Essential Revit Skills for Electrical Engineers: Circuiting & Smart Schedules

A recent poll on Reddit’s MEP Engineering community showed that 65% of engineers and designers are working more in Revit than AutoCAD these days. While most engineers agree that Revit will continue to take over as the primary design software in our industry, many engineers are sticking with AutoCAD because of the familiarity.


“The learning curve to become productive in Revit and make the switch from 25 years of AutoCAD is punishing. I've never spent so much time accomplishing so little as when trying to do a simple task in Revit.” - Comment from u/Certain-Tennis8555


We get it. It is hard to transition from AutoCAD to Revit, especially after you and your firm have been based in AutoCAD for decades. The good news is that once you learn some basic Revit workflow, you will begin to see immediate improvements to productivity and quality when developing electrical construction documents.


This blog covers the 2 most important functions of Revit to learn as an electrical engineer, so you can stop fighting with Revit, and start taking advantage of the improvements it has over AutoCAD. Once you get the hang of circuiting and smart schedules in Revit, you will start to see the transition to Revit as an exciting opportunity rather than a challenge.

Mastering Circuiting Functions in Revit

One of the key advantages of Revit over AutoCAD is its ability to create and manage circuits with ease. In Revit, circuiting isn’t just about connecting elements on the floor plans — it’s a comprehensive system that shows your circuits on the floor plans, performs your load calculations in the panel schedules, and automatically updates as changes are made in the model. Here’s how to make the most of Revit’s circuiting features.

1. Creating Electrical Circuits

In Revit, creating a circuit is as simple as connecting elements to a power source. Here’s a quick workflow to get you started:

  • Place your equipment and device families: Begin by placing elements like receptacles, lighting fixtures, and panels within your model.
  • Adjust voltage and load parameters: For all of the families you’ve placed, update the electrical parameters to reflect the project conditions.
  • Select your components to add to a circuit: Using Revit’s standard circuiting tools, you can add multiple components to the same circuit, or create a dedicated circuit for a single component. The feature works for panel feeders as well, so if you are powering a transformer and a subpanel, you follow the same process.
  • Choose a panel for the circuit: Revit allows you to assign each circuit to a panel. This assignment helps you stay organized and ensures that each circuit has a designated power source.

This circuiting workflow not only helps you visualize the electrical layout, but it also keeps track of circuit loads, which can be a tedious task in AutoCAD, or should I say excel.


Pro Tip: Don’t feel like you need to have a custom Revit template to take advantage of these features. Revit comes standard with families that have these parameters built in.

2. Circuit Numbering and Load Calculations

A significant advantage of circuiting in Revit is automatic circuit numbering and load calculation. Instead of manually tracking loads, Revit helps you stay within capacity limits and ensures compliance with NEC standards.

  • Automatic Numbering: Each time you create a circuit, Revit generates a unique circuit number. You can adjust the numbering to align with your project’s standards or client preferences. By using circuit tags on the floor plans, if any circuits move on your panelboard, the circuits on the floor plan will update automatically.
  • Circuit Wires vs Circuit Tags: Whether you prefer to show circuit continuity using wires or tags, Revit has built-in functionality for both methods. There is even a function for Revit to automatically draw in circuit lines, although it typically requires some adjustments from the user to make sure its not too spaghetti-esque.
  • Real-time Load Analysis: As you add devices to a circuit, Revit updates the load on that circuit in real-time, making it easy to check for overloads or imbalances. As long as you are circuiting all your electrical equipment using Revit, the loads will automatically update across the entire distribution system.

By managing circuits this way, you not only stay organized but also create a clearer, more accurate design that’s less prone to errors.

3. Panel Schedules

Revit comes standard with a working panel schedule template and standard load classifications. As you go through the steps listed above, the panel schedule will automatically update.

  • Circuit breaker sizing: Revit does not automatically size the ampacity of circuit breakers, but it does automatically size circuit breakers to show the correct number of poles depending on the voltage associated with the circuit. It is simple to adjust the amperage of the circuit breaker in the panel schedule just as you would using excel.
  • Easily Spot Errors or Discrepancies: Revit keeps track of how many poles are available on the panelboard. If there is no room left on the panel, it will not allow you to add a circuit to that panel. You can easily increase the number of poles on a panel if needed. Revit will also give you a warning if your load is over 80% of the circuit breaker ampacity which is another nice safeguard.

Pro Tip: Panel schedule templates and load classifications are very customizable. As you develop Revit standards at your firm, you can easily modify the panel schedule to show only the information you want to include. However, I have used the standard template on many large projects without any issues.

Unlocking Productivity with Smart Schedules

Smart schedules are one of Revit’s standout features, designed to automate and organize project data. When we refer to a schedule being smart, it means that the schedule is being populated by parameters in the project. If you are using Revit’s circuiting function as described above, it is straight forward to implement a smart schedule that makes use of that data. This is AMAZING for our luminaire and motor connection schedules.

Image: Smart Motor Connection Schedule in Revit

1. Creating Smart Schedules

Revit’s scheduling tool allows you to create, customize, and update electrical schedules automatically from your model’s data. We will use the motor connection schedule as an example.

  • Set up Smart Fields: When setting up a schedule, include fields like load, voltage, phase, and panel-circuit number. These are the smart parameters that will automatically update based on the families in use. If you are working with a family that doesn’t have a parameter you are looking for, you can add it to the family using the shared parameters function.
  • Set up Manual Fields: Revit has it’s limits, so now we may want to add some additional fields to our schedule that we will manually update such as connection type, and conductor sizes.
  • Update in Real Time: Because schedules pull information directly from the model, they automatically update whenever you make changes, eliminating errors that stem from manual updates. You can also make adjustments through the schedule itself. So if the mechanical engineer changes out several pieces of equipment, instead of making adjustments on the floor plans, you can adjust the loads on the schedule and watch them update in your panel schedules and load calculations.

Pro Tip: Create schedule templates to save time on future projects. This consistency not only makes your workflow more efficient but also ensures that your documentation remains standardized across projects.

2. Filtering and Sorting Schedule Data

With Revit’s filtering and sorting tools, you can quickly organize schedule data to highlight specific information, making your schedules clearer and easier to use. Here’s how:

  • Filter by Sheet: For large projects, instead of having one massive motor connection schedule, you can have many schedules that show up on different sheets. For example, I will place a motor connection schedule on the first floor power plan, and use filtering to make sure it only shows connections that are showing up on the first floor. This makes it easy to read the floor plan and the schedule at the same time.

Ready to Start Leveraging Revit?

Revit’s circuiting and smart scheduling features offer a powerful advantage over traditional drafting software like AutoCAD. Once you master these tools, you’ll spend less time managing design data and more time creating and refining the core elements of your project.


BETI offers specialized training in Revit, specifically tailored to electrical engineers in the MEP industry. Students in our bootcamp learn how to master both of these skills and much more in just 3 weeks. Our programs are designed to give you hands-on experience, practical tips, and personalized guidance, so you can take full advantage of Revit’s capabilities and make your transition from AutoCAD as smooth as possible. Ready to start leveraging Revit? Explore our Electrical Engineering Bootcamp and transform your design career!

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