Assign Wires and Cables to Particular Sides of Terminal Strips

Introduction

In the absence of other information, cables and wires are each placed onto a side of the terminal strip using the conductor placement options that you can configure in the Terminal Strips tab page of the wiring diagram settings dialog. These are the options that are described below.

A wire or cable that is connected to a polarised terminal in the schematic diagram will be placed on the same side of the terminal strip as it appears in the schematic.

You can customise your wiring diagram by choosing these options according to your project's requirements. The wiring diagram is generated based on what options you choose and a set of priorities for Wire links and Wire and Cable cores.

Cable and Wire Location groups

The Cable Location and Wire Location group boxes enable you to control the side of the terminal strip on which wires and cables are placed. There are two overall options for each type of conductor:

Restricted to a side: where the conductor can be placed only on the chosen side.
Prioritised to a side: where both sides can be used, but one side is always the first choice.

The controls are exactly the same for each type of conductor.

Restricting cables or wires to one side

Click on the Left or Right option to force all of the conductors of that type to be placed on only the left or right side. All other options for placing the conductor will become unavailable.

This option will override the side specified on the schematic drawings for connections to polarised terminals.

Prioritising one side for cables or wires

Click on the R + L option to allow the conductors to use both sides of the terminal strip. In this case, the Right priority and Left priority controls beneath the R + L option control which side will be the first choice for the conductor.

Connections to polarised terminals will be placed on the side specified on the schematic and reported in the connection schedules.

Restricting to one side only if both conductor types are used

Use only 1 side, if wires exist Use only 1 side, if cables exist

When using the prioritised placement option (R + L is selected), you can also specify that if both types of conductors are present, then this type of conductor will be restricted to its prioritised side.

This option will override the side specified on the schematic drawings for connections to polarised terminals.

For example, using the configuration above:

If there are only cables connected to the terminal strip, then the first cable will be placed on the right side and the second cable will be placed on the left.
If there are also wires connected to the terminal strip, then the cables will be placed on the right side only.

Configuring compatible settings for both cables and wires

The controls for configuring cable and wire placement are identical. In a normal configuration, they will be configured to complementary settings. For example, if the cables are configured for Right priority, then the wires should be configured for Left priority.

External wires

If you tick the Treat external wires like cables checkbox then any external wires ( i.e. the wires going to a different panel ) will be treated as cables and they will be drawn on the same side as you have chosen to draw the cables.

External wires by network

If you tick the External wires by network checkbox then all of the wire segments of a network containing at least one external wire will be treated as a cable and will be drawn on the same side as you have chosen to draw the cables. If you do not tick this option then only the individual wire segments that are external will be placed like cables.

Polarised by network

If you tick the Polarised by network checkbox then all of the wire segments of a network containing at least one connection to a polarised terminal will be drawn on the side of the polarised connection on the schematic. If you do not tick this option then only the individual wire segments that are connected to polarised terminals will be placed according to the connection on the schematic.

NOTE: The polarisation by network will not work if the network has mixed polarisation in it.

Priority system used for wiring diagram generation

The wiring diagram will be generated as per the choices you have made in the preferences. However, Wirediag will follow a set of rules for prioritizing the side for drawing wire links and wires and cables. The table below shows the priority used while drawing the wiring diagram from highest to lowest.

Side priority for wire links

Priority	Output
4 Highest priority	If the conductor has the value WIRELINKLEFT or WIRELINKRIGHT specified in the RSTATUS attribute then the connection will be made to the side specified in RSTATUS. This is the highest priority and it will override the preferences and polarisation.
3	If the individual wire segment is connected to a polarised terminal then the terminal connections on the schematic will decide the wire side for that segment.
2	If the Polarised by network checkbox is ticked and the wire link is part of a network that has one or more connections that are always on the same side of polarised terminals, then all of the wire segments from that network, including those connected to non-polarised terminals, will be connected to the same side as on the schematic.
1 Lowest priority	In the absence of all higher priorities for placing the wire link, it will be placed on the side chosen in the box Wire Links Setup.

Side priority for wires and cable cores or conductors

Priority	Output
4 Highest priority	If the conductor has the value CONDLEFT or CONDRIGHT specified in the RSTATUS attribute then the connection will be made to the side specified in RSTATUS. This is the highest priority and it will override the preferences and polarisation.
3	If the individual conductor segment is connected to a polarised terminal then the terminal connections on the schematic will decide the conductor side for that segment.
2	If the Polarised by network checkbox is ticked and the conductor is part of a wire network that has one or more connections that are always on the same side of polarised terminals, then all of the segments from that network, including those connected to non-polarised terminals, will be connected to the same side as on the schematic.
1 Lowest priority	In the absence of all higher priorities for placing the conductor, it will be placed on the side chosen in the box "Cable location" or "Wire location", as described above.

These settings can be found on the Terminal Strips tab page of the wiring diagram settings dialog.