Terminal footprint Wire Annotation - Internal vs External wiring distinction

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I'm wondering if anybody has discovered a way to automatically exclude certain terminal numbers during the Wire Annotation command.  Specifically, I want to exclude any external connections to terminals/device pins that leave the panel because we using wires with Source/Destination arrows to xref them to other drawings.  I want to show internally wired device pins and panel terminals only.  I'd also like to show any jumpered terminals on the same strip as physically jumpered on the drawing without showing the terminal numbers through wire annotation.

Regarding the first problem, I've tried to establish an external connection using the 'Terminal: Mark External Connection' command, and it didn't seem to do anything at all.  Is there some other means I'm missing? Can it be accomplished automatically at all?  I would like to avoid having to manually edit each instance of this, if possible.  I've attached a JPEG to show clarity.

I think the solutions to my problem(s) is in the T.S.E., but I have a few problems using it because 1. I'm contrained by a client's standard representation of a wiring diagram terminal block, and I currently use 'Insert Terminal (Schematic List) so I can select the proper terminal orientation (right or left); 2. We have to show the same terminal over multiple sheets and it causes duplicates in the TSE.  I'm not very familiar with using the TSE in my time using AutoCAD Electrical, so any insight into using the TSE would be very much appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Could you get away with using IEC tags format?  That way you could automatically show installation/location information with the wire annotations on your panel footprint

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply Baberb. 

I'm already using the IEC tagging format for TAG ID.  I understand that I can modify the wire annotation format to show the installation/location values if I want to identify a connection that is external to the panel.  My problem is, I don't want the wiring annotation to be shown at all, if it's a connection that is external to the particular panel - I want to show external wiring graphically, which I'm doing using source/destination relationships between drawings.  

My thinking (hope) is, there has to be a way to exclude connections from the wire annotation list, altogether. 

[Icemanau]

I am not aware of a method to exclude the external wire annotations.

However, you can HIDE the annotations using the Hide Attribute tool.

Right click on one of the terminals and hover over the Attributes option.

On the menu that comes up, click on Hide Attribute.

Type 'W' followed by enter to get the windowed mode for multiple selection.

Select all the external wire annotations and they will be hidden.

This method gives the flexibility to work with different sides of the terminal.

Regards Brad

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tip, Brad.

The attribute hide command won't work because the wire annotations come in as a single attribute, on the same side.  Trying to hide one will hide them all. 

The terminals you see in the attached JPEG are terminals I designed for the left side of the panel.  All internal wiring is to the right, and the external wiring is shown leaving the panel (graphically) to the left.  I also have a seperate block for terminals on the right side of the panel, with internal wiring annotation shown to the left, and external wiring shown to the right.  The left terminal contains the WIRENOL attribute only (for annotation) and the right terminal contains the WIRENOR attribute only (for annotation). 

I've tried to use the Terminal: Mark Internal/External Connection command and split the attributes up, but it didn't work.  Maybe I need to have both the WIRENOR and WIRENOL attributes on both terminal footprints for it to work properly.  I'm not very familiar with terminals and the TSE in AutoCAD Electrical so I don't know exactly how it works.  Any help is appreciated.

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Just to clarify, if I have both the WIRENOR and WIRENOL attributes on both terminal footprints, is it possible to establish internal and external distinctions between connections and have the attributes split between the left and right side (internal and external) and then hide the external-side attributes?

[Anonymous]

Yeah, in Terminal Strip Editor a good practice is to keep all your internal wire connections on the Left, and all external wires on the Right.

The reason I brought up IEC tags, is just because on the dialog for putting wire connection info on your panel, you can filter the wire connections based on LOC, and wouldn't even have to hide anything.

If you use internal on the left and external on the right side of terminals in TSE, that may be ideal for you. Then any different formatting you may want, you can change the format of the WIRENOL or WIRENOR attributes on your symbol to differentiate internal vs external connections, or hide all one side

[Icemanau]

Ahh, I misunderstood what you where asking about.

The buttons in the red box move the wires between the two different sides of the terminal.

First button toggles LOCation while the second button toggles INSTallation.

The third button allows you to move individual wires to the other side of the terminal.

For the fourth button, it swaps the two entries on either side of the selected line.

The fifth button moves the Destination although I'm not sure on how this one works.

Using these buttons, it's easy to set up exactly how you want the terminal strip to be wired, with all external wires on one side.

However, I'm not sure how they will work with your blocks.

Regards Brad

[Anonymous]

Thanks Brad,
I'll definitely check these out. Initially, I didn't put both the WIRENOR and WIRENOL on both versions of the terminal, so I think some of this won't work at first. Easy enough to add them and find out. Again, thanks for the direction.

[Anonymous]

I see, I misunderstood you. I did play with that feature when I found it in the TSE, but I redid the wire annotation on the terminal footprint, I didn't see the result I expected. I'm thinking that part of the reason is my terminal block. Between you and Brad, I think I have a good direction. Thanks for the clarification!

[Anonymous]

I think you are almost there, if you haven't figured this out already.  Once you get your wires all on the side you need them on, in the Layout Preview tab just leave one side blank.  No annotation will be placed there.