EPLAN, leading global provider of electrical design software products for more than 20 years, announced the latest release of its pioneering EPLAN Electric P8 software. Version 1.8 strengthens EPLAN Electric P8’s reputation for having unsurpassed features, speed, and flexibility for generating comprehensive wiring diagrams complete with all associated reports. EPLAN Electric P8 v1.8 will enable the electrical designers to create and manage controls hardware schematics with greater speed, ease and accuracy than ever before.

Commenting on the importance of this release, ARC Advisory Group Vice President Jim Caie says: "The additional features EPLAN has incorporated into their already leading edge EPLAN Electric P8 product will save users significant engineering time and help them generate even more robust designs."

Users can now benefit from the following enhancements:

Bi-directional in-place text editing between schematics and reports

EPLAN Electric P8 v1.8 includes a direct editing function allowing the users to edit properties such as device tags and function texts directly where they are displayed in the wiring diagrams without having to call up a device dialog box. Naturally, changes made using the in-place editing feature are automatically updated online wherever the same information is referenced in the project. And it gets even better: With EPLAN Electric P8 v1.8, modifications can also be executed in the overall project reports. For example, the user has the flexibility to modify the part number of a limit switch directly on the bill of materials or edit terminal numbers right on the terminal diagram. Once again, the software intuitively updates the new information in real time, thereby ensuring data accuracy and consistency throughout the entire project.

PLC/bus topology management

EPLAN Electric P8 v1.8 features a completely revamped PLC/bus topology management capability for centrally processing the automation components of a project in a simple and organized fashion. It also allows for consistent electrical project data exchange with PLC programming software products.

Project options technology

Especially beneficial to machine builders who manufacture different versions of the same equipment, the Project Options module enables users to automatically generate complete project documentation for different product variants in a fraction of the time it would take to re-design or modify them. With this innovative technology, the user first defines the electrical schematics for different machine configurations (product variants). Then, to design a new machine or modify an existing one, he simply selects the option(s) for that product with a few mouse clicks in a central dialog box, and the system automatically displays (or removes) the associated schematic sections and corresponding data throughout the entire project. Project Options module is available as an add-on to the EPLAN Electric P8 Professional software.

Other improvements contained in EPLAN Electric P8 v1.8 that simplify and accelerate the design and documentation of electrical wiring diagrams include the ability to redo or undo a series of actions with a single mouse click instead of one by one, freeze desired report pages to shield them from automatic updates, output projects to smart PDF in different languages, group connections for automatic numbering in a different format, effortlessly transfer the format and display settings of an object to other objects with the nifty copy-assign function and split dialog boxes horizontally or vertically for easier viewing and working.

EPLAN Electric P8 v1.8 is available immediately from EPLAN Software & Services and its distributor partners. Current Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) customers will receive the new version 1.8 upgrade free of charge. To learn more about EPLAN Electric P8 and download a product brochure visit www.eplan.us/products/eplan-electric-p8.html.

Courtesy of  EPLAN