Use the Circuiting tab of the Electrical Preferences dialog box to specify circuiting options, such as a default circuit naming convention, the type of overload protection to use when creating circuits, and the ambient temperature to use when calculating wire sizes.
The circuit naming convention determines the naming of all circuits. You define a naming convention by specifying a prefix, such as power, and a numbering system that can be used to sort through the circuits in your drawing. It is possible to create circuits even if there are no panels; in this case, the circuit uses the existing naming convention, and the circuit is designated as “unassigned.”
Total load is used when checking for overloads as you create circuits. Overload protection provides warning messages when circuits are overloaded.
The ambient temperature that you specify is used to determine the correction factor for ampacity when calculating wire sizes as you add or modify wire runs. For more information about calculating wire sizes, see Wire.
To specify circuiting options
- From the Electrical workspace, click
.
- In the Electrical Preferences dialog box, click the Circuiting tab.
- If you want each drawing to use different names for circuits, select Require Unique Circuit Names per Drawing.
- Specify a prefix and numbering convention to use for naming circuits:
If you want to… then click… use no prefix None. use the panel name as a prefix Panel Name. create your own prefix User defined, and enter the name in the box. number circuits sequentially regardless of the number of poles Use Sequential Numbers. Poles are created sequentially at the start number that you specify. For example, if the start number is set to 1, then the next pole added is assigned the number 2. group circuit names by even and odd poles Group using Number of Poles. Select this option when creating branch circuits to group together even and odd circuits. For example, if you are working with a 3 pole circuit, and you have a start number of 1, then the next pole created is numbered 3. increase the circuit serial number when you add poles Increase by Number of Poles. Select this option when you want to increase the serial number of the circuit by the number of poles. Each 1 pole needs 1 number, each 2 pole needs 2 numbers, and each 3 pole needs 3 numbers. - Select a Start Number from the list. The default value is 1. The serial number is attached to the end of the circuit name.
- Under Overload, specify the overload protection method to use:
If you want to… then select… automatically check overloads when creating circuits Check Overload when circuiting. show the circuits that are overloaded in the Circuit Manager Display Overload in the Circuit Manager. specify the maximum circuit rating percentage to allow before prompting a percentage that, when reached, causes a prompt to be displayed. - Under Wire Sizing, specify a value for Ambient Temperature.