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Cable & Conductor Setup ...

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Message 1 of 6
clyons
769 Views, 5 Replies

Cable & Conductor Setup ...

Using ACADE 2014 & NFPA symbols (new user).  Need some help understanding what the best workflow is for defining cables & conductors.  My approach has been to try to get everything setup during schematic creation.  At least from what I understand the process for defining cables & conductors from schematics is to add parent (symbol CABLE MARKER) & child (2+ CHILD MARKER) symbols where they are needed.  My design has cable numbers and conductor numbers (not color codes) and I'm also defining a cable description code which I'm showing on the schematics.  So, my thought is to make the Cable#/Conductor1 the PARENT and the other conductors CHILDREN of the conductor#1 symbol.  Does that make sense?  Will that properly define my cables?  Is there a better way to do this?

Here's one of my drawings showing the associated Cable/Conductor setup:

 

Snap_210 Jul. 12 14.01.jpg

 

 

One problem I've found is that when I try to insert a CHILD MARKER on a drawing that doesn't have the PARENT shown on that drawing, I can't select the PARENT CABLE.  When I try this, the "Insert/Edit Cable Marker (2nd+ wire of cable)" dialog only has the DRAWING & PARENT/SIBLING options available (PROJECT is grayed out) for the component tag.  DRAWING only lists cables on this drawing and PARENT/SIBLING will only let me choose cable tags on this drawing.  How can I select PARENT MARKER symbols on other drawings in the project?  It seems like the PROJECT option should be available (since I do have PARENT CABLES inserted in other drawings in the project). 

 

The specific issue I have with this drawing is associated with CBL20.  CBL20/1 & CBL20/2 are defined on another schematic.  I'm just using an EXTRA MARKER symbol on the incoming L1 & L2 lines for clarity (these are not actual markers on this drawing).  I want to place CHILD MARKERS on this drawing for CBL20/3 & CBL20/4 but I can't see how to do that.  Appreciate any help.

 

5 REPLIES 5
Message 2 of 6
sonny3g
in reply to: clyons

Are you sure the current schematic you are working on is a member of the same project as the schematic that has the parent?  Usually, when Project is grayed out it means the drawing you are currently working in is not part of a project.

Scott G. Sawdy
scott.sawdy@bluecoyotecad.com
Message 3 of 6
clyons
in reply to: sonny3g

Yes.  There are several other PARENT cables defined in other schematics within this project and I can't get to any of them since PROJECT is grayed out.

Message 4 of 6
clyons
in reply to: clyons

Maybe someone can explain this.  When a CHILD MARKER is inserted, the component tag doesn't even HAVE to represent a valid PARENT MARKER.  How can that be?  Currently, I can't get to the PARENT symbol for CBL20.  But I can just edit the tag and description info for the CHILD MARKERs for conductors #3 & #4 and just type in the info for CBL20.  Why does ACADE allow any information to be entered for a PARENT tag without their actually being a valid PARENT/CHILD relationship?  On the plus side, this at least lets me setup my drawings as they should be BUT the implied PARENT/CHILD relationships aren't really valid which I'm guessing will cause me problems later.  Appreciate any help.

Message 5 of 6
drathak
in reply to: clyons

You've got something jacked up with your drawing/project relationship.

 

Confirm that the file is not only a part of the same project as the rest of the files, but also that the project file in question is the active project.  (Bolded in Project manager.)

 

If all of that is good, close ACADE and delte your project's scratch database.  (Ususally found at C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD Electrical 2014\R20.0\enu\Support\User)

 

This forces a rebuild of the scratch database and clears up a lot of problems.

 

Also, if you understand how ACADE relates the child and parent symbols, you'll realize that being able to simply type in the matching TAG (and INST & LOC if using the combine tagging method) is exactly how it CAN work.  It is better to be able to pull the information from the parent via the "Project" button, but typing it in does work.  By putting in matching information, you are creating the link between the parent and child.  Hope that makes sense.

 

--------------
Joe Weaver
Principle Associate Engineer - Nashville Electric Service
P&C Committee Chair – SDS Industry Consortium
Message 6 of 6
clyons
in reply to: drathak

Thanks.  Rebuilding the scratch database seems to have cleaned things up.  Really appreciate the help.

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