Electrical Switch to wall override


sawmane2
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I am with an electrical company who is in charge of designing our own bids off of PDF's we receive from contractors. I am looking for a way of using the tools of chief architect just for our electrical designing needs. It is so frustrating that we have to trace the walls off of the PDF before we can place any switches on the plan. Is there a way to override the "switch must be placed on a wall" error message? This would make my life so much easier. If I cannot do that, is there an automated process of extrapolating the data off of the pdf and place it into chief architect for it to use. Cad to walls seems to be hit and miss. 

 

I appreciate any replies, thank you. 

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There are some quite efficient ways to set things up for CAD but I believe that you need to use the electrical symbols to make the Material List or Electrical Schedule function properly.  There are some other guys that specialize in electrical and maybe they will have some suggestions or there may even be a way to define a symbol as something other than electrical but that is a little above my current level of expertise.  Hope we can find a solution for you.

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By cad I mean just line drawing functionality rather than the "smart" features in Chief such as walls and (electrical) symbols etc....

 

Every symbol (3D) in Chief has a "2D Block" associated with it that will auto generate or can be customized that represents the item in floor plan (2D) and and these are all smart items.   However all of these 2D Blocks also exist as "dumb" line drawings in CAD Block Management and can be inserted into your floorplan for use to represent symbols when there is a conflict with actually using a 3D symbol and it's associated 2D Block.  And you could maybe go that direction if you don't get a response that is easier.

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 Is there a way to override the "switch must be placed on a wall" error message?

 

Yes.  Try the following:

- Create a new plan and draw a single wall.

- Place a switch on the wall and then select it.

- Use the Open Symbol tool.

- Go to the Options panel and change it from "Wall Mounted" to "Floor Mounted".

- Use the Add to Library tool to add your new switch to your user library.

 

Anytime you need to place a switch that is not connected to a wall, use your new floor mounted one from your user library.

 

You can also create your own custom toolbar button to place your switch using a "Place Library Object" button.

 

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