UK Power Outlets and Light Switches

[mplgroup]

Hi, anyone have UK light switches and power outlet symbols / files?

[ARCHIJEF2000]

It is surprising that Chief does not make symbols for "other countries", Living in continental Europe as I do I made a set of "Shuko Type" sockets which are common in  the Mainland, and much of Asia too, I have posted then on this site.

 

The British type sockets should be fairly easy to model, being all square and slabby as they are. Sketchup is possibly the best program to model this in. There are some models already in the  Sketchup warehouse, but I would be wary of these, most are unsuitable or have a silly high no. of polygons. If you haven't got Sketchup then it is probably possible to model British sockets in Chief, you just have to be a bit clever with polyline solids.

 

If you reply with some kind of image and the precise dimensions and spacing of the pins, I should be able to make them for you. (do you need switches on the outlets, single or double sockets)

Whatever you decide you only need have the fascia of the socket, the back of the socket cannot be seen, and there would be difficulties "pressing it into the walls", It would be normal to represent the holes by just colouring them black.

 

I not sure what you mean by UK switches, unlike the sockets you would have a great deal of different models to choose from.

 

However take a look at these two sites. The first British , the second Dutch.

 

This might indicate the  Brits tend to have a preference for the  small rocker, whilst the Dutch prefer large panel.

 

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Products/Electrical+Lighting/Electrical/White-Switches+Sockets/Switches/c/1000108

 

http://www.praxis.nl/gereedschap-installatiemateriaal/elektra/schakelmateriaal/schakelaars/f372/

 

Some final points, these objects are rather small and will often be hardly noticed in your renderings.

When models are made it is important to keep the polygon count low, if you put 12 segment radii on your models they will rack up a huge face count, and like I said you'd be pushed to notice the difference because they are so small anyway.

[ARCHIJEF2000]

I cannot deny a feeling some disappointment at not receiving any kind of reply from MPL Group, lets hope they are more attentive to their customers.

 

Given the strength of feeling amongst the heaving legions of "special relationship brethren" who use Chief I decided to make some UK sockets anyway. The file contains  single and double switched outlets, they are well low poly and could be recoloured if needed.

 

 

 

UK Electric sockets.zip

[mplgroup]

Hi

 

Thanks for the response (s) to my question.  I been on site all week resolving issues between my UK client and their Latvian sister company......hence the slow response.

Thanks MPL

[ARCHIJEF2000]

That's ok, hope your business is doing well. For the Latvian market I have some "European' sockets

 

Tas ir ok, ceru, ka jūsu bizness dara labi. Latvijas tirgū man ir daži "Eiropas" ligzdas

 

Это нормально, надеюсь, что ваш бизнес идет хорошо. Для латвийского рынка у меня есть некоторые "европейские" розетки

 

https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/175-outlets-220v/

[mplgroup]

Thanks, but its the Latvian factory quality of work and understanding of what's acceptable M&E installation for the UK Residential market that the problem. 

 

MPL

[LecaleHomes]

I think what mplgroup was referring to when they mentioned UK switches were the typical light switches we use here which are visually a little different to the type used in the states. However those images for the UK style sockets you made are great and very useful. They are straight in my defaults. Many thanks

[Peterjac]

Very hard to find Outlets for my country, Australia.

Any help would be great.

[mattyt12]

you can create your own symbols, I found a Clipsal model from sketchup warehouse (to suit Australia). Ive attached my electrical library if it is of use to anyone, the plan symbols aren't universal but the company have been using them for years and the trades are well accustomed to it but you could always swap out with your own 2D symbols.

 

As a side note, solid fills don't translate to the 2D blocks on symbols, I have an angle hatch with a small spacing then cad detail to view so it explodes then block it again.

 

Electrical.calibz

[ImagineHomes]

Hi All

I tried to upload the clipsal model Mattyt12 eluded to and his electrical library. I recieved a message stating that both had an invalid version number and could not be read. I had no problems downloading Archijeff2000's UK symbols (not that they are much use here in Australia). Any advice on how I can upload Mattyt's library would be greatly appreciated. If it helps I am using HDPro 2016.

 

Cheers

 

Craig

[Kbird1]

12 hours ago, ImagineHomes said:

Hi All

I tried to upload the clipsal model Mattyt12 eluded to and his electrical library. I recieved a message stating that both had an invalid version number and could not be read. I had no problems downloading Archijeff2000's UK symbols (not that they are much use here in Australia). Any advice on how I can upload Mattyt's library would be greatly appreciated. If it helps I am using HDPro 2016.

 

Cheers

 

Craig

 

Eric is probably right , that limitation is even in Chief , you need the same or a Newer Version..... but you can likely find a symbol on Sketchup and import it in too...once again you will need to look for a compatible Model.

 

Note that anything with alot of small curves is probably going to slow the program down , especially if you use them as the default for the Plan and you have 100-200 them in a plan.

you could use them as needed in different views though, so things "look right"

 

M.

 

[ImagineHomes]

Hi Guys,

 

Thanks for the heads up. I assumed that as HDPro was a Chief Architect product I was in the right location. Thanks for the link to the HD forum.

 

Cheers n Beers

 

Craig