Component defaults tutorial

This tutorial walks you through setting up component defaults at different levels using a real-world scenario. You'll learn how the hierarchy system works in practice.

Scenario

You work for an electrical engineering firm that designs industrial facilities. Your company has standards for conductor sizing, but individual projects sometimes have unique requirements. You personally prefer certain cable types for your motor control designs.

This tutorial demonstrates how to set defaults at organization, project, and user levels to handle these varying requirements.

Prerequisites

Organization admin or owner role (to set organization defaults)
Project editor or owner role (to set project defaults)
Active project in the SLD editor

Step 1: Set organization-wide cable defaults

Your company standard specifies XHHW-2 copper conductors with 75°C terminations for all projects.

Create a cable on the canvas with your company standard configuration:

Add a cable to the canvas using the toolbar.
Select the cable to open the properties panel.
Set Cable Series to XHHW-2 copper.
Set Termination Temperature to 75.
Set Conductor Material to CU.

Save these settings as organization defaults:

Click the Set as Default dropdown in the properties panel.
Select Set as organization default.
Click to confirm.

Verify the organization defaults:

Go to Settings > Component Defaults.
Select Organization scope and Cable component type.
Confirm the values match what you set.

All organization members now use XHHW-2 copper with 75°C terminations when creating cables in any project.

Step 2: Override for a high-temperature project

You're working on a foundry project where equipment rooms reach 50°C ambient temperature and require 90°C terminations.

Open the foundry project in the SLD editor.

Create a cable with project-specific settings:

Add a cable to the canvas.
Select the cable.
Set Termination Temperature to 90.
Set Ambient Temperature to 50.
Leave Cable Series as XHHW-2 (inheriting from organization).

Save as project defaults:

Click Set as Default dropdown.
Select Set as project default.
Confirm the save.

New cables in the foundry project now use:

90°C terminations (project override)
50°C ambient temperature (project override)
XHHW-2 copper (from organization defaults)

Other projects continue using 75°C terminations with default 30°C ambient temperature.

Step 3: Set personal motor defaults

You frequently design motor control centers with specific motor assumptions that differ from company averages.

In any project, create a motor component:

Add a motor to the canvas.
Select the motor.
Set Power Factor to 0.88.
Set Efficiency to 0.92.
Set Starting Method to DOL.

Save as user defaults:

Click Set as Default dropdown.
Select Set as my default.
Confirm the save.

Test your user defaults:

Create a new motor in any project.
Verify it has your custom power factor, efficiency, and starting method.

Your motor defaults apply across all projects, but only for motors you create. Other team members' motors use organization or system defaults.

Step 4: Understanding the resolution

Create a new cable in the foundry project to see how the hierarchy resolves:

Add a cable to the foundry project canvas.

Select the cable and examine its properties:

Cable Series: XHHW-2 copper (from organization)
Termination Temperature: 90°C (from project)
Ambient Temperature: 50°C (from project)
Conductor Material: CU (from system)

The hierarchy resolved each property independently:

Property	System	Organization	Project	User	Final Value
Cable series	-	XHHW-2	-	-	XHHW-2 (org)
Termination temp	75°C	75°C	90°C	-	90°C (project)
Ambient temp	30°C	-	50°C	-	50°C (project)
Conductor material	CU	-	-	-	CU (system)

User defaults didn't affect cables because you only set motor defaults at the user level.

Step 5: Temporarily override user defaults

Sometimes you need to create a component with different settings than your user defaults.

Create a motor in the foundry project.

The motor starts with your user defaults (0.88 power factor, 0.92 efficiency).

Change the motor properties to project-specific values:

Set Power Factor to 0.85.
Set Efficiency to 0.90.

Do not save as defaults. This motor keeps its custom values.

Create another motor. It reverts to your user defaults (0.88 power factor, 0.92 efficiency).

User defaults don't force all components to use those values. You can always override them per-component.

Step 6: Reset project defaults

The foundry project is complete. Reset the project defaults so new projects don't inherit the high-temperature settings.

Go to Settings > Component Defaults.

Select Project scope and Cable component type.

Click Clear All at the bottom.

Confirm the action.

Create a new cable in the foundry project:

Termination Temperature: 75°C (reverted to organization default)
Ambient Temperature: 30°C (reverted to system default)

The project-specific overrides are removed. Future cables in this project use organization and system defaults.

Summary

You configured defaults at three levels:

Organization level (affects all members, all projects):

Cable series: XHHW-2 copper
Conductor material: CU
Termination temperature: 75°C

Project level (affects foundry project only):

Termination temperature: 90°C (overrides org 75°C)
Ambient temperature: 50°C (overrides system 30°C)

User level (affects only your components, all projects):

Motor power factor: 0.88
Motor efficiency: 0.92
Motor starting method: DOL

This hierarchy lets you:

Enforce company standards (organization)
Handle project-specific requirements (project)
Streamline your personal workflow (user)

Next steps

Customize your workflow:

Set user defaults for components you use frequently
Save time on repetitive property configuration
Experiment with values before escalating to project or org defaults

Manage organization standards:

Document why specific organization defaults exist
Review defaults when code editions update
Communicate changes to team members

Handle exceptions:

Use project defaults for unique client requirements
Reset project defaults after project completion
Override defaults per-component when needed

Understanding defaults - Hierarchy theory and merging rules
Setting defaults - Complete reference for all methods
Cable sizing - How defaults affect NEC calculations
Organization settings - Managing team configuration