Canadian electrical code on wire color?

halosome

Member
Join Date
Dec 2005
Location
bc
Posts
73
Hi guys, I've got probles in color on the PLC terminals. what color should be on the low voltage wires? Blue on both positive and negative? and what color should be on 120vac input terminals of a PLC? Red or yellow?

Thanks, and please tell me where in CEC can I find the answers
 
The industry I'm in uses:

blue - low voltage DC

blue & white striped - DC common

red - low current 110VAC

white - AC common

black - high current 110VAC or larger voltage AC

yellow w/ red strip - remotely powered AC (interlock)

yellow w/ blue stripe - remotely powered DC (interlock)

purple - jumper between two wire numbers

Your mileage will vary and this is definitely facility dependent but pretty close.

PS: this includes customers in Canada
 
Last edited:
Mike technically NFPA 79 is the standard for wiring electrical machinery in the US. I believe the US and Canada will be very similar, if so the low voltage + will be blue and the - will be blue with white stripe. Red would be 120vac, yellow should designate an external voltage source that is not de-energized by the panel disconnect.

NOTE: There may be a slight difference in Canada but since NEC and CEC are supposedly "unified" it would surprise me if there is much if any difference.

I will not go into that debate about NEC/NFPA...no authority..etc etc al. In the US, OSHA uses NEC/NFPA standards as guidelines for their regulations...in many cases they specifically reference them.
 
wire colour :)

The section you are looking for is section 4 CEC. Section 10 on Grounding covers gound colour and section 16 covers class 1 and class 2 control circuits.
 
Color Coding of Industrial Control Panels of UL

Thank you guys! I think I've found the answer from UL for Canada. It is said same to Canadian Code and is similiar to jstolaruk's oponion. I believe it is in Canadian Code Part 2,But unfortuanately I don't have one. Here it is:

Color Coding of Industrial Control Panels of UL

66.9 Internal wiring of control circuit

66.9.1 the following color-coding shall be employed throughout the panel:

a) Black – all ungrounded control circuit conductors operating at the supply voltage.



b) Red – ungrounded ac control circuits operating at a voltage less than the supply voltage.



c) Blue – ungrounded dc control circuits.



d) Yellow or orange – ungrounded control circuits or other wiring, such as for cabinet lighting, that remain energized when the main disconnect is in the ²off² position.



e) White or gray or three white stripes on other than green, blue, orange or yellow – grounded ac current-carrying control circuit conductor regardless of voltage.



f) White with blue stripe – grounded dc current-carrying control circuit conductor.



g) White with yellow stripe or white with orange stripe – grounded ac control circuit current carrying conductor that remains energized when main disconnect switch is in the ²off² position.



Exception: Leads on assembled components, multiconductor cable, leads used to connect electronic devices, and conductor sizes 20 – 30 AWG (0.52 – 0.05 mm2) are not required to comply with this requirement.



66.9.2 Control circuit conductors shall not be smaller than No. 18 AWG (0.82 mm2).

Exception: Control circuit conductors for programmable input/output and static control wiring are able to be sized No. 18 – 30 AWG (0.82 – 0.05 mm2).
 
One more question

I have another question: I made 2 cabinet side by side, one's output is another's input. According to the rule: at 1st cabin, I should put red wires, and 2nd, yellow wires.
icon_sad.gif


What should I do?
 
Through good or bad practices, we use the following in our plant, (sometimes)


Red OR Black = 120VAC hot

White = neutral

Solid blue = +24VDC or -24VDC, relying only on wire markers

Purple = either a pull wire OR -24VDC

Yellow = signal exchange between panels/systems 120VAC OR 24VDC

460 3 phase = Brown/Orange/Yellow

230 3 phase, grounded B phase = Red/White/Blue

Jumpers stick with what ever color their native voltage level is.

I really wish we'd use different wire color for -24VDC stuff that is bonded to ground versus a floating -24VDC system. We have a great mix of each.

Greg
 
halosome said:
I have another question: I made 2 cabinet side by side, one's output is another's input. According to the rule: at 1st cabin, I should put red wires, and 2nd, yellow wires.
icon_sad.gif


What should I do?

Assuming 120VAC, I would use red in the panel that the power is sourced in and once it makes the transition to the other panel, those same signals would become yellow. And vice versa.
 

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