How to make relay cards? – elecworks tips and tricks

What to do when you need a group of relays each with their own contacts, but they are all integrated in the same card? The relays and their contacts are therefore really the same component and only one material is required!
Well, with elecworks you can handle this situation as follows!

Process

1) Go to Library menu>Manufacturer parts manager>Add part, create the part for the card, you must add all required circuits, for example:

Important: you must use the Group field to link the coils with the contacts, filling it with the same value for the linked circuits, like this:

2) Go to a scheme, insert a relay (-K1) and assign to it the part created in the previous step. Then insert a second relay, during the insertion assign it to -K1, you must use the list on the right in the insertion Symbol properties dialogue:

If you have several components you can use the filters in order to show only components with the same class or base class:

If you are using the Automatic marks while inserting:

You can select the symbol in the scheme>right click>Symbol properties in order to assign the inserted relay to -K1:

So, insert eight relays as -K1 component:

You can see that each relay has its own contact, the circuit Group is added to the mark for identification purpose and also terminal numbers are associated.

3) Draw the card’s body from Drawing menu>Rectangle:

4) Insert the power supply pins, also assign them to -K1:

The power supply circuits have no Group so the mark is the main one (-K1). You can customize the power supply pin symbol as you need. In this case we have done it in this way:

Select 24V pin>right click>Attributes>uncheck Symbol mark: “-K1” in order to make it invisible:

This way you only have one main mark for the card.

5) Insert the contacts and assign them to -K1:

The contacts are linked with the relays in order of insertion, based on the Group field information.
You can select the contact you want to use, during the insertion or once the contact is inserted, go to Symbol propertiesdialogue>Manufacturer part and circuits tab, select the current circuit:

Drag and drop it to the required one:

You can see that the color changes from blue to green in the used circuit and from green to blue to the reserved circuit.

Result in the scheme:

Benefits

With this method elecworks allows in an intelligent way to handle relay cards, benefits you have are:

1. Only one part required for the component, with all relay-contacts links defined in order to automate the process and skip errors, it will increase your design speed and save your money!
2. You can customize your symbols in order to generate more comprehensible designs, it will enhance the quality of your projects!
3. Easy way to choose the contact which you need; once more, you have the ‘more speed’ and ‘save money’ factor!