Which Color Wire Is Neutral

The protective ground must be bare green or green yellow striped.

Which color wire is neutral. The national electrical code nec says that white or gray must be used for neutral conductors and that bare copper or green wires must be used as ground wires. The us national electrical code for both ac and dc mandates that the grounded neutral conductor of a power system be white or grey. Nec wiring color codes for ac us canada us nec ac single multi phase wiring color codes the mandatory colors for power wiring in national electric codes nec are green bare or green yellow yellow strip or band on green for protective ground pg and white alternatively grey for neutral wire. Because a red colored wire also serves as an ungrounded conductor these wires are used to connect the second leg of the electrical system to loads which require 240 volts.

In most modern fixtures the neutral wire will be white and the hot wire is red or black. In some types of fixtures both wires will be the same color. Neutral wires have the important task of returning currents to the original power source. If you are engaging in any home wiring proper identification of wires is imperative so that you end up making the right connections.

For wires that will be 120 208 or 240 volts the following wiring color standards are used. The hot and neutral lines should be two distinct colors but the colors can vary for the different wires. While all wire colors are important to understand and utilize properly the neutral wire is a consistently overlooked piece of any electrical system. But looking deeper the color of the wires inside of the sheathing reveals that different colored wires serve different purposes.

Hot active wires may be any other colors except these. No wire with any of those colors can be used for establishing a ground or neutral connection. A neutral wire is generally prevalent in a polyphase ac system. In this case the neutral wire is always.

Identifying electrical wiring properly is an important step when replacing a light fixture installing an outlet or handling other electrical work. However common practice per local electrical inspectors is for the first hot live or active wire to be black and the. Color codes for wires helps ensure easy and proper identification of the wire types and safety precautions required. Beyond that are general industry accepted rules about wire color that indicate their purpose.

It is important to note that with this type of wiring there are multiple phases in place each of which will get its own color wire to make it clear what it is for those working on it. A number of different colors may be used for the hot wire in various types of switch wiring while neutral and ground wires should always be the same.