(Part of our ongoing series comparing features in Revit MEP and Design Master to make it clear why our software is better.)

On the Revit MEP forum, jboone asks the following question:

Can you please explain how to change the distance, voltage drop value, description load name and wire size too?  Most all electrical circuit wires are never based on breaker and can sometimes be sized based on 125, 150, 300 or even 80% of circuit ratings.  Nowhere does a circuit ask me for that factor.  I would really like to hear how to change these things in the schedule.

We don’t know the answer for Revit MEP. If you look at the replies, no one else does either, which makes us think it’s either really hard, or not possible at all.

In Design Master Electrical, this is easy.

The distances between devices are based upon their location sin the drawing. When you draw a homerun and loops for a circuit, you specify whether to calculate the distance using a straight line or using right angles. The straight line calculation is appropriate for outdoor circuits run underground. The right angle calculation is appropriate for inside the building when the circuit will be run through the walls.

The voltage drop value is based upon the distance calculated above, the length of the wire, and the load at each point in the circuit. Read more about how we calculate voltage drop in this post.

The description load name is based upon the device that is circuited. You can also add descriptions individually to each circuit. When first learning the software, it can be a little tricky figuring out where the circuit description is coming from. That’s why we have a handy post that outlines all the different places the description is set.

The wire size is initially sized based upon the breaker. The NEC calls for the breaker and wire to be 125% of the continuous and 100% of the noncontinuous load. You can also change your standard to size the breaker and wire to 125% of the total load for a more conservative size.

Changing the wire size from the default is easy. In our “Circuiting” dialog, you select the circuit, and choose the desired wire size from the list. You have complete control over the size of the wire for situations where our default sizing is not correct.

Request a free demonstration of Design Master Electrical and see just how easy electrical BIM software can be.