Creating Custom Symbols in SolidWorks Electrical

 

3. Right-click on the copied symbol again and go to Properties. This allows us to change the symbol name (which must be unique), description, and other properties. When finished with the properties, click 'OK'. We’ll call this one “Generic Load” for the description and “LG-1” for our symbol name.

  4. Now we need to edit the symbol. Double-click on the “Generic Load” symbol. Here we can add or edit attributes and connections.  

 

  5. We can change the properties of an attribute by clicking it in the tree and changing the properties below. We can also insert new attributes by right-clicking on the attributes folder. This brings up an attributes management dialogue. Here we can see, highlighted in blue, the attributes already added to the symbol. We may place a checkmark next to any additional attributes we wish to add. After clicking we would place the tag next to our symbol.

6. We can add connections to the symbol by right-clicking on the circuit folder. This will bring in a connection point attached to the cursor. The orientation of the connection may be flipped by hitting the space bar. Then[G2]  left-click to place the connection point. This brings in the connection along with the appropriate attributes.

7. We could use the drawing toolbar to add sketch entities to our symbol. Tip: You may want to use the filters in the bottom right corner of the screen to aid in the creation of entities.  

8. In this example, we just changed the size and wording of the text, removed a couple of lines, and added another two connection points.

  9. Close the LG-1 tab and hit Yes on the save dialogue.

You now have a custom symbol that you can use in your schematics. It is also possible to import .dwg files and use them as symbols, but that is for another time.