This video provides an overview of AutoCAD Electrical. AutoCAD Electrical includes all AutoCAD commands and a set of commands and features specifically for electrical design. A project creates a set of related drawings. Use Project Manager to manage your projects, create drawings, add existing drawings to a project, and open drawings. Project properties define the library standard and settings for the project.
Settings include tagging format, wire number format, referencing styles, and more. AutoCAD Electrical supports three referencing styles, XY Grid, X Zones, and reference numbers. Use the catalog browser to insert components. A unique tag is assigned when a symbol is inserted.
You can also use the icon menu to insert components. Assign or change a part number using the Catalog Browser to select from the extensive Catalog Database. Wires heal and break as needed when symbols are moved.
Connection dots and wire gaps are removed when wires are trimmed. When you copy or move a symbol, it is re-tagged automatically. Cross-reference information for parent and child components is added automatically. AutoCAD Electrical supports text, graphical, and table-style cross-referencing.
Wires are lines inserted on layers defined as wire layers. A wire drawn across a component breaks automatically. Wire numbers can be inserted individually, drawing-wide, or project-wide. Use signal arrows to carry a wire potential from one place to another.
PLC modules are built dynamically, adapting to the underlying rung spacing. Use Circuit Builder to quickly build a circuit based on your selections. Circuit Builder can assist in wire sizing, suggesting a wire size based on various parameters and by displaying estimated energy losses for each wire size.
Select the circuit elements and the circuit builds dynamically. You can create a panel layout inserting from a list of schematic components. All values from the schematic component are assigned to the panel footprint automatically. Once a component is inserted, it is marked, keeping track of the schematic components inserted on a panel layout.
At any time you can create a report, selecting from Bill of Materials, Wire From To, Wire Labels, and more. Customize the report to include the fields you want and put them in the order you want to see them. Save the report as a spreadsheet or database file for further customization.
You can also place a report on a drawing as a table, selecting a table style to control the look of the table. Output your project drawings to a multi-page PDF file. The PDF file can contain hyperlinks letting you follow a wire network across drawings, quickly jump from a parent component to its child components, and more. This overview covered some of the functionality of AutoCAD Electrical. See additional Essential Skills videos and the product help for more information.