colors

Status
Not open for further replies.
Nothing required by the NEC, but there is an 'unofficial' color colde

Black/Red & White for 120/240
Black/Red/Blue & White for 120/208
Brown/Orange/Yellow & Greay for 277/480.
 
480sparky said:
Nothing required by the NEC, but there is an 'unofficial' color colde

Black/Red & White for 120/240
Black/Red/Blue & White for 120/208
Brown/Orange/Yellow & Greay for 277/480.
Click to expand...

What if the 240/120 is three phase?
What if the 480/277 is a wye connection?

What if there was a 240/120 and a 208/120 source in the same building?


110.15 High-Leg Marking.
On a 4-wire, delta-connected system where the midpoint of one phase winding is grounded, only the conductor or busbar having the higher phase voltage to ground shall be durably and permanently marked by an outer finish that is orange in color or by other effective means.

So on a 240/120 system I think that the high leg is required to be orange although it is no where near the 480/277 volt range.

210.5 Identification for Branch Circuits.
(A) Grounded Conductor. The grounded conductor of a branch circuit shall be identified in accordance with 200.6.
(B) Equipment Grounding Conductor. The equipment grounding conductor shall be identified in accordance with 250.119.
(C) Ungrounded Conductors. Where the premises wiring system has branch circuits supplied from more than one nominal voltage system, each ungrounded conductor of a branch circuit, where accessible, shall be identified by system.
 
Dave, as mentioned above colors are Industry standards. Check with the local AHJ for their requirements. Here in DC (DCRA required) it is Black, Red, Blue, White 208/120 and Brown Orange, Yellow, Gray 480/277
 
dcspector said:
Dave, as mentioned above colors are Industry standards. Check with the local AHJ for their requirements. Here in DC (DCRA required) it is Black, Red, Blue, White 208/120 and Brown Orange, Yellow, Gray 480/277
Click to expand...

I ask you also what do you do with a three phase 240/120 system?
 
jwelectric said:
I ask you also what do you do with a three phase 240/120 system?
Click to expand...

Mike good question and I did miss that on your post, sorry. One would just go with 210.5(C) as you mentioned. No color standard here..... "other effective means" would prevail and "Sparky" should carry a meter with him or her.....your thoughts?
 
Last edited:
David Bonin said:
Is there a code for color coding of
120 volt outlets
208 v
480v
also emergency power
24 volt

Dave
Click to expand...

He may not be talking about voltage or conductors.

He may be talking about J-boxes and what it feeds.

The company I work for has a color code

Green, 120 volt power

Blue, 120 volt lighting

Yellow, 277 lighting

Orange, emergency power any voltage, power and lighting

Brown, HVAC

Red, Fire Alarm

The covers of the j-boxes where sprayed those colors but more importantly when people where pulling all the MC cables the cables would be sprayed with the appropriate color at each end for later quick identification.
 
480sparky said:
You can use any colors you want for ungrounded except green, grey or white.
Click to expand...
A 240/120 three phase system will have one leg that is 208 volts and 110.15 requires this leg to be identified by the color ORANGE
 
Most of us know what the trade practices are for voltage and wire color.

But we also know that wire color means NOTHING and that you should always test before you assume that a certain color means a certain voltage. Many times, this will not be the case at all and you could be in for a rude surprise if you assume.
 
jwelectric said:
A 240/120 three phase system will have one leg that is 208 volts
Click to expand...

Probably a stupid question... Aren't there 120/240 3o Wye systems? Or are all 120/240 3o systems Delta?
 
jwelectric said:
A 240/120 three phase system will have one leg that is 208 volts and 110.15 requires this leg to be identified by the color ORANGE
Click to expand...

I firmly share the same opinion as you Mike Orange equals high leg. All the other effective means I've seen are found lying at the bottom of the panel or non legible.

It's our standard we're the professionals and orange should be respected as high leg like green is for equipment grounding, interesting we really don't need green but we accept its meaning.
 
jerm said:
Probably a stupid question... Aren't there 120/240 3o Wye systems? Or are all 120/240 3o systems Delta?
Click to expand...

120 V Line-Neutral cannot be derived from a 240 Line-Line WYE system. 120 V is only around because a 240 V transformer has a center-tap, which is only a function of a delta bank.


You can have

208Y/120, 3Φ, 4-wire AND
240Δ/120, 3Φ, 4-wire (120 V to center-tap with a 208 V to c/t high-leg)


and I guess you could have (though I don't know why you would):

240Y/139, 3Φ, 4-wire
 
By the way, I must pay my respects to all those who cemented my understanding of this subject; we had a lot of back in forth about this in a thread over the summer, until it all clicked, and I gave in.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top