On some occasions, users may want to create drawings that display symbols horizontally. At other times, users may want to create vertical ones. Electra makes it easy to do both, with one single symbol. Symbols in Electra are intelligent, and can be rotated vertically or horizontally with a simple right click. Rotated symbols automatically have their text and descriptions moved to the correct positions. Certain symbols are even smarter, for example, the motor symbol will allow users to place a 3 terminal or a 6 terminal motor with just a single right click. Drop a symbol onto a drawing and right click to exlpore for more options.
To place a symbol on a drawing, simply drag and drop a symbol from a stencil and drop it on your drawing. Symbols dropped from stencils inherits all formatting and data from it's master shape in the stencil.
To duplicate a symbol (2 methods):
Duplicated symbols inherits all formatting and data from the source symbol. For faster circuit design, duplicating symbols are recommended, especially when users wanted to preserve text or reference formatting.
Electra symbol search works on open stencils only. Users may need certain stencils on one project and other stencils on another. Since Electra only search open stencils, it will only return symbols that you are currently interested in and ignore unopened stencils.
To search for electra symbols:
Users can select to place search results in as many new stencils as required, which means searching repeatedly for the same thing is not required. These search results can also be saved in a stencil, without the need for repeated searches even across projects.
To make symbol search even faster, you may mark symbols with your own keyword as follows:
Electra scan all open stencils and place search data into a search database, "Search.accdb" that is placed on the same folder as your Electra6.mdb. The search database will be filled up with stencil data after a period of time, where some of it may be deprecated and no longer used. To clean up and clear your search database:
To clean up and clear your search database:
When a symbol or wire is duplicated from another, the new symbol will inherit all formatting and data from the source symbol. For example, if you assign a relay symbol to a Siemens component, when you duplicate this symbol, the new symbol will automatically be assigned to a Siemens component. If you assign a wire to a cable, duplicating the wire will result in a new wire that is also assigned to a cable. Intelligent Inheritance allows users to set data to one symbol and re-use these data simply by duplicating the symbol.
When a symbol is dropped on a drawing, Electra will automatically and intelligently rename the new symbol. If a symbol is dropped from a stencil, Electra will always rename the symbol by using its default reference, as listed on the symbol's master in the stencil. If a symbol is duplicated from an existing symbol, the new symbol will inherit all formatting and Electra will rename using the existing reference format.
The same also applies to wires. If a wire is dragged from a stencil, Electra will search through its internal sorted list and rename the new wire to the next sequential number. If a wire is duplicated from an existing wire, the new wire will inherit all formatting and Electra will rename using the existing wire name format.
To edit the symbol reference (2 methods):
Included on the Reference window are real time cross reference information on shapes that you have already placed on your drawing. Click on a reference to display shapes and locations for that reference.
To display or hide pin names, right click on a symbol and select "Set Pin Names", then click on Hide or Show Pin names. Alternatively, pin names can be hidden or shown on an entire page by clicking on menu Home | Layers | Layer Properties, and modifying the Pin layer to show or hide pin names.
When symbols are dropped on a drawing, Electra automatically allocate the next available pin set to the symbol. When pin sets are not available or fully used, Electra displays the pin names as red. Users can right click on a symbol and select "Set Pin Names" to manually allocate another pin set, show or hide pin names or add and edit pin sets.
Symbols in Electra represents real world components, and the relationship can be any of the following:
Relationship | Example |
One symbol to one component | A power supply symbol represents a real world power supply. |
One symbol to many components | A relay symbol may represent a relay, a relay base and relay clips. |
Many symbols to one component | Coil symbol, main contacts symbol and auxiliary contacts symbol all represent only a single contactor. |
Many symbols to many components | Coil symbol and main contacts represents a contactor while multiple auxiliary contacts represents a single 4 pole auxiliary contact. |
Note: All symbols have the same reference. |
In Electra, all symbols with the same reference are initially organized into a single group, where they can be assigned to one or more components. Users can then divide the same symbols into further groupings, and each group can then to be assigned to one or more components.
To assign a component to a single symbol:
To assign and manage all symbols and components:
By default, all symbols with the same reference are are initially organized into a single group. Users can select to move some symbols to another group by unchecking the grouping box. Once unchecked, the symbols will automatically appear in another group ready to be assigned to another component. To move back symbols to it's original group, simply select the original group and check required symbols.
When users click the "Select" button on the Manage Components window, the Select Component window will be displayed:
The Component database stores all component specifications so that they can be used and re-used on multiple projects and drawings. Once a component is selected, it's specifications is then transferred and stored on the drawing itself for portability. Components stored on the database are divided into categories and a single component can appear in more than one category.
To access the component database:
The AutoLocation symbol displays the location of your references automatically in real time, all without user interference. Locations will update automatically when you move symbols, even across multiple pages. Right click on an AutoLocation shape to jump to monitored references. Multiple AutoLocation symbols can be used to monitor the same reference on multiple pages.