Revit MEP 2013. Disconnect Switch family - Instance vs Type behavior in circuits.

Hi,

I’m working on Disconnect Switch family (attached) and ran into problem I hope you could help me solve. After loading it to model, please try to circuit it. It should work fine, my problem is with I’m not able to change “VOLTAGE” and “NUMBER OF POLES_INSTANCE” parameters once switch becomes a part of the circuit. It works perfectly fine if I change those parameters from “Instance” to “Type”. I would prefer to keep them “Instance” and at the same time to be able to change “VOLTAGE” and “NUMBER OF POLES_INSTANCE” values before and after particular switch becomes a part of the circuit…
Also, if you have any other comments about this family - please, let me know. Thank you in advance - I really appreciate your help!

Cheers,
sic

You only get one chance to define voltage/poles when they are set as an instance parameter. Once defined and added to a circuit you can not change them in the properties. I know of two ways around this. Copy the disconnect and delete the old one. This will give you a "new" disconnect so you can start over. The other way (more difficult) is to remove any attached wiring annotation and select the disconnect, which brings up the tab Electrical Circuits, then pick disconnect from panel first, then pick edit circuit/remove from circuit. If the stars align, when you pick the disconnect again you will get the Power button on the ribbon again and it will let you redefine voltage/phase. I have given up on voltage as an instance parameter and make types for each voltage.

Great! Thanks for you input, I'll go with "copy/delete" which sounds reasonable. Thank you again!

I'm not sure if you're a manufacturer creating a family, a designer, or a contractor, but there's a great Autodesk resource for families. It's Autodesk Seek (seek.autodesk.com). They've written a standard that requires uploads to follow before they're made public. I haven't come across a "broken" family yet from the website. Siemens has done a great job with their families. You just need to know their product family and choose the right one upon insertion.