Ultimate Electrical Design Course from Zero to Hero

Explore how demand factor and diversity (coincidence or simultaneity) factor shape load estimation, panel schedules, and transformer sizing for lighting, sockets, and other power circuits.

Learn how load estimation determines the electrical power needs of a building, guiding transformer and generator room sizing, voltage level choice, and coordination with the architect and electricity company.

Estimate building electrical load using built up area, footprint and plot area concepts, then apply diversity and demand factors across Saudi Arabia, IEC, and NEC-inspired methods.

learn to estimate building load with an Excel sheet using the Saudi Arabia code, summing lighting, power sockets, and AC with demand factors, elevators, pumps, and transformer sizing.

Calculate transformer room size using catalog dimensions, door width, and NEC working-space rules to ensure safe clearance between electrical equipment.

Size the generator room from the manufacturer catalog by selecting the generator rating and room type (A, B, C) to obtain length, width, and door dimensions.

Open AutoCAD and master the basics for electrical design, including menus, command bar, model and layout spaces, and saving drawings as DWG 2013; adjust background and options.

Master AutoCAD mouse commands and selection techniques to zoom, pan, and efficiently select and edit drawing elements with various selection modes.

Draw lines in AutoCAD using line (L) and keyboard tips, specify first and second points, set length and angle (10 m, 15 degrees), enable ortho (F8), and undo with Ctrl+Z.

Learn to draw a rectangle in AutoCAD using mouse or the rec command, specifying corners or dimensions, applying area and rotation options, and aligning angles from zero to ten degrees.

Master circle drawing in the design tool using center-radius, diameter, three-point, two-point, and tangent-radius methods, aided by object snap (F3) for precise endpoints and center.

Learn to draw polygons in AutoCAD, from squares to hexagons, by specifying sides, center, and radius, and choosing inscribed or circumscribed circle with precise angle control.

Draw a polyline to see the difference from a line and how the whole shape is selected, then use it to measure building area in electrical drawings for lightning design.

Learn to draw arcs in AutoCAD by two-point and center methods, including anticlockwise direction, and create ellipses using horizontal and vertical radii, centers, and arc-on-ellipse options.

Place points in AutoCAD and customize point styles for visibility. Draw construction lines with extended lines (xl), horizontal and vertical lines, and apply offset, bisect, and angle controls.

Master hatch and rotate commands in AutoCAD by applying solid and patterned hatching with scale and color options, and rotating single or multiple objects around a base point.

Master AutoCAD trim and extend commands to adjust lines in electrical drawings, including selecting objects, extending to the nearest line, trimming intersections, and using shift to switch modes.

Learn how to add and customize text in AutoCAD, including placing text in a rectangle, adjusting size, applying bold, italic, and underline, changing color and alignment, and adding square symbols.

Learn how to copy and paste objects in AutoCAD, set base points to position figures, and erase or delete unwanted shapes using copy and erase commands.

Create and manage blocks in AutoCAD to represent electrical outlets, enabling edits that update all instances, duplicate and place blocks across drawings, and use explode to separate components when needed.

Master the insert, mirror, and scale commands in AutoCAD to reuse blocks, reflect objects, and resize with a base point or a scale factor.

Master move and align commands in AutoCAD to relocate single or multiple objects using a base point, then align a part precisely to a wall with alignment points, avoiding scaling.

Learn how to join lines into a continuous shape, offset objects by a distance, and break or explode parts to create openings like doors in a plan.

Learn to divide lines into equal parts, create precise fillets with adjustable radii, and apply chamfers in AutoCAD, including multi-fillets, trim options, and polyline support.

Explore editing AutoCAD drawing properties: color, line weight, and line type; turn on line weight display, and copy these attributes to other objects with match properties.

Measure distance between points and compute area and perimeter with the distance and area commands. Use List to view properties like center, radius, area, and circumference for circles and rectangles.

Master adding and customizing AutoCAD dimensions, including linear, angular, arc, radius, and ordinate measurements, and tune dimension styles, text, arrows, extension lines, and unit precision with quick baseline and continue.

Master layer management in AutoCAD by creating architect, lumineers, and wiring layers, adjusting color and line properties, and using on/off, freeze, lock, and current layer features for clear drawings.

Learn to draw smooth curves with the spiral line in AutoCAD and label wiring with multi leader annotations for panel and circuit details.

Use the purge command in AutoCAD to remove unused layers, blocks, styles, and dimensions, lighten the drawing, and speed up the software.

Learn to control and change the drawing axes, set a new origin and axis direction with ux, and draw and copy objects aligned to inclined rooms for precise electrical design.

Draw a fluorescent lamp symbol using simple shapes, trim and hatch sections, color them, and convert to a block; then use block replace to swap luminaire blocks efficiently.

Learn to print AutoCAD electrical drawings by selecting printers or PDF, choosing paper sizes and plot areas, adjusting colors and line weights, and saving custom print styles.

Learn how to enable toolbars and the menu bar in AutoCAD for quick drawing and modification, and configure auto save with backups and the recovery manager to prevent data loss.

Organize electrical design projects with input, output, and draft folders, and prepare architectural drawings by dividing dwg files per floor, grey coloring, hiding axes, and locking layers.

Learn the lighting design steps from selecting luminaires and understanding luminaire types to wiring layouts in AutoCAD, performing manual calculations or using software to calculate loads and plan panel schedules.

Explore the construction of a lighting fixture, including lamps, enclosure, and distributor. Learn how the distributor defines the polar curve and the distribution of light.

Explore filament lamps, including incandescent and halogen types, which produce light by heating tungsten. Learn halogen gas cycling prevents glass darkening and extends lamp life.

Explore how fluorescent lamps work by ionizing mercury vapor. Describe the phosphor coating emission and compare linear, u-shaped, and circular compact fluorescent lamps with integrated and non-integrated bases.

Explore high pressure sodium lamps and low pressure sodium lamps, gas discharge lighting used for outdoor street, tunnel, and security lighting, featuring orange-white light and a low color rendering index.

Explore high pressure mercury vapor and metal halide lamps, their white light and CRI ranges, and their use in streets, parking lots, landscapes, factories, gyms, and large interiors.

Discover how light emitting diodes generate light via electro luminescence, delivering cooler, energy efficient illumination; compare LED lifespans and color options with incandescent and fluorescent lamps.

Explore the five luminaire types—surface mounted luminaire, recessed mounted luminaire, suspended luminaire, wall mounted luminaire, and floor mounted luminaire—and see how ceiling types influence installation.

Compare three diffuser types—prismatic, opal, and parabolic or metal—and see how each shapes polar light distribution, including Lambertian diffusion and IP-protected office lighting.

Explore color rendering index (CRI) and how light sources reveal objects' real colors. Learn how higher CRI yields more faithful colors and how different lamps compare.

Explore how polar curves and the bowler luminous intensity graph reveal light distribution from a luminaire and guide application-based selection.

Explore how a luminaire can display two polar curves in a 3d view, using solid and dotted lines for 0–180 and 90–270 degrees, guiding proper installation and lighting lux.

Explore color temperature in kelvin, from warm white to daylight and cold white, choosing 2700–3700 K for homes, 4200–4500 K for offices, and 5500–7000 K for galleries.

Learn the difference between luminous flux (lumens) and illumination (lux), and how lumens per area determine required lux for spaces such as bathrooms.

Explore utilization factor and maintenance factor in lighting design, showing how losses reduce emitted lumens to workspace illumination and how multiplying these factors guides selecting a light source.

Learn how the IP ingress protection code, defined by the IEC standard, measures enclosure protection against solids and water, and apply these digits to luminaries for indoor or outdoor use.

Apply electrical codes to determine lux requirements for different spaces, convert lux to foot-candles, and use IEC and national codes to guide lighting design and safety.

Design room lighting with manual calculations by determining lux and area, selecting luminaire types, and computing required luminaires using flux, utilization, and maintenance factors, plus spacing and mounting considerations.

Explore how the work plane and lux types define lighting design, calculating 500 lux targets, and managing average, maximum, minimum lux, and uniformity to prevent glare.

Explore Dialux Evo to create and edit lighting projects, including outdoor and indoor planning, street lighting, room planning, and importing AutoCAD plans for comprehensive design.

Import an AutoCAD plan into Dialux Evo, orient and load the plan, set units (mm or meters), establish the origin, and use the measure tool to verify room lengths.

Navigate the tabs and sub tabs in dialux evo to manage a lighting project. Set up construction, place rooms and luminaries, run calculations, export, and document.

Explore the construction tab in Dialux Evo, import and manage plans, set coordinate systems and units, move, replace, delete plans, control layers, and embed planning project for background reference.

Identify building outlines in the site tab with a free drawing tool, capturing X and Y coordinates and distances, then set floor one and location for lighting design.

Learn to draw and define rooms in Dialux Evo, move from 2d floor plan to a 3d view, set room height and floor thickness, and create corridors for lighting design.

Learn to add doors and windows in Dialux Evo by selecting types, placing them on walls, adjusting height, width, and depth, and viewing results in the 3-D view.

Navigate the spaces tab in Dialux Evo to create and rename interior rooms, assign offices and utility rooms, and manage floor, building, and site views for accurate lighting design.

Add an extra ceiling layer in Dialux Evo to support suspended ceilings and lumineers, adjusting room height and lighting calculations by selecting the room and setting ceiling height.

Master the cut out tool in Dialux Evo to create floor and wall holes in rectangular, circular, or polygon shapes, adjusting size, rotation, position, and depth.

Learn to apply materials and colors in Dialux Evo by using material and color catalogs to furniture, walls, doors, and floors, influencing lighting design.

Learn to add luminaire catalogs to Dialux Evo, install Philips and other catalogs, and access light fixtures for per-room lighting design.

Learn to select indoor luminaires from Philips catalogs, compare lumen output and 4000 K color temperature, and add custom lamps via file import and plugins in Dialux Evo.

Select and edit room settings in dialux evo, assign space types, set heights and lux values, and define uniformity for entrance, office, wc, and kitchen.

Explore lighting design in Dialux Evo by using automatic and manual luminaire arrangements to meet 500 lux office targets, while selecting catalogs, color temperature, and waterproof kitchen fixtures.

Learn to run full-project lighting calculations in Dialux Evo using calculation objects, adjust luminaire counts to meet lux and uniformity targets, and interpret the results overview where green indicates compliant.

Export Dialux Evo results to an AutoCAD file by exporting floor plans, selecting AutoCAD versions (2013–2018) and meters, and using AutoCAD Web for free.

Export the Dialux Evo project to DWG for AutoCAD, assign colors and separate layers for luminaires, and export millimeter scale drawings with lux data for rooms.

Define loads and sizes for UBS and lighting circuits using a lighting legend. Replace luminaire blocks in AutoCAD and configure normal versus emergency lighting across corridors and rooms.

Learn one way and two way lighting switches, including single and double gang variants, weatherproof and dimmer types, and installation height with door distance guidelines.

Learn the two way switch circuit, also known as the three way switch circuit, to control a lighting fixture from two locations using two switches and travel terminals.

Master adding lighting switches in AutoCAD by assigning luminaires to a lighting fixtures layer and using a dedicated lighting switches layer for one- and two-gang switches, including emergency lighting.

Learn to design lighting circuits from a distribution panel, with a single breaker for parallel luminaires, a 1200 VA limit and up to ten luminaires, and naming conventions.

Learn to wire lighting circuits in AutoCAD using normal and emergency distribution panels, assign luminaires to labeled circuits (L1, L3, L5), and manage wiring layers.

Learn to distinguish and label normal and emergency lighting wiring on a schematic, extend and align lines, and create a clear plan that communicates both systems.

Explore types of electrical outlets, including single and double sockets, weatherproof variants, and UBS and emergency sockets, with NEC and IEC loading rules and yoke concepts.

Explore mounting types for outlets—wall, floor, furniture, column, trunking, and ceiling. See how to distribute sockets based on furniture, plan circuits, and apply practical spacing and derating rules.

Learn how to add sockets to an AutoCAD plan, wire them, and manage normal and emergency distribution ports from UBS panels, including weatherproof and floor-mounted options.

Route normal socket wiring with green 250 VA circuits, grouping eight sockets per circuit and labeling lines like L1 and L2 on an orthogonal polyline from the main distribution port.

Learn to design and wire UBS sockets on a panel using layers, polylines, and orthogonal lines, creating distribution ports L1–L5 with copy, move, and trim for clear connections.

Explore the hvac system from an electrical engineer's perspective, detailing components such as fan coil units, air handling units, heaters, pumps, and chillers, plus the cooling and heating cycles.

Explore how direct expansion systems transfer heat with a refrigerant cycle—compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation—to cool indoor air in window, split, central split, and packaged configurations.

Explore the chiller water system for large cooling demands, using a roof-mounted chiller and cold water circulated through air handling units and evaporator to cool rooms in summer.

Explain the two chiller types: air cooled and water cooled, and how compressors pressurize refrigerant while fans or cooling towers dissipate heat, with air cooled outdoors and water cooled indoors.

Explore fan coil units (FCU) in mechanical plans, including disconnect switches and power ratings. Learn how concealed and split units, diffusers, and refrigerant lines connect indoor and outdoor components.

Explore how air handling units supply cold air to multiple rooms through ducts, include fresh air handling units for ventilation, and how condensers and evaporators support centralized HVAC across floors.

Explore how pumps, chillers, and air handling units create summer loads and winter loads in an hvac system, and how transformer sizing and distribution panels reflect those seasonal demands.

Explore exhaust fans and pressure fans in hvac design, showing how exhaust fans remove moisture, odors, and smoke, and how stair pressurization uses a disconnect switch on a separate circuit.

Learn how hand dryers and water heaters use separate circuits with disconnect switches, NEC rules, and receptacle options as disconnect alternatives in bathrooms.

Learn how sewage and domestic pumps move wastewater from basements to on-site treatment and provide water to upper floors, while MCC panels, VSDs, PLCs, and timers coordinate these pumps.

Explore fire fighting systems, including water-based sprinklers, CO2 and FM-200 suppressants, and form systems, with emphasis on class A, B, C fires and UPS-powered critical loads.

explore the purpose, rules, and sizing of disconnect switches for motors and equipment per the NEC, including fusible vs non-fusible, marking, and sight-distance requirements.

Explore when to use a disconnect switch under the NEC. Understand that permanently connected appliances under 300 volt-ampere and motors over 1/8 horsepower define the disconnect requirements.

Explore Siemens disconnect switch ratings, including ampere rating, short circuit withstand ability, voltage rating, and the general duty, heavy duty, and ported pressure types, to select the right switch.

Discover how disconnect switch configurations determine poles and loads, from two-pole single-phase to three-pole three-phase motors, including fused and non-fused options and how the poles connect inside the switch.

Explain switch throws on a disconnect switch—from single through to triple through—highlighting single pole double throw and double pole double throw, and how they switch loads between power sources.

Decode the Siemens disconnect switch catalog number, from switch type to current rating. Learn poles, voltage, neutral, enclosure types, NEMA, and IP ratings for NEC sizing.

Size disconnect switches for fixed space heating equipment and non-motor loads by applying the NEC 125 percent rule to motor and heater load, considering resistive loads and motor inrush.

Learn to select a non fused disconnect switch for motors per the NEC. Use ampere rating 1.15 times full load current and horsepower, applying tables or the overload protection guidance.

determine the correct non fusible disconnect switch for a combined motor load by summing full-load and locked-rotor currents from NEC tables, then apply 1.15 to size ampere and horsepower ratings.

Learn to select an unfused disconnect for an HVAC system using nameplate current and NEC fuse sizing, and when to use nameplate versus table values.

Select fusible three-pole disconnect for 480 v ac, 75 hp motor using siemens catalog and neck standard; NEC yields 96 a, 1.75 time-delay yields 168 a, 175 a fuse.

Select a disconnect switch for a capacitor bank per NEC 460 and 464, using 1.35 times the capacitor current to cover 0–15% tolerance for the bank.

Identify the locked-rotor indicating code letter from NEMA/NEC tables to estimate starting kVA per horsepower, then translate it into starting current for motor sizing.

Size weatherproof and non-weatherproof disconnect switches and power sockets for single- and three-phase loads, HVAC and exhaust fans, using NEC guidance for a complete panel plan.

Discover how distribution panels use molded case circuit breakers to protect single-phase and three-phase loads, with main incoming breakers, outgoing circuits, neutral, earth, and load balancing.

Learn to design and document a distribution panel schedule, listing each circuit's load, selecting appropriate circuit breakers and cables, and balancing single- and three-phase loads using Excel or AutoCAD.

Calculate a panel’s total circuits by adding 20% spare and 10% space to the actual load, then choose the nearest standard panel to accommodate spares and spaces for future expansion.

Balance the three-phase loads across A, B, and C using the ANSI current unbalance rule, adjust single-phase circuits, and derate motors to reduce voltage imbalance.

Learn to calculate demand load from connected load using NEC demand factors for lighting, receptacles, HVAC, and appliances, then size the main breaker and feeder.

Learn how earth leakage circuit breakers detect leakage and protect people and equipment in single-phase and three-phase systems by comparing input and output currents under balanced and unbalanced loads.

Explore how residual current circuit breakers detect leakage to ground, protecting people from shocks and fires, in single-phase and three-phase systems, and understand manufacturer specifications such as 30mA thresholds.

Learn how to select a medium voltage circuit breaker by matching rated current and braking capacity to grid voltages (3.3, 6.6, 11, 22 kv) and short-circuit current, including motor contributions.

Discover low voltage and high voltage fuses for short circuit protection, including low-voltage semi enclosed fuses, kit-kat fuses, hrc cartridge fuses, fuse carriers, and liquid hrc types.

Explore IEC trip curves for miniature circuit breakers, including thermal overload and electromagnetic short-circuit mechanisms, and differences among B, C, D, K, and Z curves for inrush and residential applications.

Explore ampere frame concepts, frame size, and trip units in molded case circuit breakers, including fixed, magnetic, and adjustable trip types, plus motor circuit protectors and overload and short-circuit protection.