POWER UP YOUR PROJECT WITH ELECTRICAL FAMILIES
Kelli Lubeley – Dewberry
This class focuses on tackling common issues with creating and using electrical families. Topics we will
discuss include displaying symbols versus geometry, creating an effective power connector, adding any
element to a panel schedule, using connectors for non-power electrical elements, using spaces and
zones to organize systems, using panel families for creative scheduling and organizing.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to:

Understand the parameters associated with power connectors and how they relate to panel
schedules

Define connectors for non-power electrical elements

Use spaces and zones to spatially organize systems

Understand panel families and how to create panels and devices for custom electrical systems
About the Speaker
Kelli Lubeley currently works as Virtual Design Coordinator for Dewberry. Her main focus is on workflow
development, content creation, and 3rd party application integration for virtual design solutions. She has
developed and instructed Revit courses at the community college and corporate level for over 5 years,
and implemented Revit Architecture and MEP at multiple firms. She enjoys the many facets of the Revit
platform and loves to constantly find new ways to leverage BIM technology for the design community.
klubeley@dewberry.com
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Geometry and annotation play a large part in the construction documents for the electrical industry, but
to take true advantage of the power of BIM, systems are the key. A Revit system is a set of logically
connected elements within the model. Revit refers to an electrical system as both a system and a circuit.
Creating a system will allow you to group elements together for the purposes of organization, layout,
analysis, and loads. For the electrical discipline, this includes the generation of panel schedules.
Connectors are the Revit feature that provides the ability to associate elements together.
Understanding Electrical Connectors
Connectors in the Family Editor
So what’s so special about connectors? Why do we need them and what exactly do they do? Connectors
are abstract entities placed within families to allow load calculation. For electrical families, connectors
host the System Type, Number of Poles, Power State Factor, Load Classification, Voltage, Apparent Load,
and Power Factor parameters.
All of these except the System Type and Power State Factor can be controlled by family and/or shared
parameters. The connector uses this information to facilitate the creation of an electrical system, or
circuit, by passing the parameter values to the project and allowing elements of the same load to be
added to the same system and connected to a suitable panel. Each parameter plays an important role in
how the family that contains the connector is treated in the project environment.
2
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
System Type is the most basic assignment applied to the connector. The value assigned here will
determine what other elements the family can be grouped with in the project. If the System Type is
assigned to Power – Balanced or Power – Unbalanced, Other parameters necessary for the electrical
load will be provided. If any other System Type is assigned, there are no other parameters used by the
system in the project.
For now, let’s focus on Power connectors. Once the System Type is selected, the Power State Factor
needs to be defined as Lagging or Leading. Remember these are the only two parameters cannot be
controlled via family or shared parameters. Once these two are set, the rest of the parameters can be
defined or linked to family/shared parameters.
Based on the design of the family, decide if each of the remaining parameters in the connector will be
the same for all types or will change based on the type. If the parameter value will be the same for all
types, assign the value to the parameter. If the parameter will change based on the type, link the
parameter to a parameter in the family. To link the parameter to a parameter in the family, click on the
small grey box to the right of the parameter value. In the dialog that opens, either select a parameter
from the list or click Add Parameter and create a new family parameter. Click OK to close the dialog.
Once a parameter in the connector has been linked to a parameter in the family, the value can be
modified in the project as needed. The connector is now ready to be connected to a system.
3
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Connectors in the Project
In the Revit project environment, a connector can be identified by a small box with a crosshair inside of
it. When an element containing a connector is selected, the connector icon will be displayed as well as
information about the connector.
After selecting the element, you can right click on the connector and create a new system using the
element or add the element to or remove it from an existing system. Remember, the systems available
to create or connect to are based on the System Type assigned to the connector in the Family Editor.
4
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Once a circuit has been created, the Edit Circuit button on the ribbon will allow elements to be added to
or removed from the circuit and to assign a panel to the circuit. When selecting a panel, only panels with
the proper distribution system for the load of the circuit will be available to choose from the dropdown.
Keep in mind that a panel must have a Distribution Type assigned before it can be connected to an
electrical system.
Non-Power Connector Types
In addition to the common Power – Balanced and Power – Unbalanced System Types, Revit also allows
connectors to be assigned as Data, Telephone, Nurse Call, Security, Fire Alarm, Controls, and
Communication. By having these types, we can group non-power electrical elements into systems within
the project.
5
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Spaces and Zones
Revit Rooms are architectural components used to maintain information about occupied areas. Revit
Spaces are exclusively used for the MEP disciplines to analyze volume. They contain parameters that
maintain information about the areas in which they have been placed. This information has been used
historically for performing a heating and cooling loads analysis, but they also detect model elements
that reside within their boundaries, so they are a natural way to organize information within the model.
Use the Place Spaces Automatically feature and the Space Naming Utility plug-in to simplify the process
of creating spaces that correspond with the architect’s rooms if desired.
Revit HVAC Zones consist of one or more spaces that are controlled by equipment that maintains a
common environment. They are created to define spaces that have common environmental or design
requirements. Spaces in unoccupied areas such as plenums can be added to zones. Spaces that are on
different levels can be added to the same zone.
Creating a Zone
Revit Zones allow the spaces within the Revit project to be grouped into service areas for
On the Analyze tab, click the Zone tool.
Select a Space to add it to the Zone.
6
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
When all Spaces have been selected, click on Finish Editing Zone.
Revit will display the zone as a single entity, similar to a space or room.
We can take this a step further by selecting the zone and dragging the handle for the zone to the room
where the equipment that services the zone is located.
7
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Schedules can also be created to help coordinate and double check design intent throughout the
project.
Now we have a visual way of coordinating which spaces in our project, and subsequently the
devices/equipment in those spaces are tied to which service area.
8
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Special Panel Families
Being able to create a system from components is a huge advantage in Revit for coordinating design and
installation. But what if we take it one step further? Let’s take the concepts we apply to our power
connectors and apply them to our other electrical connectors. Ponder this: how is the relationship
between a data outlet and network switch different than a duplex receptacle and a panelboard? For the
sake of our argument, the answer is, they aren’t! The type might be different (power vs. data), but the
relationship itself is the same. So why not treat the upstream equipment in our other electrical systems
just like panelboards? With this philosophy, we can define exactly which network switch the data system
is connected to, or to use another example, we could define which amplifier a group of speakers is
connected to. The possibilities here are endless with all of the different systems we create in the
electrical discipline. The key is in the equipment family.
When creating the equipment family, if we assign the category to Electrical Equipment, the family editor
provides us a dropdown to assign part type. When working with non-power equipment, choosing Other
Panel will allow us to assign the element as a panel to the Revit families downstream in the system and
create a panel schedule to reflect the design.
Once a panel family has been loaded in the project, non-power circuits can be created and connected to
the panel in the same manner as power circuits. In our example, the data receptacles are connected to
the network switch in the adjacent room.
9
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
This process can applied to A/V, security, communication, and other data systems. Keep in mind that
this is one of many solutions for coordinating your systems throughout each project, evaluate your
firm’s needs and processes to decide what works best for your firm.
Panel Schedules
Panel schedules are an essential part of any electrical design deliverable. Revit panel schedules are
highly customizable and provide a level of coordination that ensures accurate design and
documentation.
On the Manage tab, select Panel Schedule Templates and click Edit a Template.
10
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
1. In the Edit a Template dialog, select the template type. The template type determines the
option(s) in the Templates pane.
2. If you select a branch panel template, also select the configuration.
3. Select the template to edit and click Open.
The template displays in Edit Template mode. Use the commands on the Modify Panel Schedule
Template tab to edit the template.






Define primary settings - click Set Template Options (See Below)
Remove a parameter - select a cell, then click Remove Parameter. The column is cleared of
parameters.
Combine parameters - select a cell and click Combine Parameters.
Freeze or unfreeze the height and width of all rows and columns – click Freeze Rows and
Columns. You can continue to resize frozen rows and columns using Resize Column and Resize
Row, but are prevented from resizing them using grips.
Insert a column - select cells, then select either Left of Selected or Right of Selected from the
Insert Column drop-down menu.
Insert a row - select one or more rows, then select either Above Selected or Below Selected
from the Insert Row drop-down menu.
Template Options Dialog
General Settings
The General Settings options allow you to customize the overall panel schedule appearance such as the
width, parts, borders, and number of slots and parts that are shown. You can modify these settings
before or after creating a panel schedule to make it comply with your specifications.
1. For Total Width, specify the width of the plotted schedule in inches.
11
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
2. For Number of slots shown, specify whether the slots to display are determined from the
electrical equipment or set a constant value. If you select Variable based on maximum number
of one-pole breakers, the number of slots is determined by the Max #1 Pole Breakers parameter
in the electrical equipment properties.
Note: If the number of poles on a device exceeds the number of slots specified for by the
template, a warning displays.
3. For Show in panel schedule, specify whether to display the Header, Loads Summary, and Footer
parts of the template.
4. For Borders, specify whether to display an outside border and a border between parts of the
template.
12
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Circuit Table
Specifies the layout of the panel schedule circuit information, and circuit related settings.
1. Specify column header text orientation.
2. Specify a format for displaying loads. The formatting options are dependent on the panel
schedule template type (and panel configuration) that you are editing. The panel configuration
determines the available formatting options.
3. Specify the unit of measure on phase columns.
13
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Branch Panels: Two Columns, Circuits Across
The following formatting options are available for the branch panel template type when the Two
Columns, Circuits Across panel configuration is selected.
Loads by Phase: This format, available for 2-column branch panel templates only, displays each circuit
on its own row.
In this option, the circuits are on individual rows, instead of displaying 2 circuits per row. Circuit 1 is in
the first row, Circuit 2 is in the second row, and so on. Loads for each phase are displayed in a single
column.
Display multiple rows for multi-phase circuits
Show circuit number on one row for multi-phase circuits
Loads in Split Column by Phase. The default 2-column branch panel template format. There are 2
circuits per row, and the load values are shown in one larger column that is split into two. Circuits 1 and
2 are assigned to phase A, circuits 3 and 4 are assigned to phase B, and so on.
Display multiple rows for multi-phase circuits
14
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Show circuit number on one row for multi-phase circuits
Loads in Shared Column by Phase. This format is only available for 2-column branch panels only. In this
option, the only difference from the format of Loads in Split Column by Phase (above) is that the loads
for the 2 circuits on one row are separated by a slash instead of displaying in separate columns.
Circuit numbers on multiple rows
Circuit number on one row for multi-phase circuits
Mirrored Phase Columns: This format, available for two column branch panels only, features 2 sets of
phase columns with 2 circuits per row. The loads for circuit 1 and circuit 2 are shown in separate phase
columns, and so on.
Display multiple rows for multi-phase circuits
Show circuit number on one row for multi-phase circuits
15
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Branch Panel: Two Columns, Circuits Down
This is an alternate method of circuiting a branch panel. Instead of the circuits being assigned across the
panel, they are assigned (top to bottom) down one side and down the other side.
The following formatting options are available for the branch panel template type when the Two
Columns, Circuits Down panel configuration is selected.
Loads by Phase:
Display multiple rows for multi-phase circuits
Show circuit number on one row for multi-phase circuits
Loads in Split Columns by Phase. This format features 2 circuits per row, with the load values displayed
in one larger column that is separated into two.
Display multiple rows for multi-phase circuits
Show circuit number on one row for multi-phase circuits
16
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Loads in Shared Column by Phase. This format, available for 2-column branch panels, features the loads
for the two circuits on one row separated by a slash.
Display multiple rows for multi-phase circuits
Show circuit number on one row for multi-phase circuits
Mirrored Phase Columns. This format, available for two column branch panels only, features two sets of
phase columns. Two circuits per row, and the load for circuit 1 and circuit 2 are shown in separate phase
columns.
Display multiple rows for multi-phase circuits
Show circuit number on one row for multi-phase circuits
17
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Branch Panel: One Column
Total Load Only per Circuit. In the 1-column branch format shown here, the first row is the first
circuit, and the second row is the second circuit.
Show circuit number on one row for multi-phase circuits
The format shown here displays a subset of the total load, and the load for that phase.
Display multiple rows for multi-phase circuits
No Load Information. This format does not display load information.
Show circuit number on one row for multi-phase circuits
Display multiple rows for multi-phase circuits
18
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Separate Phase Loads per Circuit. If you are using the Circuit Naming by Phase settings, this format is
most suitable.
Show circuit number on one row for multi-phase circuits
Display multiple rows for multi-phase circuits
Switchboard
For switchboards, every circuit displays the same number regardless of the number of poles.
Separate Phase Loads per Circuit
For single phase panels, you can hide or show column for third phase
19
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Total Load Only per Circuit
The first row is the first circuit (3-pole). The second row is the second circuit (3-pole).
Single phase options are not available
No Load Information. This format does not display load information.
20
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Loads Summary
Specifies which load classes to display in the panel schedules, and specifies their ordering.
1. For Column header text orientation, specify how the text displays.
2. For Show in panel schedule, specify whether to display only connected loads or a constant set of
loads. When you select a constant set, use the Add and Remove buttons to specify the loads to
display.
You can add Electrical Equipment, Electrical Circuits, and Project Information categories to a panel
schedule template. Some parts of the template restrict the category of the parameter that you can
include. For example, you can add electrical equipment and project information to the header and
footer parts, but circuit parameters can only be added to the circuit table part. Only electrical
equipment parameters can be added to the loads summary.
21
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
1. Select a cell in the panel schedule template.
2. In the Choose Category drop-down, select a category.
3. In the Add Parameter drop-down, select a parameter.
The parameter’s placeholder populates the selected row. The value for this parameter displays in the
panel schedules upon creation.
Note: You do not have to delete a column to replace it with a new parameter. Click in the column where
you want to replace the parameter, and when you select another parameter, the selected parameter
replaces the original. The entire column updates regardless of the selected row.
You can add, edit, or remove the labels for parameters in the template. The labels are static text and are
not associated with the parameters.
A placeholder set of values for the parameters you combined displays in the cell.
You can add text to a panel schedule. You can also insert a Notes parameter in the template so that the
Notes information can be entered and saved in the panel schedule.
Also, when in Edit mode, you can enter text into blank cells in the panel schedule template. However, if
you enter text that is not associated with a parameter in the template, it will be lost if you update or
change the template associated with the panel schedule. To store text in a panel schedule template, you
must associate it with a system parameter, such as one of the Notes parameters described below, or in a
parameter that you define.
22
Power Up your Project with Electrical Families
Adding a Notes parameter
If you want to save text/information in a panel schedule, in the template you must use a parameter to
hold the text.
1. Select a cell and on the Parameters panel, in the Choose Category drop-down, select a category.
For a header note, select the Electrical Equipment category. For a circuit table note, select the
Electrical Circuits category.
You can select the following note parameters when you select a cell/column in their respective
part: Schedule Header Notes (for adding a note cell to a header), and Schedule Circuit Notes (for
adding a Notes column to the circuit table).
2. Click the Add Parameter drop-down and under Electrical Engineering, select a parameter
(Schedule Header Notes or Schedule Circuit Notes).
The parameter placeholder displays in the cell(s).
3. In the template shown here Header and Circuit Notes parameters have been added. Note that
the Schedule Circuit Notes is added as a column.
23