Discuss Brother P Touch E550W in the Electrical Tools and Products area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

mattg4321

-
Esteemed
Arms
Reaction score
2,043
Bought this a few days ago and I've got to say I've nearly put a hammer through it in frustration already. The templates seem to be poor for consumer units. Not many options for high integrity and that sort of thing.

I've created a template on P Touch Editor on Mac OSX but can't find anyway to transfer it to the damn label machine. Anyone know how to do it? The instructions are a waste of time and I can't find anything helpful online. Keeps talking about some transfer manager that seems to be Windows only.

The phone app is poor too. No option to edit templates that I can see.
 
Unfortunately the P-Touch editor is Windows based so will be difficult on Mac OSX, can you export it as a Windows document onto your Desktop? Any templates I create in P-Touch I just send them to the E550W to print and they come out as formatted.
 
Don’t really want to cart my laptop around to print from there. I don’t have any windows machines.

Can you create basic templates for say a hi integrity consumer unit directly on the e550 itself? I haven’t really looked into this properly yet. The instructions included are very poor though.
 
I don't think you can directly into the machine, there is a facility on a Mac to run windows, but I use Parallels as I have a lot of Windows programmes I need to run and I understand the Mac facility means logging out and back in to use it?
 
So if you don’t have a windows machine how the hell do you print out labels for hi integrity consumer units?

Is it a case of borrowing a windows machine to load the templates on. Once they’re on there then they’re on there for good?

Not impressed for the cost of this thing to be honest.
 
Don’t really want to cart my laptop around to print from there. I don’t have any windows machines.

Can you create basic templates for say a hi integrity consumer unit directly on the e550 itself? I haven’t really looked into this properly yet. The instructions included are very poor though.
Yes you can it took me a while to work it out and I have now got a selection of my own templates saved, I very rarely use the software and only tend to use it if I want more of a custom label
 
I'm surprised there's not an "export file to device" option in the software to send the file over USB to the machines memory or something along those lines. Does File/Save option not allow you to find the device as a mounted drive and save files to it?
 
Last edited:
It doesn’t seem like you can send the file over usb when using OS X. Pretty poor really.

If you want to create a template then it’s either on the e550w itself or on a windows machine as far as I can tell.

@Mike Johnson i want to create templates for 10 way and 16 way high integrity Hager consumer units as I fairly often use these when not fitting all rcbo boards. Starting from scratch each time would be tedious.
 
The software is a bit of a letdown to be honest, although most of the stuff I need it for can be done with the android app.

I have created loads of standard labels and templates there, I do find it irritating however that you really need to use the app for certain things, but the windows version for others, such as cu labels.

I am sure you could do much more with the app, and direct on the machine, unfortunately it needs someone with loads of time and hacking type experience to get it done i guess
 
So if you don’t have a windows machine how the hell do you print out labels for hi integrity consumer units?

Is it a case of borrowing a windows machine to load the templates on. Once they’re on there then they’re on there for good?

Not impressed for the cost of this thing to be honest.
I have the same printer... and I don't use any laptop... you can easily print something like this just from the machine itself... took me 3 or 4 mins to do. (Not my board btw)Brother P Touch E550W 61542c_f0708c19692f45cda8ce71c360d9b801~mv2_d_4032_3024_s_4_2 - EletriciansForums.net
 
I must say it's pretty good printer.
You can do template on the software and transfer it to the device and then edit before printing but is just easy to do it on the machine itself.
For example 5+5 rcd and 2 non rcd circuits.
You click patch panel and set width of your single mcb, set 15 blocks, choose separator, orientation and reverse if needed then toggle advance on, this will allow you to set width of individual modules. Hit OK and you can set width of rcd's and main switch as they are wider. Hit OK and you good to go. Type MS and Rcd's and you can Save it as template. To do that click folder button then local files and save. You can recall it anytime by pressing folder button, local files and then open.
Alse there are few tips that may came handy:

If you have for example 20 fcu to label, instead doing it individually and print one by one you can choose patch panel, choose 20 blocks and hit ok. Then type first one and hit faceplate. Choose width and hit OK. It will create 20 separate labels that you can fill and print in one go.

If you have lot of different labels to print, choose chain printing (option 5 IIRC in cutting menu) this will print and score your label but won't cut it. This is useful as machine waste about 25mm of tape every time you print and cut label.

When labelling consumer units is nice to have MS and Rcd's with larger font and rest smaller and equal. This can be done on software but not on the machine. There is way around it but not perfect. For example if you type "HOB" it will be huge compare to say "IMMERSION HEATER" so the trick is to type in with space or even 2. For example "space HOB space".

I'am sure others will add some other useful tricks.
Enjoy your new machine.
 
Hager have a software programme for their boards called "Semiolog" no idea if it's available for IOS though.
 

Attachments

  • Brother P Touch E550W Screenshot 2020-11-27 at 12.48.50 - EletriciansForums.net
    Screenshot 2020-11-27 at 12.48.50.png
    26.1 KB · Views: 11
easiest way is to create on the printer and save on the memory... I have about 5 saved and easy to use.
the windows transfer manager doesnt transfer properly for me, but its easy from the phone as a wireless printer.
 

Reply to Brother P Touch E550W in the Electrical Tools and Products area at ElectriciansForums.net

Electricians Tools | Electrical Tools and Products

Thanks for visiting ElectriciansForums.net, we hope you find the Electricians Tools you're looking for. It's free to sign up to and post a question yourself to find a tool or tool supplier either local to you, or online. Our community of electricians and electrical engineers will do their best to find the best tool supplier for you.

We also have a Tiling Tools advice from the worlds largest Tiling community. And then the Plumbers Forums with Plumbers Tools Advice.

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock