DINPanel electrical project guide

What is DINPanel?

For electricians

DINPanel is an app for electricians and installation designers. It guides you through a new installation or a change to an existing one: rooms, circuits, the floor plan, the switchboard, products, the offer, the invoice and the documents.

Computer, tablet and phone

The app works on a computer, a tablet and a phone. You can start on site with a tablet or a phone and finish the switchboard design and the documents on a larger screen.

Working without internet

Projects you have opened are kept on the device. Without a connection you can still edit the project settings, the rooms, the floor plan drawing and the circuits; the switchboard editor works partly. Changes wait in a queue and are sent when the connection returns.

Connection status

The connection and session status window in the app menu shows the remaining session time, the last synchronization and the queued changes. Forced offline mode lets you work offline on purpose, for example with a weak signal on site.

What needs a connection

Products, Documents, imports, automatic switchboard design and exports need an internet connection.

Project overview and settings

Find or start a project

The Projects list has status filters and search. Open a card to enter its project; use the card menu to duplicate, archive or delete. New project starts separate work.

Project page

The Project dashboard shows the project name, client, address and gross offer value. Open the project name to switch projects; More options offers editing, duplication, archiving and deletion. Reset demo appears on the example project.

Summary and next action

The dashboard summarises connections, circuits, points, cable length and modules. The progress indicator counts areas containing data and Next up suggests an action; neither is an electrical approval.

Project work areas

The destination tiles open Details, Rooms, Plans, Circuits, Distribution board, Materials, Offer, Invoice and Documents. They can be opened in any order; a check mark means that area has data.

Documents and exports

Documents opens downloadable project exports, including material lists and electrical diagrams. Offer and Invoice have their own tiles. Use Plans for the floor drawings and cable routes.

Project and client

Open Details on the dashboard to edit the project name and optional client contact and address. Entering a tax ID can fill company data from registers such as CEIDG or VIES. Review the result and press Save.

Electrical settings

Below the client card are four optional sections: Connections, Defaults (standard, country, currency, VAT, topology and voltages), Physical cable routing (units and length calculation), and Circuit planning (point assignment and mounting heights). Expand a section or use Edit, review the values, then press Save.

Rooms and circuits

Floors and rooms

The Rooms page builds the structure of the building: floors and their rooms. A new project starts with an empty floor; you can add default rooms as a starting point, then rename, reorder, add or delete them. Use Undo and Redo for recent changes, and press Save.

Room type

The room type decides which devices are suggested first when you plan circuits: a bathroom suggests, for example, a towel radiator or a fan, and a hall a doorbell. Predefined rooms are added from the palette, and you can also create your own.

Three views of circuits

The Circuits page shows the selected room in three views: editable 2D with points in the real room geometry, a read-only 3D view of heights, connections and routes, and Diagram, a technical list of circuits that works without a floor plan.

Tools

Points are added from Tools. Devices typical for the room type come first, followed by the full catalog: sockets, lighting, switches and appliances, and also low-voltage and telecom points such as alarm sensors, intercoms, network sockets, CCTV, fibre and gate controls.

Circuit list and filters

The navigator lists the circuits in the room and in other rooms, each with its family colour (lighting, switches, sockets, devices, mixed, low-voltage) and its error count. In Diagram you filter circuits by room, name, type and validity.

Circuit details

The gear icon opens the circuit details: name, type and points grouped by room. Edit opens the full circuit editor.

Circuit editor

The editor sets the name, type, topology, current type, phase, voltage, floor and room. On the Points tab each point has its type, symbol, environment, load, cable, cores, cross-section, length and boxes. The Cables tab shows the voltage drop, the load and the cable limit for each cable.

Floor plan

Drawing the plan

The Plan page draws the floor plan: walls, doors, windows, labels and rooms, together with the switchboard and the passages between floors. Walls snap to the grid and to each other, so closed areas are easy to turn into rooms.

Drawing and Routes

The page has two modes: Drawing for the architecture and the points, and Routes for the physical cable paths.

3D preview

The plan can be switched to a read-only 3D preview with the points, the switchboard and the cable routes. You can orbit the view, reset the camera, walk inside the building and change the 3D settings.

Plan and circuits together

A plan can exist without circuits and circuits without a plan, but the planner helps keep them consistent. A number next to a room name shows circuit points not yet placed there; the room inspector lists the room content and inserts the missing points one by one.

Cable routes

In Routes cables follow the walls automatically. Select a cable to add control points and shape its path; several cables can share a named bundle. Cable lengths can be calculated from the routes, the mounting heights and the passages between floors.

Plans, import and export

The Plans list shows the plans of each floor and warns, for example, about a floor without a plan. Plans can be imported from a PDF file (AI-assisted) or from drawing data, and a plan can be shared as drawing data with another project. Download opens the floor plan PDF export.

Switchboard design

Where to start

You can start the switchboard at any time. The most natural moment is after the circuits are defined: each circuit then waits as a cable in the strip under the panel, with its protection label, name and load. A project without circuits can go straight to the switchboard.

Automatic design

The Automation button in the panel toolbar (under Add on smaller screens) designs the selected switchboard for you. In Design switchboard layout you choose wires or comb busbars between modules, a main isolator, the RCD strategy, the row layout and the required surge protection class.

Working with the result

The planner places the devices and spreads circuits across the phases as evenly as it can. Each breaker is limited to what the cable can carry; excess load is reported instead of choosing a larger breaker. You can then edit the result by hand, generate it again, or use Clear switchboard and start over.

Manual design

You can also build the switchboard by hand. The Module library lists devices by category, and you add the ones you need to a DIN rail row.

Device types, not products

During design you work with device types, not specific products: a residual-current device, a miniature circuit breaker, an isolator. What matters now is the pole count, the terminals and how the device connects. Specific products are assigned later, on the Products page.

Editing a module

Select a module and click Edit to open its editor. It holds the label, the symbol (for example QF1), the full name, the width in modules, the manufacturer, model and EAN, and the parameters of the device type, such as the trip curve, rated current and breaking capacity of a breaker. The arrows move to the previous or next module, and the module can be duplicated or removed here.

Additional configuration

This part of the editor holds custom fields and a short name template built from the module parameters, for example MCB B10. Its Paths and Terminals tabs define the electrical paths of the device and each terminal with its direction, side and accepted cross-section.

Module preview

The Preview tab shows the module symbol, the load of each path against its rating, and the connections of each terminal.

Wiring

To connect devices, select a terminal and then a highlighted target terminal, or drag a wire to it. The wiring bar shows the terminal you are wiring and places one wire or a full set, for example L+N, which is convenient on a tablet. Undo and Redo cover the last 150 changes.

Showing connections

Connections can be hidden, shown as a light ghost view, or shown in full. For a selected module, the connection box lists what each terminal is connected to, with the conductor size and type.

Comb busbars

Devices can be connected with single wires or comb busbars. A comb busbar spans devices in one row and keeps skipped teeth, gaps and cuts, while you decide how the L1, L2 and L3 paths are distributed.

Problems and hints

Problems such as L2 connected to L1, an overloaded breaker or two conductors that need a twin ferrule appear in the Electrical panel problems window, each with an explanation and a fix hint.

Phase load

When circuits are assigned to protection devices, the source card totals the load of each phase, which helps balance a three-phase source.

Technical view and visualization

Modules can be shown in a technical view with symbols and circuit names, or as a visualization that resembles real devices and the exported documents.

Several switchboards in one project

Switchboard selector

A project can contain several switchboards, for example a main switchboard and a garage sub-panel. The switchboard selector in the panel header lists them with their numbers and states, and holds the switchboard actions.

Adding a sub-panel

Add electrical panel creates a sub-panel together with its supply. You choose the parent panel, AC or DC current, the voltages and conductors, and the supply cable with its cross-section and length. The parent panel gets a dedicated supply circuit, and the new panel gets an incoming source.

Connecting the supply

The sub-panel stays awaiting wiring until you connect its supply circuit to a suitable output in the parent panel; automatic design does not do this for you. Its header shows the parent panel and the supply parameters, with a link to open the parent panel. In the parent panel the supply waits as a cable named after the sub-panel.

Circuits belong to a switchboard

New circuits are created in the selected switchboard, and each switchboard is designed and generated separately. On the Circuits page, the switchboard icon with its number switches between switchboards.

Moving circuits

Circuits without connections to switchboard modules can be moved to another switchboard. Their plan points and cable routes stay in place, and cable lengths are recalculated from the new switchboard where possible.

Project overview

The project overview shows a tab for each switchboard above the switchboard preview.

Sources

Several sources

Sources are defined in the Connections section of the project settings. A project can have several sources of different categories: power, data/LAN, fibre, control/alarm, RF/TV/SAT and earthing.

Power source types

A power source can be the grid, a generator, a UPS, an inverter, a battery, solar or another type. It also has a standard, an earthing system (for example TN-C, TN-S or TT, single- or three-phase) and voltages.

Checks based on the source

The source decides what can be connected. For example, with only a single-phase source DINPanel will not let you add a three-phase device and explains how to fix it, such as changing the source.

Sources in the switchboard

In the switchboard, sources appear as cards above the rows, with their terminals, the load of each phase and the primary source marked. The strip can be folded or expanded.

Sources in the offer

A source marked Paid becomes a separate offer item, priced independently of the installation materials.

Device labels and markings

Labels from circuits

A protection device connected to a circuit takes its label from the circuit name, so the switchboard shows which device serves which circuit. Each device also has a symbol, such as Q1, FI1 or QF1.

Label and symbol of a module

In the module editor you can change the label and the symbol. A label shown in grey comes from the connected circuit and follows its name until you type your own.

Assigning symbols

Assign symbols in the Automation window numbers the devices by category and shows how many modules already have a symbol. Clear symbols removes them again.

Symbol prefixes

The prefixes are set in Configuration → Defaults → Device symbols, for example Q for switching devices, FI for residual-current devices and QF for overcurrent protection.

Labels in documents

Labels and symbols appear in the exported documents and on the sheet of device labels to stick into the switchboard, described in the Exports section.

Custom configurations

Configuration

Configuration holds the account settings used in every new project: defaults, plan configuration, circuit buttons, your companies, switchboard equipment, cables, electrical boxes and invoice providers.

Cables and boxes

On the Cables and Electrical boxes tabs you choose defaults for each use, add your own items, and give them a manufacturer, model and EAN; cables also get a default price.

Switchboard equipment

Switchboard equipment is the module catalog used in the switchboard, shown as a grid or a list with filters. Create module adds your own device.

Circuit buttons

Circuit buttons are the tiles in Tools. You can change any built-in button or add your own: name, icon, plan symbol, power, phase, cable, mounting position and the rooms where it is available or typical. Changes apply to new points; existing projects stay as they are.

Your own symbols

Your own symbols (SVG) lets you upload your own artwork for button icons and plan symbols.

Defaults for new projects

Defaults hold the country, offer currency, VAT rate, voltages, dedicated circuit thresholds, load limits, measurement units, cable routing and mounting heights that new projects start with.

Product assignment

Products for project elements

The Products page assigns real products to the abstract elements of the project in three sections: switchboard modules, switchboard materials such as connection wires, and circuit materials such as cables and boxes. Each section can be switched off.

Choosing a product

For each element you choose the manufacturer, the model and the EAN. Model suggestions match the module type and can be narrowed with the global manufacturer filter; a model that is not in the list can be added as your own option.

Defaults for future projects

Set as default saves the choice, so matching elements in future projects are filled in automatically. After a few projects most rows fill themselves, and you pick products only for unusual devices.

Materials and quantities

Switchboard materials and circuit materials list the connection wires, cables and boxes used in the project together with their quantities, for example metres of each cable.

Offers and invoices

Offer settings

The Offer tab in Documents chooses which circuit sets, switchboards and output sections the offer includes, and the pricing mode.

Pricing from products

With product-based pricing the form lists every material used: switchboard equipment, switchboard materials and circuit materials, with their quantities. You enter the material and labour price of each line. A price marked as default is filled in automatically next time, and the arrow restores the default price.

Custom offer items

Add custom offer item adds your own lines, for example labour for the whole installation. Their prices are not saved as defaults, because they are individual for each client. The Custom offer items mode builds the offer from such lines only and works even without a switchboard.

Currency, VAT and totals

The offer uses the project currency and VAT treatment from the project settings; changing the currency never converts amounts. The summary shows the net, VAT and gross totals. Save prices keeps the prices, and Generate creates the offer PDF.

Sources in the offer

A source marked as paid appears among the items to price, so completing the connection can be charged separately from the installation.

Invoices

The Issued invoices tab lists the issued invoices and creates new ones. Invoicing works after you connect a provider available in your country in Configuration → Invoice providers, for example Fakturownia, inFakt or Comarch Betterfly in Poland.

Exports and documentation

What you can export

The Exports tab in Documents generates the bill of materials, the electrical documentation, floor plan PDFs, circuits, the switchboard, switchboard device labels and the single-line schematic. For each export you choose the circuit sets and switchboards to include.

Bill of materials

The bill of materials is exported as PDF, Excel (XLSX) or CSV, for the client or for the supplier, and can leave out empty items. After products are assigned, the file can be imported into a wholesaler system that supports such imports.

BOM columns

BOM columns decide which columns the file contains and in what order, for example short name, unit, manufacturer, model and EAN, so the file matches the wholesaler's import.

Floor plans and circuits

The floor plan PDF lets you choose the plans, fit them to the page or to the work area, and show wall dimensions, device labels, the grid and circuit references. Circuits exports the schematic, the schedule and the loads.

Switchboard and device labels

The switchboard export (PDF or HTML) can include a summary page, the switchboard schematic, the module list and a vertical orientation, and can split long rows. Switchboard device labels are printed at a chosen height and row gap, optionally vertical for 1M devices, then cut out and stuck into the switchboard.

Single-line schematic

The single-line schematic shows the modules that have a symbol; Assign symbols automatically fills in the missing ones. With several switchboards, each selected switchboard gets its own pages, and the supply of a sub-panel is shown at both ends.

Language and branding

Every export can be generated in a chosen language, with its own margins, font and footer. Documents can carry your company logo, data, stamp and footer, set up in Configuration → Your companies.

Help and tutorials

Help on every screen

The Help button (question mark) opens Guide for this screen, followed by Tutorials that you can enable when needed and Support for questions or feedback.

Tutorials

A tutorial highlights the controls of a screen step by step. Each step can be confirmed with OK, skipped with Skip or postponed with Later, and Disable tutorials switches all of them off.

Tutorial settings

Profile → Tutorials switches tutorials on again and lets you turn each one on or off.

Problems and suggestions

The Support tab in Help sends an issue or a suggestion to the DINPanel team.