Engineering Documentation

Home Tech Design believes that a successful project requires proper planning and thorough documentation of all systems. Regardless of whether we are designing and installing a simple media room system or the most complex whole-home or whole-building control and automation system, proper system documentation is the key to success. The plan examples below illustrate some of the forms of engineering documentation we utilize over the course of construction. These tools help our team perform their duties accurately as well aid our communication with the design team including the project architect, interior designer and builder. Early planning ensures that there are no surprises that result in additional costs or a compromised finish. Proper documentation also aids service calls that will be required in the future.

 

Prewire or Infrastructure Design

 

Schematics

 
This is a drawing that shows where all wires (new or existing) are to be located in relation to the floor plan. Take the client's floor plan which is typically available in either PDF or DWG format and place icons along with the associated wire complement onto the plan. The following information should be conveyed: wire type, # of wires, origination point of wire and unique wire ID number.   Detailed input/output diagrams illustrating connections to be made between hardware. Drawings are commonly broken up by discipline such as Audio, Video, Control and Other. Another common method is to define Head-End interconnections on one page and then show multiple room connections on additional pages.
     

Rack Elevation

 

Lighting Load Identification Drawing/s

 

Rack elevations show the location of equipment that is or will be located in a given rack. Racks are measured in rack units (RU) where one rack unit equals 1.75", usually starting at the bottom of the rack. If a piece of gear measures 2 Rack Units, it will measure 3.5 inches in height.

 

A lighting control system drawing illustrates the load control method, load numbers and keypad locations. Every load in the project needs to be properly accounted for in terms of whether it is on the system or off the system. There are two primary control methods for controlling lights in a lighting control system: centralized or localized. Centralized loads have all of the wiring heading back to a dimming panel location and localized loads are controlled by replacing the "dumb" switch with a "smart" dimmer or switch. It is also important to illustrate which loads are not on the system so as to provide the client with a complete view of their system.