Overview of AutoCAD Electrical

General Introduction

• AutoCAD Electrical is an extension of AutoCAD tailored for electrical design.
• It incorporates all standard AutoCAD commands plus additional features for electrical tasks.

Project Management

• Project Manager:
  • Used to manage projects and drawings.
  • Capabilities include creating new drawings, adding existing ones, and opening drawings.
• Project Properties:
  • Defines the library standard and project settings.
  • Includes settings like tagging format, wire number format, and referencing styles.

Referencing Styles

• AutoCAD Electrical supports three referencing styles:
  • XY Grid
  • X Zones
  • Reference numbers

Component Management

• Catalog Browser:
  • Used to insert components and assign/change part numbers.
  • Select from an extensive catalog database.
• Icon Menu:
  • Alternative method to insert components.
• Symbol Insertion:
  • Unique tags assigned upon insertion.

Wire Management

• Symbols move and trigger automatic healing and breaking of wires.
• Trimming wires removes connection dots and wire gaps.
• Copying/moving symbols results in automatic re-tagging.

Cross-Referencing

• Cross-reference info is automatically added for parent and child components.
• Supports text, graphical, and table-style cross-referencing.

Wire Features

• Wires are lines on specified wire layers.
• Drawing a wire across a component causes it to break automatically.
• Wire numbers can be inserted individually, drawing-wide, or project-wide.
• Signal Arrows: Carry wire potential across different locations.

PLC Modules

• Built dynamically, adapting to rung spacing.

Circuit Builder

• Assists in building circuits and wire sizing.
• Provides wire size suggestions and displays energy loss estimates.
• Dynamically builds the circuit based on selected elements.

Panel Layout

• Create layouts by inserting schematic components.
• Automatically assigns schematic component values to panel footprints.
• Tracks schematic components within the panel layout.

Reporting

• Generate various reports including:
  • Bill of Materials
  • Wire From To
  • Wire Labels
• Customize reports by selecting fields and ordering them.
• Save reports as spreadsheets or database files.
• Option to place reports on drawings as tables with style controls.

PDF Output

• Output project drawings as multi-page PDF files.
• PDFs can have hyperlinks for easy navigation within the electrical network.

Additional Resources

• Essential Skills videos and product help available for further information.