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View Full Version : [2009] - Electrical Feature Request (PENDING)



mjdanowski
2008-07-31, 08:21 PM
Just a tally of wishes I have been keeping in the back of my head as I go along Reviting :_


1. The ability to schedule circuit/system information with mechanical/electrical equipment. When you are looking at the "Fields" tab of the properties window there is a drop down menu labeled "Select available fields from:". If each system connected to the piece of equipment had a selection in that drop-down for use in the schedule that would be awesome. It would be like embedded schedules, but a little more powerful. This is needed because very often we have schedules we need to put circuit information in (motor, feeder, etc). Right now you have to fudge it with dumb data, the ability to do the above would make these schedules "smart". This also is extremely useful for design as well as we can see all equipment, their load, and their associated feeders.

2. Split feeder wire sizes into three columns, Phase, Neutral, and Ground! Or at least put the ground wire separate from the phase/neutral. You generally will express a feeder for something in terms of lets say (4) wires for the phases/neutral and then separately for the ground. This is due to different code requirements and conditions for each.

3. Make calculated feeders overidable!!!!! This is extremely important because very often a feeder's size will be based not off a ton of factors. Pinning a feeder size purely on breaker size upstream makes the feeder sizing feature of the program all but useless. its nice for early submissions and resistive loads, but in the end the engineer absolutely needs to change feeder sizes to fit situations which Revit cannot calculate.

4. Get rid of unit-less system parameters This isn't so much a needed feature as it is a pet peeve of mine. Why are there voltage and wattage parameters on electrical equipment which are text boxes (and therefore useless)?

5. Ability to set ASHRAE 90.1 Data for each space type You know how in a space you can set it as a "space type." Expand on this and let users customize (kind of like wire /pipe sizes) allowable W/sqft and other parameters for lighting, mechanical, etc. Make the GUI easy to use and not in an XML file like was recently done with most mechanical and electrical settings. DO NOT HARD CODE THIS!!! It must be customizable to allow for different codes! Do this and you are steps away from having Revit sprint out LEED submittals, which is godly.

6. Panel Schedules.... This has been beaten to death, so I will just leave it at that.

7. Ability to filter families in a schedule by "part type" Lets say I want to make a transformer schedule. If I could go make a schedule and then filter by Part Type = Transformer, then my life would be easier and I wouldn't have to put a shared parameter for "part type" in all of my transformer families. Part type in my opinion is kind of like a "sub-category", if it is implemented, why can't we filter by it!

sschwartz85916
2008-07-31, 08:51 PM
7. Ability to filter families in a schedule by "part type" Lets say I want to make a transformer schedule. If I could go make a schedule and then filter by Part Type = Transformer, then my life would be easier and I wouldn't have to put a shared parameter for "part type" in all of my transformer families. Part type in my opinion is kind of like a "sub-category", if it is implemented, why can't we filter by it!


Yea, it took me about a half an hour to realize that I can't seem to make a transformer schedule, among other things.

Automatic Transfer Switch schedule...

(and thinking of future projects: Kitchen Equipment Schedule, or other equipment types...)

It would be nice to filter out certain types of panels, like distribution panels, then lighting, then receptacle. Some projects I have worked on in the past have M Panels, D Panels, and then LPs and RPs. I don't want to double sort them in a 150 line list, I would like to separate them logically.

Also... am I missing the "fed from" or does it not exist? If not, then definitely add that to my list.

mjdanowski
2008-08-01, 12:42 PM
"fed from" would go under #1. If you can add the circuit information on lets say a motor list schedule, the "fed from" would essentially be the "Panel" parameter of that circuit.

Thats why I listed that as #1. Electrical design has so much do do with the circuit (system) rather then the piece of equipment, we really need to be able to link that information in one place.

As far as being able to make the transfer switch schedule and/or transformer schedule. You CAN do it, you just need to make a parameter in each ATS or XFMR schedule called "Equipment Type". Add this to your families. In a transformer schedule, make this parameter "XFMR" in the formula field, and "ATS" accordingly. Then in the schedule, do a filter for all electrical equipment where Equipment Type = XFMR.

Its possible, but I think it would be a lot easier if Revit handled it automatically. It would also give the possibility of extra, transformer specific, parameters in the schedule (such as Secondary Dist System, etc).

sschwartz85916
2008-08-01, 01:53 PM
"fed from" would go under #1. If you can add the circuit information on lets say a motor list schedule, the "fed from" would essentially be the "Panel" parameter of that circuit.

Thats why I listed that as #1. Electrical design has so much do do with the circuit (system) rather then the piece of equipment, we really need to be able to link that information in one place.

As far as being able to make the transfer switch schedule and/or transformer schedule. You CAN do it, you just need to make a parameter in each ATS or XFMR schedule called "Equipment Type". Add this to your families. In a transformer schedule, make this parameter "XFMR" in the formula field, and "ATS" accordingly. Then in the schedule, do a filter for all electrical equipment where Equipment Type = XFMR.

Its possible, but I think it would be a lot easier if Revit handled it automatically. It would also give the possibility of extra, transformer specific, parameters in the schedule (such as Secondary Dist System, etc).

That's a great idea, I will try it.

mjdanowski
2008-09-03, 01:49 PM
Under note #5: if you could add recommended illuminance values (from IES handbook for example) under each space type that would be awesome as well. It would need to be customizable though like everything else for each office's standard.

schrodingerscat
2008-09-04, 06:56 AM
Surprisingly, nobody has mentioned conduits and cable trays. I don't think I've worked on a job that wasn't an office fit out where we haven't used either conduits or cable trays.

Also, I know it's been mentioned but my problem with the panel schedules is we don't call them panels or panel schedules over here. We call them distribution boards and distribution board schedules or DB schedules. Most of the time if you write panel schedule on a drawing here the client will turn around and ask what the hell a panel is and why we're scheduling it.

sschwartz85916
2008-09-04, 12:31 PM
Under note #5: if you could add recommended illuminance values (from IES handbook for example) under each space type that would be awesome as well. It would need to be customizable though like everything else for each office's standard.

Didn't we have something similar for rooms in the 2008 tutorials? Do they NOT have this for spaces? (confused why that would be). But yes, our lighting levels depend on various standards, from a client or building standard, to a state standard then defaulting to IES when either one isn't specific enough. BTW, if we could do the recommended lighting levels, I would also like to see the maximum W/ft2 for the space type (if it isn't there already) for ASHRAE 90.1 or a LEED environment. :shock:

Avatart
2008-09-24, 04:03 PM
Surprisingly, nobody has mentioned conduits and cable trays. I don't think I've worked on a job that wasn't an office fit out where we haven't used either conduits or cable trays.

Also, I know it's been mentioned but my problem with the panel schedules is we don't call them panels or panel schedules over here. We call them distribution boards and distribution board schedules or DB schedules. Most of the time if you write panel schedule on a drawing here the client will turn around and ask what the hell a panel is and why we're scheduling it.
You and the rest of the world, Panel is an Americanism, nothing wrong with it, just rather be able to use local parlance.

All cable containment needs sorting NOW, conduit, tray, basket, ladder rack. This is the most ridiculous oversight by AutoDesk.

schrodingerscat
2009-02-04, 04:07 AM
Just to reinforce why we need conduit and cable tray tools in Revit MEP.

This is a job I'm currently working on. It's about to go out for a preliminary-preliminary issue where all we're showing is the Distribution boards (panel boards), cable tray runs, conduit runs, needed riser sizes and needed plant room space as well as a few other major things. No detailed design. This means that all I've been modelling for 2 weeks are conduits, cable trays, and distribution boards.

Shame there ARE NO CONDUITS OR CABLE TRAYS IN REVIT.

Here, have a look at what I have so far.... without the building or other services.... and I'm not actually finished.

mjdanowski
2009-05-18, 02:36 PM
Well, 1 out of 7 ain't bad, right?

porroy
2009-11-09, 01:18 AM
how would i produce a cable tray system in Revit MEP? the easiest way possible