Replies

1. 
   Stuart | Nov 27, 2006 01:15am | #1

   I like to use Microsoft Excel to make a spreadsheet.  I'll make up the following columns:

   circuit number: (001, 002, 003, etc.)

   type of wire: (the wire gauge and how many)

   voltage: (400 three phase or 230 single phase, in your case)

   from: (where the wires are coming from, the circuit breaker or light switch or whatever)

   route: (the wire path from beginning to end, through the conduit or conduits.  you may be able to put more than one circuit in a single conduit)

   to: (where the wires are going to, a receptacle or light fixture or whatever)

   Then, on your drawing next to each device you can just write in the circuit numbers from the spreadsheet.

   If you don't have Microsoft Excel, you can do the same thing with a pencil and paper, but it's easier to make changes or fix mistakes with the software.

1. 
   c1 | Nov 27, 2006 02:37am | #3

   Hi Stuart,
   Thanks, I am trying something like this (also using excel)
   You get an overview, that's OK.
   I like to do a couple of checks: to see whether the amount of wires in the conduct pipes is not to much ( 4-5 in a 5/8 tube, otherwise I have to use 3/4")
   To see whether all is complete (each lamp must have a switched feed and a return, etc.
   But as I wire 7-9 lamps on one hotel-switch it is not always straight forward to number the circuits sequentially (I don't know how you call hotel-switches , but they are used to switch lamps from two different places)Do you do any calculations with the xls or only for nice writeup?Jaap

1. 
   Stuart | Nov 27, 2006 03:05am | #4

   I suppose you could build the calculations for conduit fill into Excel, but I haven't taken the time to go that far with it - I figure out how many wires I need and where they have to go, then I go back through the list and check the conduit sizes to make sure they're not too full.  I do keep a "cheat sheet" handy - a piece of paper with a list of common combinations of wire sizes and conduit sizes, to make it easier.

   There are a number of conduit fill calculators online, where you enter the wire sizes and how many and it will calculate the conduit size.  Here's one:  http://jlgengsoft.com/Documents/fill.htm  However, it uses US wire gauge numbers and is based on our electrical code requirements, so I don't know if it will work for you...since you are in Europe, you may be using metric wire.  There are probably metric calculators out there somewhere but you'll have to find them.

   (by the way, what you call hotel-switches are what we call three way switches.)

   Edited 11/26/2006 7:11 pm by Stuart

2. 
   nikkiwood | Nov 27, 2006 01:53am | #2

   You might try posting this over on Breaktime; there are a lot of electricians over there, along with people who are very savvy about elec stuff.

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   "It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."

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