Adding a Custom Terminal Footprint to AutoCAD Electrical

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AutoCAD Electrical includes a comprehensive component library, but sometimes you need to add custom terminals that are not in the default catalog. This guide walks you through the process of integrating a new custom terminal footprint into the AutoCAD Electrical Library to be used with Terminal Strip Editor. In this guide, we will use the Phoenix Contact 3209510 PT 2,5 Single-Level Push-In Terminal Block as our example.

Add the Terminal to the Catalog Database

To begin using the Phoenix Contact 3209510 terminal block in AutoCAD Electrical, we must first add the terminal to the Catalog Database.

1. Open any drawing in the Active Project.

2. Open the Catalog Browser from the Schematic Tab or type command AECATALOGOPEN.

3. Select the TRMS (Terminals) category.

4. Click the edit icon (pencil icon) on the top right corner.

4. The table background will change to a yellow colour, indicating that the table is in edit mode.

5. Add the New Catalog Entry at the bottom of the table. Fill out the required fields, such as Catalog Number, Manufacturer, Description, Type, and Rating.

6. After entering the required details, click on the Tick mark to accept and save changes.

7. Search the newly added part number to confirm it shows up now in the catalog after adding.

Download and create the Footprint drawing

The next step is to download the terminal block's 2D footprint from the manufacturer’s website. For this example, we are using the Phoenix Contact 3209510 Terminal Block, and the 2D DXF file can be downloaded directly from the Technical Drawings section on Phoenix Contact’s website.

1. Download the 2D footprint from the manufacturer's website.

2. Open the downloaded drawing file, clean up the geometry, and move all elements to Layer 0.

Some recommended cleaning options:

• Explode any blocks that need to be cleaned.
• Run the purge command to remove unused elements from the drawing, such as blocks, layers, or linetypes.
• Run the overkill command to combine duplicate or overlapping geometry into single entities.
• Check and ensure the scale is set to the correct unit (Metric/Imperial/Custom) and adjust if necessary.

3. Open the Symbol Builder by navigating to the Panel Tab or typing the command AESYMBOLBUILDER.

4. In the Symbol Builder window, select Panel Terminal for the Symbol and Generic for the Type.

5. Under the Objects section, click Select Objects and choose all the 2D geometry from the downloaded footprint.

The selected geometry will be imported into the Symbol Builder window.

6. Select all and move all the geometry to the origin coordinates 0,0.

7. Add the required attributes from the Symbol Builder window.

P_TAGSTRIP: Terminal strip tag name.

MFG: Manufacturer of the terminal or component.

CAT: Manufacturer’s unique catalog part number.

ASSYCODE: Assembly or grouping code for components.

INST: Installation code.

LOC: Location code.

WDBLKNAM: Catalog lookup table name.

FP: Blank attribute required for footprint block.

FPT: Blank attribute required for terminal footprint block.

Move and resize the attributes as needed for proper placement. All of the attributes listed above are usually set to invisible under attribute properties.

8. Add the additional attributes to display the value of Terminal Block wire connections.

WIRENO: Wire number associated with the terminal.

TERM: Terminal number (For schematic symbols with custom Terminal Number).

WIRENOL: Wire number for the left side of the terminal.

TERMDESCL: Description of the terminal on the left side.

WIRENOR: Wire number for the right side of the terminal.

TERMDESCR: Description of the terminal on the right side.

For multiple-level terminal blocks, you can add additional attributes for each level by adding the L## prefix in front of the attribute, for example, L02WIRENOL, L02WIRENOR, L02TERM, L03WIRENOL, L03WIRENOR, L03TERM, etc.

9. Click the tick mark to save the footprint block as a DWG file.

10. Assign an appropriate name for the block and click OK to finalize the process.

Footprint blocks do not need to follow the same symbol naming conventions as schematic symbols, so you can use the part number or your company’s preferred naming conventions instead.

Link the Catalog Entry to the 2D Footprint DWG

The next step is to link the 2D footprint drawing to the catalog entry, ensuring that the terminal block’s physical layout is correctly associated with the catalog information. This process allows AutoCAD Electrical to recognize the footprint when generating terminal strip layouts.

1. Open the Footprint Database Editor from the Panel Tab or type the command AEFOOTPRINTDB.

2. If the manufacturer table already exists, click Edit Existing Table; otherwise, click Create New Table to add a new one.

3. Select the manufacturer name from the list and click OK.

4. Click on Add New to add a new footprint lookup record.

5. In the Add footprint record dialog, Browse and select the catalog number, then browse and choose the location of the footprint block you created earlier, and click OK.

6. Confirm that the new entry has been added successfully, then click OK/Save/Exit.

Create a New Terminal Strip using the TSE

Now that the new terminal footprint has been successfully added to the catalog and linked to the footprint database, the final step is to create a terminal strip using the Terminal Strip Editor (TSE). This process allows you to generate and manage terminal strips within AutoCAD Electrical efficiently.

1. Open any drawing in the active project.

2. Insert terminal symbols into the schematic and set the Tag Strip to TS-1.

3. Open the Terminal Strip Editor by clicking the Editor icon under the Panel Tab or type the command AETSE.

4. The Terminal Strip Selection window will open, displaying all terminal strips in the project. Select TS1 and click Edit.

5. Terminal Strip Editor will open and show all the terminals assigned to TS-1.

6. Navigate to the Catalog Code Assignment Tab.

7. Select all the terminals and click on the Assign Catalog button.

8. Locate the new Phoenix Contact part number that was added to the catalog and click OK.

9. Confirm that all the terminals have the catalog data assigned.

10. Click on the "Layout Preview" button to visualize how the terminal strip will appear in the panel layout.

11. Assign Wire annotation, Scale, and Angle on Insert as required and click on Insert.

12. Choose an appropriate location to insert the terminal strip on the drawing.

13. The Terminal Strip Selection window will reopen. Click Done.

We just walked through how to add custom terminals to AutoCAD Electrical. Now you can use specialized parts that aren't in the default list, keeping your drawings accurate and your life a lot easier.

I’d love to hear how this worked out for you! Please leave a comment below if this guide helped you out or if you’ve run into any questions along the way.