DINPanel electrical project guide

What is DINPanel?

DINPanel is an application designed primarily for electricians, though not only for them. It guides the user through creating a new installation or modifying an existing customer installation in a clear and fast way.

The application can be used on a computer, tablet and phone. The idea is that an electrician can start work directly at the installation site, where a tablet may be the natural choice. More detailed switchboard design, connection analysis and document preparation can then be done comfortably on a larger computer screen.

In offline mode, users can define the building, its floors and rooms, and create or configure circuits. These are the details most often filled in directly at the installation site, where the internet connection may be unavailable, unstable or insufficient.

After returning to the office and regaining internet access, the project can be continued, including finishing the switchboard, assigning products, preparing an offer and completing other actions that require a network connection.

Fast wizard and installation overview

DINPanel can be used module by module, but it also includes a project wizard that lets the user quickly move through the key stages: defining rooms, creating circuits, preparing the switchboard and moving toward an offer for the customer.

The wizard is especially useful when the installer wants to efficiently collect basic data during a customer conversation or a first site visit. It does not replace advanced editing, but it creates a starting point that can later be refined in detailed application views.

This overview helps check, while still with the customer, whether the installation scope is complete, whether anything has been missed and whether the project is ready for further offer and documentation work.

Building, rooms and circuits

The process starts by creating a building and defining its floors and the rooms located on each floor.

The electrician then enters the circuits located in individual rooms and sets their parameters, such as cable lengths and types, conductor cross-sections and the number of boxes.

In addition to typical 230 V or 400 V electrical circuits, low-current and teletechnical installations can also be defined, such as CCTV, alarm systems, alarm sensors, reed switches, network sockets, intercoms, gate control buttons, irrigation systems, satellite TV, audio installations and fibre optics.

The Circuits step offers two interchangeable workflows. Point Plan lets users place installation points in real room geometry and organise them into active circuits, while Circuit List keeps the technical circuit-first workflow with direct controls for points, loads and cable lengths. The project remembers the selected view.

Circuits can then be refined in the detailed editor. Users can shape the connection graph, create branches, edit point properties, choose cables and boxes, define conductor composition, and review load, capacity and voltage-drop guidance.

Floor plan

DINPanel also allows users to create a graphical floor plan. The plan can show walls and rooms, as well as installation points such as sockets, switches, lighting points and other devices. It can also present cable and circuit routes.

When creating a plan, users define not only the building walls but also the rooms. The editable 2D plan can be switched to a read-only 3D preview that shows the spatial layout together with installation points, the switchboard and cable routes. Point Plan can use the same preview while focusing on the selected room and its circuits.

The planner does not force a specific way of working. Suggestions can be used or ignored. The plan can exist independently of circuits, and circuits can be defined independently of the plan.

At the same time, the planner suggests linking both elements so the plan and circuits stay consistent. This makes it easier to find missing or inconsistent elements both in circuit definitions and on the plan.

The whole-floor cable-route view shows physical circuit paths and can calculate cable lengths from wall-following or orthogonal routes, mounting heights, the selected route elevation, endpoint allowances and inter-floor passages. Routes remain automatic until explicit control points are added, and several cables can share a named bundle before separating into their own branches.

The plan can be used as part of the documentation handed over to the customer and exported to PDF. It can also be exported as drawing data and then imported into another project, or shared with another person so they can import it into their own project.

Switchboard design

Switchboard design can be started at any time, but the most natural moment is after circuits have been defined. If a project does not include circuit definition, work can start directly on the switchboard.

A switchboard can be designed in two ways. The first is automatic design. The user enters basic parameters such as whether a main switch is required, whether surge protection is needed and what type, and the residual-current device strategy.

After these parameters are selected, the system can automatically generate the switchboard. During automatic planning, the application tries to distribute devices across phases as well as possible. The generated design can later be edited manually and adjusted to the user’s needs, or removed completely so design can start again.

The second way is manual switchboard design by adding its elements independently.

DINPanel works with abstract device types. During planning, users can use a surge protective device or isolator, for example, without choosing a specific product model yet. At this stage, device properties matter most: number of poles, available terminals and how connections are made.

Once devices are in the switchboard, they can be electrically connected. The application can visualize internal switchboard connections, show what a module is connected to, which modules a given circuit passes through and which phase the circuit is connected to.

Connections between devices can use individual wires or comb busbars. A comb busbar can span devices within a row while preserving skipped teeth, gaps and explicit cuts. The designer still controls how the L1, L2 and L3 phase paths are distributed.

If irregularities occur, such as connecting L2 to L1 or overloading a miniature circuit breaker, the system signals an error and explains the problem. This makes mistakes easier to catch while the switchboard is still being planned.

If circuits have already been defined and are being assigned to protection devices in the switchboard, the system totals the load on each phase. This helps assess load distribution between phases for a three-phase connection.

Connections

The system allows many different connection types to be added. For example, a project may have a three-phase, single-phase or fibre connection.

Different rules apply depending on the selected connection type. For example, with a single-phase connection, if the user tries to add a device that requires two or three phases, the system shows an error and a way to fix it, such as changing the connection type.

A connection can also be part of the offer. This makes it possible to include an additional charge for carrying it out, independently of the materials and devices used in the installation itself.

Device labels and markings

When the switchboard is designed automatically, device labels are assigned by the system. When the switchboard is designed manually, some labels need to be assigned by the user.

Labels are also generated automatically for overcurrent protection devices that have electrical circuits assigned to them. Such a device receives a label created from the name of the connected circuit.

The system also supports device code markings. Codes can be defined according to user preference. Common markings are used by default, but the configuration can be changed for a specific project and globally in the application defaults.

For example, residual-current devices can receive the code FI and miniature circuit breakers the code QF. These markings can be changed freely.

Custom configurations

DINPanel does not limit the user to ready-made device and material types. The application allows cables, boxes, symbols, markings and devices to be created and adjusted so the workflow matches the installer’s real standards.

This makes it possible to prepare device configurations, default materials, apparatus markings and sets of elements used in future projects. This matters especially when the installer uses specific product series, an individual way of describing switchboards or non-standard technical solutions.

The application includes defined manufacturers and models of materials and devices, but the user can also add more entries. These data are saved and can be reused in future projects, offers and bills of materials.

Default configurations reduce repetitive data entry. After preferred cables, boxes, products, symbols and markings are set, the application can prepare future projects faster and suggest elements aligned with previous user choices.

Product assignment

Once the switchboard and circuits are designed, products can be assigned. This feature maps abstract project elements, such as switchboard devices, cables, boxes and other materials, to concrete products.

The user opens the product assignment tool and selects the right product for each device or material. This is a specific model from a specific manufacturer with its own EAN number.

If a model is set as default during assignment, the system can automatically suggest or assign it to matching devices and materials in future projects.

After several projects covering single-phase and three-phase installations, two-pole and four-pole residual-current devices and other typical devices, most product assignment rows can be filled automatically. Manual assignment is mainly needed for non-standard devices used in a specific project.

DINPanel also supports defining products for circuit materials, such as cables and boxes, as well as materials used for internal switchboard connections, such as connecting wires, ferrules and comb busbars.

Switchboard design can model comb busbars separately from individual connection wires, including skipped teeth and cuts within a row.

Offers and invoices

Once products have been defined, an offer can be generated. During offer creation, the form includes all used materials: switchboard devices and materials, cables and boxes used in circuits, and auxiliary materials such as connecting wires, ferrules and comb busbars.

A unit price can be set for each material. This works similarly to product assignment. If a price is set as default, it will be loaded automatically when creating the next offer. In most cases, this avoids filling in all values again because they are taken from settings saved during earlier projects.

An offer can be prepared in two ways. The first is based on prices of individual materials. For example, a specific residual-current device or miniature circuit breaker has a defined price, and the offer is built from all used products and materials.

The second way is to manually enter the installer’s own offer items. Prices for manual items are not saved as defaults because they are treated as individual. The price of a complete installation for customer X may be completely different from customer Y, so these values should not be carried into future projects automatically.

The offer can also include carrying out the connection itself. For the connection to appear as a priced item, it must be marked as part of the billable scope. In a manually created offer, such a connection appears as one of the suggested items.

DINPanel also allows customer invoices to be issued directly from the application. This works after DINPanel is integrated with a selected invoicing provider. Currently supported integrations include Fakturownia, inFakt and Comarch Betterfly.

Exports and documentation

DINPanel supports multiple exports. One of them is the bill of materials. After concrete products, models and EAN numbers are assigned to devices and materials, a list can be exported and then imported into a wholesaler system that supports such imports.

The list can be exported as PDF, CSV or Excel. Exported column order can be configured freely, which should make it possible to adapt the file to the requirements of most electrical wholesalers.

Electrical documentation for the customer can also be exported. It is a summary of what was completed as part of the installation.

Every document exported from DINPanel can be configured to include the installer’s logo, details, a stamp-like element and an optional custom footer shown on each page. This means the offer, documentation and material lists can look like documents prepared directly by the contractor, not anonymous software printouts.

Company details and document materials can be prepared in the application so future exports automatically include the right branding, contact details and layout matching the installer’s communication style.

In addition to electrical documentation and the bill of materials, circuit documentation can be exported with information about how circuits are connected. It can be included as part of the as-built electrical documentation handed over to the customer.

The switchboard view can also be exported, including its layout and information about the devices it contains: device type, label and the connected circuit if one was defined earlier.

Another important export is labels for devices located in the switchboard. They can be printed on adhesive paper, cut out and attached in the switchboard so each device and the circuit it serves are clearly identified.

A single-line schematic can also be exported. It can also be part of the as-built documentation handed over to the customer.

Help and tutorials

DINPanel includes contextual help and tutorials that guide users through selected areas of the application. This is especially useful for more advanced tools such as the floor plan, wizards, circuit configuration or switchboard work.

This helps users understand the purpose of a view faster, learn the basic workflow and return to guidance when using less frequent features.