topic Re: Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly in AutoCAD Electrical Forum

Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 13:31:54 GMT

I am having difficulty getting my child references to display correctly on my drawings. I have a parent component, QF1, on one sheet and then two child components on two separate sheets. One child component is NO and the other is NC. When I link the child components to the parent the contact reference will only show the pin numbers from one of the child components, not both. How can I get the pin numbers for both child components to display in the reference? See attached image, Thank you.

Re: Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly

dougmcalexander — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 13:46:39 GMT

Have you tried a cross-reference update?

Re: Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 15:13:09 GMT

Hi Doug,

I just ran the cross-reference update on the drawings that pertain to this component. My pin numbers have now completely disappeared and the format has changed slightly. I am attaching an image of what QF1 looks like now.

Just to note, this project was not originally created in AutoCAD Electrical and has been converted. As a result I have been going through and updating/making sure all child/parent connections are still present. I have been directly right-clicking on child components and matching them with their parents that way.

Re: Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly

dougmcalexander — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 16:27:01 GMT

Are the symbol blocks named properly? For example, VCB11THI for a parent Current Limit Thermal and VCB21THI for its associated child.

Re: Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 16:52:08 GMT

My parent symbol block's name is different then that of either of the children. Does the parent block name need to match that of the child block's name?

Parent: Block = OLTM3P11$$1, Tag1 = QF1

Child 1: Block = CNNOTH, Tag2 = QF1

Child 2: Block = CNNCTH, Tag2 = QF1

(Thank you for your help so far, I'm new to AutoCAD Electrical)

Re: Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly

dougmcalexander — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 19:01:05 GMT

Those block names don't match AutoCAD Electrical's naming convention. For example, a control relay that is inserted onto a horizontal wire should be block name (aka filename) HCR1.dwg. If inserted onto a vertical wire the block is VCR1.dwg. The child contacts are HCR21 for normally open, HCR22 for normally closed, and HCR23 for changeover (aka Form-C). There is a specific naming convention that should be followed with AutoCAD Electrical. You would be better off replacing those symbols with symbols from the AutoCAD Electrical libraries.

Re: Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 12:40:37 GMT

I will give that a try and see if replacing the blocks with AutoCAD library blocks fixes the problem. Thank you for your help! 🙂

Re: Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly

dougmcalexander — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 12:45:44 GMT

The symbols from the AutoCAD Electrical libraries have the proper attributes and file name to be compatible with AutoCAD Electrical. Let me know how it goes.

Re: Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly

Icemanau — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 22:04:08 GMT

The block names do not have to match. For example, I have several blocks for protection relays that have PR instead of CR in the file name. The normal relay contacts have no problem with connection to these blocks..

If as you have stated, the blocks are converted from a plain ACAD dwg, then they may not have all the correct attributes.

Let us know if you have any success with swapping the blocks out for ACADE ones. If you do, I would suggest you swap as many blocks throughout the project as possible.

Regards Brad

Re: Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly

dougmcalexander — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 23:10:16 GMT

The blocks need a family attribute with the same value in both parent and
child. The child symbols also need a contact attribute so the patent
crossreference knows how to classify them.

Best Regards,

Doug McAlexander
1491 Eryn Circle
Suwanee, GA 30024

(770) 841-8009

Re: Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 14:05:40 GMT

Hi again,

Ok, so I tried two methods of doing this, one using AutoCAD symbols from the Icon Menu and two creating my own components using Symbol Builder. I am still running into issues with both methods.

1) Using AutoCAD symbols from the Icon Menu.

In 'IEC: Motor Control' I used "Overload, 3 Pole" for the parent and "2nd+ Overload, NO Contact" & "2nd+ Overload, NC Contact" for the two child components. My first issue was that the symbols did not display on the drawing as shown in the Icon Menu. The child contacts came out looking like capacitors. The parent symbol is a thermal overload but I need one that is a motor starter protector.

After inputting the symbols I decided to try connecting the parent and child components just to see if I could get the contacts to display correctly. I went to the child components and referenced them to the parent component. When I went to the sheet with the parent component the reference locations did not auto-populate. I went into "Edit Component" and found that the entire "Cross-Reference" section is grayed out and it seems like the parent is not recognizing the child connections.

2) Creating my own Symbols in Symbol Builder.

I used Symbol Builder to make the motor protector symbol and the contacts using AutoCAD naming conventions (I used OL - Overload for Family). When I put the symbols into my drawing they are editable and I referenced the child components to the parent. I then ran into the same issue as previously where the parent does not seem to recognize the child components (there are no reference locations and in "Edit Component" the cross-reference section is grayed out).

Is there maybe a setting I missed when I inputted the symbols or made the parent/child references? Also, is there a way to get more AutoCAD component symbols (other then making them myself) or am I limited to what is in the Icon Menu?

Thank you (again) in advance!

Re: Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly

dougmcalexander — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 14:45:48 GMT

If your contact symbols look similar to a capacitor, they could be from the JIC or NFPA library. Also, if using symbol mapping for crossreferences, the active library is used. If the active library is JIC or NFPA, you will get the "capacitor" looking symbols for the crossreferences.

Be sure to purge your drawings after deleting any leftover JIC or NFPA style symbols.

If you are using shaped fonts for your crossreferences, there is an option in the Crossreference setup of Drawing Properties to toggle between JIC style or IEC style. See attached screen image.

I have also included a screen shot of a quick example created with IEC symbols and graphical crossreferencing using shaped fonts.

Re: Parent - Child Connection not displaying properly

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 20:31:48 GMT

Thank you Doug! I went in and added the IEC library and so far I'm getting the references to work. Thank you again for your help!