If you're working with imperial units and/or noticing that your wire numbers or wire connection dots appear too large or out of place after drawing wires, it’s likely due to default block definitions not being optimized for your drawing scale.
This article explains how to locate, edit, and customize the WIRENUMBER and WIRE_DOT blocks to better fit your project needs.
🔧 Step 1: Access the Electrical Settings
Open the ARES Electrical.
In the ribbon, go to Manage → Customization → Electrical Settings...
In the Electrical Settings dialog, scroll to the Wires section.
Locate the paths for:
WIRENUMBER block (QCCFG\DRAWINGS\WIRENUMBER)
WIRE_DOT block (QCCFG\DRAWINGS\WIRE_DOT)
These fields indicate which DWG files the software uses for those elements when generating wire numbers and connection dots.
🗂️ Step 2: Locate the Block Files
Use Windows File Explorer to navigate to the folders shown in the Electrical Settings.
The files should be regular DWG files — for example:
WIRENUMBER.dwgWIRE_DOT.dwg
💡TIP: If you're using a custom database, these paths might point to your company’s folders instead of the default installation.
✏️ Step 3: Open and Edit the Blocks
Open each DWG file (e.g.,
WIRENUMBER.dwg) directly inside ARES Electrical.
Use regular CAD tools to:
Scale the elements proportionally for your design units.
Change the color if needed.
Adjust the insertion point if needed (e.g., using
INSBASEcommand).Optionally, tweak the text height, alignment, or other visual elements.
Save and close the block file after making your adjustments.
🔄 Step 4: Apply Changes
Repeat the first Steps presented in this article:
In the ribbon, go to Manage → Customization → Electrical Settings...
In the Electrical Settings dialog, scroll to the Wires section.
Locate the paths for:
WIRENUMBER block
WIRE_DOT block
Update the name and/or the path.
Click OK to apply changes.
The modified blocks will now be used by default for new projects based on your electrical settings.
💡TIP: After creating scaled versions of WIRENUMBER and WIRE_DOT, consider setting them as default in your project settings.
Please ensure block scaling stays consistent with your drawing units.
📖INFO: After customizing the WIRENUMBER and WIRE_DOT blocks, wire numbers and connection dots will appear with proper size, color, and positioning for your drawing units — eliminating the need for manual adjustment for each project.
⚠️WARNING: Regarding the layers, every time a block is created, it's entities must be in layer 0. To verify this, enable the Properties palette. If they're not, you MUST change them to layer 0.
Still have questions?
Feel free to contact our support team at [email protected] if you need any more help.