can ratings for multiple catalog items show up on schematic?

[samdonaldson3453]

Is there any way to get the rating for a multiple catalog item to show up on a schematic? 

What I would like to do is select the fuse block as the main catalog number and then select the fuses as multiple catalog items.  When I do that, I cannot get my fuse ratings to show up on the schematic.

Also, is there any way to get terminal numbers (like TERM01) to show up on a footprint.

[dougmcalexander]

I suggest making the fuse the master part and the fuse holder a multiple catalog entry.  I suspect your issue is that you want the fuse holder part number to trigger the footprint lookup since the footprint is really the fuse holder.  I assign the fuse holder part number as a multiple catalog entry on the panel layout.  Now you may wonder, since a single fuse could be inserted into a 1-pole, 2-pole, or 3-pole fuse holder, how do I accomplish this.  Go to www.ecadconsultant.com and look at the Tips/Tricks page.  We actually do this exercise in my 5-day admin-level training course.  There is a brief synopsis on my web site.  Look for a tip entitled "Representing 1-pole and 3-pole fuses with the same Footprint".  The fuse itself should be the main part number assigned in the schematic because a BOM generated from the schematic (before a panel layout is designed) might be used for a design review and it would be more important to know the fuse part number (volts/amps) than it would be the fuse holder.  The method I use allows this to be the case, yet still offers flexibility for inserting the fuse holder footprint into the panel layout.

The TERM01 attribute can indeed be displayed on a footprint.  Just add the TERM01, TERM02, etc. attributes to your footprint.  Additionally you can create wiring diagram style footprints.  These carry the TERM01, TERM02, etc. attributes and wiring diagram information, such as wire type, wire destination, etc.  You need to add appropriate attributes to the footprints and run the wire annotation of footprints utility to take advantage of this feature. 

Hint: There is a way to have alternate footprint lookups between standard footprints and wiring diagram style footprints when desired.  We cover this in my advanced training course.  It involves adding a table to the footprint lookup database with the vendor name and an _WD extension.  "WD" stands for the original name of AutoCAD Electrical, which was Wiring Diagram.  If you create a table named AB_WD you have an alternate lookup table for Allen-Bradley footprints and it can point to a completely different footprint than the normal AB table points to.  When inserting a footprint from a schematic list, click the arrow at the bottom of the dialog and switch to Wiring Diagram tables (see attached screen capture). This directs Electrical to look for a table named AB_WD (in the case of an Allen-Bradley part) to find the footprint, rather than looking at the AB table.  In advanced training we build such a footprint and we create the necessary table and mapping to support it.  After it is inserted, we run the Wire Annotation of Footprint utility. (see attached screen capture showing example of wiring diagram style footprint)

[samdonaldson3453]

Doug, thank you.  You are correct about what I am trying to do.  I am currently using your method of representing a 3 pole with 3 single poles.  The ONLY thing that this method is missing is the ability to number the terminals on the footprint properly.

It does not seem to work to add TERM01 and TERM02 attributes to the footprint.  Am i missing something?

What I want to happen is for these attributes to be read from the schematic block similar to how it will pull a rating or a description.  But I want to use the actual terminal numbers. 

I have not used the wiring diagram method yet because it will add another step to the process.

[dougmcalexander]

Electrical seems to have a problem transferring the pin assignments (i.e. TERM01, TERM02, etc.) values from the schematic to the panel footprint when inserting footprints from a Schematic List, even though the panel footprint has the TERM01, TERM02, etc. attributes available.  Electrical is also not transferring Multiple Catalog entries from schematic symbol to footprint symbol.

But what you can do is edit the footprint after it is inserted, select Show/Edit Miscellaneous and add the TERM01, TERM02, etc. assignments back.  That's how I made it work in the attached screen capture.

If other users are noticing these issues as well, perhaps they can contribute to this post.

[SeedyNotions]

Doug,

Is it possible to get a few multiple catalog attributes to populate on a Schematic component?

I'd like to have the fuse the parent component, then add the fuse via multiple catalog. 

What I'd like to see, is if we can pull in the RATING1 & RATING2 from the multiple catalog part and write it to RATING2 & RATING3 on the parent component and have all of them visible and smart.

We like to show the amperage, but I don't want to type in the amperage every time; or have to rely as heavily on copy component/circuit.

I know it's an older post, but any insight would be appreciated.

J.

[dougmcalexander]

The amp rating is written to the RATING1 attribute via the TEXTVALUE field of the Catalog Database. Enter a semicolon delimiter and you can add more attributes to the list to write to. For example, RATING1=5A;RATING2=250VAC;RATING3=7A;RATING4=250VAC.  But again, the block must already contain the attributes for RATING1, RATING2, RATING3, RATING4, etc.  You can edit the block and add them.

The Multiple Catalog method automatically adds the additional parts data as xdata. The TEXTVALUE field method will not add xdata to a block. It copies the text value (ASCII string) from the Catalog Database TEXTVALUE field into an existing attribute.  So I teach my customers to add the additional RATINGx attribute(s) to the block ahead of time.