Cable/Wire Library
A cable/wire library is an .xml
file that defines the attributes of the cables and wires, such as specification
number, size, color, description, and so on. You need a cable/wire library
if you want to assign electrical attributes to the route.
A wire has a single conductor. A cable has two or more conductors, called
cores, bundled together.
To create a cable/wire library, do one of the following:
You can also use the Routing Electrical Library
Wizard to help you create, edit, and import electrical cable
and component data.
The cable/wire library contains the following fields.
|
Field |
Description |
|
Part number |
A unique value for each wire or cable. Leave blank for cable cores.
If you are cross-referencing data from a from-to list, the
value in this field must match the value in the Wire
spec field in the from-to list. |
|
Cable name |
A unique value for each cable, and the same value for each core of the
cable. Leave blank for wires. |
|
Wire name |
A unique name for each wire or core. When naming the cores in a cable,
each name must be unique within the cable, but the same names can be used
in other cables. |
|
Wire/Cable Diameter |
The external diameter of the cable, wire, or core, including insulation.
|
|
Size |
The size of the wire or core, for example 16AWG,
2.5mm, and so on. This field is
for information only; the value is not used by the software. |
|
Color |
The color of the wire or core. For example, red,
RB, Red/Blue,
and so on. This field is for information only; the value is not used by
the software. |
|
Display color |
The SolidWorks color for display of the wire or cable, from the list
of available
colors.
This color is used only when a route segment contains only a single wire
or core. |
|
Description |
A text description of the wire or cable. This field is for information
only; the value is not used by the software. |
|
Min Bend Radius |
The minimum allowable bend radius of the cable, core, or wire. Use with
Routing
Options Enable minimum bend
radius check and Enable minimum
bend radius check for wires. |
To create an Excel file for import into a cable/wire
library:
Create an Excel file containing the fields listed in the table above.
Keep the following in mind:
A cable needs one row to define the cable, plus
a row to define each core.
A wire needs only a single row.
The unit
of measure for the wire/cable diameter is meters. After import, the value
in the library displays in different units (such as millimeters or inches)
depending on the units in the SolidWorks document where you import the
data.
The data must start in column A, but does not
need to start in the first row.
Part number
must be the first field, and must be in column A. The order of the remaining
fields is unimportant.
You can use different header names for the fields
in the Excel file and cross-reference the names to the library header
fields when you import the Excel file.
To import an Excel file into a cable/wire library:
Click Routing,
Electrical, Import
Cable Library.
Set options in the PropertyManager.
Click 
.
The Excel file is imported into a cable/wire library (XML file).
To edit an existing
cable/wire library:
Click Routing,
Electrical, Open
Cable/Wire Library.
The Cable/Wire Library dialog
box appears and displays the most recently accessed library.
In the dialog box:
Click Browse
and select the path to the library file you want to display.
Select Cable
Library or Wire Library
to change between the cable list and the wire list.
Double-click in any field and type to change
the value in that field.
Click Save
to save the edited values in the existing library, or Save
As to save the edited values in a new file.
Click OK.