AutoCAD Electrical 2021 – From-To Connection Report Incorrect When Using Angled Connections

by Miles Nicholson

Although IEC61082 allows a variety of connections from T connection with no dot, T connection with dot and angled connections to name a few, all of the example IEC schematics within the standard show T connections as their preferred recommended style. Angled connections are still, however, popular in some countries and industries. An angled connection shows how you would prefer to wire the connections visually within the schematic. Angled connections are analysed to determine the wire sequence connection order displayed in a from-to report so why should a from-to report display connections out of sequence?

AutoCAD Electrical performs the following steps when determining wire connection sequence and it only looks at the sort order drawing property if points 1-3 have not been defined.

1. Check for a wire sequence defined using the Edit Wire Sequence command, including any Direct-to-Terminal connections.
2. Check for angled tee markers on the wire network and follow this if defined.
3. Check if any of the components have the same Location and group the wires by location first.
4. Use the Sort order drawing property to determine the connections for anything not accounted for in the previous checks.

Wire Sequence Sort Order

Another thing to take into account is that a wire sequence defined by the Edit Wire Sequence command overrides the angled tee markers, as the user has specifically gone in and edited the order.

So, as an example, the following picture shows that one of the connections (highlighted) is incorrectly sequenced within the report in comparison with the angled connections defined within the schematic:

Why? That’s easy to answer; a wire sequence has been defined by the user on the specific wire equipotential whether inadvertently or not. If we right click over wire “3-1”, you will see that is the case!

Simply select  to resolve the issue.

Now when a report is run, all of the connections are correct:

Wire sequencing can also be used on “T” type connectors.

Please refer to the following document for more information on the wire connection order and how to use the Edit Wire Sequence command:

https://www.cadlinecommunity.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360007592837-AutoCAD-Electrical-2021-Wire-Connection-Order