Test a plan: Check, Simulate and Loads
Use Test mode to find devices the wiring never reaches, flick the switches to see which lights come on, and read an indicative load for each circuit against its breaker.
Test mode runs three checks on the plan as drawn: what reaches the board, which switch works which light, and how loaded each circuit is. It is part of ePlan Premium; on a free account, Test Plan offers Premium instead.
Open Test mode
- In the editor, tap Test Plan, the checklist button in the top bar. With a phone on its side it is in the left-hand rail; in the browser it is Test.
- Choose Check, Simulate or Loads.
- Tap Done to go back to the editor.
Check: does every device reach a board?
- Check follows the wires from every distribution board on the plan, the panel in US symbols.
- It counts the symbols that are powered and unpowered, and the dangling wires, those with an end on no symbol.
- It lists the unpowered symbols. Tap one to find it on the plan.
With no board on the plan, nothing is powered: place one and wire each circuit back to it. A generator or a solar inverter does not count as a source.
Simulate: does each switch work its light?
- Tap a switch on the plan to open or close it. Every symbol in the Switches group can be switched.
- A light is lit when a path of wires and closed switches reaches it from a board.
- Try each switch in turn. A two-way pair (a 3-way pair in the US) works only when both switches are wired to each other and to the light.
The model is on or off. A dimmer, a timer or a sensor switch is a plain switch that you set by hand.
Loads: is a circuit carrying too much?
- Each circuit shows its estimated load in volt-amperes and in amps, from a typical load for each device on it. A device with no circuit takes one from its wires, or is listed under Unassigned.
- Set each circuit's breaker with its stepper: 6, 10, 16, 20, 32 or 40 A with international symbols, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 A with US symbols. A circuit above its breaker is marked OVER.
- Read the note under the figures. It states the supply the figures assume: 230 V with 3-phase sockets at 400 V, or 120 V with 240-volt equipment at 240 V.
The figures follow the device's symbol setting, so the same plan reads differently on a phone set to US symbols.
What the tests cannot tell you
The tests check the drawing, not the wiring in the walls. They know nothing of cable sizes, the length of a run or the protection a circuit needs, so a plan can pass all three and still break your regulations.
The Loads figure is indicative: typical loads, with no diversity. It is not the calculation your regulations ask for, such as Article 220 of the NEC in the US, and your inspector decides what counts. The load calculation article explains the difference, and the checking article has the three checks to try in the page.
Next: Export and share a plan.