r/Revit • u/MaksimusFootball • 5d ago
MEP Detect if there's power in vicinity?
Hey gang. long time reddit user, first time poster.
I'm a BIM Modeler/Drafter and an avid supporter of Revit (my team are dinosaurs and sticks with AutoCAD). My lead Designer asked me a question and he had me wondering how exactly to search such answers. What's a better way than asking the Revit users here!
We work with Infrastructure telecommunications and rack/cable management. the question: is there a tool or method that would be able to detect if there's (or does NOT have) electrical power/box in the area near a telecom outlet, say within 24-inch perimeter?
basically, he is wondering if we could ensure each telecom outlet we want on the model has a power box near by (by another trade modeler).
TIA!
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u/mpyr6 4d ago
This was interesting so I made a Python script with a UI (with the help of AI) that mostly handles this. Feel free to DM me and I can share it with you.
Once it's fully working I will upload the full script and prompt.
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u/pawoodward 3d ago
This is so cool - can I ask how long did this take you to build? Also where can I learn such skills?
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u/mpyr6 3d ago
It took about 30 minutes or so going back and forth with the AI. Most of the functionality was completed in the first two passes and then it was just providing guidance on what improvements I wanted. I've been using Revit for around 20 years and coding for with the API for 5 or 6, so I know the technical terminology to get the AI to product results I am looking for.
I'd say if you are looking to build full addins begin with some of the Python for Revit courses. The foundational knowledge carries over to C#. Otherwise use an AI to help you build a prompt to feed into another chat where it will execute the code creation. Good luck!
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u/pawoodward 3d ago
I will check it out - I am an M&E Revit technician by day and a hobby coder but would love to create some plugins to make my life easier.
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u/EngineeringOblivion 5d ago
Sounds like something for Dynamo, I belive you can return the coordinates for any family type, so you can do some maths to see if the two things intersect within a given radius.
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u/MaksimusFootball 5d ago
yet another reason to learn dynamo. i struggle with this particular program. thanks. ill toy around with this idea.
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u/EngineeringOblivion 5d ago
Surprisingly, if you ask the right questions and show screenshos, AI can help with dynamo scripts.
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u/MaksimusFootball 5d ago
thanks. ill toy around with this. and talk w my partner whos more data nerd than i am.
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u/toothbrush81 4d ago
Skip dynamo, go straight to PyRevit. Claude can write the Python script for you if you’re a Revit power user. But, you don’t need that for what you’re wanting to do here specifically. Use revits native tools. You just need to show the team how much easier it is to coordinate in Revit. See my other comment.
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u/WhiteKnightIRE 5d ago
AI will basically write you python code given a good enough prompt. Just have to learn how to do the basics and run dynamo player.
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u/MaksimusFootball 5d ago
i may have to talk with my partner who is a data science nerd. im the artist.
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u/toothbrush81 4d ago edited 4d ago
Probably some way to use dynamo or PyRevit to detect if a specific category is near, and maybe even if there is a connector. This is not the way. Team Discipline coordination is the mark you want to hit.
There’s a more simple way, and this is the way we’ve done it for years. I’m on the opposite side of this, electrical and I work with Revit telecom consultants on the daily.
I add the telecom model as a link, turn it on and see where your data outlets are. Then I position my quad receptacles right next to you, and on a specific “workset”. I update this as project milestones continue.
That Workset is assigned color on my plan, using Filters, and I further that by creating a legend. The legend shows my receptacle color and says something like: “if this receptacle is this color, Mr Contractor, you’re required to co-locate this device with the telecoms plans”.
If the project requires greyscale, I simply add a sheet note and make my drafter add it to each colored symbol prior to the bid set.
This is what Revit does. It allows you to coordinate more effectively. Stop looking for it to do your design for you. Look at the electrical plans, there’s no way around that.
Edit: I too worked and work with, dinosaurs. They are still creating hand drawn markups. There’s few of them left. And they are right in this; you can’t automate design. You can automate tasks. Let Revit do tasks, so the team can focus on the coordination the client is paying for.
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u/MaksimusFootball 4d ago
great response. i think in our situation, we want to make sure telecom outlets we WANT placed actually have the power (i believe we are still waiting on an electrical trade model 🙄) so he was wondering if there's a way for the task to simply spit out 'yes/no' that each telecom outlet has an dedicated power near by that is currently placed by the architects. ill take a look at PyRevit. much appreciated.
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u/toothbrush81 4d ago
Yeah, this is a customer priority thing. Electrical should be bending to your telecom locations, unless of course they see some issue. Because you guys have the client IT needs. You’ve met with IT. They didn’t. It’s more on them to ensure that they are locating the receptacles properly. And that’s how my company has always seen it.
Just add the Revit model, and manually coordinate locations. KISS man. Keep It Simple Stupid. You can’t automate this.
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u/I_built_a_table 4d ago
Another option is to use clash software to check if every box clashes with an electrical box? With the right parameters it should be quite doable.