Electrical Wire Color Coding Used By Electricians
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- Have you ever wondered why electrical wires and circuits have so many colors? What does it all mean? Let's dig in.
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#electrician #electrical #electricity
The primary reason for electrical color coding is to identify all of the different conductors in a circuit. Every conductor in a circuit has a relationship to every other conductor, based on its voltage. Without the ability to know which conductor has what voltage relative to another conductor, a lot of bad things can happen.
An example of this is the green conductor and the black conductor. Each has it's own meaning, which is why each has it's own color. All grounding conductors (conductors meant to bond all metal parts together near electrical equipment) need to be identified so we know that these conductors should not have current on them. They should also have the same voltage as the grounded (neutral) conductor. The black conductor, however, has a much different potential (voltage) than the green and the white conductors. The black is an ungrounded conductor that is intended to always have current on it while under load.
Knowing the difference between these conductors is crucial when wiring an electrical system. Other colors can mean similar things, however the voltage class may be different. For example, working on a 480 volt 3-phase system you may see the colors brown, yellow, and purple - whereas a 208 volt 3-phase system may use black, red, and blue for it's ungrounded conductors.
Keep in mind that voltage is a relationship between two things. Voltage is not something that occurs on one conductor. So having different conductors each taped to identify what it is, allows us, electricians, to know what part of the circuit we're working with, but also what conductors have what voltage in relation to others.
#wirecolors #electrical #voltage
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Hey dude, I've been an electrician for 40 years, I've been in all 3 world's, residential, industrial, and commercial, you are absolutely spot on, yes it's a little boring, but very informative, and you speak with simplicity, love it !! Dont even start with knob and tube, lol
....AIN'T HE GREAT, with HIS " practicality of education of an invisible entity " ? I Just wanted to add, I did do 3 or 4 of these freak technologies, Navy, Residential, commercial, and the digital that came in with communications,1960s and 70s. Briefly doing tech tele assists with Government satellite Links. Just resets . Today trying to stay out of the 432v stuff in my wall... now which breaker UNMARKED, is it ???
LOL, all joking aside, I actually ran into a house a friend of mine was considering buying, I went to look at it with him, noticed that it had 2 prong outlet in the whole house except 2, I plugged my tester into those outlets, it indicated they were wired right, I pulled the face plate off of those to see if it was new wiring, nope, bootleg grounds, but I noticed the wires in the box looked off so I went and looked in the attic, sure enough, knob and tube all over the place. Needless to say he declined the house, the owner and his realtor refused to come down in price. Good luck selling it, no one will underwite an insurance policy on it until the wiring is brought to code either.
Basically correct and useful video, but please note four comments: 1) In the final summary, he said the orange wire in a three-phase 240-volt delta system is 240 volts to ground. It is 208 volts, as he said earlier. 2) He said you should never see voltage between the green and white conductors. That is true at the main service entrance panel but NOT at sub-panels. Since the neutral carries unbalanced current, it will have a voltage drop and you will read a small voltage between the neutral and ground at sub-panels, as well as at outlets and fixtures connected line to neutral. 3) Many "low voltage" three-phase systems are grounded at the electrical center point of the three-phase system, not at the center of two of the phases with a wild leg for the third phase. In these very common systems, (called three-phase WYE) the voltage between any pair of phases is 208 volts, and the voltage to neutral of any phase is 120 volts. 240-volts is not available. Many underground systems in cities are this type, and single-phase services are two phases of the 120/208-volt system, and neutral current can be as much as the full load on the phase conductors for all but loads supplied at 208 volts. 4) Here in Connecticut, 480-volt systems are Brown, Orange, Yellow, or "BOY". DMC PE-CT/MA
From my experience... **RELYING ON COLOR CODING OF WIRES IS A FOOLS ERRAND**. Maybe not while youre installing, but most definitely when youre troubleshooting or fixing other peoples work and fkups. Best to more or less ignore them and work your way through a system checking voltages and sounding out wires as you go along. Just my personal opinion...
Not wrong at all. Otherwise you get locked into deductive thinking and assuming you know what you don't about other obvious factors.
Sorry that regular people can learn too..must stink
Orange 🍊 is that aka stinger
And I guess in fl we weirdos cause we use brown orange yellow
@@rickdaruler808s3same as Arizona
As an audio technician, I need to mention that speakers are wired for low voltage AC signal, and as such, there is no positive or negative, and a speaker doesn’t care which way it is connected. The only reason there are different colored wires for speakers is because whenever you have more than one speaker you need to have them wired in phase, so they all push or pull at the same time. Reversing the wires on one speaker will put it 180° out of phase with the other speaker(s) and cause its sound to partly cancel the sound from the other speaker(s).
great clarifacation, i also thought speakers had positive and negative connections
@@billmongiello4885 they do but now I know why😊
@@billmongiello4885 They do. Speaker wire has one end w a red stripe.
Absolutely, however...... in subwoofer applications there are situations where you actually need to wire one sub in reverse, switch positive & negative, to correct the phase. Explaining the many factors that can cause this would turn this into a short story, but the actual box type to woofer alignment, box/woofer to application (vehicle/room)
crossovers, transfer functions, etc etc can affect this.
Simple way to identify this is when you wire 1 sub & its thumping, but then wiring the 2nd, 3rd etc & is sounds weaker than the 1 alone. So then many times reversing that positive & negative can fix the issue. Obviously other things can also cause this, but this is at least a quick way to diagnose if this is the issue. And without harming anything. And believe me I've seen this one happen many times over the years. And to just make things clear I've been doing this for many many years I also got my MECP back in the early 90's & held it (renewed it) for many years
Speakers most definitely polarity sensitive. Get them messed up and "phase" cancelation occurs. Not good!
I just looked at your website for the first time and I was completely impressed by the depth you go into for each tab. Genuinely great work as always. You were the reason I got the confidence to quit my job and start my career as an electrician. Thank you for everything you've put out and will continue to put out. Very much appreciated.
IBEW
How is it going as an electrician?
I want to get in the trade.
"Know, but verify" is pretty important....even if you understand the standards, you should always double check to make sure those standards were adhered to in whatever equipment you work with.
Blue is Neutral in the rest of the world (not NEC or USA Can). I have opened boxes that a black red and a blue were under the same wire nut. Nearest I can figure over the last 40 years it was the hot color the guy had in the truck when the add on was done.
Especially after I get in the panel and use whatever wire I have. LOL
@@WraithlingRavenchild
If you look at the panel on the left in his description of the black, red, blue, (low voltage 3 phase) system, you will see lots of colors on the breakers that don't match the correct "phase" colors. Even one white that is taped black. Typically, this kind of color "mismatch" is most often found when using romex where the conductor colors are limited. "Two wire" (with ground) romex is always black, white, and green (as far as I have ever seen) and 3 wire romex (with ground) is always black, red, white, green). I believe MC cable can be ordered in the "high voltage" (brown, orange, yellow, white, green) colors for lighting as an example.
I had to wire custom power panels for Sputtering Equipment used in the USA[60 cycle] and Italy [50 cycle]
208 3-phase down to 5VDC, with connections #0 AWG to 22 AWG wire, with the different colored and mixed color insulation, It was easy to assemble and test and installed a chart that identified voltages inside the panel so if the schematics were not right there you could safely test for voltage. IBM was only company that wanted black only hot wires.....later was told at East Fishkill IBM swapped two phases on a 3 phase pump and pumped chemicals into the local ground water supply. The wire colors might look pretty but the colors do have a purpose.
I’ve seen more brown orange yellow. Pittsburgh here. Feeling like the purple is the oddball lol
thanks for the enlightenment I have received! for the last 25+ years I've owned/operated 1hp15hp woodworking machinery and I've had to wire my own building(s) for machinery from 1ph to 3ph via a rotary converter. I was "taught" that the two incoming 1ph hots were red/black. Once the hot went through the 3ph rotary converter, I had 3 hots with one of these legs 208/240. This line was colored blue and never used for anything but 3ph motors and the legs for the motor controllers were always red/black, never blue(boom+frying the mag contactor) Motor turning the wrong way, reverse red/black, NEVER blue. Orange was always for compressors and always home runs. I've never been called out on it but I think that once the inspector saw a rotary converter and additional panel, they were out of their league. Lucky or not, it works and NO ONE ever touches my panels/wiring. When I move, wire and receptacles come with me. Conduit stays on the walls for the next guy. Thanks, again, B
Thanks for the good info. Worked in a factory here in South Africa. Our Wiring colours are red,yellow/white and blue for the live/hot wires black for neutral. Now add to that American machines with your colours of black,red,blue and white and European machines with there brown,black,grey and blue. Made it very interesting to work in that place. To add to this mess we also had some cheap piece of machinery that I think was from china wired all in one colour (probably what ever they had on hand as we had 2 identical machines with different colored wires) with crappy stuck on labels that came of at the slightest touch.
Being retired and the trade for 40 years thinking I'm so smart then comes the electrician with the correct information. Guess the saying is true "your never to old to learn".... haha!! (I'm a black,red blue white......Brown orange, yellow, gray kinda guy)
Yeah thats the color scheme here in PA as well.
I'm 20 and a 2 year and that's all I've seen in MD as well
same colors in OH and KY
Also never “too” old to learn how to spell.
We use the same colors here in NC
14:08 in electronics (DC) black is negative (ground) and red is positive (hot).
I heard a story about an electronics teacher who wired the receptacles for an electronics workbench. No one could figure out why they would routinely get shocked when working at this bench. Eventually someone realized that the teacher did not know that AC wiring had a different color code from the DC he was used to. He had hooked the bench grounding strap to the black (hot) AC wire.
In an ATX power supply, red is +5v, yellow is +12v, orange is +3.3v, purple is +5v (standby).
The great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from. ;-)
My friend fixed a 240v mixer and swapped a hot leg with ground and the second you touched the machine you got shocked.
All DC circuits it’s Positive (+) and Negative (-) not hot or ground.
@@brianolson8736 That's the most accurate definition,. Although + or - can be tied to ground, it's specific to that system, network, or industry. For example, in telecom, most equipment operates on 48V DC, but it's the POSITIVE side that's grounded to earth, so the live wire is minus 48V.
That sounds like an urban legend. What kind of electronics INSTRUCTOR doesn’t have basic electrical knowledge. Even guys who work on DC circuits understand the difference between AC and DC.
@@brianolson8736 DC circuits have Positive(+) Ground(GND/0V) and sometimes Negative(-) , if there is no negative Voltage then ground is labeled with ( - ) or (GND)
For 120-volt residential ceiling fans with luminaires, the blue wire is for the light and the black wire is for the fan.
Two pair telephone cables can be tricky. Line 1 should always be red and green, and line 2 yellow and black. But, especially older homes, may have 24VAC on yellow and black for old princess phones with lighted dials, there will be a transformer somewhere if that is the case. If you're trying to add a second line with a VOIP service and you can't get it to work, you might have a transformer somewhere in your basement that needs to be disconnected, these were some of the first 'wall-wart' transformers ever made.
K
Interesting, thanks. I remember hearing something like that years ago and I also remember seeing the actual transformer used and the lighted phone dial telephones they were used on in a box of stuff left over from a move many years ago when I was a kid.
I believe that one of the phones may have indeed been a princess phone. There were also some trimline phones with lighted rotary dials and large wall phones.
@John Felle or network wires.
I just classify it as:
High voltage = electricians
Low voltage = communication worker
@John Felle haha true. s soon as they bring out the linemans to strip the telephone wires, you know your in trouble!
You just put the blue and black wire from the ceiling fan to the power wire
As a 42 year union electrician ( years in trade) and instructor, 120/208 or 120/240 is black. Red and blue. White neutral regardless of single phase or three phase
277/480 is brown, orange, yellow and GREY neutral. Grey is used instead of white so it can never be confused with the lower voltage system. Utilities use their own colors.
Really appreciate these videos. I am not an electrician, but do some of my own work. Great to see these videos targeted with simple explanations. So many “electricians” really have no clue what they are doing.
True, lol! Always, ALWAYS double check. Have a LICENSED person check and double check.
And follow around anyone in your house like you're a dog and they have Milk Bones in their pockets...get a guy that likes to talk and explains everything well.
Pay them extremely well and tip in cash if you call and they're there right away.
Look out for places that hire some idiot off the street to work for you who doesn't know wtf they're doing and has no license.
The city doesn't tell you what colors you have to use for the current carrying conductors. The code specifies for the grounded conductor (neutral) it is to me identified as white or grey with that being the color of the insulation on the wire or wrapped with tape of that color at any assible point, like a junction box. Usually we like to use white tape for 120/240 single phase systems and 120/208 3 phase systems and grey wire or tape for the neutral in 277/480 v olt 3 phase systems. For the grounding conductor we use green color insulation or green marking tape regardless of the voltage of the system. So foreign and European equipment use green insulation with a yellow stripe.
You explain the coloring system very good. Am a retired Union Electrician with 50 years. Always had trouble with the orange color on a low voltage system. Had one town who had it all thru their system. Took me a while to get use to it. I watched your video just to see what is was about enjoyed it very much.
in EU its Brown, black, grey, blue for neutral, and yellow/green striped for ground.
The majority of places outside North America use this coloring. I learned about it doing theater work with a fairly scabby power panel with a techie from the UK I was helping adapt some stuff for US power. We basically had to sit down and compare notes for how one another marks and runs things in a power panel and found it mutually enlightening and left convinced both of each other's coloring schema was bonkers. Also she learned the joy of wire nuts and vowed to take a giant pack of them home.
@@carpespasm Wire nuts are still used by some people in Finland, but a screw terminal is more commonly used since you can change the connection more easily and you don't have to straighten out and twist again those wires.
The Utilities use a 3 wire Delta configuration and they ground 1 hot leg, when the get to distribution level the usual trans. in MO is a 4wire Y secondary, either 120/208V or 277/480V. So Delta primary and Y secondary. I am with "AmericanOne" on the colors B,R,Blu,Wht 120, BR,O,Y,Gry 277. Retired IBEW wireman. )
I am a traffic signal technician, we can have up to 32 colors out to the field often in many many runs. But the service runs are always black, white, green (usually bare).
Awesome video! If you need a video idea here’s one: how to properly size wires and voltage drops
I would be interested in that. good call
Would love this video
Voltage drop would be great
Agreed
Easy way to do it is for every 100' go up another size. So a 20 amp circuit which normally would use a #12 AWG would use #8 AWG if you go over 200' but less than 300'.
FYI. typical or common audio speakers operate on AC and do not have polarity, they will produce sound with either wire in either position. However, polarity needs to be observed for proper phasing of the speakers. Speakers connected out of phase can cancel each other out and the quality of the sound is poor but they work. When "out of phase," one speaker will move out and the other will move in. If the speaker terminals are not marked with a (+) or red designation you can use a 9v battery to mark the terminals in most cases. If I'm checking the phase of installed speakers located behind a speaker grill, sometimes I'll use a very fine gauge wire or a piece of straw from a broom to see if the speaker moves out or in when I apply 9v dc to the speaker wires.
Thank you for your presentation on color-coding, you may have saved someone's life!
In Finland we have three phase system (230 volts) and colorcodes are: green/yellow Ground, brown Live 1, black Live 2, grey Live 3 and blue is neutral.
Europe mostly the same , totally different in USA
And 400V between any two live conductors. And those colors are the present colors. Also been black live, grey neutral and red for anything, ground, light circuit, third phase... That was in the 60-70's, then in the 70's there came green-yellow-purple as live and grey as neutral. And sometimes there was also a three phase with black-blue-red as live and grey as neutral
Everything that isn't a ground is a current carrying conductor. A neutral is a grounded current carrying conductor. Black, red, blue. Brown, orange, yellow. Retired IBEW 292.
Hey man. Thank you so much for video tutoring this videos. They really have been helped me out big time. I didn't even knew of how to identify the wires colors,but sense I started watching your UA-cam videos, I learn much more before I started my electrician courses. This really going to help me for my classes thank you.
Not bored. Kinda knew all this except not memorized 460 colors. Very glad to know orange is wild leg. Burned up a refrigerant reclaimer's compressor a long time ago cause I chose the wild leg to ground to power it off the roof top disconnect. As an HVAC tech, I often test newbies as to which wire colors are which on thermostat low volt connections. Few ever get them right.
Little info back at you. R = one leg of 24V transformer (hot), B blue (the wild card color can be common or might be Y if cable has no yellow), W white is to common through heat circuit, Y is to to common through the cooling contactor. G is to common through fan relay. Usually controls high speed fan for cooling. O orange powers the reversing valve in a heat pump. Other colors are second stage heating and cooling and outdoor temp sensors etc.
Current standards for wiring colours in the UK, as per Europe is: Single Phase, Brown Live, Blue Neutral, Earth Green/yellow striped. Three Phase is L1 Brown, L2 Black, L3 Grey,
It's true. In Czech Republic we must NOT change color of ground wire (green/yellow striped) and must NOT make ground wire from different color. Ground wire must have the same color along the entire length.
Thats the same all over Europe. Ground must be the same - and Green/Yellow stripe cannot be used for anything else.
I build equipment for all over the world and it's mystifying how many different colour schemes are used.
@@mattylad8035 In this context I thinking about use that black wires and color tape. I can't imagine something like in 11:11 in distribution box in our country (even for ground). Advantage is we have the same voltage between phases (all phases are the same) and between phase and neutral.
I really hate how they changed the 3 phase colours away from ryb. Now a neutral in single/three phase swap to live, its confusing. Plus, seeing RYB helped identify 3 phase systems. I guess it makes sense having L1/L are brown, but the black/grey is confusing and harder to make out in dark environments.
Thanks for the clear explanations. I love you way you ALWAYS have a picture or a real life example when you are making a point. Thanks for the great content. Keep it up.
Right on. Good info! Our here in California 480v 3 phase is Brown orange yellow. Delta High 3 phase we use purple.
so BOY is wye? and purple is delta?
@@thedavesofourlives1 Yup! First time I ever saw a delta system was in downtown SF. I had to do a double take, what the hell? Lol
purple is Wye , orange is delta per Electricians bible app phase colors
@Zachary Frerichs… the code states that high legs shall be marked orange.
Of course the local jurisdiction can alter code and it’s possible that you encountered something that predates the inception of this particular code requirement.
really appreciate all your videos. getting ready to go into a wireman apprenticeship through IBEW so your videos are definitely helpful in giving me a heads up before i start. thanks!!!
Same colour scheme used in my country (Chile): Phases: black, red and Blue and neutral White. At last a state that use the same as we use.
Finally, someone answered my question. 15 UA-cam videos and yours answered my questions with 5 minutes. Thanks
I’m totally insulted. I’m in a brown/orange/yellow area.
Yup
Brown orange yellow. Black red blue
Triggered!!!
I work in a factory that got a black, grey/white, brown pattern.
Same here, BRB for 120/208 3PHs 4 wire system and BOY for 277/480 3PHs 4 wire system.
Wiring a speaker wrong will most likely work BUT the speaker will vibrate backwards instead of forward. You touch a 1.5 volt battery to the leads of a speaker it will tell you which is positive and negative. The positive wire will make speaker vibrate outward. You want a speaker vibrate outwards.
I remember when I was green watching your videos, now I have a couple years under my belt and a lot of this now comes to me naturally. Thank you for the years of info
It could be the future of people working together and learning together... FREE ON LINE. He answered my needs
Speaker wires: Backwards wiring is just out of phase, sound is an AC signal. If both speakers are "out of phase" you won't be able to tell the difference, but if just one is there will be places where the speakers cancel out each others' frequencies depending on the room it's in and placement etc.
Exactly
Speaker wires can also be same color for both, but the sheathing is smooth on one and rifled or ridged on the other so you can feel it in the dark realm of speaker installations.
Power going from your stereo or amp to your speakers is DC, not AC. The rest of your comment makes no sense. You seem to be confusing a delay with a noise cancelling signal.
@@akuunreach not true. It's AC. And the rest of his comment makes perfect sense.
@@ehsnils I remember when I was a kid speaker wire was like that. Both conductors same color. I didn't know then one side was rougher than the other one until I got older. I used to get really annoyed by that. It was probably very common for people to wire up speakers incorrectly because of this.
Im a Jr Project Manager and electrical is my achilles heel. Your channel has provided me with a lot of knowledge that I need in the field. Great Job!!
Wow! Great job explaining! Ive been an electrician for 28yrs and that's a great explanation for anyone watching!
Most 3 phase is what's called a wye circuit. If you see black, red, orange it's a 3phase delta circuit. I've actually worked on this in the field.
brown is easy to remember as that is the color your pants will be if you get hit by it.
This applies especially in Europe where brown is almost always 240V.
lol dealing with low voltage i tell pple red your dead or with fpe panels red handles of hell fire
@@projectartichoke 230 V, only Brits have 240 V as they do not want to change.
lol
Lol
Here in Massachusetts most larger buildings the voltage coming off the street and into the buildings vault is 13800 volts this does very then transformed down to 3 phase 277/480 and the colors are Brown - orange - yellow and a gray neutral this is the power you would use for most mechanical and lighting loads it’s also distributed to the tenant areas and transform down to 3 phase 120/208 These colors are Black - Red - Blue with a white neutral for plugs some lighting and small motor loads
Black red and blue are 120 / 240 v
Also it goes by circuit number too IE 1 and 2 would be black, 3 and 4 red, 5 and 6 blue
@@jforrester9282 1Black 2Red 3Blue 120/208 volts here in Massachusetts
We've never used brown yellow purple, Always BOY.... I always learn a little something in your videos, keep em up man
In the Netherlands (and the rest of Europe) we use Brown, Black and Grey for the hot wires and Blue for the neutral and Green/yellow for grounding (400/230 Volt / 50 Hz). We had made electrical systems in our company for the US market (offshore). When an electrical system goes to the US, we must use the US standards. For 480/277 Volt / 60 Hz it was always Brown, Orange and Yellow for the hot wires and Grey for the neutral and Green for grounding and for 208/120 Volt / 60 Hz it was always Black, Red and Blue for the hot wires and White for the neutral and Green for grounding. Some cables we use on ships they don't have a green of green/yellow wire for grounding, in that case brown in used as grounding (ship is ground). The neutral is at the source (generator or transformer output) connected to the ship.
I like your vintage collection, but you need the split knows that separate conductors and fastened to wooden roof framing. Keep making videos and share.
@@JGvanStraten We had already wired a machine that was for making breakfast cereal we were not told it was for another country and put in Brown Orange Yellow and Grey wires tested the machine everything was fine andthey were happy, a few days before we broke it down for shipping they had some visitors from another country check the machine and they were alarmed and told us the colors needed to be changed out. since it was specked out and their guys okayed everything we got paid to take out all the cables and wires to all black and kept the scrap. either i never found out what country or i forgot.
Was about to make the same comment. Also it's strange the nec hasn't really addressed color coding
Canadian here: Only seen it here on government building contacts as switch legs.
As a journeyman electricians, instructor, electrical inspector and commercial and residential electrical contractor I enjoy your talks. All electricians do things a little different but the willingness to learn and expand is our greatest attribute. The NEC or code as I recall has only a few colors. The rest are industry standards. Grounding conductors are green or green with a yellow stripe. Grounding rhymes with green is how I remember it. Grounded conductors are white or natural grey. Dead white is how I remember it. The high ungrounded leg of a three phase system(208) is orange. Those are the only colors that are in the code as I recall. The other colors are industry standards but not code and should be verified. They all should be verified but you know what I mean. I love what you're doing keep up the good work and don't think for a second I'm being disrespectful.😊
Exactly Right, never been called for a color pattern using the colors you mentioned...
@@steve-o6413 in the end its up to the AHJ in your area
I enjoyed this video! Thank you for taking the time to create it.
Just seen this video, very interesting. I'm an auto tech, and orange is used in the hybrid/fully electric cars to indicate high voltage. In my field, high voltage is 60 volts and higher. Everything that is a part of the high voltage system is colored coded orange, the cable, the connectors, and the master disconnects. Watching this video has helped me to understand the wire color coding. I have messed around with the wiring in my house, and watching these videos has helped me to understand the wiring better. The three phase stuff is mostly commercial/industrial, but there are a few instances in which three phase is used in residential applications. For example, an air compressor in the garage may have a three phase motor in it. Thank you, Dustin for doing these videos, very educational.
I can't say as I've ever seen 3-ph in a residential setting. Not that it couldn't be requested if it were available, I suppose, but not all neighborhoods would likely have it.
You speak logic in all of your video demonstrations. I simply love them all because you state facts in any job application. Thank you so much for the enlightenment!
If one is trying to learn, this was not boring. Keep up the good work and keep the videos coming. Thanks.
aqui dejo una reseña para aquellos que hablamos español de la explicacion:
VERDE: tierra no importa el voltaje ni el tipo de sistema, se conecta al punto medio del transformador junto al neutro en el desconectivo principal.
BLANCO: neutro del sistema, acompaña a cada fase en los diferentes circuito. PELIGRO, por el neutro si circula corriente no confundir con tierra.
NEGRO,ROJO Y AZUL: colores de las fases de un sistema hasta 240 v.
NARANJA: es el color que se usa para marcar la fase conocida como HIGH LEG, la cual es bastante peligrosa de usar ya que posee 208 v con respecto al neutro.
para 277V hacia arriba,
GRIS: se usa para neutro
CARMELITA, VIOLETA ó NARANJA Y AMARILLO: se usan para las fases.
en circuitos residenciales solo se usan 2 fases NEGRO Y ROJO con su respectivo neutro (BLANCO) Y la tierra de color (VERDE).
en caso de paneles de servicio y acometidas secundarias donde todas las cubiertas de los cables son negras se usan tape de esos colores.
The Brown, Yellow, Purple must be a Texas thing. In Oregon we have always used (BOY) Brown, Orange, Yellow for 480v/277v systems, Black, Red, Blue for 208v/120 wye systems and Black, Orange, Blue for 120v/208v High-leg Delta Systems, and Black, Red for 120v/240v Systems.
Same thing throughout the Midwest. I'm thinking Texas is the weird place...
Russ I agree with you!
In commercial that I've worked on the orange almost always means 277v, commonly lighting circuits
Same
In the picture with a red, black and orange colors the orange should designate a 190v high leg and the red black as 120.
This sounds so crazy to me and also really dangerous.
In Austria we have these colours:
Brown Phase 1
Black Phase 2
Gray Phase 3
Blue as neutral
Green/yellow as Earth, it was red like 30 years ago.
And thats never changing
Also all the additional wire colours like white, purple, orange and pink are colours we use for "lamp conductors" they are basically "switched on/off"
Also we use 230V/400V
Between phases 400
Between phases and neutral/earth 230.
But then again our normal power outlet gives 230V at 10 to 16 Amps depending on how its getting used.
If it helps, the difference between neutral (white) and ground (green) is the neutral is intended and designed (sized) to carry current. (and in most industrial situations, it _will_ -- all multi-phase systems will have some imbalance. Residential likely does, too, but I've not checked mine) Ground should normally never have current flowing on it. (if there's current on the ground lead(s), something is broken.)
Right, the ground lead only has to be big enough to not melt during the time it would take to trip a breaker, assuming everything's functioning properly in the breaker panel.
Unsure if it's different in commercial or industrial work, but in most residential wiring cases, all 3 wires for 120v loads are going to be rated for the same current, for example in 12 gauge Romex the Ground conductor will be rated for just as many amps (because it's the same physical diameter) as the hot and neutral conductors, however it will simply have no insulation on it since the intention is for that lead to never have a significant potential with respect to ground (as its purpose is simply to allow a "wrong on purpose" path for current to flow during a circuit fault, rather than having that current flow thru someone or something not rated for it).
The ground does carry leak current away fro the devices. This typically would be at most 1 mA or so. Many modern devices leak like computers and fridges.
40 years in the trade never used purple as a phase wire. Always used brown orange yellow with a gray on 480/277 3 phase. We used purple as a switch lag on 277 volt lighting.
purple was a high leg, , 575 or 600 vac it can be 208 or 240 also. use a multimeter to check!!
Yep I was taught it was for you high leg.
Here it is. 120/240 single phase like in most residential is Black is A phase, Red is B phase. Get a piece of 12-3 with ground wire and check it out. 120/208 3 phase is Black, red,blue. 120/240 3 phase is black (A) , orange (B), blue (C). Neutral is white. 277/480 is brown(A) orange (B) yellow (c). Neutral is grey.
On the 120/240 3 phase system the B phase is orange to designate that from B phase to neutral you will see 208 volts . This is known as the high leg. Phase A to neutral is 120 v. Phase C to neutral is 120v. BUT phase C to neutral is 208 v. Use your meter. I had an instance where all the hot conductos were all black. No colors. There was a white. I didn't want to assume anything so I checked voltage phase to phase. It's a 3 phase system. So all voltages measured 240. So right away I knew one of the phase conductor wires would be 208 volts to neutral. Sure enough. I found it before I started wiring my branch circuit receptacles.
14:50 Isn't that supposed be 208V against Grounded/N (for a Orange WildLeg)🤔
Yes, he just made a mistake.
Dude. You’re smart as hell and charismatic. My journeyman is super smart like you but teaches through yelling, going ballistic, and using words like “the thing” or “the stuff”.
Do I learn? Yes, after fucking up. Do I feel good about it? Nope. Your videos are helping.
Thanks and Mahalo from Hawaii 🤙🏼
Great to see so much new content!
Hi Andrew
Bro I wish you were one of my teachers at my community college. I swear I learn more from you . 😅
Watching your UA-cam videos.it makes feel like I don't even need to take any courses.i feel that I learn better by listening to your videos.thanks again
We always used Grey added to Red/Blue/Black or Brown/Orange/Yellow, to indicate the circuit was the Generator Wiring Only. If The Grey Tape was on top of the colored tape, it was from Street Power or Generator Wiring. Purple or Pink wire in a unit, was to indicate field added controls to the factory circuit. BTW, they now have Pink Electrical tape. Also Red Wire or Wire with Red Tape or from a Red
Paint Marker, in a Light Circuit, indicates the Traveler Wire for a Three-Way, Four-way or More than Four Switches, in a Switch Circuit.
Clean electronic circuts might require an ISO (isolated ground) Green W/ Yellow tracer.
Yes, but... I was in Air Force Civil Engineering, we take care of the buildings and Infrastructure. I went to the electric shop one morning and they had one of the security forces campers. They used them when the alarms wouldn't work on a remote site and they had to spend the night. I asked why it was there. It had a wiring problem that the vehicle mechanics couldn't figure out. It had a 120 v electric heater, it was early spring and they plugged it into the power on site. It was regular house color code, the camper was RV color code and the truck was a third color code. The vehicle mechanic that assembled this mess didn't understand that. Our electricians were impressed no one got hurt.
So funny us old timers (35 years in trade) always used BOY for 277/480 I even still order BOY when I need high voltage 😀😀😀😀
Same...1st time I saw Brown, Yellow & Purple.
I'm 20 yrs and that's what I was taught.
Really nice to know the electrical code differences of other counties, Brazil have a similar color code, but blue is the neutral here.
Once u get to 12kv in the U.S. those colors don’t jive.
Best thing for u guys learning is to check the NEC, and FOR SURE check with ur AHJ.
Probably once you get to 4160V. But fortunately, there are other conductor characteristics like shielding that will suggest the presence of medium voltage.
European standard:
Yellow with a green stripe = earth or ground
Neutral conductor = blue,
The hot conductors are = brown, black, gray
In older systems it is hot = brown, black, black
(having two black ones was inconvenient)
In systems in the UK hot = red neutral = black, the European colors are also used.
In old systems in Germany hot = black, blue and red
neutral = gray or blue, earth = red
Sometimes neutral and earth are together, but this is no longer permissible with thin cables.
With old systems you cannot be sure which cable colors were used because the assignment was not uniform.
Rewiring should be carried out.
Voltage is 230 Volt (220 - 240 V) 50 Hz, on 3 phase star = 380 - 400 volt
Some countries provide houses with a single phase, others with three phases star.
I think it is important to note that an orange wire or marking in a panel means hi-leg but if you come across orange wire in a receptacle or switch box location this does not mean it will be a hi leg. Typically this can be a switch leg or a traveler.
Really you should mention open delta and delta high legs. Most Electricians will encounter Y secondaries so no high leg will be present.
Open or closed delta has no visual affect on a delta system. You can have a 120/240 grounded delta in an open or closed configuration and you wouldn’t be able to tell by reading the voltage.
@SeanLeonDrums… the National Electrical Code states that a hi-leg shall be marked orange but it doesn’t restrict it’s use to only a high leg as it does with the green=grounding and white & natural gray=grounded (with the white in Romex switch leg exception).
It is legal and very common to find orange colored phase wires in 480 volt systems that do not have a high leg (ie.. 480v wye)
My grandpa always referred to the ‘wild leg’ as the ‘Bastard leg’, and that’s what I’ve always called it. Electricians would flip out if you worked with us in our transmission substations. Red is Ø1 or C Phase, White is Ø2 or B phase, and Blue is Ø3 or A Phase. Some of our plants use Brown, Yellow & Orange for the iso-phase bus running to the step-up transformer, then it switches to Red, White & Blue when it steps up to 500kV.
They don’t call it Neutral in the NEC because there are cases where the grounded conductor is not technically a neutral. The NEC only requires grounded and grounding to be a specific color. The rest of the colors are based on convention and local/state requirements.
I also think he thinks the ground and neutral are the same. They are not. The neutral is a current carrying conductor, ground is not. The ground is there for safety and should never carry current.
The neutral is a tap off a transformer. Usually its the center of the secondary windings
Grounded and current carrying. Those are the two characteristics I teach my students/apprentices for identification of conductors. Current carrying/ not grounded, current carrying grounded, non current carrying grounded.
@@bigmikeh5827 good point, as neutrals may NOT be at ground potential (they should be) but grounds are NEVER supposed to carry current.
Most people who aren't familiar with the Technical Terms get lost in the terminology of the Words, I think he does a excellent job explaining it a on a basic level. No System is perfect, do you want to boar them to death before they have a understanding. I'm sure he has a Understanding of what your saying...
Besides do you know the difference between a grounded Neutral and a Neutral going to Ground...
Good information, lot to know and good way to start. I'm not an electrician, but I've worked on 480 Volt, 3 phase equipment quite a lot. Brown Orange, Yellow, (BOY) was the identifiers we had on lines. Any way these are used, don't trust anyone else's choice of colors until you establish what's what. I've seen green used as a "hot", so unless you're working with someone you know won't do anything stupid, only trust your own testing. Thanks for the video. Keep it up.
I was vacationing in Jamacia man and was watching the hotel handypeople struggling with some wiring. I couldn't help myself and had to assist. Before I touched anything I started measuring voltages using their H Freight style VOM. Sure enough, they were using a green #8 as an ungrounded conductor measuring 120vac to the EMT. They said, "yeah man, that's how we do it here." ALWAYS verify before assuming anything was wired properly. I'm a licensed electrician.
Well, one thing that I learned is that I should call a electrician do do the wiring in my house. Thanks!
Oh yeah I forgot
Getting ready to take my electrical inspector test... nice refresher videos.. Thank you
I see people posting BOY or YBO in certain locations. In the Washington DC area you'll find both. Usually it's in the Job specifications as to which way they want the 480 color coding installed.
Only if its Phased that way!!!
@Jamie Vann… I don’t think the utilities are consistent with the color vs phase rotation coming into the facility. The different order in colors might be an effort to try and coordinate this.
Typically the inside wiremen just label X1 brown, X2 orange, and X3 yellow and maintain the phasing throughout the system and only correct rotation issues at the point of connection to supplied equipment. That being said anything is possible. Every plant/facility I’ve worked at in my hometown is BOY on 480v except one that uses BYO on 480.
Thanks for the heads up on orange representing a stinger leg!!!
Funny that when he was going through the grounded vs. grounding examples my brain went into high gear on the terminology because I'm actually a lawyer, then he mentioned us not being lawyers. Haha
Me too. I was an electrician for 12 years before law school. I often wish I had stayed with the National Electric Code rather than the United States Code!
i got impressed, good job man, Im an electrical contractor , electrician for more than 50 years , you are totally right
Electrician U is Mike Holt for apprentices 🤟
Except this is free and to benefit from Mike Holts products you need to have lots of petty cash. Few books and cd's from Mr Holt can easy be $1000+. Guys a crook tbh.
This is an excellent analogy!
More info: Speakers are DC powered so they need to be wired so red causes the speaker cone to expand outwards, pushing the air. Another wire is for lamps and extension cords. If the plug is missing or is going to be replaced the wire that is neutral will have ribs on the surface that you can feel or see. That one goes to the neutral, or wide blade side of the plug or receptacle. Great videos, sir!
Watching your videos and see how eloquent you demonstrating...it's like am literally sitting in a class taking notes..I would work as an apprentice for free just to learn more and more from you.
Wow, thank you!
@@ElectricianU I'd have to "Ditto" what @Raymand said above...just awesome...keep 'em coming!
Hey Dustin! At like 14:45 when you were quickly reviewing I think you accidentally said the high leg is 240 to ground. Awesome video though, thanks for everything you do, your videos got me interested in the trade and gave me a tremendous edge when I was starting out. Most master electricians don't know or care how things work as long as they work in my experience so thanks for content that fills in the gaps for us ever-curious nerds.
I caught this as well, but since he mentioned earlier in the video that the high leg is 208v to ground, I know he just made a mistake.
Think of back in the days when the only colors of wire were black and white. Grounds were bare. It was always fun wiring up a three phase motor and guessing which way it would turn. There's a 50/50 chance it turns the way it needed to and it turned the wrong way about 80% of the time.
You are making this too difficult and are not correct. According to the NEC, Green or Green with a Yellow Stripe (NOT yellow with a green stripe!) is ALWAYS a grounding conductor! White is always a Neutral conductor. With the newer electrical codes Grey may also be used for Neutral. WARNING! Grey was previously allowed to be used as a HOT conductor! NEVER ASSUME THAT GREY IS NEUTRAL!!! All other colors may be used for Hot. NEC does NOT otherwise codify hot color codes. NEVER assume that two conductors with the same color insulation are on the same phase!!!! While is is bad practice to use the same color on different phases, it is NOT a NEC violation. Cities and states may have their own color codes that differ from the NEC.
Very informative! I worked in IT/Engineering at a pharmaceutical company for several years and the building I was in had a 1600-amp 277/480Y service. All our panels had B/O/Y and that’s how I learned about 480. I had no idea our system was the outlier compared to the rest of the US being B/Y/P. Good info as always-thank you!
Orange is also used to identify a highleg (b-phase) in a delta system. You never install a single pole circuit on this phase in a panel. You will usually see the panel skips this breaker when used mostly as a single phase two pole circuit. You can however use a three phase breaker with no issue in these panels. Typically a delta installed system doesn't always have a neutral. You can tap the transformer between b and c phase to derive a neutral which can be used for single pole circuits such as lights and plugs.
Isn't that what he described and showed with the diagram for 240 volt delta center taped between A and C phase?
@@matthewperlman3356 Probably, he knows what he is talking about for sure. Watched this video a while ago so I can't remember if he mentioned it specifically. He most likely did describe that as he is pretty on point.
@@matthewperlman3356 he's just trying to sound smart lol
I’ve been an electrician for 32 years. I’ve worked in big cities from California to Colorado to Florida and almost every State in between I’ve never seen purple used for anything. Every city I’ve worked in used black, red, blue for 120/208 and brown, orange, yellow for 277/480.
It's so messed up how in the US phase+splitphase is called 'single' phase. technically that's correct, but practically... please call it split phase.
I think it's because in some areas there is a multitude of different transformers...
Nah I think we’ll stick to our ways and continue infuriating you confused foreigners 😉😎
If it's technically correct,then it's correct, why call it something that is not correct? Seems simple.
It's called single split phase. To electricans we know that it's split. No need to say split
I mean it’s a single phase primary....but secondary Ive always called legs. Gets confusing to call a secondary leg a “phase”
Sometimes it‘s useful to know other wire colors from other parts of the world. Especially if you buy appliances from there. Seen a video made by a UK electrician installing a wall charger for EV. The cable had US colors (black, white and green) but the appliance was 230V.
And if we sell an appliance to somewhere they get a cable with european colors.
Brown, black and gray are lines, in three phase L1, L2 and L3. Neutral is blue and protective earth/ground is green/yellow.
Voltages are 230V between every line and the neutral and 400V between the lines.
US electrical system looks such a antique thing... If I ever move to the US - I'll definitely change my trade... 😄
U.S. trades very slow to change (adopt new techniques & technologies). It’s a union thing.
As an industrial maintenance technician i learned quickly not to trust colors.
The plant I work at has hot greens wires, has wires that change sizes and color on it run. Now anything that has been installed with in the last 5 to 8 years is color coded because it has to be to code everything else was grandfathered in.
B,O,Y, perhaps its the region in the country you are in has always been the norm for me. B,Y,P, I'm just now hearing about from you lol!
In California, BOY is prevalent, but certain jurisdictions that are mindful of the Code's purpose for the color orange have mandated the use of purple for this reason (the University of California and the labs it manages are brown, yellow, purple for A, B, C.) In another case where "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" the City and County of San Francisco has amended the NEC for its own use, stipulating that 277/480Y systems shall use BOY, while 120/240V Delta systems shall use purple to denote the high leg or "stinger". Just to be different than anywhere else in the nation.
We use here in Florida
Black/ red - Single phase
Black/ red/ blue - 3 phase
White is neutral
Ground is green or bare copper.
High voltage (480)
Brown/ orange/ yellow 3phase
Grey is neutral
In the 480 3 phase system, I was taught that Orange still Meant the Wild Leg.
so instead of 277 yellow, or Brown to Gray, you had 440 Orange to Gray Open Delta
When there is Purple, then all of them , Yellow, Brown or Purple to Gray is 277.
There is no high leg in a 480V system. You either have a 480 Wye where all 3 phases are 277V to ground, an ungrounded Delta where you’ll have a weird range of voltage from phase to ground, or a corner grounded Delta where one phase is 0 volts to ground and the other 2 phases are a random voltage to ground.
I am an old guy who until 1984 worked in West Texas as a pretty knowledgeable unlicensed employee of a 1500 hp 480 volt grounded Delta three phase industrial plant. We had dry transformers to get 120/240. I had quick access to a large contractor when I needed a licensed crew or needed a question answered. I probably had enough knowledge then to try the Journeyman exam but never took it. Since 1984, I have done work only on my own equipment, mostly residential, under an apprentice license issued by the State of Texas after extensive examination evidenced by my credit card number on the web site. I also had a First Class Radiotelephone license from the Federal Communications Commission. BFD but needed for an AM radio station.
In my experience, "a m" is correct; I never heard of 277 volts anywhere in a 480 volt system. Also in my experience during 1979s and 1980s, almost all conductors were black, white or green. Any other colors were either 120/240 volts or 120 volt control wires. The grounded 480 volt leg was always placed on the right side of the service switchgear. I was not taught whether it mattered to distinguish the grounded leg.
So my question is, in a 480 volt three phase grounded Delta system, is there a color code to identify the grounded leg? If you mentioned that, I missed it.
@@danadcock9743 no, there is no color to designate a ground phase in a corner grounded Delta system.
@@atmacm I’m pretty sure the NEC requirement for corner grounded 480 v service should have brown, yellow, gray, with the gray being neutral (grounded conductor) and UNFUSED! I have been in the industrial field for more than thirty years and have NEVER seen a corner grounded delta 480v. System marked, or done with two pole breakers and an unfused neutral 😭
@@atmacm there is also a mid tapped 480v. Delta tapped transformer that has a wild leg just the same as a delta 120/240 3phase system!
I do submersible pumps in water wells. The colors used across the board in the US is green red yellow and black in that order. Green(duh) red(start) yellow(110v) black(110v). Feed wires do not have yellow but white. Our system do not use neutral. In fact our single phase to 3 phase converter will not run with a neutral. So white and yellow do not always mean what you said. Which is why I battle with electricians that are trained in one specific way like they are brainwashed and will not deviate from that.
What about the switch leg and traveler colors? 🤔
At my house, I installed an outdoor lighting system with a photocell and I used red as the switch leg from the sensor. Am I going to hell? lol
Switch legs and travelers can be whatever you want, other than white, grey or green... As long as you know what you've used.
@@IceBergGeo new code yes but any homes not built in the last year nuetral was used as a switchleg all the time. Smart homes have changed that and with wifi switches that require neutral have changed code not for life safety but only because consumerism.
@@cheynebest7028 as far as running Romex, you can still use the white conductor for a dummy three way, as that is one of the exceptions to the "need neutral in the box" code rule. It just needs to be identified as not neutral.
Know the difference between Residential, Commercial and Industrial Wiring...
Fun fact...
Way back in trade school I had the best teacher. Few things he didn't know. Navy electrician who helped develop early radar during Korea and VLF radio comm to submarines during Vietnam.
He told us to be careful if an old Navy man said he wired his own home. Navy had white hot and black common (cold).
Was this at Electronics Institute in KC? I graduated in 1980. I cannot remember his name. A large fellow, had several joke photo copies & mimeographs. Everyone loved him.
Brown, orange, yellow is all I have ever use never heard of Brown, yellow, purple learn something every day
Really interesting for an electronics and electrical amateur like myself. I never knew about the brown-yellow-purple color scheme, but I already knew most of the others. Nicely explained!
I always learn something new watching your videos man. Thank you and keep up the content cause it definitely prevents me from looking like such a dumbass out in the field 😂
And don’t apologize for things being “boring” color coding saves lives and equipment!
Your info is so thorough and clear. Much appreciated!
I memorized it initially like this, "Be our B boy",
BRB BOY.......
Black
Red
Blue
Brown
Orange
Yellow
And, "Green's the ground, the world around."
Q: What does a landscaper know about electricity?
A: Ground is very important, and it is either green or bare.
@@carultch ...Not quite. The ground can also be "half yellow and half green" at the same time.
@@theSword-I know that. But think about this from the point of view of a lanscaper. "Bare" means bare dirt, and "green" means grass to them. Both of these describe a meaning of the word "ground" that has nothing to do with electricity.
@@theSword- Also, what is the reason for using a half-yellow/half-green ground? Are there reasons one would need to distinguish a bi-color ground wire from a mono-color ground wire?
@@carultch ....I never said anything about a landscaper.
Here in South Jersey we use brown orange yellow. Purple is used at the nuke plant to indicate that a tool has been in the radiological controlled area.
Hey Dustin, if I wear the T-shirt will it make me a better electrician
Yes
No
No, but it won't make you a worse Electrician either, buy the shirt...
Absolutely
Maybe