The emergence of voltage stability phenomenon in the operation of power systems has motivated hundreds of researchers to develop methods to detect the proximity to voltage instability, with computational efficiency and to take all necessary and appropriate measures to ensure reliable and safe operation. In this work, different methods that allow transforming large systems into simple circuits were analyzed, such as the equivalent circuit between generators and loads, based on the calculation of short-circuit currents; the network reduction technique for eliminating intermediate buses; and the Thévenin equivalent. The application of these equivalents on voltage stability assessment of 3 and 4 bus testing systems were extensively tested. At the end, it was verified that that the equivalent circuit between the generator and load, and the network reduction technique, cannot be used for calculating the voltage stability conditions evaluation indexes. However, using Thévenin equivalent circuit, it was found a proper method, which works correctly for terminal buses, transit buses and voltage-controlled buses.