Lighting Wire Colours

The standard dc colours are as follows.

Lighting wire colours.

Whatever marking system is used for the cables and wires in your facility the markings should be durable enough to last as long as the wires themselves. Allowable wire and cable types and sizes are specified according to the circuit operating voltage and electric current capability with further restrictions on the. A simple standard electrical circuit has a black or red hot wire that carries power from the power source to the device e g switch fixture outlet appliance a white neutral wire that carries the power back to the power source and a green or bare copper ground wire that connects the device to the home s grounding system. Any electronic wiring in a uk home features three colours of wiring which are used for three different functions.

Don t be confused by the number of electrical wire colors you find we ve got just the. Ground green green with yellow stripes or bare wire. This is the earth wire. Ground white or grey.

It s important that properties get their wiring checked to see if the wiring colours are out of date have deteriorated over time and to check if they comply with bs 7671 wiring. Electrical wiring is an electrical installation of cabling and associated devices such as switches distribution boards sockets and light fittings in a structure. Strip the wire and stick it in a hole teeth inside hold the wire. Cable colours cables harmonised cable colours wire colours old lighting circuit cable colours unharmonised if the wiring in your house is older than the 31st march 2004 and hasn t been modified you will have the following old cable core colours used in your lighting circuits.

Basic wire color coding. Jun 4 2012 4 the op may be done with this thread or not but i have to correct the color codes posted above by ericloewe. New vs old wiring colours. Blue this is the neutral wire.

Positive non ground red. Wiring is subject to safety standards for design and installation. Finally there are the direct current dc power wire colours commonly featured in solar and battery power systems. Negative non ground black.

The switch wiring is all the same but the switch wire cable c leads up to a different set up. There is a chance that if your house has these old wiring colours the switch drops may be from a loop in loop out radial lighting circuit done with junction boxes rather than ceiling roses as shown in fig 2. Take apart an already installed fixture. In 2006 amendment 2 of 17 th edition bs7671 wiring regulations saw a change to harmonise the uk colours with the european cable colours for consistency and to avoid confusion.

Since 2006 british law dictates that the colours mentioned above must be used in all new electricity installations. Wire markers should be visible during installation and normal maintenance of the wiring systems. Aug 12 2007 17 0 66.