Electrical Routing Question 1

[Mitsu50]

Hi all,

I am new to Routing and was wondering how i can do this. I have a power supply, and it has wires coming out of both ends of it. 2 wires go into connector, and the other to a ring terminal for ground. It is an off the shelf unit and the wire is attached and a certain length. i need to insert this power supply into my top level assembly, and connect it to another connector, and a spot for grounding. I only have so much wire to work with, and i dont want to place things to far away from the PS. Sorry if this is confusing, it makes sense to me but explaining it is kind of tricky...

 

[SteveMartin]

You don't actually say what you're having a problem with, but I'll try to help with what might be the trouble points.

Your physical power supply & wires are inseparable, but by default I believe routing will want a part for the power supply and separate parts for each wire. You could make them a single in-context part, but it's probably easier to let it stay as multiple parts.

I do not believe you can make the wires a set fixed length to match your physical part and drag them about. I know this is not possible with normally sketched splines, and I don't believe routing has any additional functionality here. You will have to place your wire route, query it for length, and then iteratively tweak the route and/or end locations to roughly match your available wire length.

 

[Mitsu50]

steve, yes i know my explanation was a bit crude.

U have answered my question though, thank you. i didnt think that i could assign a length of wire, and then not be able to pull it further than the length.

 

[tristram]

You can set a fixed length for an electrical route.
you can set when you first create route or if you right click on an existing route and select fixed length.

-Joe
SolidWorks 2009 x64 SP 5.1 on Windows XP x64
8 GB RAM - Nvidia Quadro FX1700

 

[tristram]

Also forgot, you have to be in "edit route" before you right click on route segment.

-Joe
SolidWorks 2009 x64 SP 5.1 on Windows XP x64
8 GB RAM - Nvidia Quadro FX1700

 

[Mitsu50]

so say for instance in my power supply can i have 2 wires bare, and 1 with a ring terminal for ground, in a route, then dump that into my top level and move the wires to where they need to go?

Also about half or the wire from the PS is insulated, and the 3 small wires come out of it. can i show it like that?

 

[Eltron]

You can do all of what you ask for in the routing module; however, you will have to do it in the context of the top level assembly. Dragging and dropping the prefab harness into another assembly is not the road to happiness with routing, which is buggy on a good day.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog

 

[Mitsu50]

so u are saying that i have to position my PS and ring terminal in the top level, then add the wire route?

also how can i show 5" of .23 wire coming from PS, and 2" .042 wire coming out of that? sorry if this is confusing. The SW help is so unhelpful for this stuff. Thanks

 

[Eltron]

Do what tristram said to control the length of the route. To add the secondary diameter you can do a swept cut of your wire or you can add a secondary routed wire to the end of the primary wire. You might have to add some reference parts or geometry to get the routing module to work properly.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog