US Wiring Colour Code

[Blue Stocking]

I expect any day now, to read in a boating magazine, that electrocution is the foremost killer of marine technicians.
Why does this subject of wire color, and the inherent danger, continue to exist.
Ancor and Pacer, and others, make a wide range of colors, and stripe/colors for marine use.
I wired Bluestocking, AC and DC, with 4 and 24 circuits respectively.
Every DC feed is a specific color, varying 12 and 10 AWG for load where 2 similar color were utilized.
The AC circuits are labeled and color wired-tied for ID.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Marner

The ABYC (American Boat and Yacht Council) standards specify white as negative and black for positive for boat DC wiring.

Why they elected to use such colours is a mystery. Nearly all DC equipment comes with red (positive) black (negative) wiring. So the red equipment wire has to go to the black and the black equipment wire to the white.

All the wire I used when building our boat was black and white, but to avoid any confusion I wired it white positive and black negative.

Marner
___________________________
http://cruising-cape-breton.info

Just switch the wires on the battery and your good. Not!

What's fun is when the yellow wire comes in on a DC circuit.

[Marner]

Gosh, Bill, you're right!

How I got that wrong, I don't know. I always figured I wired our boat wrong.
Now I can relax...

Thanks

Marner
_____________________________

[btrayfors]

Yeah, marine wiring can be confusing. Even if the boat were correctly wired to code when built, what some owners do afterwards borders on the criminal!

Marinco has a wonderful little 24pp guide to AC Boat Wiring, complete with diagrams and connectors and such. You can download the PDF on this page: Guides for Marinco Electrical Group Brands | Marinco

Bill

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by anjou

For 240v AC, domestic wiring, its green/yellow earth, blue/black neutral and red/brown live
The reason there is a choice is because the EU changed the colour a few times to make sure electricians are paying attention
415v AC 3 phase is different and I cant remember which 4 wire colours are used


With lower voltage DC its usual that red is live and black or blue is neutral and green/yellow is earth, but im not sure there is a hard and fast rule on this.

Anjou, for single phase
black AC neutral and red live are long gone in the UK, and the EU, they disappeared in the UK around the mid 70s.

for AC EU 3 phase, pre 2004 is was black,red,yellow,blue , its now as per current IEC 60446, blue, brown.black,grey for 3 phase , neutral, l1,l2,l3 respectively.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by anjou

For 240v AC, domestic wiring, its green/yellow earth, blue/black neutral and red/brown live
The reason there is a choice is because the EU changed the colour a few times to make sure electricians are paying attention
415v AC 3 phase is different and I cant remember which 4 wire colours are used


With lower voltage DC its usual that red is live and black or blue is neutral and green/yellow is earth, but im not sure there is a hard and fast rule on this.

Thanks Anjou, AC is pretty much the same in Oz 'cept we tend to speak of Active rather than Live.

I must strongly suggest to you what others have hinted at; that you refer to positive and negative and not live and neutral when referring to DC especially low voltage DC. This is the convention (universally?) for DC and makes life easy when considering DC circuits containing devices like batteries, diodes, transistors and so on.

Once again I learn something new on CF - that our US friends use black and white instead of red and black for +ve & -ve ; why why why ????

Yet we all use white in aircraft wiring (most of the time)!

[anjou]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Anjou, for single phase
black AC neutral and red live are long gone in the UK, and the EU, they disappeared in the UK around the mid 70s.

for AC EU 3 phase, pre 2004 is was black,red,yellow,blue , its now as per current IEC 60446, blue, brown.black,grey for 3 phase , neutral, l1,l2,l3 respectively.

Bugger, showing my age again. Actually I still come across the old colours in a lot of places.
I dont this they were wired as per 16th edition never mind the 17th we have now

[btrayfors]

Originally Posted by Wotname

......

Once again I learn something new on CF - that our US friends use black and white instead of red and black for +ve & -ve ; why why why ????

Yet we all use white in aircraft wiring (most of the time)!

Wotname...

NO NO NO. It is NOT conventional to use white for positive in DC circuits in the U.S. The standard code is:

RED - positive
BLACK or YELLOW - negative
GREEN or GREEN with YELLOW stripe - grounding or earth ground

White is reserved for AC circuits (neutral or grounded).

See post #15

Bill

[anjou]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Thanks Anjou, AC is pretty much the same in Oz 'cept we tend to speak of Active rather than Live.

I must strongly suggest to you what others have hinted at; that you refer to positive and negative and not live and neutral when referring to DC especially low voltage DC. This is the convention (universally?) for DC and makes life easy when considering DC circuits containing devices like batteries, diodes, transistors and so on.

Once again I learn something new on CF - that our US friends use black and white instead of red and black for +ve & -ve ; why why why ????

Yet we all use white in aircraft wiring (most of the time)!

Wotname, - Whats in a name? That which we call a rose would smell as sweet by any other name.

Whats in a word? I know what I mean and whether its possitive or live, they do the same job as far as im concerned but I do get your point, words are just words, its the intent that has content.

From now on Im thinking of it as flow and return

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by btrayfors

Wotname...

NO NO NO. It is NOT conventional to use white for positive in DC circuits in the U.S. The standard code is:

RED - positive
BLACK or YELLOW - negative
GREEN or GREEN with YELLOW stripe - grounding or earth ground

White is reserved for AC circuits (neutral or grounded).

See post #15

Bill

Thanks Bill, I feel sane again. I missed your #15 post, probably still in shock after reading post 14.

Off topic:-
Anyone know the historical reason why aircraft wiring is white, I have assumed that it is because it is easier to wire stamp (and read) black markings on a white background but really this is a personal assumption.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by anjou

Wotname, - Whats in a name? That which we call a rose would smell as sweet by any other name.

Whats in a word? I know what I mean and whether its possitive or live, they do the same job as far as im concerned but I do get your point, words are just words, its the intent that has content.

From now on Im thinking of it as flow and return

Now you are teasing me aren't you . Your engineering background would never let you live in world where the descriptive words of our trade can mean whatever we feel like!

So which is the flow terminal and which is the return terminal of say a polarized capacitor? Where would you put the cathode of a zenner diode (when used in the conventional sense), the flowive or the returnive side of the circuit?

BTW, you new avatar is great!

[anjou]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Now you are teasing me aren't you . Your engineering background would never let you live in world where the descriptive words of our trade can mean whatever we feel like!

So which is the flow terminal and which is the return terminal of say a polarized capacitor? Where would you put the cathode of a zenner diode (when used in the conventional sense), the flowive or the returnive side of the circuit?

BTW, you new avatar is great!

Awww, your talking dirty now, im not REALY into that kinky stuff, I just dabble in what needs doing to get the job done.

Flow is supply, return is the flip side. As Newton (another brilliant Englishman who invented gravity) said, what goes out, must come back.
He cooked that up with Boyles law which states that when a body is immersed in water, ......the phone rings.

The eyes have it.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by anjou

Awww, your talking dirty now, im not REALY into that kinky stuff, I just dabble in what needs doing to get the job done.

Flow is supply, return is the flip side. As Newton (another brilliant Englishman who invented gravity) said, what goes out, must come back.
He cooked that up with Boyles law which states that when a body is immersed in water, ......the phone rings.

The eyes have it.

OK, you win, just between us lets stick to live and neutral then; I am powerless with that stare.

[dandrews]

[QUOTE="Wotname"]

Once again I learn something new on CF - that our US friends use black and white instead of red and black for +ve & -ve ; why why why ????

Hmmmm, maybe because we had a warehouse full of it because the purchasing agent made a mistake??? ;-)

[delmarrey]

[QUOTE=dandrews;901117]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Once again I learn something new on CF - that our US friends use black and white instead of red and black for +ve & -ve ; why why why ????

Hmmmm, maybe because we had a warehouse full of it because the purchasing agent made a mistake??? ;-)

From my understanding red is reserved for Positive Mains (particularly unfused) like on battery cables. White is for fused links, which are generic but the real color codes are here>>>> http://www.marinesurveysplus.com/boatwiring.aspx