Development and Updates for the Medeek Electrical Plugin

[Medeek]

Similar to the estimator found in the Wall plugin the user will be able to select "All" or a selection of assemblies to run the estimator on:



The non-Medeek wall and roof assemblies will also be selectable since the Electrical plugin also works with non-Medeek walls, roofs etc...

I don't feel like it is necessary to break the listings into the assemblies they are part of however I will include a column in each table which lists the main assembly the electrical component is found in, this should prove useful to some.

There are a lot of little details with regards to different electrical components (ie. outlets, switches, panels etc...)  Each type of electrical component has unique characteristics, all of this data needs to be output by the Electrical Estimator, it will probably take me a few days to assemble this new module.

Once it is complete it will make this plugin a much more useful tool.

P.S. I think it would be also quite useful at some point to incorporate a price database that works with the estimating module.  This separate database would be referenced to determine the price, vendor etc... for a given electrical component.  Additionally, the list of materials could then be conveniently broken into separate purchase orders for each vendor.  I'm probably getting a bit ahead of myself here but with the ability to program just about anything with the API and the Ruby back end its conceivable that one could generate PO's that could then easily be imported into Quickbooks or any other accounting software.  I've done a bit of Quickbooks API programming in the past where I integrated my own customer billing system and expense database with the software, its really not that hard to do.

When I ran my web hosting company back in the early 2000's I got really sick of having to manually enter in customer orders and business expenses into Quickbooks, the problem was my billing system and Quickbooks (my accounting system) were completely two different ecosystems.  I would usually have to devote one entire day out of the month for this tedious task.  I finally got smart one day and decided it would be really nice if I could somehow automate this process.  After about two days of programming I had fully automated the manual entry problem and set it up as Chron job that would run nightly, it would even shoot me out an automatic email every morning letting me know how the process went and if there were any issues.

"Laziness is the mother of invention"

[Medeek]

First look at the CSV output (imported into Excel) for the Electrical Estimator:



*Note, the additional formatting (column spacing, bold, underline) is done in Excel after the import.

Also note that I have the total lengths tallied for each wire type.

[Medeek]

Version 1.2.3 - 10.20.2020
- Created the initial framework of the Medeek Electrical Estimating Module.
- Added wiring to the Medeek Electrical Estimator.
- Added the ability to export data from the Medeek Electrical Estimator in CSV format.



I also need to figure out what sort of CSI numbering to assign electrical components.

[Medeek]

Note that the Wire Name can be customized by the user. The default is to assign a prefix and then a number that is auto incremented within the model, however one could easily use the name to define the location of the wire run (ie. Master Bath Light, Hall Chandelier etc...)

Besides regular power wires this could be useful for routing and planning network cable runs for a project. In this scenario all of the cables my be CAT6 or CAT7 but one could define a number of cable types and differentiate them by color. Then it would easy to categorize certain parts of the network by color of the network cables and also figure out how much cabling is required for specific parts of the network.

[Medeek]

In the example shown below I've color coded my network cables based on whether they service the first or second floor of the building.  The red cable is the designated switch-to-switch or router-switch cabling:







Note that the totals allows me to determine my cable amounts for each floor.  I'm also able to determine that each cable run does not exceed a max. length.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/ba4a8a90-9eb1-41c8-8e8c-b6b72723dfce/Network-Cables-Example-1

Once I created all of my cable paths I dropped them onto a separate layer so I could easily hide them (and keep them around for future use if needed) once my wires were created.

[Medeek]

Version 1.2.4 - 10.22.2020
- Added outlets and switches to the Medeek Electrical Estimator.

[Medeek]

First look at UK electrical outlets and switches in the electrical estimator:

[Medeek]

Version 1.2.5 - 11.12.2020
- Added data (low voltage) outlets, lights, panels, UK outlets, and UK switches to the Medeek Electrical Estimator.



The following (six) electrical elements still need to be added into the Electrical Estimator:

Safety Devices, Heaters, Vents, Floor Outlets, Low Voltage Panels, Misc. Fixtures

[Medeek]

Version 1.2.6- 11.13.2020
- Added Safety Devices, Heaters, Vents, Floor Outlets, Low Voltage Panels and Misc. Fixtures to the Medeek Electrical Estimator.

The Electrical Estimator is now complete.  I still need to change up the CSI numbers for the various components but for now I've just used my own default numbering system.  I will need to get with some electrical contractors on what are the appropriate numbers to use.

I will now turn my attention to more pressing matters involving the Truss plugin.

[Medeek]

Version 1.2.7 - 02.13.2021
- Enabled the ability to draw outlets and switches with Medeek Polyline Stemwall assemblies.

[Medeek]

Version 1.2.7b - 02.13.2021
- Enabled the ability to draw UK outlets and switches with Medeek Polyline Stemwall assemblies.

[Medeek]

Version 1.2.8 - 04.30.2021
- Added optional metadata parameters for UK outlets and switches: description, circuit.
- Added a circuit callout parameter in the General tab of the global settings.
- Added a 5th dimensioning layer specifically for circuit callouts in the Layers tab of the Global Settings.
- Enabled circuit callouts for the following fixtures: Switches, Outlets, UK Switches and UK Outlets.

[Medeek]

Version 1.2.9 - 05.30.2021
- Added an option for vertically offsetting text and symbols within the General tab of the Global Settings.
- Annotation text and symbols for outlets, switches, UK outlets and UK switches can be vertically offset a custom amount from the bottom of the wall.





The default placement was at the bottom of the framed wall, and the default offsets still are zero unless otherwise specified differently. However in most situations this resulted in Z-fighting with the subfloor and if a finished floor was modeled then the symbols and text would be buried within the finished floor or carpet (not visible). This option allows the user to customize the vertical placement to suit their particular needs.

This update was per customer request.

[Medeek]

Version 1.3.0 - 06.01.2021
- Added four additional parameters to the "User Interface" section of the General tab of the global settings. This allows the customization (colors) of the HTML menus and buttons.

[Medeek]

Version 1.3.1 - 06.16.2021
- Updated the wiring module/algorithm to improve performance and overall robustness.