Catalogs missing in AutoCAD Electrical 2017

[Anonymous]

I read where some Siemens Catalogs were missing or not installing on earlier releases. This seems to continue in 2017. I was going through the Terminals tutorial and got to the section on multilevel terminals. In the tutorial it asks that you assign catalog data to a terminal and tells you to lookup and pick a Siemens 20amp multilevel terminal. There are no Siemens products in the terminals catalog. I reset all settings to default, went into control panel to add features, Siemens was already checked as a manufacturer to install. Went through it anyway and tried again. Still no Siemens entries in the catalog. There is no Siemens info at all in any catalog. It looks like the only manufacturers I have are ABB, AB, and Telemanique

[jalger · Accepted solution]

Hi Greg,

Try Downloading the Full catalog from the Autodesk site below:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad-electrical/downloads/caas/downloads/content/autodesk-...

Sometimes adding the manufacurers after its installed just doesn't work. (most of the time its an error reading or writing to the location.)

By Downloading the full database you can see if it works as desired. then if you wanted to you can trouble shot why yours was not working... or just use the downloaded one since its the full daabase.

In any case I hope this helps,

James

[Anonymous]

when i download default_cat.mdb where i must it copy how I can activate this base ?

[rhesusminus]

It should be located in "My Documents\AcadE 201X\AeData\en-US\Catalogs"

If you're using AcadE in another language the english, change "en-US" to that language.

[beau.gerber]

I have been having this same issue and tried the method you suggested (downloading the full database and replacing the existing one) and using the control panel method and i am still not seeing the Siemens terminal that the tutorial calls for.

I also read through this thread...

manufacturers-catalogues

...and had no luck. 

Has anyone found a solution to this?

[beau.gerber]

I'm not sure exactly how or why this worked but i think i figured it out:

1. Downloaded full catalog from link provided by @jalger
2. Placed the full catalog file here: C:\Users\USX30419\OneDrive - Xerox\Acade 2018\AeData\en-US\Catalogs\default_cat.mdb
3. Right click on active project in ACADE and select "Properties"
4. In the "Catalog Lookup File Preference" Section of the "Project Properties" dialog box, select "Other File"
5. Select the "Optional: Define a secondary catalog lookup file for this project" radio button
6. Browse to file location in step 2
7. Click OK..OK...
8. Open the "Catalog Browser" from the "Schematic" tab
9. In the bottom right "Search Database" pull down select "Secondary
10. All the manufacturers should be available

[jalger]

Hi Beau,

After copying the catalog to the correct location (C:\Users\<Your Username Here>\Documents\Acade 20XX\AeData\en-US\Catalogs)

Where XX is your version, 16 for 2016, 17 for 2017, 18 for 2018, etc),  did you restart AutoCAD Electrical?

Occasionally I have found that it still remembers the old information (its loaded into the Temp Location), and a restart of the program after copying it in the location works. if its still stuck after that I have found running Reset setting to default (assuming you have no custom ribbon tabs), allows the program to clear the old data, and load in the proper database. (if you do have custom ribbon tabs make sure you back them up before doing the reset... sometimes the backup that's created doesn't work.)

In your case you may have modified the original install path, so adding it as a secondary would immediately load it in; I see why that worked for you. 

and it would work for others as well as long as they don't already have a secondary catalog. 

Regards,

[Icemanau]

This may seem like a stupid question, but as they say "The only stupid question is the one you don't ask"...

Have you cleared the search box in the catalogue look up.

It defaults to the AB or ABB brand in the search bar and this then hides all other brands.

Regards Brad

[beau.gerber]

@jalger

WHen you say "reset to default" for you mean through the control panel>uninstall/reinstall/repair?  i thought about trying that but decided against once i got the secondary catalog to work. I think you are onto something with the "modifying the original file path" comment because i did move my files to A360 Drive.

@Icemanau

yes i tried search the "*" in the primary catalog as was suggested earlier and had no luck. When i select the secondary catalog now and search "*" i get all the vendors.

[jalger]

Hi Beau,

The "Reset Settings to Default" is actually in the start menu. 

Depending on the version of windows you have installed it can show up in slightly different locations. 

but for the most part you should be able to find it in a path like this:

Start menu > All programs (win 7) or nothing (win 10 - the "all programs" section is already showing) > Autodesk AutoCAD Electrical 20XX > "Reset settings to default - AutoCAD Electrical"  (normally its at the bottom of the list)

In some cases it will be in an Autodesk folder first, normally that occurs when it comes from a suite. 

I hope this helps, 

James

[Anonymous]

Ho provato a installare i cataloghi hardware dal pannello di controllo di Windows, ma mi dà un errore nel file pach.

[Anonymous]

I tried to install the hardware catalogs from the windows control panel but it gives me an error in the pach file.

[Anonymous]

I have installed autocad elettricl 2020. where should I go to put this file in order to use this catalog?

[jalger]

the catalog is located in:

C:\Users\<User name>\Documents\Acade 2020\AeData\en-US\Catalogs

note: en-us is the US English language pack ( sadly no Canadian one 😞  ) , so make sure you select the language pack that you have installed then look for the catalogs. 

Regards, 

James