About Customizing Circuit Builder

Circuit Builder is controlled by a spreadsheet, a set of circuit template drawings, and the electrical standards database file. The spreadsheet, circuit template drawings, and the electrical standards database file can be modified to customize Circuit Builder.

Spreadsheet

The spreadsheet defines the available circuits, circuit types, and defaults for each option within a circuit. The default name for the Circuit Builder spreadsheet is ace_circuit_builder.xls. The default location for the spreadsheet is C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Acade {version}\Support\{language code}.

The ace_circuit_builder.xls spreadsheet can be relocated into any of the normal AutoCAD Electrical toolset or AutoCAD support paths.

The circuit builder spreadsheet name can be overridden by setting the environment variable, WD_CIRCBUILDER_FNAM, in the wd.env file.

Circuit template drawings

The template for a selected circuit defines the placement for the individual components and the wiring. The circuit template drawings use the following naming convention.

The default location for the circuit template drawings is the schematic library folder, C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\AcadE {version}\Libs\{library}\.

One-line circuit templates have a “1-” and the default location is in a “1-” folder under the schematic library folder, C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\AcadE {version}\Libs\{library}\1-.

Note: New templates do not have to follow this naming convention.

Electrical Standards database file

Circuit Builder uses an electrical standards database to define default values, define engineering calculations, annotate circuits, and provide wire type analysis. The electrical standards database, ace_electrical_standards.mdb, is located in the catalog folder. The default location is C:\Users\{username}\Documents\Acade {version}\AeData\{language code}\Catalogs\.