ACP Revit for Electrical Design cheat sheet

Worksets divide a model by ownership and visibility; each workset is either editable by one user or read-only to all others, and the active workset determines where new elements land.

Central model creation requires Save As > Project with the Make this a Central Model option; local copies are then created per user and synchronized via Synchronize with Central.

Element borrowing happens automatically when a user edits an element in a workset they do not own; relinquish borrowed elements before closing to avoid blocking others.

Linked models appear under Manage Links; each Revit link carries its own workset assignment and can be set to Room Bounding, meaning its rooms and spaces participate in boundary detection.

Copy/Monitor maps levels, grids, columns, and MEP fixtures between linked models; a monitored change raises a Coordination Review alert with options to accept, reject, or postpone.

Shared coordinates are established with Acquire Coordinates (from a linked model) or Publish Coordinates (to a linked model); the Survey Point and Project Base Point carry those coordinates.

Project units for electrical parameters are set in Manage > Project Units; typical ACP defaults are watts for apparent load and amperes for current, with voltage as a project unit type.

Worksharing Display modes color elements by owner, workset, checkout status, or model update status, which makes outstanding borrowed elements visible before a sync.

Electrical Settings (Manage > MEP Settings > Electrical Settings) holds four tabs: General, Wiring, Cable Tray Settings, and Conduit Settings.

The General tab defines the project's distribution systems (for example 120/240 Wye, 277/480 Wye), voltage definitions, and the default wire type and neutral/ground conductor sizes.

Voltage definitions pair a nominal value with a minimum and maximum tolerance; Revit uses that range to match a circuit's voltage to a compatible distribution system.

Wiring settings control wire size and material, neutral conductor inclusion, ground conductor behavior, and the calculation method used for wire sizing.

Conduit Settings define conduit types, sizes, bend radius, and the minimum/maximum angle used when generating bends in conduit runs; Cable Tray Settings do the equivalent for tray types and sizes.

Load classifications (Electrical Settings > Load Classifications) group loads for demand-factor and load-summary reporting, and connect to panel schedule templates.

Distribution systems are assigned per panel; a panel's voltage and number of phases must match a defined distribution system or circuiting will fail validation.

Electrical fixture families use the Electrical Fixture category; the connector's Electrical type and its voltage, number of poles, and load (apparent or true power) drive circuit behavior.

A connector's System Type (Power, Lighting, Data, etc.) and Voltage must match a distribution system in Electrical Settings for the device to be circuit-assignable.

Circuiting assigns elements to a panel/circuit via the Electrical Circuits tool or by selecting a connector and choosing Create Circuit; a circuit number is then issued by the panel.

A circuit carries a Load Name and a circuit Number; the panel's circuit table orders circuits by slot, and spares and spaces can be inserted between circuits.

Family parameters that are instance-based (load, voltage, poles) allow per-device variation; type-based parameters force uniformity across all instances of the type.

Shared parameters added to the electrical fixture category can push circuit and panel data into tags and schedules, provided the parameter is bound to the correct category.

Demand factors are applied at the panel or load-classification level and change the calculated demand load shown in the panel schedule without altering connected load.

Lighting fixtures are placed with the Lighting Fixture tool; face-based families host on a surface, while non-hosted families require a work plane and an elevation offset.

Lighting analysis (Lighting Analysis or the Lighting fixture's illuminance data) relies on the family's photometric data; without an IES file the calculated illuminance is not meaningful.

Spaces and zones must be placed and enclosed before lighting or load calculations; a space that is not enclosed reports zero volume and is excluded from analysis.

Devices snap to walls when the family is wall-hosted; face-based electrical fixtures snap to linked or native surfaces and can be aligned to a reference plane for consistent mounting heights.

Copy and Array are the standard tools for repeating fixtures; when circuiting, group identical loads first so a single circuit selection captures the whole array.

The Space Naming Utility reconciles architectural room names and numbers with MEP spaces; run it after architectural changes to keep tags and schedules accurate.

Device elevation is controlled by the family's default elevation and the instance's offset; schedules should report the mounting height parameter rather than the model elevation for coordination.

Panel schedules are generated from a panel schedule template (Manage > Panel Schedule Templates); the template controls column headers, load summaries, and whether spares/spaces are shown.

Connected load is the sum of all loads circuit-assigned to the panel; demand load applies the demand factor and is what the load summary reports as the calculated load.

The panel schedule's load summary can show total connected, total demand, and per-phase values; the panel's total load appears in the branch panel section footer.

A panel can be scheduled only if it has a distribution system assigned; panels without a distribution system appear as unscheduled equipment.

Circuit numbers are issued sequentially by slot; inserting a spare or space shifts downstream circuit numbers, so finalize spares before annotating circuits.

Balancing loads across phases is done by moving circuits between slots; the panel schedule's phase columns show L1/L2/L3 loading and the resulting imbalance.

Circuit editing (Select Panel > Edit Circuits) allows reassigning a circuit's slot, changing the load name, and moving a circuit to another panel; the panel's circuit table updates immediately.

Load calculations in Revit are limited to the arithmetic of connected and demand loads; Revit does not perform a full NEC service calculation unless demand factors are defined to model it.

Conduit runs are modeled with the Conduit tool (or Conduit without Fittings) and use conduit types and sizes defined in Electrical Settings > Conduit Settings.

Conduit bends are generated automatically when the run changes direction; the bend radius and angle limits come from the conduit type's settings, so an over-limit bend fails.

Conduit can be set to slope with the Slope tool; slope is expressed as rise/run and is displayed in the conduit's properties.

Cable tray is modeled with the Cable Tray tool and uses tray types and sizes from Cable Tray Settings; tray fittings (elbows, tees, crosses) are placed automatically at direction changes.

Conduit and cable tray can host elements; conduit can host wire (via the Wire tool or conduit's wire fill) and cable tray can host cable tray fittings and supports.

The Conduit and Cable Tray categories are separate from Pipe and Duct; they do not participate in the same system-based routing and must be modeled as their own runs.

Conduit and tray runs can be checked for clashes with the Interference Check tool, which reports intersections between selected categories such as conduit and structural framing.

Tags are applied with the Tag by Category tool or the Annotate tab; a tag family must be loaded and the tag's label must reference a parameter present on the tagged category.

Circuit and panel information is tagged using an electrical tag family whose label references the circuit number and panel name parameters; these are read-only system parameters on the circuit.

Schedules are created from View > Schedules; the schedule's category determines available fields, and calculated values or filters can produce load summaries and device counts.

A schedule can be placed on a sheet; schedule appearance (column widths, headers, sorting, and totals) is controlled in the Schedule Properties dialog and the schedule view itself.

Sheet creation uses the Sheet tool; titleblocks are families, and views are dragged onto sheets from the Project Browser, with view titles controlled by the view's title on sheet property.

Keynotes and tags both annotate but differ: keynotes reference a keynote file and are category-independent, while tags reference a family parameter and are category-specific.

Circuit and panel schedules can be exported to a file for external review; the export preserves the schedule's rows and columns as displayed, not the underlying element data.