Ac Power Cord Wiring Colors

No wire with any of those colors can be used for establishing a ground or neutral connection.

Ac power cord wiring colors. The us national electrical code for both ac and dc mandates that the grounded neutral conductor of a power system be white or grey. The use of alternating current means that power cords have hot and neutral wires rather than positive and negative if you have a polarized appliance cord the neutral wire is identified by a white stripe ribbing or white insulation. However common practice per local electrical inspectors is for the first hot live or active wire to be black and the. In the usa color codes are usually utilized for power wires in branch circuits the wiring between the last protective device like a circuit breaker and the load like an appliance.

Twelve gauge cords have larger diameter wires and are suitable for heavier loads such as operating power tools. Three prong extension cords generally come in two wire gauges. Hot active wires may be any other colors except these. Black hot white neutral green ground if you use a computer power cord or other cord based on the international wiring color code.

Equipment wiring includes things such as wiring in power cords. In fact any color wire except white gray or green may be used in conduit to carry ungrounded power. In australia we currently have two separate colour coding systems one for equipment wiring and one for installation wiring. See also my page on rewiring fender amps to grounded cords.

A 14 gauge cord is suitable for indoor appliances and indoor or outdoor lights. Brown hot blue neutral. Ac power 120 208 240 volts ac power comes in many different types based on how many volts the wires will be carrying. Power cord color codes.

Ac power cord color codes explained. Even our residential lights use the black white and green colors. Brown blue and green stripe wiring is actually more common around the world than our black white and green. Ac wire colors for 120 208 240 volts.

The protective ground must be bare green or green yellow striped. You ll generally find the wire gauge marked on the cord sheathing or on the plug. The list below outlines what the different colour codes mean for both single and multi phased. For wires that will be 120 208 or 240 volts the following wiring color standards are used.

However when sized appropriately for the load two wire armored cables can also be used to provide power to 220 volt appliances like a water heater or well pump which is where things get tricky.