5. Cables and circuits

Cable routes (conduits and cables)

With the Cable route tool (C) you draw the path of the cables. There are four presets:

• Clicking a device connects the cable route to the device (its end is at the device's position, and the take-off adds the connection reserve to it). Next to a wall, the program snaps it to the free lane beside the wall face.
• Two end points are enough: after the first click, clicking a device straight away makes the program plan the route: it runs in the free lane along the wall, turns at right angles in the corners, and goes into the neighbouring room through a door (through a wall only if the detour via the door is much longer). A ceiling luminaire connects perpendicularly to the wall; between two luminaires the line is straight. While drawing, the preview already shows the planned route. If you place intermediate points, you draw manually. If the cable (in a chase or surface-mounted) would pass in front of a window, its height is raised above the top of the window (+10 cm), provided at least 10 cm remains below the ceiling; the height can be changed in the properties.
• Shift = right angle. Enter, double-click or clicking a device finishes it; Backspace steps back one point, Esc discards it.
• When selected, the cable route's vertices can be dragged; double-clicking a segment creates a new vertex.
• Re-route (in the cable route properties; with several cable routes selected, “Re-route cable routes”): re-routes an existing cable route connected to devices along the wall; Ctrl+Z restores it in one step. An automatic route re-routes itself when the device is moved or rotated; if you change one of its vertices manually, from then on it remains manual (only its end follows the device).

Properties: kind and system, type (for conduit e.g. MŰ-III, KPE, Symalen, rigid PVC; for cable e.g. NYM-J, NYY-J, H07V-U, H05VV-F, UTP Cat6, J-Y(St)Y, RG6), number of cores, cross-sectional area, diameter, installation method (in a chase, surface-mounted, above suspended ceiling, in the floor), height and the circuits (several can be given). The number of cores and the cross-sectional area are also inherited from the circuit's “Cable” text; this shows as faint pre-filling of the fields.

The installation method and the height also affect the length: the take-off calculates the 3D length of the cable route, and chasing can be a separate item.

Conductor marking

On the cables, the program draws the marking according to the standard: oblique ticks showing the number of cores (above 3 cores, one tick and the number of cores), next to it the label with the type and the cross-sectional area. The marking is automatic; it can be switched off with the Conductor marking layer. It is also visible in wall elevations.

Circuits

The Circuits panel (on the right, when nothing is selected) is the list of circuits. The fields of a circuit:

• Reference (e.g. F1), Kind (e.g. lighting, socket-outlet) and Name;
• 1 or 3 phases;
• Protection (e.g. B16) and Cable (e.g. NYM-J 3×1.5);
• Distribution board: one of the distribution boards on the floor, from which the circuit starts;
• Colour on the drawing: automatic by default;
• optionally, for sizing: power, cos φ, diversity factor and length (see the Distribution boards, single-line diagram and sizing chapter).

You assign devices to the circuit in the device properties, and cable routes in the cable route properties (there can be several circuits). The Colour by circuit switch in the top bar paints devices and cable routes in the colour of their circuit: so you can see immediately what has been left without a circuit.

Automatic assignment: the Automatic assignment… button of the Circuits panel proposes circuits for the power devices that have none, with a preview. The rules are practical suggestions, not a standard: sockets and lighting each get separate circuits per room (a socket-outlet circuit has at most 10 socket-outlet places, a double one counts as two; a lighting circuit at most 12 light points, a larger room is split into several circuits), a switch goes to the circuit of the nearest light, and large loads (e.g. cooker, boiler, air conditioner, charger) and the socket-outlets of wet rooms get circuits of their own. The protective device and cable are starting values; sizing and checks must be reviewed by a qualified electrical designer. In the window you choose the distribution board (the new circuits are wired to it), and the Plan the cable routes checkbox also plans, circuit by circuit, the cables from the board to the devices. If the floor has no distribution board on the drawing yet, the window offers to draw one; if the chosen board has no phase count and main switch yet, it asks for the incoming current and phase count, and picks the smallest suitable main switch from the catalog. It is all one undo step (Ctrl+Z); running it again only handles devices that still have no circuit.

Installation method, shared conduit and junction boxes

The Automatic assignment window sets two things for the planned cable routes. Both are suggestions: the numeric values are indicative, so check them against the site and your installation practice.

• Installation method: Directly in the groove (without conduit, the cable laid in the groove) or In conduit (in the groove) (the conduit also runs in the groove). The default comes from the More settings section of the project; for routes starting in a room it can be overridden in the room properties (Installation method (automatic wiring); Project default = no override).
• Suggest junction boxes: a junction box is placed on the drawing at the branch points, and the cable route runs split at the box; a circuit (a socket circuit too) that enters a room from another room and has at least two devices there also starts from a box. If the plan has no branch, the window states that no box is needed. You can choose whether, inside a room, the cable continues from socket-outlet to socket-outlet without a box (Loop through socket-outlets in the device box), and whether a pull box is placed on long or bent sections installed in conduit (the distance and bend limits are indicative starting values).
• With the In conduit (in the groove) method the program also creates the conduit: one per cable, along the cable's path, in the groove, with a diameter suggested from the cable's data. Where several cables run together, a shared conduit is suggested (below) – no individual conduit is created for them until you approve the shared one; if you reject it, you can add it with the Put cable in conduit button (below).

Conduit for a single cable: in the properties of a cable installed in conduit, the Put cable in conduit button creates a conduit route along the cable's path (default diameter: 20 mm) and places the cable in it. The cable then shows the Runs in conduit (…) note; the cables inside follow the conduit when it is moved or re-routed. The bill of quantities counts the conduit with its own length, and the cable running in it with its own.

Shared conduit: power cables running together along the same wall with the same installation method can be put into one conduit: with the Shared conduit… button of the Circuits panel (from the list of suggestions), or, for several selected cables, with the Put into shared conduit button. The preview shows the suggested conduit diameter, the fill (in percent), the grouping factor of the circuits running together, and which cable's cross-section may have to increase because of it. The outer diameters of the cables and the inner diameters of the conduits are approximate values and the fill limit is a suggested value: the conduit diameter can be edited freely on the drawing; check it against the manufacturer's data.

Three new rules of the Check (they can be switched on and off in the check settings, and the severity can be set):

• Branch without a junction box: three or more route ends of the same circuit meet at a point without a box;
• Conduit missing: no conduit is assigned to a cable installed in conduit (clicking the finding selects the cable; the Put cable in conduit button fixes it);
• Conduit too small: the conduit diameter is smaller than the suggestion calculated for the cables running in it. If the number of conductors or the cross-section is unknown, there is no finding.

In the resolution window of a finding, the Fix button (labelled Place a junction box, Create the conduit or Set diameter to N mm) puts the fix on the drawing as an unsaved change: you can review it, undo it, then save.

Device designation and cross-reference

• The Designations switch shows the automatic designation next to the devices (e.g. F3/2: the 2nd device of circuit F3; without a circuit D7). The designation is calculated from the saved drawing; for an unsaved device, “?” is shown.
• The Fix designations button (after confirmation) writes the designation into the label of devices with an empty label; it can be undone. It can only be used in the saved state.
• In the device properties, the Cross-reference block shows the designation, the circuit, the protection and the RCD, and where the circuit is in the distribution board enclosure; from here you can jump to the corresponding place. In the distribution board designer, the Devices on the drawing list gives the way back.
• The designations can also appear on the printed floor plan (Device designations checkbox).