Looking for an easy way to add wireless communications to a project? Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee? Wireless electronics is considered by many to be a dark art, even electrical engineers! However, today’s modular hardware and simplified software resources has made it possible for even nonelectrical engineers to successfully add wireless communications to their designs. This course is for mechanical engineers, industrial designers, architects, and software engineers looking to control objects wirelessly or gather data from devices or systems remotely. Spend time with us learning to add Wi-Fi to your next project! Using Eagle, we will build a small sensor-based system that posts data to the cloud and responds to commands from your browser. Some familiarity with embedded software platforms, including Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or similar will be helpful but is not required. Familiarity with breadboarding concepts will also be helpful.

Revit families were created to communicate with each other; we can push or gather data via their connectors, which lets us create some very powerful families and schedules. Using this data, we can coordinate across disciplines and decrease errors and design time. Mechanical can input values and provide electrical with the necessary information to properly design their systems with minimum effort. Parameters can be viewed as discreet bits of information you plug in to your equipment to populate your schedule-an arduous, tedious task. But if you look at how all those bits of data can affect all the other bits of data, and you can get them talking to each other, you'll have a useful design tool. Since engineering is chock-full of formulas, we'll look at how we can use these formulas to drive our parameters and streamline the design process. We'll look at how mechanical elements push data upstream to help calculate electrical loads.

Revit® MEP software for electrical engineering is all about coordination. Yes, it does modeling in 3D, but the biggest benefit for electrical is not that it can model 3D lights. Rather, it is that it produces a coordinated model with the insurance that everything is circuited and documented correctly. Setting up Revit MEP for Electrical can be painful. There are many pesky settings and things that just do not work the way you want them to work. Come and join me as we discuss the major items that I have discovered that keep electrical engineers up at night trying to configure Revit MEP to work the way they want it to. We tackle problems such as editing panel schedules, changing graphics of nested families, working with homeruns, working with hosted fixtures, and working with load classifications. Don't let Revit MEP get the best of you. Learn how to fix these pesky settings before they drive you crazy!

In this class, we will discuss how, as project leads, architects can work with consultants who do not see the benefit of Revit software as a collaboration tool. What options do we have when consultants are not willing to use Revit software's information management capacity? How do we manage expectations on a project with consultants unwilling to use Revit software's 3D capabilities? What strategies can we use to stay on budget when consultant-supplied Building Information Modeling (BIM) is incomplete? How can we set up 3D modeling requirements to facilitate consultant BIM use? What tools do we have to reassure consultants that modeling in BIM is both efficient and beneficial for all parties? You will also have an opportunity to review sample execution plans for different levels of BIM involvement.

For a while, MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) disciplines in general, and electrical in particular, have been somewhat behind architecture and structure disciplines when it comes to utilizing BIM (Building Information Modeling) capabilities; hence, electrical engineers usually used BIM software as a drafting tool while keeping the same old calculation sheets and process. The purpose of this class is to give a detailed approach on how electrical analysis and workflow can be embedded successfully in BIM software, to motivate MEP and electrical engineers to take the design process to the next levels—not just by the integration between analysis software, but by preparing a full workflow. The lecture will describe embedding electrical analysis using Revit software, Revit API, and simple database; following electrical design tasks such as feeder sizing and protection sizing; explaining how Revit is used as the main tool and central platform for the electrical design process; and also making the electrical and MEP engineers think of the next level.

Revit MEP software for electrical engineering is all about coordination. Yes, it does modeling in 3D; but the biggest benefit for electrical is not that it can model 3D lights. Rather, it's that it produces a coordinated model with the assurance that everything is circuited and documented correctly. Setting up Revit MEP for electrical can be painful. There are many pesky settings and things that just do not work the way you want them to work. Come to this class to discuss the major items that keep electrical engineers up at night trying to configure Revit MEP to work the way they want it to. We'll tackle problems such as editing panel schedules, changing graphics of nested families, creating circuit paths, developing powerful electrical schedules, working with hosted fixtures, and working with load classifications. Don't let Revit MEP get the best of you. Learn how to fix these pesky settings before they drive you crazy.

In this class we will discuss Seattle City Light's (SCL) current program to update and modernize its construction standards and how this effort has affected the firm's automatic utility design (AUD) project. We will review how this process has impacted SCL's compatible units in its work management system and the industry models (feature classes) maintained in AUD. We will also discuss the drivers for the modernization, the timing considerations related to the current AUD project, and impact of the changes on AUD.

Modern electrical design is becoming more modular every day. Instead of individual wires attaching to individual screw terminals, pre-made harnesses are used to provide connections between components. Take this class to learn about the cable and harness tools in AutoCAD Electrical. We cover how to manipulate the tools to provide intelligent reports for rack systems, console interfaces, and other non 'standard' requirements.

Now that we have been using AutoCAD Electrical in industry for a while, let's see what we can do to squeeze more productivity out of the software. The class covers unique ways to use the software's existing tools to become more productive.

Underground utilities such as cables and conduits are rarely seen, and underground electrical vaults are complicated, dangerous, badly lit, and sometimes full of water or ice. Vaults are hard to access and records of what is inside of them will often be missing. Using cameras and ReCap 360 software, the Locates, Engineering, and Operations personnel at Anchorage Municipal Light & Power are creating 3D models of these assets in hard-to-reach underground vaults. They then use ReCap 360 software to make these 3D models available to utility personnel out in the field or back in the office.

Everyone approaches AutoCAD software differently, so in this hands-on lab we cover several approaches to customizing and launching commands. After creating a workspace, we will create a custom panel on the ribbon to hold your favorite commands, and we'll also see how to add the same commands to the Quick Access toolbar. As some of you know, I'm a Tool Palette junkie, so we'll see how a button on the Tool Palette may result in a better approach. For the keyboarders, we'll create a 1-line lisp, and we'll edit the ACAD.PGP file for aliases. But what about those rollover tips and the content of Quick Properties? We'll also check those out. In addition to some quality time in the Customize User Interface, we will also present tips along the way, all of which I hope will result in a more efficient and productive daily AutoCAD experience.

So you have hundreds, and maybe thousands, of standard AutoCAD software drawings that represent your electrical designs, and you are uncertain about moving to AutoCAD Electrical software because you think you will have to redraw all your electrical designs. Well, guess what? You don’t have to. AutoCAD Electrical software ships with conversion tools that enable you to convert the standard AutoCAD entities into smart AutoCAD Electrical content. This class will show you how to use enough of the conversion tools to get you on the right circuit and energize those individual drawings into a project that recognizes all of the drawings that represent your product.

This class will cover advanced techniques for importing both 2D and 3D CAD drawings into Revit software projects. It will cover effective practices for 'Revitizing' a CAD drawing, the steps needed to get the result you want, and the ways to develop a library of CAD details that you can use in both AutoCAD software and Revit software.

Do you want to ensure the physical version of your electrical design has enough space in the mechanical layout? Are you tired of discovering too-tight bend radii during the first prototype build? Are you interested in keeping your mechanical and electrical designs in sync? Are you skeptical that any of this really works in a real-world environment? Attend this class to learn about all of this from real-life examples as they’ve been accomplished by your peers around the world. And learn why AutoCAD Electrical software and Inventor software are better combined together—just like chocolate and peanut butter.

Since the early days of AutoCAD software, users and companies have struggled with maintaining standards and managing block libraries. After all, having a company block library on a network drive and using a layer standard is great, but it's hard to make sure people use the right block and put the text on the correct layer. This class will address the easiest and most effective methods for managing existing blocks and Dynamic Blocks and ensuring that the correct colors, layers, and linetypes are used for the creation of all geometry. You'll also learn the secret of how to create, display, and manage shared palettes securely as an Enterprise Solution for your company standards.

Meet with electric utility industry peers to discuss the intricacies of substation design. Find out how other utilities are using design resources. Compare workflows. Share successes, failures and challenges. Benefit from others' experience. Share ideas for improving processes. The more knowledge we have, the better we can design substations.

Are you ready?...Set?...Let's GO! This is a fast-paced class designed to keep you on your toes with rapid-fire tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your time in AutoCAD Electrical software. Hold on tight, it’s going to be a wild ride!

The introduction of parametrics into AutoCAD® software in 2010 was one of the most important new features in recent years. AutoCAD 2011 further enhanced this feature with added functionality such as inferred geometric constraints. Parametrics are, however, not an easy concept for many users, and real-world applications and best-practice strategies can be hard to master. This class will take a structured approach to explaining these parametric features and how best to use them to provide maximum value to your design development.

If you are currently using AutoCAD to develop controls drawings or if you have AutoCAD Electrical but you are still primarily using it as vanilla AutoCAD to complete your controls drawings, this is the class for you. Learn key tips and tricks to get you quickly up and running with AutoCAD Electrical, so that you can start utilizing all of its amazing automation! Hot Topics will include template development, support file step up, and user friendly automated commands. This class will be electrifying and have you feeling the spark of love for ACADE!

We share work all the time, but with Autodesk® Revit® software we also have to learn how the software enables us to interact and integrate the work we all do in a new and different way. Revit introduces new language and rules. Most of all, it makes us think differently about what we mean when we define what is your stuff and my stuff. This class will tackle the language and rules. It will give you a better grasp of what is involved as well as give you greater confidence.