A green wire that is not a ground

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woody2468

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So, i have a 208 3 phase 15A circuit and a multi conductor 24VDC @ 3A which is used as a control circuit (Class 2) going to the same 19 soca connector which is used to control a chain motor hoist in a theatre.

We have been building these for years and getting therm inspected by CSA before shipping to the customer.

It has been recently told to me that the green wire in my 24VDC control line cannot be used as anything but ground. I find this hard to believe. This adds time and materials to my build process. A phone line has a green wire and thats 90VDC when ringing and its not a ground. I am searching through my code book but can't find anything yet.

Maybe the way around this is to switch all my protective conductors/grounds to yellow with a green stripe conductor.

Any thoughts anyone???
 
There is a new exception in the 2008 NEC to 250.119 just for this type of situation.

Here is what the exception says:

"Exception: Power-limited, Class 2 or Class 3 circuit cables containing only circuits operating at less than 50 volts shall be permitted to use a conductor with green insulation for other than equipment grounding purposes."

Chris
 
NEC article 250.119 forbids the use of green for anything other than equiment grounds. However, NEC article 90.2(A), which defines the scope of the code, does not include manufactured equipment on the list of things it covers. You don't have a problem, because the NEC does not apply to you.
 
OK, I see Chris and I have different takes on this situation. Did I misunderstand the situation? Is this thing you are describing listed as a unit, with the green wires being part of the listed equipment?
 
I'm with Charlie here, it's a manufactured assembly, and I'll add to that that it's built for a specific purpose. I think you could use a multiconductor cable with -all- green wires and it would be OK.

Look into the rational for designating green for a specific purpose- to keep people from misusing or corrupting the grounding system. With this sort of product, the likelyhood of someone opening up a motor control cable to tap off for another purpose is infinitely small, esp as compared to a residential SA circuit :D.
 
While the OP hasn't anwered, they're probably using CM LodeStar winches, which in this application is 208v 3ph for the motor and 24vac for the in-housing controls (usually supplied from the winch). Older setups use two cables with different twistlocks, newer ones are usually a Soca connector on 14g or 16g 7 or 9 conductor cable. Everything has OCP. In fact, some of the motor controller boxes are quite fancy.
 
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