EPLAN Wiring

The wiring functions are part of the EPLAN integration in the Pro+ and Enterprise plans. They show how your EPLAN project is wired: which field device sits at a PLC input, which terminals and cables a signal runs through, and what each terminal strip and cable contains. That is what you need for a loop check or when you search for a device on site.

Prerequisites#

• An open EPLAN project in Studio (see EPLAN Integration).
• A Pro+ or Enterprise license.

Exporting the production wiring needs the Production Wiring module of your EPLAN licence. Everything else needs no additional module.

Connections Are Kept up to Date#

EPLAN derives the connections from the schematic. Before Studio reads connections, terminals or cables, it brings the connections up to date when the project changed since the last time, so what you see matches the schematic. When you changed the project in EPLAN itself while Studio had it open, run Generate Connections… once (see below).

Following a Signal#

To see where a signal goes, start the signal path in one of these ways:

• right-click a device or a PLC terminal in the EPLAN Project Explorer and choose Show Signal Path;
• choose Show Signal Path… in the Wiring menu of the Project Explorer title bar and type the name of the device, for example =K1+A2-X1:3;
• click a PLC terminal in the Source in EPLAN column of the tag table comparison (see EPLAN Signals to TIA Tag Tables).

The Signal Path view in the EPLAN side bar opens. Its first line names the start, the number of connections and devices and, where there is one, the device the path ends at. Below it, each step shows a connection from one device and pin to the next, in the order you would follow the wire, for example from the PLC terminal over the terminal strip to the sensor. Hover over a step to see how many devices it is away from the start. Click Go to Page on a step to open its page in the page preview.

In the More Actions menu (...) of the view you choose what to follow:

• Follow the Net: everything that is electrically connected, also through terminals. This is the default.
• Follow the Signal: the connections that carry the same signal.
• Follow the Potential: the connections in the same circuit with the same potential.

Trace Again reads the path again, Clear Signal Path empties the view. When the project changes after a trace, the view says so; click Trace Again to update it. A step marked as joined through the inside of a device belongs to the path although no wire leads to it directly.

Terminal Strips, Cables and Potentials#

The Project Explorer has three more groups below Pages. They load when you expand them; the filter box at the top also applies to them.

• Terminal Strips: every terminal strip with its description. Double-click a strip, or right-click it and choose Open Terminal Strip, to open its table.
• Cables: every cable with its type. Double-click a cable, or choose Open Cable, to open its table.
• Potentials: every potential with its type and value. Double-click one to open its page.

The Terminal Strip Table#

The first line says how many terminals the strip has and how many of them are wired to a PLC input or output. Each row shows a terminal with Terminal, Level, Description, Bridged To (the terminals bridged to it), Inside and Outside (the devices and pins connected on each side), PLC Address (when the terminal is wired directly to a PLC terminal) and Page.

The Cable Table#

The first line shows the cable type, the number of cores, the length and the voltage, and the devices the cable runs from and to. Each row shows a core with Core (its colour or number), Cross-Section, Source, Target, Potential and Page.

Both tables are read only. They update after changes made in Studio, Refresh in the editor title bar reads them again, and they reopen with the window.

Generating Connections and Cables#

The Wiring menu (plug icon) in the title bar of the Project Explorer has these commands:

• Generate Connections…: choose whether EPLAN brings the connections of the whole project up to date with the schematic, or creates every connection again, which takes longer. A message then tells you how many connections the project has.
• Generate Cables…: pick the schemes that create the cables, number them and select the cable types from your EPLAN master data, each with Last Used Scheme first. Then choose the options: Update the Connections First, Keep the Names of Existing Cables and Change Only Automatically Created Cables (all selected by default). A message tells you how many cables are new.

Both commands change the EPLAN project at once. You can also ask the assistant to generate them; it asks for your confirmation first, and Discard AI Changes reverts its run together with its other changes of the turn.

Exporting the Production Wiring#

Export Production Wiring… in the Wiring menu writes the wiring data for wire processing machines:

1. Choose the machine or list format: Metzner, CADCABEL, Komax, PWA, Schleuniger, List of Wires, and from EPLAN 2026 also Averex and WireTerminal. Komax and PWA use file names the machine fixes.
2. Choose the machine settings from your EPLAN master data, or Last Used Machine Settings.
3. Choose the folder.
4. Enter a file name, or leave it empty to use the name of the machine settings (not asked for Komax and PWA).
5. Choose the language of the export. The list shows each language by name, with the EPLAN language code beside it; you can also type the code.

A progress message shows the export; you can cancel it there. When it is done, a message names the number of files and the folder, with Reveal in File Explorer. Without the Production Wiring module of your EPLAN licence, the command is greyed out.

Asking the Assistant#

The EPLAN Engineer agent in the chat can answer wiring questions, for example "which field device sits at %I0.3?", "list the terminals of -X1 with their PLC addresses", "show the cores of cable -W12" or "which connections are not used?". It can also generate the connections and cables and export the production wiring after your confirmation.

Notes#

• A device name can appear on several pages. Studio shows the connections of every place it appears.
• Changes you make in EPLAN while Studio has the project open are only seen after Generate Connections… or after the project is opened again.
• A signal path, a terminal strip or a cable table reads EPLAN live. On a large project the first read after a change can take a moment, because the connections are brought up to date first.