Wire colour coding abroad

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vwdevotee

Member
Good day all,

Can any please point me to a website or good book that summarizes the colour cides used in foreign power systems? Right now I'm working on projects that will go to Brazil and China and would like to keep my drawings consistent with their standards. Thanks in advance!

Cheers
 

charlie b

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Lockport, IL
Occupation
Retired Electrical Engineer
Perhaps none of our members knows the answer. This is a purely voluntary forum, and nobody is obligated to look things up for you. Have you tried the reference desk at your local library?
 

vwdevotee

Member
I understand that it's voluntary, and I wouldn't expect anyone to go find the answer for me. With as many members as are on here though, I would have thought there would be some people who've done work like this before.

I've tried the local library, but no dice. I'll probably tell my boss that I'm taking off a few hours early and try the main branch of the Seattle Library later this week.
 

muckusmc

Senior Member
Location
Roebling, NJ
Current British standards

Current British standard, fixed cables (A,B,C,N,Gnd):

Red, yellow, blue, black, green/yellow
(Plain green for ground until 1980s.)

Pre-1965 installations:
Red, white, blue, black, green

Flexible cords, current standard:
Brown (all phases), blue, green/yellow

Pre-1970 cords:
1-phase: Red, black, green
3-phase: Red, white, blue, black, green

The green/yellow earth wire has been recognized since the 1960s, although only for the EGC in a cord.

The 1966 IEE Regs. specify only plain green, but the green/yellow was added as an amendment sometime later. The 1970 revised edition specifies green/yellow as being the only acceptable colors for a cord EGC, along with brown & blue in place of the old red & black for line & neutral respectively.

A few appliance cords made probably during late 1969/early-1970 period which actually have red & black along with a green/yellow ground. I'm not sure if these were British-made, or possibly Continental done for the U.K. market.

Thanks to Paul ("PaulUK") for the above information!


Bahamas:

Black,Red,Blue,white 120/208
Brown,Orange,Yellow,white 277/480


Sweden:

Prior to 2002:

(L, N, PE)
Black, Blue, Green/Yellow

(L1, L2, L3)
Black, Brown, White or Black or Black/White or (wires in conduit)
Orange or Grey

Prior to 1973


(L, N, PE)
Black, White, Red

3-phase and light switches
Black, Blue and/or Yellow and/or Grey and/or Green.

Colour of the protective earth conductor.
(For Sweden)

Prior to 1960: No rules
1960: Red for cables; red or g/y for flexes
1968: g/y for both cables and flexes (transition period until 1972)



Denmark:


I think the old (prior to 1973) code was:
(L, N, PE)
White, Black, Red

3-phase or light switch
White, Brown and/or Grey and/or Blue and/or Yellow and/or Green
(Order unknown)

Mains Cords; Europe:
By this we mean flexible appliance wiring or line cords, not the fixed
cable or wiring inside the walls. All colour code combinations are
given in the order L, N, E: In other words line (live), neutral and
earth (ground).

The current general standard is Brown, Blue, Yellow/Green striped
and this is mandatory in most European countries and on items
intended for sale in those countries. The colours were chosen not
for their association (otherwise brown would be earth!) for reasons
set up below.

Elsewhere in the world and also in Europe in previous times, these
colour codings vary widely. The following combinations can be
encountered. Again the order is L, N, E and the list is not intended
to be exhaustive.

Belgium: Red, yellow or blue, Grey, Black.
Germany: (L, N, Gnd): Black, Gray, Red.
Great Britain: Red, Black, Green.
Netherlands: Any colour but Gray or Red.
Russia: Red, Grey, Black.
Switzerland: Red, Grey, Yellow or yellow/red.

The foregoing should make it clear why a unified colour coding of
wires was necessary. Green is by no means the obvious colour for
earth either:
before standard colours were adopted, earth was red in Austria,
Finland, Germany, Norway, and Sweden; black in Belgium and Russia,
Gray in the Netherlands and Poland, yellow in Switzerland and green
in Britain and North America. Three cheers for standardization!

The choice of colours for the world-wide system was not arbitrary
either; earth (ground) had to be distinguished and making it striped
was an inspired choice. The other two colours had to be clearly
distinguishable, even by people who suffer colour-blindness, and
blue and brown were judged the most clearly different shades by experts in this field.

France:
(Old System)

Phase 1: Green (Vert),
Phase 2: Yellow (Jaune),
Phase 3: Brown (Marron),
Neutral: Grey (Gris),
Earth: White (Blanc)

According to a reference, the old French color code used up until 1970 and was:

Phase = Green
Neutral = Red
Earth = White or Gray

Current French Standard:

Phase A: Black (Noir),
Phase B: Red (Rouge),
Phase C: Brown (Marron),
Neurtal: Blue (Bleu),
Ground: Green / Yellow (Vert/Jaune)

Please refer to discussion thread in Non-US Electrical Systems titled:
International Wire Colour Codes
and refer to posts by Moderator and Members referring to discussions in French Newsgroups regarding the color codes.

Old German / Austrian Color Coding:

flexes:
P: black
N: grey (can be connected to ground terminal of receptacle with
jumper to neutral, TN-C)
G: red
L2, L3: black, blue
fixed wiring: single phase: see flexes
2 switches in one box: feeder black, switch loops grey and red
3 ph: 4w
R,S,T: black, blue, red, neutral (usually only ground) grey, red one
can be pink as well, was also commonly used for flexes, this was the
most common wiring arrangement.
5w (pretty rare): see flexes.
As you see this system was rather inconsequent, and this is one
reason why it was phased out.
However, 4w 3ph systems still have black, brown, blue for phases
and y/g for ground.

Anyway, this color code is definitely NOT reliable, even electricians
usually took whatever wire color was just handy!

Current Austrian Color Code:

(L1, L2, L3, N, GND): Black/Brown/Grey/Yellow-Green.

Until 01/01/02 (probably) L2 and L3 both black.

Old work (pre 1970) Black, blue, pink, grey and red (no idea about phase order)
 

vwdevotee

Member
Thanks Muck, that's a gold mine. If I can find any more countries while I'm working on this I'll try to add to the list.
 

Besoeker

Senior Member
Location
UK
Current British standards

Current British standard, fixed cables (A,B,C,N,Gnd):

Red, yellow, blue, black, green/yellow
(Plain green for ground until 1980s.)

Thanks to Paul ("PaulUK") for the above information!

PaulUK is a bit out of date.
The phase colours for UK are brown, black and grey. Neutral is blue.
 

robbietan

Senior Member
Location
Antipolo City
Good day all,

Can any please point me to a website or good book that summarizes the colour cides used in foreign power systems? Right now I'm working on projects that will go to Brazil and China and would like to keep my drawings consistent with their standards. Thanks in advance!

Cheers

here in the Philippines, the only color coding is that the ground wire and the neutral wire should be colored different from the phase wires.
 

broadgage

Senior Member
Location
London, England
The UK colours given above are indeed obsolete, but the change was recent and the colours given are still in widespread use both in the UK and in former British colonies.
The new British colours are
Blue------neutral
brown, black and grey for the 3 phases
Green/yellow striped for ground (called earth here)

The old UK colours are still used in former colonies, though white may be used instead of yellow for the middle phase.

Remember that in many countries colour codes are not taken very seriously !
Phase and neutral= whatever we have got in stock
Earth= wots that ?
 

Besoeker

Senior Member
Location
UK
The UK colours given above are indeed obsolete, but the change was recent and the colours given are still in widespread use both in the UK and in former British colonies.
The new British colours are
Blue------neutral
brown, black and grey for the 3 phases
Green/yellow striped for ground (called earth here)

Perhaps longer than you think. In the current edition of BS7671 (seventeenth edition) it's noted as Amendment No 2: 2004.

I think the change was an act of sheer and utter utter folly. New installations must comply with the "harmonised" colours. Existing installations had the previous colours so you get this sort of thing where a new installation has to interface with an old one:

Harmonisedcolours-1.jpg


So, depending on the age of the installation, blue could be a live phase, or neutral. Same with black. Or there could be a mixture of both on the same site.
It's stupid and potentially dangerous. And totally unnecessary.
 
Color Code for China

Color Code for China

The color code for China is A phase - yellow, B phase - Green, C phase - red, the neutral is blue, and the ground is green/yellow.
 

vwdevotee

Member
Pronto Pup, you're a rockstar! That's going to help a lot.


Muckusmc, where was the thread you pulled that from? I remember seeing it, but can't find it now.
 

Besoeker

Senior Member
Location
UK
Pronto Pup, you're a rockstar! That's going to help a lot.
Muckusmc, where was the thread you pulled that from? I remember seeing it, but can't find it now.
It's an interesting historical perspective. But wrong on current colours for UK at least.
 

skeshesh

Senior Member
Location
Los Angeles, Ca
Interesting thread, but as broadgage warned, I would be VERY cautious using this information. The fact is plenty of places had not had standards in place for a long time and even after standards are introduced, inspection and enforcement may be extremely limited. If you are specifying color coding for a brand new construction I would highly recommend finding local standards and documents rather than relying on a forum (a qualify one as it be). If working with existing wiring, I would stay far away from trusting any color coding. An interesting historical perspective nontheless...
 

muckusmc

Senior Member
Location
Roebling, NJ
I had saved it on my computer when I spotted it awhile ago - don't remember which thread it was. Not even sure which site it was from, I belong to a few. Sorry.
 
Last edited:

jbelectric777

Senior Member
Location
NJ/PA
Real simple in U.S and the NEC : 1) Bare or green for equipment grounding (yellow tracing is allowed but green is primary. 2) White or natural grey for the grounded conductor also known as the neutral no exceptions. 3) Every other color can be used as the un grounded conductor also known as the hot. A lot of electricians think that black, red and blue must be used on 120/208V and brown, orange and yellow must be used for 277/480. The NEC does not say that, its more of a rule of thumb. The only time colors must be different as per NEC is when there are two dis-similiar voltages in the same occupancy, and where there is a high leg as the case from a 120/240V Delta connection it says "shall be orangish in color NOT RED. So basically a building with a 120/208 three phase service can be black,black,black with a grey or white neutral and bare or green EG. So long as there is no stepping up and the voltage is common thru out the building.
 

broadgage

Senior Member
Location
London, England
Perhaps longer than you think. In the current edition of BS7671 (seventeenth edition) it's noted as Amendment No 2: 2004.

I think the change was an act of sheer and utter utter folly. New installations must comply with the "harmonised" colours. Existing installations had the previous colours so you get this sort of thing where a new installation has to interface with an old one:

.

The change to the new colours was indeed about 6/7 years ago. I would however regard this as very recent, there are far more installations in the old colors than in the new ones.
I still routinly come across installations with black for earth/ground which I believe was outlawed pre-war !
And white for the B phase, from about 50 years ago.
Grounding to water pipes, prohibited in 1968 AFAIK, still in widespread use.
Where I live in London, you cant get 3 phase in side streets because the mains in the street are 3 wire, from 3 wire DC days ! still used but for 2 phases and neutral.
No need to replace them, only about 70 years old, might last another 70 !
 

Besoeker

Senior Member
Location
UK
The change to the new colours was indeed about 6/7 years ago. I would however regard this as very recent, there are far more installations in the old colors than in the new ones.
I agree. That's why I included a picture of interfaces in post #10.
Madness.


I still routinly come across installations with black for earth/ground which I believe was outlawed pre-war !
And white for the B phase, from about 50 years ago.
Grounding to water pipes, prohibited in 1968 AFAIK, still in widespread use.
I still have an extension lead I made up many years ago. It's made from a good length of flexible TRS that I salvaged from a temporary installation that was quite old even then. Red, black, and green.

Where I live in London, you cant get 3 phase in side streets because the mains in the street are 3 wire, from 3 wire DC days ! still used but for 2 phases and neutral.
No need to replace them, only about 70 years old, might last another 70 !
It might at that. I'm surprised that it has the current carrying capacity to suit modern requirements though.
 
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