Placing specialized devices

In ConnectCAD, specialized devices represent sockets or pairs of sockets on connector panels. An actual physical panel is a piece of sheet metal that has a number of connectors on it. In a schematic drawing, connectors from the same panel may be placed at various locations all over the drawing. Each physical panel has several schematic devices, one for each socket (terminal panel/term panel) or socket pair (jackfield/jack).

● A term panel (terminal panel or demarc panel) is an array of connectors of the same type, typically mounted on a panel on the back of an equipment rack. These connector arrays join wiring within equipment racks to longer cables running in ducts or under floors to various other parts of a building. During installation, the rack wiring can take place off-site in a clean area if needed. During the lifetime of the system, the mounting location on a rack allows cabling between rooms to be easily re-purposed as technology changes.

● A jack (or jackfield) is an array of connector pairs of the same type on a panel. Jackfields are normally mounted in up/down pairs on the front of equipment racks. Outputs from equipment are conventionally connected to the top row and inputs are on the bottom row. Jackfields allow a system’s signal processing chain to be monitored, tested, or adapted to temporary needs; jackfields are, in fact, a primitive form of signal routing. Any output can be connected to an input by plugging a short cable (patch cord) into the corresponding ports. Normalized or linked jack pairs provide a connection between up and down ports when no patch cord is present, while allowing a user to override this connection by inserting a patch cord. This provides a convenient interface for engineers working on a system to access signals without having to disturb the rack wiring.

● A DIN rail is a standardized type of terminal block array used for low-voltage electrics.

● A connector panel represents custom-made panels with connectors of different types; these are typically found in theaters and similar venues. Permanent wiring is terminated on custom panels at facilities boxes throughout the building to provide cables routes for productions to use. The Conn Panel Input and Conn Panel Output tools are special panel connector devices that can be associated with a Conn panel on the Rack Elevation layer. See Creating connector panel layouts.

Specific device name prefixes indicate the device’s panel type. The Check Drawing command recognizes the panel prefixes, and excludes panel devices from the duplicate device name check. This prevents unnecessary duplicate device warnings for panels.

Specialized devices can be placed on the drawing, or placed “in line” on a circuit, dividing the circuit where they are placed. Terminal panels have a special socket that can accept connections from either side.

If an existing jack (jackfield) or terminal panel device is already selected when placing a new device, the new device is sequentially numbered.

1. Click the tool that matches the type of required device from the Schematics tool set.

2. For jack (jackfield) and panel tools, click the Preferences button on the Tool bar to open the Preferences dialog box. By default, the values from the ConnectCAD settings are applied (see Specifying ConnectCAD settings), but they can be overridden here.

Parameter	Description
Group ID Series	Sets the sequence of the letters and numbers available from the Group list in the Term Panel Setup or Jackfield Setup dialog box
Panel ID Series	Sets the sequence of letters and numbers available from the Panel list in the Term Panel Setup or Jackfield Setup dialog box. The label type determines how these are used. For example, for jackfields labeled AB, CD, EF..., each character pair is taken from this list. For an A, B, C... label style, these are taken one by one.
Panel Sizes	Sets the maximum number of holes for the panel type
Delim	Specify the delimiter character for numeric styles

3. If placing the device over an existing circuit, the circuit is highlighted to indicate that the device will be inserted into the circuit. Click to place the device.

Depending on the tool type, one of the following dialog boxes opens automatically: VDA tool, ADA tool, Jackfield Setup, Term Panel Setup, or Connector Panel Setup. Specify the device parameters.

Parameter	Description
Make/Model (ADA/VDA only)	Select the make and model number from the list
DA number (ADA/VDA only)	Select the DA number to start from, such as VDA01
Number of outputs (ADA/VDA only)	Select the number of outputs for the DA, up to the maximum for the model
Repeat	Specify the number of sequentially-numbered devices to create
Location (Jack and term panel only)	Select the equipment rack location and U location on the layout drawing
Jackfield data (Jack and term panel only)	Assigns the panel to a named group of jackfields or terminal panels. This extends the name space of large patching systems by adding a group prefix in front of the row/column value. The panel and port number are set according to the options in the ConnectCAD preferences.
Panel and Port Name (Conn panel only)	Select the connector panel to associate with the object, and assign a port code and number combination. The port name must be unique for each device.
Panel Connector (Conn Panel only)	Select the connection type; the preview updates automatically (green indicates an input connector, and red indicates an output connector). Specify the number of circuits to create, for a multi-circuit connector.

4. Specify the device parameters and labeling options, and click OK to place the device into the circuit or in the drawing.

If you continue placing the same jackfield or terminal panel device, the device number automatically increments.

Device type	Device Name Prefix
Terminal panel	VTP_, ATP_, DTP_, OTP_ (the first letter indicates Video, Audio, Data, or Optical)
Jackfield	VJF_, AJF_, DJF_, OJF_ (the first letter indicates Video, Audio, Data, or Optical)
DIN rail	DIN_
Connector panel	CTP_

VDA (video distribution amplifier)	ADA (audio distribution amplifier)
Video Jack (jackfield patch panel)	Audio Jack
Data Jack	Optical Jack
Video Jack U-linked	Audio Jack Full-Normal
Audio Jack Half-Normal	Data Jack Normal
Optical Jack Linked	Video Term Panel
Audio Term Panel	Data Term Panel
Optical Term Panel	Conn Panel Input
Conn Panel Output	DIN rail terminal

Placing specialized devices

Concept: Specialized device type and prefix