OpenDSS Cheatsheet

Examples of Commonly-Used OpenDSS Commands

Command Description
New Circuit.MyCircuit Makes a new circuit with a 115 kV Vsource connected to
SourceBus
New Circuit.MyCircuit BasekV=69 pu=1.05 Makes a new circuit and changes the voltage to 69 kV, 1.05 pu
New Circuit.MyCircuit Makes a new circuit with a 345 kV source, 1.05 pu,2000 MVA 3-
~ BasekV=345 pu=1.05 phase fault (default Base MVA for puZ1 property is 100 MVA)
~ puZ1=.05 pu Z0=.08
Solve Solves the present circuit with the present solution mode
Solve Mode=Yearly Sets the mode to Yearly and executes the default 8760-hour
yearly solution model algorithm

Note: Changing the Mode resets all Monitor and EnergyMeter

Object
Solve Mode=Dutycycle Stepsize=2s number=30000 Set the mode to Dutycycle and solve 30000 time steps at a 2 s
interval.
Solve Mode=Daily Stepsize=15m number=96 Set the mode to Daily and solve 96 steps at a 15 min interval (one
full day)
Set Mode=dynamic Stepsize=.001 number=2000 In two commands, set the mode to Dynamic and then solve 2000
Solve steps at a 1 ms interval (the default unit on Stepsize option is sec)
Solve Mode=FaultStudy Solve the present circuit in FaultStudy mode and display the fault
Show Faultstudy current. Includes Loads as linear elements if they are defined and
enabled.
New Fault.F1 Bus1=MyBus.2 Add a SLG fault to phase 2 of MyBus (phases=1 by default).
Solve Mode=Dynamic Number=1 Stepsize=0.00001 Solve 1 timestep in Dynamic mode at a tiny timestep.
This captures Generator contribution to fault.

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Solution Modes: 1. Snapshot, (DEFAULT mode)
2. Daily,
3. Yearly),
4. DIrect,
5. DUtycycle,
6. Time, ( see LoadShapeClass option)
7. DYnamic,
8. Harmonic,
9. M1 (Monte Carlo 1),
10. M2 (Monte Carlo 2),
11. M3 (Monte Carlo 3),
12. Faultstudy,
13. MF (monte carlo fault study)
14. Peakday,
15. LD1 (load-duration 1)
16. LD2 (load-duration 2)
17. AutoAdd (see AddType)
Plot Circuit Power Max=2000 C1=blue 1ph=3 Plots the active circuit (if bus coordinates defined) with line thicknesses
Plot Circuit Power Max=2000 C1=$00FF0000 1ph=3
proportional to power. 2000 kW = width of 7. Colors may be specified as
standard color name or RGB integer number (Hexadecimal format shown:
00BBGGRR)
Standard Color Names Black Maroon
Green Olive
Navy Purple
Teal Gray
Silver Red
Lime Yellow
Blue Fuchsia
Aqua LtGray
DkGray White

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plot profile phases=primary Various Plot Profile command examples. Requires an Energymeter object
plot profile phases=all at the head of the feeder.
plot profile phases=1

New Line.MyLine Bus1=FromBus.1.2.3 Typical Line object definition. A good idea to define units on both the
Bus2=ToBus.1.2.3 LineCode and Line objects. Units don’t have to match. OpenDSS will take
~ LineCode= 336ACSR Length=2.5 Units=Mi care of conversions
New Load.MyLoad Bus1=LoadBus.1.2.3 kW=250 Typical Load definition (3-phase is default). Don’t forget kV property.
PF=.95 For phases > 1, specify L-L kV.
~ kV=12.47
New Load.My1phLoad Phases=1 Bus1=SecBus.1 25 kW 240-V single-phase load
kW=25
~ kV=0.24 PF=0.99
New Load.MyLLLoad Phases=1 kV=12.47 1-phase L-L connected load at 12.47kV level
~ Bus1=MyLoadBus.1.2
~ kW=25 kvar=5
New Monitor.M1 Element=Line.MyLine Terminal=1 Equivalent syntax for defining a default Monitor object connected to
New Monitor.M1 Line.MyLine 1 terminal 1 of the Line object named MyLine. The default mode (0)
New Monitor.M1 Line.MyLine captures Voltages and Currents in Magnitude/Angle at the terminal.
New Monitor.M1 Line.MyLine 1 VIPolar=No Voltages and Currents are saved as complex numbers instead of the polar
form of magnitude/angle
New Monitor.M1 Line.MyLine 1 Mode=1 PPolar=No Monitor saves power at the terminal in (kW, kvar) instead of polar form of
( kVA, angle).
Monitor Modes 0: Voltages and Currents
1: Powers
2: Transformer taps (Transformer elements only)
3: State Variables (PCElements only)
4: Flicker (Pst) of Voltages only (10 min simulation req’d)

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Modified Monitor Voltage and Power Modes Monitor Objects can capture sequence quantities directly by a bitmask
adder to the Mode number. Combine with adders below to achieve other
results for terminal quantities:
+16 = Sequence quantities
+32 = Magnitude only
+64 = Positive sequence only or avg of all phases

e.g., Mode=17 will return sequence powers

Scripting Variables (var command) Scripting variable names must begin with “@”.
Introduced at version 7.6.3.32
When encountered as a token in the script, the variable name is replaced
var (shows all scripting variables) with the present value of the variable.

var @lastfile (reports value in Result form/interface) Example:

plot Circuit 6 max=0 dots=@dots labels=@labels subs=n object=@lastexportfile
Setting scripting variable values: C1=$00FF0000 C2=$000000FF
var @dots=no @labels=yes …etc… Some intrinsic variables:

(see example ) @lastfile (generally set to the name of the last output file written)
@lastExportfile (set to the name of the last file written by the Export command)
@lastShowfile (set to the name of the last file written by the Show command)
@lastPlotfile (set to the name of the last file written by the Plot command)

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One‐Timers
A couple of things you need to do one time. OpenDSS stores these values in the Windows registry so you don’t need to do them more
than once.
Command Description
Set Editor=MyFavoriteEditorFullPathName.exe The default text editor is Notepad, which is expected on all Windows
installations. Use this command to change it to another editor. All text
file reports will be automatically opened with this editor. Note that for
creating scripts, the editor must be capable of producing plain text files
in ANSI/ASCII encoding. It is nice to have a more powerful editor for
working on large scripts and reports. Column selection capability is a
great help.
Set DefaultBaseFrequency=60 Set Default Base Frequency, Hz. Sets solution Frequency and default
Set DefaultBaseFrequency=50 Circuit Base Frequency. VSOURCE objects will default to this
frequency and impedances specified for LINE, REACTOR,
TRANSFORMER, etc objects are assumed to be on this frequency base
unless otherwise specified.

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 COM Interface Tips

Starting the In‐Process COM Server

Language Command
VBA Requires setting References to OpenDSSEngine.DSS

Public DSSObj as OpenDSSEngine.DSS

Set DSSObj= New OpenDSSEngine.DSS
DSSObj.Start(0)

-or-

Dim DSSObj as Variant

Set DSSObj = CreateObject(“OpenDSSEngine.DSS”)
DSSObj.Start(0)

Matlab DSSObj = actxserver(‘OpenDSSEngine.DSS’);

Start=DSSObj.Start(0);
Python import win32com.client
…
Class DSS:
self.engine = win32com.client.Dispatch("OpenDSSEngine.DSS")
self.engine.Start("0")
Delphi (Import OpenDSSEngine Type Library into IDE)
DSSObject: IDSS;
DSSObject := coDSS.Create;
If DSSObject.Start(0) then …;

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Starting the In‐Process COM Server, cont’d

Language Command
C# (Project>Add Reference … (Select OpenDSSEngine)

…
using OpenDSSEngine;
…
public DSS DSSObj;
…
DSSObj = new DSS();
if ( !( DSSObj.Start( 0 ) ) ) …

Python import win32com.client

…
Class DSS:
self.engine = win32com.client.Dispatch("OpenDSSEngine.DSS")
self.engine.Start("0")

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Setting Some Commonly‐Used Interface Variables
When the Start(0) function is called, the OpenDSS COM server creates all the interfaces. You can assign variables to this after starting
the server to make access more efficient and your code more readable. VBA will be used as the example language, but it looks pretty
much the same in the other languages after deleting the Set command. The Set command is fairly unique to VB and is how you
instantiate Objects. Other languages are able to figure this out in the normal language syntax. Also, see examples for setting DSSText
in the table below.

Public DSSText as Text This variable will allow you easy access to the text interface
Set DSSText = DSSObj.Text Command and Result properties, for example:

Var DSSText: IText; DSSText.Command = “? Line.Myline.Bus1”

DSSText : OpenDSSEngine.Text; // Delphi Bus1Name = DSSText.Result
DSSText := DSSObj.Text;
You can execute any of the OpenDSS commands with this
Public DSSText as Text; // C# variable.
DSSText = DSSObj.Text;

class DSS: # Python

self.text = self.engine.Text

Set DSSCircuit = DSSObj.ActiveCircuit The ActiveCircuit interface is one of the most important for
getting to various quantities via the COM interface.
Set DSSCktElement = DSSCircuit.ActiveCktElement When any action in the program sets a circuit element active, this
variable will give you access to the properties of this element.

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Set DSSSolution = DSSCircuit.Solution A common use of this Solution interface is to solve the circuit:

DSSSolution.Solve

This invokes the appropriate solve function in the program

directly and should generally be the fastest way to execute a
solution command.
Set DSSBus = DSSCircuit.ActiveBus This variable will give you rhe properties of the active bus.
Set DSSControlQueue = DSSCircuit.CtrlQueue This variable will give you access to the Control Queue in the
program. You can see what is on the queue and push messages
onto it.
Set DSSLines = DSSCircuit.Lines This variable allows access to the Lines collection in the active
circuit. You can use it to cycle through all the lines in the circuit,
for example:.

iLine = DSSLines.First
While iLine>0 Do
…. Do something ….
iLine = DSSLines.Next
Loop
Set DSSLoads = DSSCircuit.Loads This variable allows access to the Loads collection in the active
circuit.
Set DSSGenerators = DSSCircuit.Generators This variable allows access to the Generators collection in the
active circuit.

While many users choose to drive OpenDSS with Matlab programs, the Object Browser in Microsoft tools, including Office, are
generally better for exploring the contents of the OpenDSS type library and learning how to use the COM interface. The code
completion feature in VBA and Visual Studio is particularly useful in showing what options are available after typing the name of the
variable. Some users draft their code in VBA or C# and then translate to Matlab. There are also 3rd party Type Library or IDL

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browsers/documenters that are helpful. If you are familiar with IDL, see the OpenDSSEngine.ridl file in the DLL folder under the
SOURCE folder in the code.

DSS Interface Properties and Methods (from Excel)

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Circuit Interface Properties and Methods

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