Learn how to add receptacles to a plan in Revit, an essential task for electrical engineering. This comprehensive guide gives you step-by-step instructions on how to adjust view properties, effectively add receptacles, adapt to specific architectural aspects, and even modify Revit families to meet specific project needs.
Key Insights
- The article provides a detailed explanation of how to add receptacles to a plan in Revit. The process begins with cleaning up unused view tags, zooming in on specific areas in the plan, and adjusting view properties to display specific objects such as plumbing fixtures.
- It also explains how to place receptacles in different parts of a room considering the specific architectural aspects such as sinks, windows, and walls. It is important to adjust receptacle types and elevations depending on the location, for example, using a GFCI receptacle and adjusting its elevation to 42 inches when placing it near a sink.
- Moreover, the guide highlights how to edit Revit families when they do not connect to a circuit by default. It explains how to add an electrical connector, set the voltage and apparent power phase, and load it back into the project. This ensures all outlets, including floor outlets, can be connected to a circuit.
Note: These materials offer prospective students a preview of how our classes are structured. Students enrolled in this course will receive access to the full set of materials, including video lectures, project-based assignments, and instructor feedback.
All right, who’s excited to add some receptacles to our plan? I know I am. A couple of housekeeping items first. Number one: we have a couple of unused view tags out here.
Let’s select those and press Delete on the keyboard. I see two of them—and they’re gone. It’s good to know they’re no longer cluttering the view.
Now let’s zoom in. We’re on the Level 1 Power Plan, and we want to look at the top-left corner of the building. We’ll zoom in right there.
We see Classroom 1510 and Classroom 1509 right here. What’s missing is a sink. I don’t see the sink that I know is located in this counter.
So what I’m going to do is go to View Properties, locate Identity Data > View Template: Electrical Power Plan. Then I’ll go to Visibility/Graphics Overrides and select the Revit Links tab. Click Edit. In the Display Settings > Custom section, I’ll go into Model Categories, scroll down to Plumbing Fixtures, and turn them on.
Learn Revit MEP
- Nationally accredited
- Create your own portfolio
- Free student software
- Learn at your convenience
- Authorized Autodesk training center
Select Plumbing Fixtures and click OK, then OK again. Click Apply and let’s see what happens. Now we can see the sinks, but they’re displaying in a dark black color, which usually indicates they are new elements or part of this electrical set—and we don’t want that.
We want them to fade into the background. To do that, go back to Revit Links Overrides and check the Halftone box for Architectural. While we’re at it, check the Halftone box for HVAC as well. Click OK and OK.
Perfect. Everything fades back now. If we zoom in, we’re ready to place receptacles for these two classrooms.
To do that, let’s go up to the Systems tab. Go all the way across to the drop-down menu—it may be set to Lighting or something else. What we want is to change it to Electrical Fixture, which resembles a receptacle symbol.
Select Electrical Fixture. At first, you might see a motor selected, which we don’t want. I want to change the type I’m placing. If we scroll to the top of the list, we’ll notice the Duplex Receptacle, which comes in two types: GFCI and Standard. Let’s start with the Standard.
So I’ve got Duplex Receptacle—Standard selected. Now if I scroll to the top and review a few key settings: Number one—it’s set to Level 1, which is correct. That’s the Level 1 Power Plan we’re working on.
Elevation From Level should be 18 inches above the finished floor, so 1'-6" is perfect. We don’t need an Offset.
At the top, make sure “Place on Vertical Face” is selected. We're going to place these on the architectural walls, so it looks like we’re all set. We want to place a couple of outlets around the classroom walls.
I’ll place one here in Room 1510, and I’ll place another near the window. Then I’ll continue to the right wall and finally the bottom wall, covering all four walls. That gives us four outlets in Classroom 1510. Now I’m going to move to Room 1509 and place outlets on three of the walls—left, top, and right. But if I put an 18-inch outlet right here at the sink, it would end up underneath the countertop, which isn’t ideal. I need to move it higher.
Before I place anything, I’ll adjust the elevation. I also don’t want a standard outlet here. I want the GFCI type because I’m in or near a wet area—the sink.
So let’s open the type selector drop-down, and I’ll choose Duplex Receptacle—GFCI. After selecting it, notice that the default elevation changes. I want to set this to 42 inches, so I’ll type in 42" and press ENTER to confirm—this sets it to 3'-6". Now I can place a GFCI outlet next to the sink.
If it's difficult to place precisely, it’s okay to zoom in until it’s easier to place on the wall face. Now both classrooms have four wall-mounted receptacles, and one of them includes a GFCI.
Let’s take it a step further. We want to add a floor outlet so someone can plug in from the center of the classroom. Let’s return to the drop-down menu and type in the word “floor.” We’re looking for Outlet—Floor Duplex, and there should be a single Floor Duplex Outlet available. We’ll click on that. As we hover over the plan, we’ll see that it’s set to Level 1 and the elevation is 0"—which is perfect.
We want this placed directly on the floor, so we’ll click somewhere in the middle of each classroom to place the floor outlet. Then, click Modify to finish. Awesome—each classroom now has five outlets.
Next, we want to add these to a circuit. If I click on the first outlet, I’ll notice that the Power button appears. I can hold CTRL and select additional receptacles, including the GFCI. The Power button is still available, and I can assign these to a circuit.
However, while holding CTRL, if I also click on the floor outlet, the Power button disappears—it no longer works. Why is that? Great question.
Some Revit families don’t come ready to connect to a circuit, and the floor outlet is one of those cases. It’s a basic, out-of-the-box Revit family that does not have a built-in connector, so it can’t be added to a circuit as-is.
We have to edit this family. So let's click on it and click Edit Family. At first, I see nothing in the original view of the family—and that’s okay.
I want to double-click under Floor Plans > Ref. Level. That brings up the outlet. I can see it now, and what it needs is an electrical connector.
So go to the Create tab, and scroll across until you find the Connectors area. Select Electrical Connector. By default, it wants to place on a face, but I don’t want that.
I want to click Work Plane twice. That will bring up the Work Plane menu. You might need to click it a couple of times—sometimes it’s a little slow to respond—but it will come up. The work plane I want to pick is a named Work Plane—Ref. Level. Click OK, and it places the connector right there for me. I’m all set—but it still won’t connect unless voltage is assigned.
So let’s select that connector. It’s green by default and turns blue when selected. I see fields for Voltage, Apparent Power, and Phase 1.
I need to set these values. Fortunately, this family already has a couple of parameters. Under Voltage, I can click the small button labeled Associate Family Parameter. I’ll set this to Switch Voltage and click OK. Then, under Apparent Power, I’ll click that box again and assign it to Load.
Perfect. Now it has the necessary parameters. All I need to do is load it back into our project. To do that, I’ll click Load into Project and Close.
When prompted to save changes, click No. Then, choose to override the existing version and its parameter values. Click that option.
It will blink briefly to let us know the family was updated. That’s about all Revit does to indicate the change.
Let’s click on it to investigate. I’ll select it and check the Properties.
Everything looks fine here. I can now see electrical data at the bottom. If I click Edit Type, I’ll notice that the voltage is set to 120 volts, and there’s a load value—so it’s ready to be connected to a 120-volt circuit. Perfect.
Now I can repeat that same test from earlier. I’ll click and hold CTRL to select multiple outlets. If I include that floor box this time, the Power button is still available. We’re good to go.
I’ll continue selecting all the outlets. There are ten in total—five in each classroom. If everything is working as expected, the Power button remains visible.
Click the Power button. Currently, the panel is set to None. We want to assign it to PB3. Connection Type is set to Breaker. On the left panel, we’ll see some information about the circuit.
Right now, the Load Name is blank. If we click the drop-down, we’ll see a few default options. We used “Lighting” previously, but now let’s enter a custom name.
We’ll call this Receptacles—Classroom, which is more Revit-friendly. Why? Because Revit organizes these alphabetically. Starting with the main category—Receptacles—followed by the subcategory—Classroom—helps keep our schedules clean and structured.
With that, we’ll click Apply and then click the Modify button. We’re all set. We’ve just created our first circuit for classroom receptacles.
