color code

[lew3611]

Hey guys I was trying to find a website that gave the used wire color cod scheme that most EC's used in the industry. if anyone knows one or has a list of color codes please post in the newsgroup. Thanks guys

 

[roger]

Re: color code

Go to "Search" below

at the top of this page and type in "Color Code" for some old threads on this topic.

Roger

[ September 03, 2005, 08:22 PM: Message edited by: roger ]

 

[LarryFine]

Re: color code

Do you mean like black/red/blue/white for 208/120 or 240, and brown/orange/yellow/gray for 277/480, green for grounding, orange for high-leg, and such?

Or perhaps the "other" color code: black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, gray, white; often called the resistor color-code.

 

[lew3611]

Re: color code

Thanks Larry I think you answered my question? I am working with a Homeland Security Contractor and we are doing work in the USPS's across the country and it is like everything we do is *** backwards from what I have learned in the electrical field. Instead of B.O.Y. it is Y.O.B. My next question is there anywhere in the code that specify color coding?

 

[iwire]

Re: color code

Originally posted by lew3611:
My next question is there anywhere in the code that specify color coding?

Nope.

Don't assume anything.

 

[redfish]

Re: color code

Thanks Larry I think you answered my question? I am working with a Homeland Security Contractor and we are doing work in the USPS's across the country and it is like everything we do is *** backwards from what I have learned in the electrical field. Instead of B.O.Y. it is Y.O.B. My next question is there anywhere in the code that specify color coding?

If you are doing work for the Gov., chances are they will give you a spec book three inches thick that will not leave out a thing, including phasing your circuits. Good luck.

 

[mdshunk]

Re: color code

Just wait until you get a job that wants the "orange" phase of 480 done with purple so that some screwball doesn't think it's a high leg. I saw a guy at the supply house the other day buying a crapload of purple THHN. I could almost guess which of the two or three places around the area that have this screwy color code he was working at.

[ September 05, 2005, 12:32 AM: Message edited by: mdshunk ]

 

[petersonra]

Re: color code

I did some control panel design once for a navy shipyard.

They used purple for all control wires.

I think the idea was purple was used for non-current carrying wires.

 

[allenwayne]

Re: color code

Correct me if I am wrong. But the nec only requires the following to be identified green -ground.white/gray- grounded.orange high leg.
Oh and let`s not forget about phaseing a white conductor used in a switching system.

 

[ryan_618]

Re: color code

517.160(A)(5) has some requirements too

 

[dillon3c]

Re: color code

Along with 424.35

 

[LarryFine]

Re: color code

If you think about it, purple is the only (out of the standard 10 colors of the "other" color code) that doesn't have a "traditional" use:

Black, red, blue, white, green, and then brown, orange, yellow, and gray. That's nine, leaving violet, or purple. Sure, there are variations, like several shades of some, and then there's pink.

We did a fairly large (24 circuits) programmable lighting job, and used purple and white for every circuit. (it was easier to ring it out after the pull). No chance of mixing this run with anything else.

 

[mdshunk]

Re: color code

Originally posted by allenwayne:
Correct me if I am wrong. But the nec only requires the following to be identified green -ground.white/gray- grounded.orange high leg.
Oh and let`s not forget about phaseing a white conductor used in a switching system.

True enough. I think we're just musing about rules of thumb at the moment. You could pull tie dyed or polka dotted phase conductors for most installations and it wouldn't matter unless there was a print spec.

[ September 05, 2005, 11:59 AM: Message edited by: mdshunk ]

 

[LarryFine]

Re: color code

Originally posted by mdshunk:
You could pull tie dyed or polka dotted phase conductors for most installations and it wouldn't matter unless there was a print spec.

I can see it now:

Note 3. Polka-dotted conductors not permitted; use only striped or tie-dyed conductors.

 

[ryan_618]

Re: color code

Originally posted by LarryFine:

Note 3. Polka-dotted conductors not permitted; use only...tie-dyed conductors.

Far out!

 

[iwire]

Re: color code

Originally posted by LarryFine:
Note 3. Polka-dotted conductors not permitted; use only striped or tie-dyed conductors.

You forgot the rest of Note 3

Tie-dyed conductors are only to be installed while under the influence.

I can see it now.

Was phase A blue, red, green, pink or red, pink, green, blue?

 

[paul]

Re: color code

Originally posted by LarryFine:
If you think about it, purple is the only (out of the standard 10 colors of the "other" color code) that doesn't have a "traditional" use:

Black, red, blue, white, green, and then brown, orange, yellow, and gray. That's nine, leaving violet, or purple. Sure, there are variations, like several shades of some, and then there's pink.

We did a fairly large (24 circuits) programmable lighting job, and used purple and white for every circuit. (it was easier to ring it out after the pull). No chance of mixing this run with anything else.

I like to use pink and purple for switch legs or travelers.

 

[augie47]

Re: color code

believe it or not, purple is a standard color around here.
For 480 systems we use B-Purple-Y..
We have industries that have 480/277, 208Y/120 and 240/120 hi-leg delta systems. Since orange is required on the high-leg system, local inspection requires purple on 480 to comply easily with 210-5 (C).

 

[tx2step]

Re: color code

Originally posted by paul:
I like to use pink and purple for switch legs or travelers.

I'm with Paul. We usually use pink or purple for 3-way travelers and also for switch legs.

 

[LarryFine]

Re: color code

Originally posted by tx2step:

Originally posted by paul:
I like to use pink and purple for switch legs or travelers.

I'm with Paul. We usually use pink or purple for 3-way travelers and also for switch legs.

Yeah, we know about you pink-and-purple guys!