Circuit Prefix

[dtiemeyer]

When I create a panel in Revit MEP, Revit automatically creates a bunch of parameters. One of them is called 'Circuit Prefix', its under 'Electrical - Circuiting' group.  If I add receptacles to this panel, my assumption is that this 'Circuit Prefix' would be a nice substitution to make:

REALLYLONGPANELNAME-1,3,5

become

PNL-1,3,5

Is this the intention?  In my Electrical Fixture tag (for receptacles) I cannot find how to access the 'Circuit Prefix' parameter that is auto-created.

[CoreyDaun · Accepted solution]

As convenient as it may seem, I believe that this is one of the electrical features that Revit messed up. At least as far as Revit 2014, since I haven't checked this in a newer version, yet. Anyhow, as you see, you can select a Panel and specify a Circuit Prefix and Prefix Separator. In order to apply this to the Electrical Circuits, you must change Circuit Naming to "Prefix". This automatically changes all of the Circuit Numbers belonging to this panel to include the specified prefix. Now, for the part that they messed up, in the Panel Schedule, this Prefix will be included in the Circuit Number there, too.

This Prefix Parameter is not otherwise available to Tags or Elements. As such, I have found no way to efficiently using this function and escape the addition of this Prefix in the Panel Schedule. I recommend use the link below to provide feedback.

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Autodesk Product Support

The following link is setup for you to submit feature requests, or feedback, directly to our Development group:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=1109794

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[dtiemeyer]

Thanks for clarifying that Corey. You're absolutely right, they screwed that up completely. Isn't the whole idea of a 'prefix' that it is not actually part of the data, but a 'prefix' to it? Instead they redefined the circuit name.  I'll be sure to use that link you included.

[MuirEng]

Thanks for the conversation. As I understand it the workaround would be to use short panel names, i.e. instead of "Panel A", use "A" instead? This is what I did with Autocad MEP because I much prefer the circuit tag to read something like "A21" and not "Panel A21" - the latter clutters up the drawing like crazy. In AMEP I also created a panel name tag that prefixed the text "Panel" in front of the panel name. That worked great. I was planning to build it the same way in Revit.

I have a couple of projects where I about to start circuiting so I guess I'll find out soon enough if it better or worse for this particular task than AutoCAD MEP. Fingers crossed!

[dtiemeyer]

I guess the main difference is that Revit can combined loads upstream of branch panels as well. So if you have a building with 100 branch panelboards, do you really want your distribution panel having 33 circuits named 'A'? Overriding the circuit description becomes a management nightmare, as it is one of the few things Revit doesn't 'link', its more of a one-time association that can be overwritten (and cleared) easily, and becomes error-prone whereas so many other things in Revit are truly linked data, like section heads to referenced sheets.

Dont get me wrong, I'm excited for my firm to begin using this technology, it just seems a couple little 'bugs/flaws' is all it takes for electrical engineers to totally write off an otherwise good idea and say "I'm just gonna keep using Excel".