Electrical Cable Color Code Chart

In the new color code for electrical wires brown is used for live or line blue is used for neutral conductor and green for earth.

Electrical cable color code chart. Active brown neutral light blue earth greenyellow. If you have any hesitations at all leave electrical work to a qualified professional. 3 phase phase 2 black. Active red neutral black earth green.

Non metallic or nm 120 volt and 240 volt electrical cable come in two main parts. Current australian colour code multiphase. 3 phase phase 3 blue. Old cable colour code.

Brown orange and yellow are used for 480 vac. The following requirements on wire color codes apply in canada. The colors adopted as local practice are shown in table below. Base color 1st tracer color 2nd tracer color.

Cable colour code is for identification of conductors used in electrical installations. The us national electrical code only mandates white or grey for the neutral power conductor and bare copper green or green with yellow stripe for the protective ground. 3 phase phase 1 red. Old australian colour code single phase.

This helps to protect people from accidental exposure and makes it much easier to run the wiring where it needs to go especially for higher voltage situations. Single phase line hot black or red. 7 wiring color codes in canada. In principle any other colors except these may be used for the power conductors.

In many cases a bundle of these colored wires will be grouped together and sealed within a black or grey cable. Ground green or green with yellow stripe. In case of a three phase power supply the combination of red yellow and blue are used for the active line power conductors black color for neutral conductor and green or green yellow for protective ground. The usa have their own wiring colours for electrical circuits black red and blue are used for 208 vac three phase.

From 1 mar 09 onwards all new electrical installations including addition and alteration to existing electrical installations may use new colour cables of brown black grey for line blue for neutral and green and yellow for earth as set out in the amended ss cp5. The wire color codes used are only going to apply to the actual wires that are carrying the electricity. Current australian colour code single phase. The ac power cable color code is nearly similar to the code used in the usa except exclusion of bare copper from ground wire.

What the color of an electrical wire means black. The outer plastic sheathing or jacket and the inner color coded wiresthe sheathing binds the inner wires together and its outer markings indicate the number of wires and size of wire gauge within the sheathing. The color of the sheathing indicates recommended usages. Phase 1 brown phase 2 black phase 3 grey neutral light blue earth greenyellow.

Just remember all electrical wires could carry a current at some point so treat every color wire with equal caution. Learning these electrical wire color codes before attempting any type of do it yourself diy electrical system repair is critical.