Color code for a wye 415/240V service

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mjc1060

Senior Member
Hi,
I am working in a data center where the voltages are from a wye circuit. The voltage is 415V line to line and 240V line to neutral. Does anyone know what the color code is for this?
 
What color codes are you already using?

Official general NEC color codes disappeared decades ago, except for green, white, and grey. There are a few other colors which must be used in some areas, but they are not restricted only to those areas.
 
I am working in a data center where the voltages are from a wye circuit. The voltage is 415V line to line and 240V line to neutral. Does anyone know what the color code is for this?
If you also have a 208/120v system, use 480/277v colors, or vice versa.
 
If you don have a 480/277 system or dont plan on one you could use those but that could be a problem later if somone needs a step up.
I'd use Brown/Black/purple or violet
Neutral white with blue stripe or tape.
 
Yellow Brown Purple used to be the industry standard for 277/480, but was changed to Brown Orange Yellow because in low light conditions, brown and purple were hard to distinguish. Since that is not a standard US voltage, I wonder what colors are being used for that voltage in other countries?
 
Yellow Brown Purple used to be the industry standard for 277/480, but was changed to Brown Orange Yellow because in low light conditions, brown and purple were hard to distinguish. Since that is not a standard US voltage, I wonder what colors are being used for that voltage in other countries?
I believe most of the EU and now the UK have standardized on
Brown/black/grey light blue for neutral. Green with yellow stripe for ECG
My guess is 480/277 wont go away any time soon but this voltage class will become a 'standard' voltage.
 
For ungrounded conductors, 210.5(C)(1) and 215.12(C)(1) says that the means of identification shall be permitted to be by separate color coding, marking tape, tagging, or other approved means. Use what ever color you want, including black for all 3 phases, then just tag them to show the voltage system.
 
We should make a poll of what the color codes should be and if it needs a code change.
Manufacturers will keep pushing to use the international standard color code, the NEC would need to get changed
to allow light blue as the noodle and re-allow gray as a hot in such systems.
May not be far fetched as they did that for the EU power cords a while back.
 
It is pretty much useless to create a new 'national' color code, for phase conductors, unless you tear out and replace all existing wiring. Do you produce a cross reference sheet for previous installation s going back almost 100 years?

I know many electricians like to think Brown, Orange, and Yellow is a universally used scheme, but it isn't. In 40 years I have never designed a piece of switchgear or a control panel that used multiple colors to denote phases, instead I have relied on wire numbers and labels.
 
Only for electric-vehicle chargers. The automotive industry is quite thoroughly entrenched with using black for grounded conductors.
(CMYK: cyan, magenta, yellow, black)

And trailers use White for the grounded conductor. Maybe the first trailer was wired by an electrician.
 
It is pretty much useless to create a new 'national' color code, for phase conductors, unless you tear out and replace all existing wiring.
Jim 416/240 is a new to North America system that utilities and transformer manufacturers are beginning to offer, there would not be any existing wiring to tear out around here.
And yeah I agree with this
I know many electricians like to think Brown, Orange, and Yellow is a universally used scheme, but it isn't.
Ill add 'natural grey' or white phase tape on larger wire is a much more common neutral color for 277 neutrals not gray, around here that is.
 
Only for electric-vehicle chargers. The automotive industry is quite thoroughly entrenched with using black for grounded conductors.
(CMYK: cyan, magenta, yellow, black)
VW, Audi, Porsche, Volvo are all brown for the negative frame red for the 12V. I dont believe they use black.
 
Jim 416/240 is a new to North America system that utilities and transformer manufacturers are beginning to offer, there would not be any existing wiring to tear out around here.

This goes beyond 416/240V. It deals with the vast number of already installed electrical installations. Any proposed color scheme that uses one of the existing common colors, of black, red, blue, yellow, brown or orange, would be a problem. You would never know if a single conductor was part of the new scheme or an existing one that is grandfathered in. I have seen people 'pitch a fit' when a motor starter had BOY on the line side and OBY on the load side so the motor turned in the correct direction. I have seen locations that would not allow BOY colors to feed their control panel because orange and yellow were reserved for 'foreign' voltages not controlled by the panel disconnect.
 
This goes beyond 416/240V. It deals with the vast number of already installed electrical installations. Any proposed color scheme that uses one of the existing common colors, of black, red, blue, yellow, brown or orange, would be a problem.
Wow yeah your really thinking it through.
I can just picture the conversation, I have herd debates about one color repeating,
Mostly around orange for 240 delta hi-legs in the same facility as BOY 480/277.
black, red, blue, yellow, brown or orange
are all taken in that case.
I think those are more of the exception than the norm, but who knows?
In that case go with all purple and number or stripe the wire.
 
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