battery emergency fixture

[malachi constant]

Have a battery emergency fixture modeled - pulled from a manufacturer.

When you insert it and select "place on vertical face" it shows the 3D "actual" fixture (as opposed to the symbol representation), and will let you located it any height. But I want the symbol, not the actual.

So then I click "place on work plane", and now it shows the symbol. But it doesn't attach it to the wall - just floats on the work plane. Once inserted I do not have the ability to move it up or down, only N-S/E-W. (And I don't know how to create new work planes, so am stuck in whatever is already there, which is usually not the height I'm looking for - that's a whole other issue.)

I know where the "edit family" button is, but once I'm in it I have no idea what I should be doing to fix. I'm a beginner at this with no real training or resources. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

[wags5116]

My response would be to not use content from manufacturers unless you were doing Renderings. The manufacturer content typically is not face based and has more detail that is useless to electrical designers which ulitmately bogs down performance. I would recommend using content from the imperial library and then editing as necessary.

[gabecottam428011]

The annotation of a family (the symbol) only shows up in views parallel to the view it was created in within the family editor. That explains why you see the annotation when you are hosting to a horizontal workplane, but you do not see it when you are hosting to a vertical wall.

You can create new "Work Planes" using the "Reference Plane" tool on the "Work Plane" panel of the "Home" tab. Best practice is to give your reference planes a name so that you can select that ref. plane from the drop down list on the options bar while inserting families.

Ditto to Wags on avoiding manufacturer families as much as possible while you're starting out. As you learn what to look for you'll be better able to discern what's useful and what's garbage.