AutoCAD Electrical Users,
I am trying to draw a cable, that fans out in separate wires on one end only. I am trying to get a from/to report that is accurate.
I have tried the Fan-In/Out, but it only fan out on one end, so there is no connecting code on the other end.
I have tried the Angled Tee Marker, rather than the connection dot. This works for 2 connections going to a component, but when there are 3 or more, it does not work.
I would also like to add a cable marker, and in the report, show that multiple wires connect through the Cable Marker and then to the end component.
Does anyone have a suggestion on how I can do this? I have tried removing the sequences, re-ordering the sequences, re-drawn it, but it will never report more than 2 components connecting to the end component.
TB1-1----------/---------CBL2MARKER-------PS1-2
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TB1-2---------/
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TB1-3----------|
This reports that TB1-1 > PS1-2
TB1-2 > TB1-1
TB1-3 > PS1-2
I need a report that shows TB1-1, TB1-2 and TB1-3 all connect to PS1-2 through CBL2MARKER.
Any experience or advice with this?
Thanks,
Warren
The Fan-in/Fan-out tool allows us to sum wires into one line and break them out again on the other end. This can be used simply to clean up a drawing so a large number of wires don't have to clutter a drawing to go from one side of the page to the other. It can also be used to document a cable. One cable marker can be placed on the multi-wire layer where the wires are summed into one line if you do not need to document each cable core. But you can insert cable markers on the individual wires of the cable prior to the fan-in/fan-out signal markers, if you prefer to document each core wire in the cable. The advanced course I teach includes this exercise as an option, but I have also posted information about this on other threads in this forum.
In your case the fan-in/fan-out cannot assist because its whole purpose is to get individual wires from one point to another by way of a single line. Your scenario is outside the boundaries. AutoCAD Electrical rightly deduces that, if PS1-2 should connect to TB1-1, TB1-2, and TB1-3 via a common node, a wire connection from PS1-2 to TB1-1 should just continue via daisy-chain to TB1-2 and TB1-3. You will have to fool the software in order to get a from/to list to read as you wish. I have attached a sample screen capture that illustrates my method. You must follow my example exactly in order for it to work. The key is to connect 3 wires directly to PS1-2, allowing AutoCAD Electrical to control the angle and offset. That is accomplished simply by inserting the middle wire 1st, the top wire 2nd, and the bottom wire 3rd. The top wire and bottom wire are inserted with the wire command, not the 22.5 or 67.5 degree angled wire options. Just click on a wire connection that already has one wire connected and Electrical will automatically angle away from the connection with a pre-programmed 45-degree angle. The offset distance is controlled by the Feature Scale Multiplier and I do not suggest changing its value. I added the CBL (Cable ID) and CBLWC (Cable Wire Color) fields to my report and changed the names to be more descriptive. I sorted the report by CABLE first and CABLE CORE second.
Doug,
Thank you for the suggestion...I will give it a try.
I sort of ran across this yesterday when trying to get the report we would like.
With some of our cables, there could be as many as 8 bare wires on the one end, and a connector on the other end...so I will need to see if I can come up with a work-around for these issues.
Thanks again for your response.
Warren
I was able fool AutoCAD Electrical into reporting on more than 3 connections. I inserted the middle wire first, then added 2 more and let it automatically angle away from the common point. Then I just used the AutoCAD line command and added other connections at different angles. It did report correctly on all the connections, which was 8 lines comming off of one wire connection point. However, this only works on component connections that are on the same page. Unfortunate! When I try to use the Source/Destination Arrows, then I run into the limitation on how many you can use on one particular connection point.
Anyone know of any work-arounds for multiple source destinations that would be able to point from one wire connection point, off page to all the destinations?
Regards, and thanks again for all the suggestions.
Warren
While you are only allowed one SOURCE per pair, you can add as many extra destinations as you like.
Add the Source as per usual. If any destinations are on the same page, connect one of them using the same dialog.
Now use the DESTINATION tool to add another destination arrow. When it asks for a source, either click on PICK if it is on the same dwg or RECENT/PROJECT to bring up a list of recent codes. Make sure the radio button to Show All is selected and then select the source you require.
Regards Brad
Icemanau (NNTP handle: Brad Coleman
AutoCAD Electrical User and IT Hardware Support