Inventor cable and harness to Autocad Electrical

[twinz3950]

My company has just start using Inventor 2013 and Autocad electrical, and we are now trying to develop some wire harness using inventor and autocad electrical.  I have one question as how to properly model this in Inventor.  I have a 3 position rocker switch that has 6 connection terminals on the back for wire connection.  In order to attach the the wire to the rocker switch  a push on spade connector is required to be attached to the wire, and then pushed on the terminal of the rocker switch after the switch is installed on our product. What is the correct way to model this in inventor so that I can have a accurate diagram created in autocad electrical. Should I attach the wire to the spade connector or to the rocker switch?

[mcgyvr]

"Typically" The spade terminal is modeled up in Inventor and then a wire harness "pin" feature is applied to the barrel of the terminal to use as an attachment point for the wire. The terminal will be part of the harness and should be dropped into the harness node during initial placement. The pin should be given a name corresponding to autocad electrical.

Now I can't help much with autocad electrical and transfering from one to another as I don't use electrical for any of my harnesses. I plan to start looking into it soon now that electrical is included.

There should be a few (not many though) tutorials floating around.

start here.. hopefully the help files don't go offline again..

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Inventor/enu/2013/Help/0126-Tutorial126/0904-Cable_an904/1020-Interope1...

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=13653850&linkID=9242016

http://docs.autodesk.com/ACAD_E/2014/ENU/index.html?url=filesAcadE_UsersGuide/GUID-701FC4BA-C87C-4F4...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CTpjdZ_du4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R0b9_BEZ-I

And I'm fairly sure there was a decent (quickie) webcast here showing electrical to inventor.. Just have to sign up

http://www.imaginit.com/knowledge-resources/webcast-archive

[twinz3950]

Thank you for you response,  I am just looking for what is standard practice for doing these type of connection, as I am new to creating wire harness and not sure if I should attach the wire to the rocker switch itself and use a virtual part to specify the spade connector, or to use the spade connector as the actual terminating point for the wire. 

[mcgyvr]

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@twinz3950 wrote:

Thank you for you response,  I am just looking for what is standard practice for doing these type of connection, as I am new to creating wire harness and not sure if I should attach the wire to the rocker switch itself and use a virtual part to specify the spade connector, or to use the spade connector as the actual terminating point for the wire. 

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Like anything with Inventor you should attempt to do it exactly like its done in the real world. (which would be to attach the wire directly to the spade connector)..

[jhebert206]

Sorry I know this is an old thread, but I think I have a similar question.  I have a simple harness with wires running from Mil Spec connector pins to a barrier block, terminated with spader connectors.  I currently have it modeled with the wires running to a "pin" in the barrel of the spade connectors.  The trouble with this method is there is no connectivity between the wire and the "spade" portion which is connected to the barrier block.  Is there any way to share connectivity between points on a connector withtout a wire?  It seems to me that this is a weakness in the Cable and Harness package.

[mcgyvr]

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@jhebert206 wrote:

Sorry I know this is an old thread, but I think I have a similar question.  I have a simple harness with wires running from Mil Spec connector pins to a barrier block, terminated with spader connectors.  I currently have it modeled with the wires running to a "pin" in the barrel of the spade connectors.  The trouble with this method is there is no connectivity between the wire and the "spade" portion which is connected to the barrier block.  Is there any way to share connectivity between points on a connector withtout a wire?  It seems to me that this is a weakness in the Cable and Harness package.

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What do you mean by "no connectivity".. ?

Did you drag/drop the "spade connectors" into the harness node..same with the MIL spec connector?

This is how I would "typically" do a simple harness like that.

First I will drop the MIL connector into the assembly and constrain it where it should be.. Then I would drop each of the spade connectors into the assembly and constrain them.. Then I would create my harness then finish it before I do any wiring.. Then I drag/drop all connectors into the harness file thats created so they are components of that harness. Then I edit the harness and create all the wiring as needed. (see attached file).. part 0300291004 and 7501030431 are the 2 connectors on each end of the simple harness..notice how they are in the harness node and not separate items

And yes there are quite a few "weaknesses" in the cable/harness package.. IMO it needs a total revamp. It hasn't been updated in YEARS. 

[jhebert206]

Thanks a bunch for the help!  I am not entirely sure it solves my problem though.  What I mean by "no connectivity" is that when I create a diagram or "nailboard" I don't know how to show that the spade connectors are connected to the barrier block without phisically running the wire to the terminal block rather than the pin I defined in the barrel of the spade connector (see attached image).  I would like to be able to define electrical conductivity between the spade and the terminal block without having to run a wire.  I suppose I could make the entire terminal block with spades one part, but then I would not have a complete BOM.  Am I missing something here??

I did not drag and drop the spade and Mil connectors into the harness assembly, just connected up the wires within the Harness envrionment.  Actually I am not quite sure how to do that.  If I try to drag the connectors into the harness in the model pain it just skips them down below the harness node.  I did assign the RefDes's within the harness though, and they are recognized as conectors that can be placeed in the nailboard (the mil spec's are anyway.  not the terminal block because I don't have wires phyiscally connected to the pins on the block, hence my frustration).  I will try and re-model it the way you suggest and see if that helps.

[neverstopbuilding]

 I have this exact same issue. I'm not sure if I'm just trying to pound a square peg in a round hole, or if I'm missing something. Here is generally the situation:

• Some components have screw on lugs, or similar connectors that need to be modeled for placement in an assembly. Basically you could imagine a large relay, for example, having the component and also 4 large crimp on lugs bolted to the relay. Each of the lugs would be its own part, with a single pin.
• This assembly, currently, can not be linked with an associated autocad electrical component, it seems you can only link components with part level items in inventor. As such the only way to achieve the "assembly of connectors" is to use a simplified part. This isn't ideal because modifications are more time consuming, and there is no BOM reporting of the sub parts. I'd want to see a BOM with, for example 1x relay and 4x lugs.
• The autocad electrical side presents its own short comings, if I model a single symbol to represent the relay, I can wire to it and it assumes the wires directly connect to the terminals. I still can not link this multi pin symbol with a linked inventor assembly, and doing so only links one of the pins. You can not link an already linked part.
• One work around would be to model each terminal on the schematic, however I'm not sure what is the best way to do this, the closest thing seems to be using a single sided connector jack close to the connected item, and establishing some reference to the connected item. Alternatively, I could use a no-wire-change connector and just link the wire to the component.

None of this is ideal. Either you give up a comprehensive BOM on the inventor side by simplifying your assemblies, or you have a complicated drawing on the autocad side.

I think there needs to be a way to link schematic components to inventor assemblies, or associate unique terminals with a parent symbol in autocad.