AutoCAD Electrical 2021 – Incremental Flexible Wire Numbering

by Miles Nicholson

The 3 Phase Wire Numbers command is not just for 3 or 4 phase wires and can be used on a greater number of wires. You can use the command 3 Phase Wire Numbers in a continuous mode. You can insert a long series of incrementing wire numbers and assign each, in turn, to the selected wires.

You can add to the default prefix and suffix list display. Create an ASCII text file and list each prefix/suffix entry, one per line in the file. Name the file <<projectname>>.3ph (where <<projectname>> is the name of your active project) or default.3ph and put the file in any folder that is part of the search path list defined within AutoCAD® Electrical.

It’s useful for complex wire numbering systems, or wire numbering that doesn’t always follow a logical order. As an example, you may add an incremental suffix to a wire number, which stays fixed within a specific circuit.

Select Schematic ribbon tab > Insert Wires/Wire Numbers panel >   >  3 Phase

Set the Maximum: value  None

Define your Prefix, Base & Suffix values and whether they are fixed or incremental. The preview of the values will appear to the right of the dialogue.