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Electrical Devices/Families

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Message 1 of 13
Anonymous
2059 Views, 12 Replies

Electrical Devices/Families

I'm considering upgrading to REVIT but during a recent trial, I thought the electrical devices/families within REVIT were limited. I have since done some research and while there are loads out there for the European and American market there is a limited amount out there for the UK. These are simple things like quality sockets, light switches, cooker switches, shaver points, switched connection units... Surely there is somewhere that would provide a simple library for such items? Thanks in advance.

12 REPLIES 12
Message 2 of 13
RobDraw
in reply to: Anonymous

Have you checked the websites of the manufacturers of said quality devices? Some have substantial libraries available for free.

 

Your quest is not clear as stated. A simple library of quality families sounds self contradicting to me. What exactly are you looking for? 


Rob

Drafting is a breeze and Revit doesn't always work the way you think it should.
Message 3 of 13
fabiosato
in reply to: Anonymous

Hello,

 

You can try https://www.mepcontent.com/en/ 

Fábio Sato
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Message 4 of 13
Mohamed-Nassar
in reply to: Anonymous

From my point of view it's good to reasearch for families regarding to create them but it depends on the Project and it's LOD may be u need some thing conceptual as LOD 200 and LOD300, any way it's not probably to get the items as it will install but the most important thing is to be Dimensioned as the real life and have the symbol u need in 2D by using detail line family to get the shape u need in the 2D, Note Families you downloaded may have alot of parameters that u don't need and it down your project performance delet parameters not interested for you but save the level of detail.

Best regards,,

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Message 5 of 13
Anonymous
in reply to: Mohamed-Nassar

Thanks for the response all!

 

@fabiosato I have reviewed this site previously and while there is much in terms of European content there is little in terms of UK. @RobDraw while there are loads of BIM models (an example is MK, Crabtree, Hager) there is much work required to get them into a position for use in a project and perform how you would expect in both 3D, 2D and electrically. This is fine if it is only one here and there but even for a domestic project, there is a fair quantity. I'm just surprised this sort of thing isn't readily available for UK devices as it seems to be readily available for other continents. The Niessen creator looks a great site but again not for the UK.

Message 6 of 13
RobDraw
in reply to: Anonymous


@Anonymous wrote:

there are loads of BIM models (an example is MK, Crabtree, Hager) there is much work required to get them into a position for use in a project and perform how you would expect in both 3D, 2D and electrically. 


 

Without examples, this tells us nothing.

 

Are these families difficult to place in the model?

 

Performing in the model in what aspects? Mentioning 3D, 2D, and electrically is so generic it sounds like these families are totally useless, which I doubt.

 

What are you expecting out of these families, a song and dance routine?

 

These are simple devices you are talking about. If you don't like the ones you've found, use the quality ones that you've found for other areas and modify them to suit your needs. It shouldn't take long and before you know it, you'll have a quality simple library of your own.


Rob

Drafting is a breeze and Revit doesn't always work the way you think it should.
Message 7 of 13
Anonymous
in reply to: RobDraw

No real need to be sarcastic, I'm new to this and I'm trying to understand this in further detail.

 

I certainly don't think these 3D files are useless, with my limited knowledge I actually think they were very detailed. My issue is as someone who does design I generally put symbols on drawings but I see why REVIT is a great tool and improvement in the process moving forward.

 

All I was asking was if these REVIT ready devices already exist if they don't then fine. No doubt it will be easy for someone to amend the attached file and add the 2D symbol but I was just looking for advice.

Message 8 of 13
s.borello
in reply to: Anonymous

I am rarely happy with manufacturer families as they either have too much or too little.  For most of my families I just start with the RVT out of the box families and edit them to meet my needs.  I don't think there is one place that you will find all the electrical families you want that work the way you want; some family editing will most likely always be needed.

Message 9 of 13
RobDraw
in reply to: Anonymous


@Anonymous wrote:

My issue is as someone who does design I generally put symbols on drawings


 

Why is that an issue? Revit does that.

 


@Anonymous wrote:

All I was asking was if these REVIT ready devices already exist if they don't then fine. No doubt it will be easy for someone to amend the attached file and add the 2D symbol but I was just looking for advice.


 

Still don't know what you are expecting from the families. What kinds of things are missing from what you've found? You are being very vague about what you need. Maybe it is your inexperience that makes you think these families are inadequate and you just need to know how to use them. You won't get much helpful advice if you don't say what you want.

 

This is a user help forum and there are many people that can help you learn. Just ask questions.

 

The way most people start out is with the content that comes with Revit. As they progress, they usually start modifying those families to suit their needs. Maybe they start using manufacturer's families and/or building a custom library. Anything other than building your own from scratch is most likely going to need to be modified on some way in order to suit your needs. Some people buy libraries but even those will most likely not be perfect. There are even companies that will build a custom library to suit your standards and they aren't cheap.


Rob

Drafting is a breeze and Revit doesn't always work the way you think it should.
Message 10 of 13
iainsavage
in reply to: Anonymous

From our experience, I’d agree with @s.borello , you probably need to create your own families, mainly by modifying Autodesk familes or modifying manufacturer’s families.
In terms of symbols, despite numerous “standards”, every company I’ve worked for uses their own symbol library and so do manufacturers, so you would want to create your own library of generic annotation families which you can then nest into any family regardless of the source thus keeping consistent symbology in all your models.

Similarly you probably want to create your own shared parameters which you can load into families so that you can consistently schedule information.

Remember that BIM isn’t just about pretty 3D drawings, the information in families is important too.

For example, that MK family has some nice geometry to create a pretty picture but it has very little information in it (basically the manufacturer’s name and model number) and it doesn’t even have an electrical connector in it. So you could “borrow” their nice geometry, add a connector, add your own shared parameters and generic annotation symbol family and populate the parameters with your own data.

It might seem daunting but once you get into a routine you’ll be able to quickly modify families to your needs and there is loads of help available in this forum and elsewhere on the web.

In my opinion.

Message 11 of 13
Anonymous
in reply to: iainsavage

Thanks @iainsavage that is really helpful guidance.

Message 12 of 13
RobDraw
in reply to: Anonymous

You're welcome.


Rob

Drafting is a breeze and Revit doesn't always work the way you think it should.
Message 13 of 13
shami_ajmals
in reply to: Anonymous

Dears,

if you have basic small power switched sockets (Single, Double , AC Switch etc) and lighting switches please provide any link or send me to Revit file (shami.ajmals@gmail.com) this is my email.

 

Thank you,

Shameer Kader,

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