How to Generate Connection Schedules

Fundamentals

The Ebase connection report function performs an interconnection analysis on all of the drawings in the current project.

This analysis determines which components are connected together and whether conductors represent cable cores (conductors) or panel wires / bus bars. Connection schedules are produced in database format, referencing the catalog as required to extract details about the cable and wire types in the project.

The connection schedule files are named as follows:

<ProjectName>WIRSCH.dbf is a sequential wire schedule, containing unmarked conductors, panel wires, bus bars, their specifications and their terminations.
<ProjectName>FromToWire.dbf is a from-to wire schedule, containing unmarked conductors, panel wires, bus bars, their specifications and terminations for both ends
<ProjectName>WireNetwork.dbf is a wire schedule, containing unmarked conductors, panel wires, bus bars, their specifications and summarised terminations.
<ProjectName>CABSCH.dbf is a cable schedule, containing all cables, their source, their destination and their specifications.
<ProjectName>CORSCH.dbf is a cable core (conductors) schedule, for the above cables, containing termination information for each core (conductor) used in the current project.
<ProjectName>FERR.dbf is a ferrule / wire label schedule, for the above cables and wires, containing multiple options for wire labels at each termination in the current project.
<ProjectName>RCABSCH.dbf is a ROUTING cable schedule, containing all cables, their source, their destination and their specifications and routing information from Paneldes.
<ProjectName>TermsWithConductors.dbf is a terminals report, containing all of the terminals in your project with a list of the connected conductors.

Analysing connection of lines on drawings: "LINE SEGMENTS"

In Elecdes ONLY simple "line segments" should be used to show conductors on the drawing. When EBASE analyses interconnection, all line segments on your drawing are traced and any component connections are determined. Polylines etc. are not recognised as conductors. If a line is to represent any part of a conductor it must be created with a simple "line segment".

Using default settings, connection reports will include only wires that are connected to one or more components. Including "floating" wires is optional.

If you wish to draw lines on your drawing which ARE NOT conductors, use polylines. This will avoid any possibility of error during analysis.

Examples of where you should use polylines

Lines used for illustrative purposes.
When drawing boxes around components to indicate the components are in the same enclosure.
When drawing lines indicating components are located in a certain panel or area of plant.
When indicating a group of cable cores (conductors) is merging into one cable on a loop diagram.
See How to Draw Conductors for a Circuit for a more complete discussion about constructing conductors and the rules that Elecdes uses to determine if two line segments are connected to form part of the same conductor.

Connections to devices and terminals

Device symbols generally have more than one terminal at which a conductor may be connected. A line segment is considered connected to a device terminal if one endpoint is located at the device terminal position, within a margin of error.

The coded attribute BUSW of each device symbol specifies the acceptable position of each terminal for various device terminal arrangements.

See Device Symbol: BUSW Attribute for the device terminal arrangements accepted by Elecdes.

Devices and Terminal strips are uniquely identified by both their panel number and their tagname or terminal strip name (PNLNO and TAGNAME/TBLOCK attributes respectively).

Single line diagram symbols will connect to a line segment at any point on or within their boundary. They have no specific terminal locations.

NOTE: Elecdes component symbols will not work correctly for Ebase connection reports if they are rotated by CAD commands. You should instead use the H or V prefixed symbol that is appropriate to the conductor lines in the circuit in which it is placed.

NOTE: Connections are found correctly when symbols or whole drawings have been scaled.

Polarised or diode terminals

How to Report the Connection side on a Terminal Strip.

Connection tolerances

Ebase checks an area around termination points and around entire components for connections to compensate for small errors when connecting lines, for example a line drawn without SNAP on.
If a line has an endpoint close to a component, the line may appear to be connected to Ebase. Ensure a suitable gap is left between line endpoints and components when connections are not desired.
If a conductor marker, marking a valid conductor line segment, is placed too close to an adjacent line segment, the adjacent line segment may assume the conductor marker is attached. Always ensure conductor marker insert points are only placed on one segment and not within 2.0 mm / 1/8 inches of any other segments.

The detection of the presence of a wire or cable core (conductor) marker on a diagonal line segment has been improved in this version of EDS. Previous versions potentially erroneously assigned wire or cable core (conductor) markers in the presence of long diagonal line segments.
A "?" in the TERM field of any schedule indicates that the function found a connection to a component but was unable to clearly identify the terminal to which the conductor should be connected. This may occur if there is more than one conductor connected to one terminal of a component.
A "?" in the TERM field will cause two line segments connected at their endpoints to this terminal to ignore that device termination. The device is ignored if the endpoints are at the point where the "?" terminal was to be connected. The lines will behave as if the two line segments were joined and had passed by the device at a distance greater than the connection tolerance. Ebase does this to avoid erroneous connections in close proximity to a device.

Identification of ferrules or wire labels and crimps

The termination blocks, used to provide wire labels and carry crimp information, must be placed on the final line segments where a conductor terminates at a component. If the wire is represented by only a single line segment on the drawing, then the two termination blocks will each be assigned to the end to which they are closest. This is an improvement from previous versions of EDS where the termination block was required to be clearly at the correct end of the line segment.

Common Interconnection Warnings

Many of these warnings are optional. If you do not wish to receive any of these warnings, check the Warnings preferences in Setup.

Connection reports will show a 3+ TERMINATIONS warning wherever more than two panels and field devices are connected to a single CABLE when considering all of the CORES (conductors) of that cable. (A "core" is a conductor in the cable).
SHORT CIRCUIT warnings will be issued where more than one conductor marker, WIRE or CABLE, is inserted on the same equipotential (i.e. the same connected set of line segments).

Short circuit is also reported where a single cable core (conductor) is connected to 3 or more terminals. 3 or more terminations is allowed only for panel wires.
OPEN CIRCUIT warnings will occur when less than 2 terminations appear on any equipotential.

In a default configuration the open circuit warning is suppressed for cable screens or shields.
UNLABELLED WIRE warnings will be issued wherever a network of line segments has no wire or cable core marker. See Unmarked Conductor in Conductor Naming and Continuation.
BLANK NAME warnings will be issued whenever a wire or cable core (conductor) marker is used, but the wire name or cable name is left blank. See Conductor Naming and Continuation.
CORE OVER-USE warnings will be issued for a cable whenever the number of cores (conductors) used in the project exceeds the number of cores (conductors) specified in the catalog spec for that cable.
INVALID EQUIPOTENTIAL warnings will occur if you place the same wire name onto a conductor on either side of a device, which could change the voltage / current signal or disconnect it. See Conductor Naming and Continuation.
INCONSISTENT WIRE NETWORK warnings will be issued whenever different wire network numbers are entered into the wire extension markers on one physically connected network of line segments. See Conductor Naming and Continuation.
INCONSISTENT MARKER warnings will be generated when wire marker or cable core (conductor) marker symbols for the same conductor specify a different (inconsistent) catalog item for that wire or cable.
FERRULE MISMATCH WIRENAMES warnings will be generated if the ferrule text in a termination (CONX) block does not match the wire name.
FERRULE MISSING warnings will be generated if there is no ferrule text specified for a termination.
FERRULE MISMATCH ENDS warnings will be generated if the ferrule text in a termination (CONX) block at one end of a conductor does not match the ferrule text at the other end of the conductor.
BLANK FERRULE warnings will be generated if the FERRULE attribute is left blank in the termination (CONX) block.
BAD TERMINATION warnings will be encountered if a line segment does not terminate in the appropriate location on a device or terminal. This should be rectified on the drawing.
FLOATING MARKER warnings will be issued when a labelled conductor is not connected to any device or terminal at either end, or when a wire or cable core (conductor) marker is not attached to a line.
MISSING/EXTRA TERMINAL warnings occur when a wire has been connected to a device that has a blank TERMINAL NUMBER attribute.
WIRE ON INCORRECT LAYER warnings occur when a WIRE NAME does not contain(in part) layer name of the LINE on which the wire marker is placed. See connection report warnings for more details.
3+ TERMINATIONS WITH NO ORDER warnings occur when a wire with 3 or more terminations does NOT have enough wire order blocks inserted OR does NOT have a valid wire order number entered for every termination. See connection report warnings for more details.
3+ TERMINATIONS WITH DUPLICATE ORDER warnings occur if wire with 3 or more terminations have duplicated wire order numbers entered for a termination. See connection report warnings for more details.
FINAL TERMINATION NOT AT END warnings occur when a device is supposed to be at the end of wire that has more than three terminations and its wire order number indicates that it will NOT be placed at either end of the wire route (i.e. it is not the lowest or highest number). Devices must be marked with the attribute RSTATUS = WIREORDEREND to be recognised as needing to be on the end of a route. See connection report warnings for more details.
SINGLE LINE CONNECTION warnings occur when a conductor line is connected between a "Single Phase/Pole" symbol such as switch and a "Single Line Diagram" symbol such as a single line 3-phase circuit breaker. Single line and single phase/pole symbols are similar in appearance and it is easy to mistakenly insert the incorrect type of symbol. See connection report warnings for more details.

"Single Line Zone" areas and their effects

Connection reports may show warnings where duplication problems occur as a result of conductors that have been shown on a single line diagram as well as shown on the equivalent schematic in your project. These warnings may be avoided if Ebase can recognise the single line circuit. To avoid these warnings you must place the single line diagram inside a single line zone symbol's designated area.

Single line zones can be inserted and sized with Elecdes.

Sequential Wire Schedule

The wire schedule, <ProjectName>WIRSCH.dbf, lists all terminations for all panel wires and bus bars (and any conductors that do not have conductor markers attached).

There is no limit imposed by Elecdes on the number of terminations for a single wire.

Each record in the file details one termination of the wire.

For each wire there will be a record for each termination.

Wire Network Schedule

The wire network schedule, <ProjectName>WIRENETWORK.dbf, lists all terminations for all panel wires and bus bars (and any conductors that do not have conductor markers attached).

The number of terminations reported for a single wire within one column is limited by the width of the column (255 characters) that contains the termination details. This column is called the TERMINALS column.

If required Ebase will add up to 8 further columns to the file to accommodate larger terminals lists. The columns will be named TERMINALSn where n is 2-8.

Each record in the file details all the terminations of the wire.

For each wire there will be only one record in the schedule.

From To Wire Schedule

The from-to wire schedule, <ProjectName>FROMTOWIRE.dbf, lists all terminations for all panel wires and bus bars (and any conductors that do not have conductor markers attached).

It lists two terminations for each wire, one connection for each end of each length of conductor.

If you enable the option Fix termination consistency for wires then the terminations of each wire are swapped where necessary and possible to keep each terminal consistently in only the _A or _B side of the report.

Looped Wires

If you wish to change the termination order of the wires, see the Changing the Wire Termination Order help topic. If you wish to add a number to each segment of a loop wire see the How to Add Wire Segment Numbers help topic.

Cable Core (Conductor) Schedule

The cable core (conductor) schedule, <ProjectName>CORSCH.dbf, lists the terminations for each cable core (conductor).

Cable cores (conductors) are assumed to have a maximum of two terminations.

Each record details the first two terminations found for one cable core (conductor).

This report is to provide detail on the individual terminal connections for the cable cores (conductors).

Cable Schedule

The cable schedule, <ProjectName>CABSCH.dbf, lists the cables found in the project.

The source and destination of each cable are referenced to the panel number and device name.

Each record provides information about one cable such as its ratings, cores (conductors) and number of spare cores (conductors).

Cable report termination order

The two terminations listed for the cable in the cable schedule are determined from the cable core (conductor) marker that is in the uppermost, leftmost position of the first sheet (alphanumerically) in the project. The terminations of this primary core (conductor) determine the order for reporting the terminations for all of the other cores (conductors).

The terminations of the primary core (conductor) are sorted alphanumerically according to the sheet number or drawing file name. If both terminations are on a single sheet or drawing, then they are sorted by position; primarily they are sorted left to right followed by sorting top to bottom.

You can override this default ordering of the terminations for any particular cable. You can specify which termination will be placed in the _A suffixed columns of the reports by specifying whether the it should be the top most, bottom most, left most or right most termination (compared to the second termination). To specify whether the _A suffixed columns should contain the top, bottom, left or right termination, use one of the following four values in the RSTATUS attribute of the cable core (conductor) marker:

A_END_T	The top termination will be placed in the _A columns of the reports.
A_END_B	The bottom termination will be placed in the _A columns of the reports.
A_END_L	The left most termination will be placed in the _A columns of the reports.
A_END_R	The right most termination marker will be placed in the _A columns of the reports.

A cable can have only two terminations and there are only the _A and _B columns in the reports, so the other termination of the cable will naturally be placed into the _B suffixed columns.

If there is only a single termination then its position is compared to the cable core (conductor) marker. If that single termination is not in the position specified for the _A end, then that single termination will be placed in the _B suffixed columns of the report.

If you enable the option Enable final alignment of cable terminations then the terminations of each cable (for which you have not used RSTATUS A_END_?) are swapped where necessary and possible to keep each panel or device consistently in only the _A or _B side of the report.

Listing unused Cable-cores

On the EDS Setup program's "Report Prefs" page, with a checkbox you can enable the unused cores to be listed in the core schedule. This is useful if you are generating "core sheets".

See Setup - Report Preferences.

Core Sheets

Ebase will produce DWG based "core sheets" if requested. These sheets are a summarised report of the CORSCH.dbf file, showing all connectivity, with some specification information from the CABSCH.dbf file to describe the cable. Core sheets are used as an installation instruction for a single cable in large plant.

Core sheets are made from prototypes stored in the <EDS> MET_SAMP or <EDS> IMP_SAMP directory.

EDS provides a sample prototype called "coresheetprototype.dwg".

The Core sheets use the "DBF import to drawing" table creation and update function. If you wish to customise a core sheet you should refer to the instructions for customising the columns of a table imported to a drawing.

Core sheets are enabled in the EDS Setup program's "Report Prefs" page, with a checkbox. On this page you can also choose the file name of the core sheet prototype you wish to use and also enable the unused cores to be listed in the core schedule, to fully populate the core sheets.

See Setup - Report Preferences.

The Ferrule / Wire Label Schedule:

The file <ProjectName>Ferr.dbf is created by Ebase during Interconnection.

This file contains the From and To options for Wire and Cable Ferrule (Wire Label) names.

The Terminals with Conductors Report:

The file <ProjectName>TermsWithConductors.dbf is created by Ebase during Interconnection.

This file contains a list of all of the terminals in your project along with the conductors connected on both sides. The conductors are listed on the same side as they are connected in the schematic. Each uniquely named terminal will have one entry in the file, so duplicate terminal symbols will be reported in the same entry.

Procedure

Save the current drawing. This ensures that the connection report function is not working with an old file while the drawing session has new data.
Ensure your current EBASE project contains the drawing files relevant to connection schedules.
Check the box for "Connection Reports".
Press "Compile Reports".
As each drawing file in the project is processed, a message will appear showing the drawing name and the size of the drawing file. Ebase caches unmodified drawings for speed. If drawings do not appear to be scanned, on successive report generations, it is because they are cached.

During cache scans there is a possibility that the database engine will be busy. You will be displayed a message indicating this and given options to wait or cancel.
A message window will then appear displaying the message "Generating interconnection information, please wait....".
The connection schedule database files will be generated in the current project directory:

<ProjectName>FERR.dbf

<ProjectName>FROMTOWIRE.dbf

<ProjectName>WIRSCH.dbf

<ProjectName>WIRENETWORK.dbf

<ProjectName>CORSCH.dbf

<ProjectName>CABSCH.dbf

<ProjectName>TermsWithConductors.dbf

Connection Report Preferences

There are a number of options that control the format and content of the connection reports. These are described in Setup - Report Preferences.