manage third party libraries like this one. Using git clone is a great way to keep it up to date. How you decide to manage the library(s) within KiCad is open to debate, but the way I prefer to use them is to pull them in to the Project Libraries, that way they are managed separately from the default libraries, this can be done as such: git clone https://github.com/Digi-Key/digikey-kicad-library.git into your preferred directory Open KiCad Import the…

The MOSFET I’ve added is AO3401A from the dk_Transistors-FETs-MOSFETs-Single.lib

The first set of similar errors I get in the simulator window are: “line no. 20, draw missing tokens”

Line 20 (and all of the other lines indicated) is simply “DRAW”

The second type of error that I see are similar to: “warning, can’t find model n”:

Here is my netlist:
.title KiCad schematic
.include “D:\KiCad\digikey-kicad-library-master\digikey-symbols\dk_Transistors-FETs-MOSFETs-Single.lib”
Vv1 Net-Q1-Pad1 0 pulse(0 5 2n 2n 2n 90m 100m)
R1 Net-Q1-Pad2 Net-C1-Pad1 10
C1 Net-C1-Pad1 0 .1
R2 Net-C1-Pad1 0 1000
V2 Net-Q1-Pad3 0 dc 10
MQ1 Net-Q1-Pad1 Net-Q1-Pad2 Net-Q1-Pad3 AO3401A
.save V(Net-C1-Pad1)
.save V(Net-Q1-Pad1)
.save V(Net-Q1-Pad2)
.save V(Net-Q1-Pad3)
.tran 10m 1
.end

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

[controlsfreek]

I just realized that I had pointed KiCAD to the schematic library instead of the SPICE model.
I downloaded the SPICE model from the manufacturers website and it seems to run just fine.

Funny thing is, in the schematic properties dialog i pressed “Edit Spice Model”, then selected a library with the “Select File” button… its automatically filtered for .lib files. The model I downloaded was a .mod file. A little confusing to a newbie, but it works fine now that i’ve gotten over that curve!

Is it true that i need to go to individual manufacturers to get individual component spice models, or are they bundled in another library file from DigiKey that I haven’t found yet?

[Kaleb_Kohlhase]

Digi-Key does not have a collective bundle of SPICE files at this time, you will have to get them individually from the manufacturer.

[ReidLandsrud]

@controlsfreek
Glad to hear you got this working. We do not bundle the spice models with the Digi-Key KiCad library. There are a couple of reasons why we have not included the spice models. One is the overall download size of the library, as we add more parts and start working on trying to add 3D models, the download size will expand. Another reason is keeping the most current spice models included with the library would be a file management nightmare.

I hope it didn’t cause too much of an inconvenience.

Thank you,
Reid L