Define MEP connectors

00:01

In this video, we will cover placing MEP connectors and adjusting connector properties.

00:09

In this project several components have been placed.

00:14

When you select a component, you can see various options on the contextual ribbon in the create systems panel.

00:22

These options are indicative of the connectors that have been placed on the component.

00:28

The connectors control the system that the component can be added to.

00:34

For example, when I select this duplex receptacle, you can see that there is a power option in the create systems panel.

00:43

Let's take a closer look at connectors.

00:47

I'll click Edit Family to open the family in the family editor.

00:53

To begin, the tools to place connectors are located on the create ribbon in the connectors panel.

01:00

This controls the discipline of the connector, along with the systems that it can be added to.

01:07

For example, I'll click electrical connector.

01:12

When placing a connector there are two placement options.

01:16

Place on face and place on work plane.

01:21

Typically place on face will work and give you plenty of control over the connector.

01:27

Place on work plane can also be used in certain situations.

01:33

I'll click Modify to end the command and then I'll select the connector that has already been placed.

01:41

When I look at the system type, you can see that it is set to power-unbalanced.

01:46

And since it's a power type I could have added it to a power system back in Revit.

01:53

In other words, I could added it to a circuit, when I expand this drop down you can see several other options.

02:01

You see power balanced and power-unbalanced along with several low voltage systems for the power unbalanced connectors.

02:13

You can also control the number of poles and then you can control the power factor state which can be lagging or leading.

02:23

The load classification is also important as that controls the load classification in Revit,

02:30

and in this case you can see that this parameter is greyed out and that there is an equal sign in the associate family parameter button.

02:38

That's because this parameter has been associated to a family parameter.

02:43

And so it's always good to create family parameters and then associate parameters from the connectors to those family parameters.

02:52

That will give you a little more control over your connectors when they're on a component that's been loaded into a project,

02:60

you'll also see that the voltage and the Apparent Load Phase 1 have associated parameters.

03:07

In this case the voltage of the connector is associated to the switch voltage parameter.

03:16

I'll click OK to close that dialog.

03:18

And then lastly you can see that you can control the power factor.

03:23

I'll deselect this and then switch back to the project and I'll select the receptacle again.

03:31

When I click Edit Type you can see the switch voltage parameter along with the load classification.

03:39

So now I can control the voltage and the load classification of that connector for the family right here in the project.

03:49

So just to summarize, it's good practice to create family parameters and then associate the connector parameters to those family parameters.

03:60

Next I'll select this security device and then click edit family in the contextual ribbon.

04:07

When I select this connector, you can see that the system type is security and there's really not many parameters for security connectors.

04:18

I can I can specify connector description which will help when I'm adding this component to a system.

04:25

But other than that there's really not much there.

04:28

Same thing for the other low voltage systems here.

04:32

Surely not many parameters that you have to deal with.

04:35

But if I were to select power-balanced or power-unbalanced, then you could see there are several other parameters.

04:45

I'll close this and not make any changes.

04:49

And then lastly, let's select a cable tray fitting and then click edit family.

04:57

And when I look at cable tray or conduit fittings, you'll notice that the connectors will be a little bit different.

05:03

First off they are cable tray or conduit connectors,

05:07

and then there are different options that they have as far as different parameters, mainly the size.

05:15

The size of the connector is important when you're dealing with conduit and cable tray,

05:19

but once again, you will want to associate those two parameters that control the geometry of the fitting.

05:28

So in this, in this case we have a tray height parameter that's being used to control the height of our cable tray connector.

05:38

If you notice these dashed lines in the drawing area, they simply indicate that the connectors have been linked.

05:48

So you can see here there's a remove link option in the contextual ribbon, as well as a link connectors option.

05:54

And when you see this dash line, it means that they've been linked together.

05:59

So electrical connectors, those are going to control the circuits that they've been at, that they can be added to,

06:06

and then cable tray and conduit that's going to control your cable tray and conduit connections in the project.

06:13

And the important thing there is really the size.