Electrical Wire Color Coding Used By Electricians 

From my experience... **RELYING ON COLOR CODING OF WIRES IS A FOOLS ERRAND**. Maybe not while youre installing, but most definitely when youre troubleshooting or fixing other peoples work and fkups. Best to more or less ignore them and work your way through a system checking voltages and sounding out wires as you go along. Just my personal opinion...

Hey dude, I've been an electrician for 40 years, I've been in all 3 world's, residential, industrial, and commercial, you are absolutely spot on, yes it's a little boring, but very informative, and you speak with simplicity, love it !! Dont even start with knob and tube, lol

Basically correct and useful video, but please note four comments: 1) In the final summary, he said the orange wire in a three-phase 240-volt delta system is 240 volts to ground. It is 208 volts, as he said earlier. 2) He said you should never see voltage between the green and white conductors. That is true at the main service entrance panel but NOT at sub-panels. Since the neutral carries unbalanced current, it will have a voltage drop and you will read a small voltage between the neutral and ground at sub-panels, as well as at outlets and fixtures connected line to neutral. 3) Many "low voltage" three-phase systems are grounded at the electrical center point of the three-phase system, not at the center of two of the phases with a wild leg for the third phase. In these very common systems, (called three-phase WYE) the voltage between any pair of phases is 208 volts, and the voltage to neutral of any phase is 120 volts. 240-volts is not available. Many underground systems in cities are this type, and single-phase services are two phases of the 120/208-volt system, and neutral current can be as much as the full load on the phase conductors for all but loads supplied at 208 volts. 4) Here in Connecticut, 480-volt systems are Brown, Orange, Yellow, or "BOY". DMC PE-CT/MA

"Know, but verify" is pretty important....even if you understand the standards, you should always double check to make sure those standards were adhered to in whatever equipment you work with.

As an audio technician, I need to mention that speakers are wired for low voltage AC signal, and as such, there is no positive or negative, and a speaker doesn’t care which way it is connected. The only reason there are different colored wires for speakers is because whenever you have more than one speaker you need to have them wired in phase, so they all push or pull at the same time. Reversing the wires on one speaker will put it 180° out of phase with the other speaker(s) and cause its sound to partly cancel the sound from the other speaker(s).

Being retired and the trade for 40 years thinking I'm so smart then comes the electrician with the correct information. Guess the saying is true "your never to old to learn".... haha!! (I'm a black,red blue white......Brown orange, yellow, gray kinda guy)

14:08 in electronics (DC) black is negative (ground) and red is positive (hot). I heard a story about an electronics teacher who wired the receptacles for an electronics workbench. No one could figure out why they would routinely get shocked when working at this bench. Eventually someone realized that the teacher did not know that AC wiring had a different color code from the DC he was used to. He had hooked the bench grounding strap to the black (hot) AC wire. In an ATX power supply, red is +5v, yellow is +12v, orange is +3.3v, purple is +5v (standby). The great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from. ;-)

thanks for the enlightenment I have received! for the last 25+ years I've owned/operated 1hp15hp woodworking machinery and I've had to wire my own building(s) for machinery from 1ph to 3ph via a rotary converter. I was "taught" that the two incoming 1ph hots were red/black. Once the hot went through the 3ph rotary converter, I had 3 hots with one of these legs 208/240. This line was colored blue and never used for anything but 3ph motors and the legs for the motor controllers were always red/black, never blue(boom+frying the mag contactor) Motor turning the wrong way, reverse red/black, NEVER blue. Orange was always for compressors and always home runs. I've never been called out on it but I think that once the inspector saw a rotary converter and additional panel, they were out of their league. Lucky or not, it works and NO ONE ever touches my panels/wiring. When I move, wire and receptacles come with me. Conduit stays on the walls for the next guy. Thanks, again, B

For 120-volt residential ceiling fans with luminaires, the blue wire is for the light and the black wire is for the fan. Two pair telephone cables can be tricky. Line 1 should always be red and green, and line 2 yellow and black. But, especially older homes, may have 24VAC on yellow and black for old princess phones with lighted dials, there will be a transformer somewhere if that is the case. If you're trying to add a second line with a VOIP service and you can't get it to work, you might have a transformer somewhere in your basement that needs to be disconnected, these were some of the first 'wall-wart' transformers ever made.

I just looked at your website for the first time and I was completely impressed by the depth you go into for each tab. Genuinely great work as always. You were the reason I got the confidence to quit my job and start my career as an electrician. Thank you for everything you've put out and will continue to put out. Very much appreciated.

As a 42 year union electrician ( years in trade) and instructor, 120/208 or 120/240 is black. Red and blue. White neutral regardless of single phase or three phase 277/480 is brown, orange, yellow and GREY neutral. Grey is used instead of white so it can never be confused with the lower voltage system. Utilities use their own colors.

I’m totally insulted. I’m in a brown/orange/yellow area.

aqui dejo una reseña para aquellos que hablamos español de la explicacion: VERDE: tierra no importa el voltaje ni el tipo de sistema, se conecta al punto medio del transformador junto al neutro en el desconectivo principal. BLANCO: neutro del sistema, acompaña a cada fase en los diferentes circuito. PELIGRO, por el neutro si circula corriente no confundir con tierra. NEGRO,ROJO Y AZUL: colores de las fases de un sistema hasta 240 v. NARANJA: es el color que se usa para marcar la fase conocida como HIGH LEG, la cual es bastante peligrosa de usar ya que posee 208 v con respecto al neutro. para 277V hacia arriba, GRIS: se usa para neutro CARMELITA, VIOLETA ó NARANJA Y AMARILLO: se usan para las fases. en circuitos residenciales solo se usan 2 fases NEGRO Y ROJO con su respectivo neutro (BLANCO) Y la tierra de color (VERDE). en caso de paneles de servicio y acometidas secundarias donde todas las cubiertas de los cables son negras se usan tape de esos colores.

in EU its Brown, black, grey, blue for neutral, and yellow/green striped for ground.

As a journeyman electricians, instructor, electrical inspector and commercial and residential electrical contractor I enjoy your talks. All electricians do things a little different but the willingness to learn and expand is our greatest attribute. The NEC or code as I recall has only a few colors. The rest are industry standards. Grounding conductors are green or green with a yellow stripe. Grounding rhymes with green is how I remember it. Grounded conductors are white or natural grey. Dead white is how I remember it. The high ungrounded leg of a three phase system(208) is orange. Those are the only colors that are in the code as I recall. The other colors are industry standards but not code and should be verified. They all should be verified but you know what I mean. I love what you're doing keep up the good work and don't think for a second I'm being disrespectful.😊

You explain the coloring system very good. Am a retired Union Electrician with 50 years. Always had trouble with the orange color on a low voltage system. Had one town who had it all thru their system. Took me a while to get use to it. I watched your video just to see what is was about enjoyed it very much.

Hey man. Thank you so much for video tutoring this videos. They really have been helped me out big time. I didn't even knew of how to identify the wires colors,but sense I started watching your RU-vid videos, I learn much more before I started my electrician courses. This really going to help me for my classes thank you.

Really appreciate these videos. I am not an electrician, but do some of my own work. Great to see these videos targeted with simple explanations. So many “electricians” really have no clue what they are doing.

European standard: Yellow with a green stripe = earth or ground Neutral conductor = blue, The hot conductors are = brown, black, gray In older systems it is hot = brown, black, black (having two black ones was inconvenient) In systems in the UK hot = red neutral = black, the European colors are also used. In old systems in Germany hot = black, blue and red neutral = gray or blue, earth = red Sometimes neutral and earth are together, but this is no longer permissible with thin cables. With old systems you cannot be sure which cable colors were used because the assignment was not uniform. Rewiring should be carried out. Voltage is 230 Volt (220 - 240 V) 50 Hz, on 3 phase star = 380 - 400 volt Some countries provide houses with a single phase, others with three phases star.

Thanks for the good info. Worked in a factory here in South Africa. Our Wiring colours are red,yellow/white and blue for the live/hot wires black for neutral. Now add to that American machines with your colours of black,red,blue and white and European machines with there brown,black,grey and blue. Made it very interesting to work in that place. To add to this mess we also had some cheap piece of machinery that I think was from china wired all in one colour (probably what ever they had on hand as we had 2 identical machines with different colored wires) with crappy stuck on labels that came of at the slightest touch.

Current standards for wiring colours in the UK, as per Europe is: Single Phase, Brown Live, Blue Neutral, Earth Green/yellow striped. Three Phase is L1 Brown, L2 Black, L3 Grey,

In Finland we have three phase system (230 volts) and colorcodes are: green/yellow Ground, brown Live 1, black Live 2, grey Live 3 and blue is neutral.

FYI. typical or common audio speakers operate on AC and do not have polarity, they will produce sound with either wire in either position. However, polarity needs to be observed for proper phasing of the speakers. Speakers connected out of phase can cancel each other out and the quality of the sound is poor but they work. When "out of phase," one speaker will move out and the other will move in. If the speaker terminals are not marked with a (+) or red designation you can use a 9v battery to mark the terminals in most cases. If I'm checking the phase of installed speakers located behind a speaker grill, sometimes I'll use a very fine gauge wire or a piece of straw from a broom to see if the speaker moves out or in when I apply 9v dc to the speaker wires. Thank you for your presentation on color-coding, you may have saved someone's life!

I am a traffic signal technician, we can have up to 32 colors out to the field often in many many runs. But the service runs are always black, white, green (usually bare).

I enjoyed this video! Thank you for taking the time to create it.

Speaker wires: Backwards wiring is just out of phase, sound is an AC signal. If both speakers are "out of phase" you won't be able to tell the difference, but if just one is there will be places where the speakers cancel out each others' frequencies depending on the room it's in and placement etc.

Here it is. 120/240 single phase like in most residential is Black is A phase, Red is B phase. Get a piece of 12-3 with ground wire and check it out. 120/208 3 phase is Black, red,blue. 120/240 3 phase is black (A) , orange (B), blue (C). Neutral is white. 277/480 is brown(A) orange (B) yellow (c). Neutral is grey.

Here in Massachusetts most larger buildings the voltage coming off the street and into the buildings vault is 13800 volts this does very then transformed down to 3 phase 277/480 and the colors are Brown - orange - yellow and a gray neutral this is the power you would use for most mechanical and lighting loads it’s also distributed to the tenant areas and transform down to 3 phase 120/208 These colors are Black - Red - Blue with a white neutral for plugs some lighting and small motor loads

Same colour scheme used in my country (Chile): Phases: black, red and Blue and neutral White. At last a state that use the same as we use.

brown is easy to remember as that is the color your pants will be if you get hit by it.

Not bored. Kinda knew all this except not memorized 460 colors. Very glad to know orange is wild leg. Burned up a refrigerant reclaimer's compressor a long time ago cause I chose the wild leg to ground to power it off the roof top disconnect. As an HVAC tech, I often test newbies as to which wire colors are which on thermostat low volt connections. Few ever get them right. Little info back at you. R = one leg of 24V transformer (hot), B blue (the wild card color can be common or might be Y if cable has no yellow), W white is to common through heat circuit, Y is to to common through the cooling contactor. G is to common through fan relay. Usually controls high speed fan for cooling. O orange powers the reversing valve in a heat pump. Other colors are second stage heating and cooling and outdoor temp sensors etc.

Most 3 phase is what's called a wye circuit. If you see black, red, orange it's a 3phase delta circuit. I've actually worked on this in the field.

If it helps, the difference between neutral (white) and ground (green) is the neutral is intended and designed (sized) to carry current. (and in most industrial situations, it _will_ -- all multi-phase systems will have some imbalance. Residential likely does, too, but I've not checked mine) Ground should normally never have current flowing on it. (if there's current on the ground lead(s), something is broken.)

Wow! Great job explaining! Ive been an electrician for 28yrs and that's a great explanation for anyone watching!

Thanks for the clear explanations. I love you way you ALWAYS have a picture or a real life example when you are making a point. Thanks for the great content. Keep it up.

The Brown, Yellow, Purple must be a Texas thing. In Oregon we have always used (BOY) Brown, Orange, Yellow for 480v/277v systems, Black, Red, Blue for 208v/120 wye systems and Black, Orange, Blue for 120v/208v High-leg Delta Systems, and Black, Red for 120v/240v Systems.

You speak logic in all of your video demonstrations. I simply love them all because you state facts in any job application. Thank you so much for the enlightenment!

Right on. Good info! Our here in California 480v 3 phase is Brown orange yellow. Delta High 3 phase we use purple.

Wiring a speaker wrong will most likely work BUT the speaker will vibrate backwards instead of forward. You touch a 1.5 volt battery to the leads of a speaker it will tell you which is positive and negative. The positive wire will make speaker vibrate outward. You want a speaker vibrate outwards.

Really interesting for an electronics and electrical amateur like myself. I never knew about the brown-yellow-purple color scheme, but I already knew most of the others. Nicely explained!

Great to see so much new content!

Awesome video! If you need a video idea here’s one: how to properly size wires and voltage drops

Im a Jr Project Manager and electrical is my achilles heel. Your channel has provided me with a lot of knowledge that I need in the field. Great Job!!

Everything that isn't a ground is a current carrying conductor. A neutral is a grounded current carrying conductor. Black, red, blue. Brown, orange, yellow. Retired IBEW 292.

In commercial that I've worked on the orange almost always means 277v, commonly lighting circuits

I see people posting BOY or YBO in certain locations. In the Washington DC area you'll find both. Usually it's in the Job specifications as to which way they want the 480 color coding installed.

At about 10:00....you mention the "low voltage" as being about 240 volts. This is only the voltage for a Delta secondary from the utility. Today, the Delta system is often passed over for the Wye system, which gives about 208 volts, phase to phase, and a reliable 120 volts to neutral, with no "wild" or "high" or "bastard" leg in the middle position. In the Northeast area around Philadelphia, the 480 volt colors are Brown, Orange, Yellow. We can talk about Two Phase another time. It is still used in parts of Philly.

Dude. You’re smart as hell and charismatic. My journeyman is super smart like you but teaches through yelling, going ballistic, and using words like “the thing” or “the stuff”. Do I learn? Yes, after fucking up. Do I feel good about it? Nope. Your videos are helping. Thanks and Mahalo from Hawaii 🤙🏼

purple was a high leg, , 575 or 600 vac it can be 208 or 240 also. use a multimeter to check!!

14:50 Isn't that supposed be 208V against Grounded/N (for a Orange WildLeg)🤔

Just seen this video, very interesting. I'm an auto tech, and orange is used in the hybrid/fully electric cars to indicate high voltage. In my field, high voltage is 60 volts and higher. Everything that is a part of the high voltage system is colored coded orange, the cable, the connectors, and the master disconnects. Watching this video has helped me to understand the wire color coding. I have messed around with the wiring in my house, and watching these videos has helped me to understand the wiring better. The three phase stuff is mostly commercial/industrial, but there are a few instances in which three phase is used in residential applications. For example, an air compressor in the garage may have a three phase motor in it. Thank you, Dustin for doing these videos, very educational.

really appreciate all your videos. getting ready to go into a wireman apprenticeship through IBEW so your videos are definitely helpful in giving me a heads up before i start. thanks!!!

Clean electronic circuts might require an ISO (isolated ground) Green W/ Yellow tracer.

Once u get to 12kv in the U.S. those colors don’t jive. Best thing for u guys learning is to check the NEC, and FOR SURE check with ur AHJ.

Hey, not boring at all! I'm semi-retired now but never get tired of learning new things or having a bit of a refresher. Great series of videos, Dustin.

I do submersible pumps in water wells. The colors used across the board in the US is green red yellow and black in that order. Green(duh) red(start) yellow(110v) black(110v). Feed wires do not have yellow but white. Our system do not use neutral. In fact our single phase to 3 phase converter will not run with a neutral. So white and yellow do not always mean what you said. Which is why I battle with electricians that are trained in one specific way like they are brainwashed and will not deviate from that.

Watching your RU-vid videos.it makes feel like I don't even need to take any courses.i feel that I learn better by listening to your videos.thanks again

I think it is important to note that an orange wire or marking in a panel means hi-leg but if you come across orange wire in a receptacle or switch box location this does not mean it will be a hi leg. Typically this can be a switch leg or a traveler.

Your info is so thorough and clear. Much appreciated!

We use here in Florida Black/ red - Single phase Black/ red/ blue - 3 phase White is neutral Ground is green or bare copper. High voltage (480) Brown/ orange/ yellow 3phase Grey is neutral

They don’t call it Neutral in the NEC because there are cases where the grounded conductor is not technically a neutral. The NEC only requires grounded and grounding to be a specific color. The rest of the colors are based on convention and local/state requirements.

Hey Dustin! At like 14:45 when you were quickly reviewing I think you accidentally said the high leg is 240 to ground. Awesome video though, thanks for everything you do, your videos got me interested in the trade and gave me a tremendous edge when I was starting out. Most master electricians don't know or care how things work as long as they work in my experience so thanks for content that fills in the gaps for us ever-curious nerds.

Finally, someone answered my question. 15 RU-vid videos and yours answered my questions with 5 minutes. Thanks

Electrician U is Mike Holt for apprentices 🤟

So funny us old timers (35 years in trade) always used BOY for 277/480 I even still order BOY when I need high voltage 😀😀😀😀

I just wanna give you a shout out man! Good job on these videos. Super educational and you keep it fresh and interesting. Thank you for the knowledge!

I work on electrical system all across America and the standards in heavy Commercial and Industrial is 240-208/120 is A black, B red, C blue, Neutral is white Most high legs 208 are Violet, and 480 is A brown, B is orange, c is Yellow, Neutral is Grey 99.9% of the time. we cal low voltage anything under 2000VAC and Medium is up to 69KVAC and high voltage is above 69KVAC This based on my working in Generation, Transmission, Distribution Systems as a Protection and Control Field Service Rep.

We've never used brown yellow purple, Always BOY.... I always learn a little something in your videos, keep em up man

B,O,Y, perhaps its the region in the country you are in has always been the norm for me. B,Y,P, I'm just now hearing about from you lol!

You forgot to mention bare copper is ground in residential. Also, some electricians call the Orange 208 volt hot wire, a stinger. Good video. Suggestion for a video might be a grounding / bonding video. Residential and commercial/industrial. Show the different methods of grounding and bonding using hubs, clamps, large building grounding rings, completely unbroken ground wiring systems and large wire splicing using Cadweld Molds. For instance I had to use 500 MCM copper wire around the rebar in the foundation of a building in an unbroken ring that was welded to a 40 ft long, 2 inch diameter copper ground rod that I had a giant, 15 inch diameter auger drill truck drill the hole in the ground, we hit the water table at about 10 or 11 feet because of our location near the bottom of the bay. The auger drill bit is only 20 ft long so the operator had to attach a second bit to the first bit as an extension to reach 40 ft. . We hit bedrock around 32 or 34 ft and he bent his $10,000.00 bit. I then had 40 ft of Sonnet tube 12 inch diameter dropped into the hole which is half filled with water, I then had to get the plumbers to sell me two 20 ft sticks of 2 inch copper pipe and a copper coupling, solder the two sticks of pipe together so I had one 40 ft ground rod. Used a rope from the roof of the building tied on the copper "rod" raised it had the apprentice guide it into the hole and it sunk itself almost the whole length into the ground. We then used the grade all forklift to pound the last 12 or so feet into the ground. Back filled the hole with about a dozen 50 lb bags of a strange conductive material kinda like a mix of powdered concrete and fiberglass. Added water and let it dry a few days and then welded the 500 MCM copper grounding leads coming from the ground halo to the giant ground rod. There was a lot more that went into that grounding system for that building such as being tied into the giant battery back up system that was about 50 or 75 deep cycle, 12 volt batteries wired together in a battery room where they sat on the floor with a 12 inch cement curb containment coral to keep any electrolite (acid) from spreading in case of a battery or batteries leaking. One other note of the crazy design of this building. The whole exterior, walls and roof were completely, solid every square inch, wraped behind the drywall, attached to the wall studs and ceiling joists and building steel, with quarter or 3/16 inch thick sheets of lead. Totally impenetrable by most satellites or aircraft radar, x ray, and infrared, spyware. Just one more of the crazy buildings I've helped build when I was still in the Union local 332 in Silicon Valley.

This sounds so crazy to me and also really dangerous. In Austria we have these colours: Brown Phase 1 Black Phase 2 Gray Phase 3 Blue as neutral Green/yellow as Earth, it was red like 30 years ago. And thats never changing Also all the additional wire colours like white, purple, orange and pink are colours we use for "lamp conductors" they are basically "switched on/off" Also we use 230V/400V Between phases 400 Between phases and neutral/earth 230. But then again our normal power outlet gives 230V at 10 to 16 Amps depending on how its getting used.

Well, one thing that I learned is that I should call a electrician do do the wiring in my house. Thanks!

Funny that when he was going through the grounded vs. grounding examples my brain went into high gear on the terminology because I'm actually a lawyer, then he mentioned us not being lawyers. Haha

More info: Speakers are DC powered so they need to be wired so red causes the speaker cone to expand outwards, pushing the air. Another wire is for lamps and extension cords. If the plug is missing or is going to be replaced the wire that is neutral will have ribs on the surface that you can feel or see. That one goes to the neutral, or wide blade side of the plug or receptacle. Great videos, sir!

We always used Grey added to Red/Blue/Black or Brown/Orange/Yellow, to indicate the circuit was the Generator Wiring Only. If The Grey Tape was on top of the colored tape, it was from Street Power or Generator Wiring. Purple or Pink wire in a unit, was to indicate field added controls to the factory circuit. BTW, they now have Pink Electrical tape. Also Red Wire or Wire with Red Tape or from a Red Paint Marker, in a Light Circuit, indicates the Traveler Wire for a Three-Way, Four-way or More than Four Switches, in a Switch Circuit.

Watching your videos and see how eloquent you demonstrating...it's like am literally sitting in a class taking notes..I would work as an apprentice for free just to learn more and more from you.

Orange is also used to identify a highleg (b-phase) in a delta system. You never install a single pole circuit on this phase in a panel. You will usually see the panel skips this breaker when used mostly as a single phase two pole circuit. You can however use a three phase breaker with no issue in these panels. Typically a delta installed system doesn't always have a neutral. You can tap the transformer between b and c phase to derive a neutral which can be used for single pole circuits such as lights and plugs.

Dude you video content is getting Better n BETTER. THANK YOU MIAMI, FL.

On fixture wires the phase conductor is usually the wire with the information stamped on it, or some times a black line. You generally see these cords on lighting fixtures that hang from chain, or lamps. But it’s good to know so you don’t put voltage to the wrong part of a limp socket. Great videos!

It's so messed up how in the US phase+splitphase is called 'single' phase. technically that's correct, but practically... please call it split phase.

In the 480 3 phase system, I was taught that Orange still Meant the Wild Leg. so instead of 277 yellow, or Brown to Gray, you had 440 Orange to Gray Open Delta When there is Purple, then all of them , Yellow, Brown or Purple to Gray is 277.

Thanks for a a most informative video. Your inclusion of what prevails in some other countries is useful

40 years in the trade never used purple as a phase wire. Always used brown orange yellow with a gray on 480/277 3 phase. We used purple as a switch lag on 277 volt lighting.

US electrical system looks such a antique thing... If I ever move to the US - I'll definitely change my trade... 😄

The Utilities use a 3 wire Delta configuration and they ground 1 hot leg, when the get to distribution level the usual trans. in MO is a 4wire Y secondary, either 120/208V or 277/480V. So Delta primary and Y secondary. I am with "AmericanOne" on the colors B,R,Blu,Wht 120, BR,O,Y,Gry 277. Retired IBEW wireman. )

Really nice to know the electrical code differences of other counties, Brazil have a similar color code, but blue is the neutral here.

Most instances you will see residential having only single phase, your black and red wire from this phase this is the split phase coming from main transformer, tapping off the opposite ends of the same transformer. I’ve heard of 2 phase being used in some industrial facilities in Texas. 3 phase is common place for commercial and most industrial installations.

What about the switch leg and traveler colors? 🤔

I always learn something new watching your videos man. Thank you and keep up the content cause it definitely prevents me from looking like such a dumbass out in the field 😂

How awesome you provided practice test you truly care about your audience and are not just trying to make money or fame you explain things in a way to empower people and not just drag out a series

5min in, and now I understand why they are all alcoholics

Hey Dustin, if I wear the T-shirt will it make me a better electrician

Hey bro can you plz do a video on voltage drop? Good to see you back in action man, love your channel, it has helped me so much in my apprenticeship so far. Really appreciate all that you do my dude!!

Also, White + black - 120v Black + red - 240v split phase Black + red + blue - 208v or 240v three phase Brown + orange + yellow - 480v three phase Pink + purple + (I think) cyan - 600v three phase Above 600v - all black

Brown, orange, yellow is all I have ever use never heard of Brown, yellow, purple learn something every day

I memorized it initially like this, "Be our B boy", BRB BOY....... Black Red Blue Brown Orange Yellow And, "Green's the ground, the world around."

In Atlanta our 480 systems are brown orange yellow we are taught BOY for 480 and BRB(BL.) for 3 phase 120, its interesting how that yall use purple because we're also taught if you can't get a 277 color on lighting you can use purple, black as a last resort but interesting to now know why purple of all colors

Sometimes it‘s useful to know other wire colors from other parts of the world. Especially if you buy appliances from there. Seen a video made by a UK electrician installing a wall charger for EV. The cable had US colors (black, white and green) but the appliance was 230V. And if we sell an appliance to somewhere they get a cable with european colors. Brown, black and gray are lines, in three phase L1, L2 and L3. Neutral is blue and protective earth/ground is green/yellow. Voltages are 230V between every line and the neutral and 400V between the lines.

An overly complicated system. And I thought our use of ring final circuits were bad. ( UK )

US electrical systems are needlessly complicated and very error prone