Color coding of wires

Anyone who has ever dealt with wires and electricians noticed that conductors always have a different color of insulation. This was done for a reason. The colors of the wires in electrics are designed to make it easier to recognize the phase, neutral wire and ground. They all have a certain color and can be easily distinguished during operation. About the color of the wires, phase, zero, ground, and will be discussed further.

How phase wires are painted

When working with wiring, the phase wires are the most dangerous. Touching the phase, under certain circumstances, can become lethal, because, probably, bright colors were chosen for them. In general, the colors of wires in electrics allow you to quickly determine which of the bundle of wires are the most dangerous and work with them very carefully.

Coloring phase wires

Most often, phase conductors are red or black, but there are also other colors: brown, lilac, orange, pink, purple, white, gray. Phases can be painted in all these colors. It will be easier to deal with them if you exclude the neutral wire and ground.

In the diagrams, the phase wires are indicated by the Latin (English) letter L. If there are several phases, a numerical designation is added to the letter: L1, L2, L3 for a three-phase 380 V. In another version, the first phase is indicated by the letter A, the second - B, the third - C ...

Ground wire color

By modern standards, the earth conductor is yellow-green in color. It usually looks like yellow insulation with one or two longitudinal bright green stripes. But there is also a color of transverse yellow-green stripes.

This color can be ground

In some cases, the cable may contain only yellow or bright green conductors. In this case, the "earth" has just that color. It is displayed in the same colors on the diagrams - more often in bright green, but it can also be yellow. Signed on the diagrams or on the equipment "ground" in Latin (English) letters PE... The contacts to which the "earth" wire must be connected are also marked.

The ground wire is sometimes referred to by professionals as "protective neutral", but don't be confused. It is earthen, and it is protective because it reduces the risk of electric shock.

What color is the neutral wire

Zero or neutral is blue or light blue, sometimes blue with a white stripe. Other colors are not used in electrics to indicate zero. So it will be in any cable: three-core, five-core, or with a large number of conductors.

What color is the neutral wire? Blue or light blue

They usually draw "zero" on the diagrams in blue, and sign it with the Latin letter N. Experts call it a working zero, since, unlike grounding, it participates in the formation of a power supply circuit. When reading the diagram, it is often defined as "minus", while the phase is considered "plus".

How to check the correctness of labeling and disconnection

Wire colors in electrics are designed to speed up the identification of conductors, but relying only on colors is dangerous - they could be connected incorrectly. Therefore, before starting work, it is worth making sure that you have correctly identified their belonging.

We take a multimeter and / or an indicator screwdriver. It's easy to work with a screwdriver: when you touch the phase, the LED built into the housing lights up. So it will be easy to identify the phase conductors. If the cable is two-core, no problem - the second conductor is zero. But if the wire is three-core, you need a multimeter or a tester - with their help we will determine which of the remaining two is phase, which is zero.

Determination of the phase wire with an indicator screwdriver

On the device, we set the switch so that the selected jackal is more than 220 V. Then we take two probes, hold them by the plastic handles, gently touch the metal rod of one probe to the found phase wire, the second to the assumed zero. The screen should display 220 V or current voltage. In fact, it can be much lower - these are our realities.

If 220 V or a little more is highlighted, this is zero, and the other wire is presumably "ground". If the value is less, we continue checking. With one probe, we touch the phase again, with the second - to the intended ground. If the readings of the device are lower than during the first measurement, you have a “ground” in front of you and it should be green. If the readings turned out to be higher, it means that somewhere you messed up with and in front of you "zero. In such a situation, there are two options: look for where exactly the wires were connected incorrectly (preferable) or just move on, remembering or noting the existing position.

So, remember that when the phase-zero pair is called, the multimeter readings are always higher than when the phase-ground pair is called.

And, in conclusion, let me advise: when laying wiring and connecting wires, always connect conductors of the same color, do not confuse them. This can lead to disastrous results - at best, to equipment failure, but there can be injuries and fires.