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Child component tag

4 REPLIES 4
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Message 1 of 5
moparmark
467 Views, 4 Replies

Child component tag

Gday,

I am fairly new at AutoCAD electrical, having had some previous experience in AutoCAD years ago.
I have an issue with getting the cross reference to work properly on my child components. When I first gave my relay contactors a parent the tag was set with the parent tag followed by the child number (ie K1-1, K1-2 as two contacts for coil K1). I have been playing around a bit getting a feel for the environment and have been messing with various settings, etc to see what they do (this discussion group has been awesome for helping me learn by the way).
My problem is when I now allocate a contact to a parent coil it only displays the parent tag (ie K1 for coil K1). the cross reference field also comes up as ? which i'm not too sure about either - whether its related or not. Is there a setting that I may have accidently turned off or on to get this result? I am currently running AutoCAD electrical 2008...

Thanks in advance,
Mark
4 REPLIES 4
Message 2 of 5
dougmcalexander
in reply to: moparmark

Mark, it seems like your child contacts are tagged incorrectly. When you insert a child, you need to associate it to a parent coil by clicking the appropriate button under the child component tag field in the insert/edit component dialog screen, either Project, Drawing, or Parent/Sibling. The child contact's tag name must match the tag name of the parent. You cannot name a child K1-1 if the parent is K1. If the child has the same tag as the parent the cross-referencing will function correctly and parent description data will be passed to the child. Additionally of the parent part number is listed in the pin list database with contact numbers, the contact numbers or pin numbers will be served in order of availability. For example if you insert a contactor whose MFG and CAT are entered into the pin list database properly, the coil connections K1 and K2, A1 and A2, etc. will be filled in for you. As you insert child contacts and associate them to the contactor, L1 and T1, L2 and T2, etc. will be assigned.


Doug McAlexander


Design Engineer/Consultant/Instructor/Mentor specializing in AutoCAD Electrical training and implementation support

Phone and Web-based Support Plans Available

Phone: (770) 841-8009

www.linkedin.com/in/doug-mcalexander-1a77623




Please Accept as Solution if I helped you. Likes are also much appreciated.
Message 3 of 5
moparmark
in reply to: moparmark

Hey Doug,

Thanks for the information. When I was first playing around with linking parents and children I thought I saw a field named child sequence or something, but I have found nothing like this in my searching of the internet so I guess I must have imagined it...
Message 4 of 5
moparmark
in reply to: moparmark

Hey Doug, I was messing around with the tag properties and thought I might try using the suffix property. This gives me what I want, however the %N value is not showing - it comes up as a ?. I have linked the child with the parents as you directed in your last post. There is no problem with my %N value if I set the tag format to sequential, the ? only appears when I use the line reference option. Any ideas?
Message 5 of 5
dougmcalexander
in reply to: moparmark

It sounds like you have no ladders on your drawing or you have no X-Y zones defined. The sequential numbering does not require a ladder or zone; it simply assigns the next available value. The %N value becomes a rung/line-reference number, or it becomes the zone number (i.e. numbers such as 1, 2, 3, etc. across the top of your drawing border). If you wish the %N to be based upon zones you must set up your drawing border with X or X-Y zones. This is set under drawing properties at the drawing format tab. You can select X-Y which uses letters and numbers, X only for numbers across the top of the drawing border, or reference numbers, for ladder diagrams. Setting this up takes a bit of patience and experimenting to learn on your own. That's why I cover it in my classes. It is easier to learn when you have an instructor over your shoulder. Basically if you use ladder diagrams it is as easy as selecting reference numbers and you're done. When you insert ladders ACE uses the rung or line reference number to fill in the %N value. For X-Y or X zones you must go a bit deeper in the drawing format setup. If your border has numbers 1 through 8 across the top but no letters down the sides, choose X-zones. Calculate the width of your zones and enter it. Then assign the left origin. Type in the zone label numbers. It is best to create a drawing border template and set up the zones there. This way each time you use the template to start a new page the zones are already assigned. I tried to upload a screen shot that draws attention to the areas you will need to focus on, but the for some reason the discussion forum is not allowing uploads at this time.


Doug McAlexander


Design Engineer/Consultant/Instructor/Mentor specializing in AutoCAD Electrical training and implementation support

Phone and Web-based Support Plans Available

Phone: (770) 841-8009

www.linkedin.com/in/doug-mcalexander-1a77623




Please Accept as Solution if I helped you. Likes are also much appreciated.

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