topic Re: Electrical symbols / plans in Libraries & objects

Electrical symbols / plans

Anonymous — Wed, 24 May 2023 10:38:43 GMT

Does anyone know if there is a way to rotate the 3D object symbol of a light switch or outlet independently of the 2d symbol. I'm having a problem that when the 2D symbol is placed on the plan-in proper orientation, 3D object is placed at a 90 angle to the symbol. see attached image. Any help would be appreciated.

ArchiCad 13
Windows Vista

Re: Electrical symbols / plans

Erich — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:02:28 GMT

Which object are you using?

Re: Electrical symbols / plans

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 10:47:59 GMT

Receptacle Duplex out 13, but i'm having the same problem with most of the other electrical symbols as well.

Re: Electrical symbols / plans

David Maudlin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:41:44 GMT

spencerbrowne:

The problem is that the 2D symbol is rotated 90˚ from the US convention (the prongs should be perpendicular to the wall, not parallel), as you can see the junction box in plan, and this conforms to the location of the outlet in 3D (the 2D and 3D are correlated, but part of the 2D symbol is wrong).

In this case, the 2D fix is simple (as GDL fixes go). Open the library part, then save a copy with a new name (so you are working on a copy). The circle and two lines (prongs) are called as a fragment from the 2D Script, and this fragment is drawn in the 2D Symbol window. So go to the 2D Symbol window and you will see the circle and two prongs, select them, and rotate them 90˚ around the center of the circle. Save the altered library part, and the 2D symbol will conform to US standards while the 2D and 3D are still correctly correlated.

David

Re: Electrical symbols / plans

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:29:40 GMT

Thanks Don. Your solution was exactly what I was looking for. One last question, since the new object is saved to the embedded library, how would you go about replacing the original object with the new in the Archicad 13 LCF. Or should I just create a separate LCF file with the corrected symbols and load that separately.

Re: Electrical symbols / plans

Erika Epstein — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:59:39 GMT

Create a new part and place it in your office library which loads for all projects.

Re: Electrical symbols / plans

ztaskai — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 09:56:58 GMT

Hi guys,

We addressed this problem in (US) Library Update 1 for AC14. Could you please confirm that we got the US standard right this time?

I didn't find this thread earlier so I couldn't ask for your feedback earlier. Sorry about that.

Regs,

Re: Electrical symbols / plans

David Maudlin — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:13:49 GMT

Hi Zsolt:

I think it needs more work. I took a quick look at Receptacle Duplex Out 14 and Symb Receptacle Duplex Out 14 (There may be the same problem with other similar objects). As shown in my illustration above (from Feb 10, 2010), the two "prongs" (lines) should point towards the wall. In looking at these two objects in 3D (Top View), one of the outlet plates is 90˚ to the 2D symbol (see illustration below). Also, one symbol extends the lines beyond the circle on both side (correct for me), the other only on one side (incorrect). When changing the type from "outlet" to "switch" the 2D symbol should change to a switch type (like the Switch 3 Way 14 symbol).

I don't use these symbols in my work, perhaps others who use them regularly can post more issues so this entire folder could get cleaned up in one go.

Thanks for posting,

David

Re: Electrical symbols / plans

ztaskai — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 18:51:29 GMT

Hi David,

I'm sorry to see that the fix brought further problems. I'm just hoping that showing the 'plate and box' is not always necessary in the US. I added a bug entry to our records and we'll fix it very soon.

A bit explanation: We didn't fix the old objects with the Symb prefix for compatibility reasons. The new (one-sided) objects were meant to work correctly when facing the wall. They match the 3D model but we missed this box option in floor plan. Embarassing...

Thank you very much for checking!

Regs,

Re: Electrical symbols / plans

David Maudlin — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 13:20:51 GMT

ztaskai wrote:
The new (one-sided) objects were meant to work correctly when facing the wall. They match the 3D model but we missed this box option in floor plan.

Hi Zsolt:

I think the 2D and 3D boxes need to match placement, as the 2D box will be used to locate the 3D parts correctly. I am attaching a screen shot that shows a 1" column at Project Zero (grey pen), and the front center of the 3D box at Project Zero (the upper image is the plan, the lower one a Top View in 3D, the object is orange in both views). While the prongs of the 2D symbol face the correct direction, both the 2D box and outlet symbol are misplaced in both the x and y directions. I hope this helps with the bug fixing.

Regards,

David