European wire colors

This subject has been covered, but not comprehensively. I have a project for a client in Ireland, and am looking for the CE suggestions or standards for colors for the following:

230VAC Line and neutral colors
24VAC and 24 VDC all colors
4 wire cable colors, for 24V powered devices with 4-20mA signals.

I have tried to reference some British standards, but am finding it hard to navigate, being as unfamiliar with it as I am. They are named by number, and that is what is slowing me up the most. Any hints or help is appreciated.

ask the client

I do not know the standards but machines i have worked on form Europe under 50 volts is blue over 50 volts black and analog cables green. When the 24 VDC - is bonded to ground white wire with blue stripe.

The British Standard covering installations- BS7671 (The 17th edition wiring regulations) really deals with fixed wiring.
Table 51 of the standard gives:

Single phase (240v) Line is Brown and Neutral is Blue.Protective conductor Green and yellow

DC power circuits also Brown and blue but I think you are after "Control circuit" colours, which can be Brown, Black, Red ,Orange. Yellow, Violet,Grey, White, pink, Turquoise, with the Neutral Blue.

This Standard does not cover 4-20ma circuits!

Hope this helps?

markie said:

The British Standard covering installations- BS7671 (The 17th edition wiring regulations) really deals with fixed wiring.
Table 51 of the standard gives:

Single phase (240v) Line is Brown and Neutral is Blue.Protective conductor Green and yellow

DC power circuits also Brown and blue but I think you are after "Control circuit" colours, which can be Brown, Black, Red ,Orange. Yellow, Violet,Grey, White, pink, Turquoise, with the Neutral Blue.

This Standard does not cover 4-20ma circuits!

Hope this helps?

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If he's looking for fixed wiring colours (ie cables on installation external to a panel) then you are correct with BS7671.

Otherwise if he's asking for panel wiring colours then you need to look at EN60204 which is totally different.

bbseay said:

ask the client

Click to expand...

bbseay is right. Whatever information you get here (or elsewhere) is useless if it does not meet the expectations of the end user.

I see alot of german and italian control panels and they have:
power : black
220 vac control :red
24 vdc :blue (the negative marked with - and generally grounded)
24 vac: orange
analogue sensors (4-20) white - green
sorry for my english
hope this help

As others have said, if it is the fixed installation outside of the panel then BS7671:2008 would apply, but BS EN 60204 is the specification that deals with control panels and things such as e-stops, and is referenced by BS7671:2008.

There can also be a mixture of the two or preference of one set of regulations. For instance we have a client who has drawn up their own specifications that use BS7671:2008 as the reference document, and also specify minimum CSA and also component types independently of this.

If in doubt ask the client as suggested. If you don't comply with their spec, you can guarantee you will be the one ending up doing all the changes to meet the specification free of charge.

Jon.

Thanks all

Thanks for all the references. I will dig into them first thing Monday. With all due respect to those who suggest that I ask the client, for the record, that was done long before I posted the question. This project is unique in that the client doesn't really know what they want, or should have, and have hired us as the experts to provide them what they need based on a non-technical functional description. It is my impression from several instances of trying to pull detailed information from them about their processes that the technical people have all been lost to the slow economy, and those left working on the project from their end are all high level corporate folks, not the plant floor people who can provide timely responses to these types of questions. Unfortunately for them, while I think we're the right group for them to come to for the controls and mechanical systems design, a detail like wire colors for a new client in Europe is not something I'd consider myself knowledgable about yet. As always, though, this post has provided some insight about where the answers lie, and I just need to dig in and find the best document to reference for the design and stick to it. This will be a good learning opportunity. Thanks to all again for the standards references!

Russ

Russ - See your PMs

This thread dicusses the same topic:
http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=29474
Krk linked to some documents with the relevant standard.

I have to disaggree with elluchofer:
"power : black (OK)
220 vac control :red (OK)
24 vdc :blue (the negative marked with - and generally grounded) (OK)
24 vac: orange (no, orange is for wiring that is supplied by an external power source, i.e. interface signals with "potentialfree contacts". I believe that it is also used for wiring for emergency lighting, in other words the power is tapped before the main switch. Btw. 24V AC is red.)
analogue sensors (4-20) white - green (not sure if there is a standard for analogue. I have seen purple being used for analogs, or low voltage signals like thermistors)
"

edit: I corrected an error in stating what color is used for 24V AC.

JesperMP said:

24 vac: orange (no, orange is for wiring that is supplied by an external power source, i.e. interface signals with "potentialfree contacts". I believe that it is also used for wiring for emergency lighting, in other words the power is tapped before the main switch. Btw. 24V AC and 24V DC are both blue.)
analogue sensors (4-20) white - green (not sure if there is a standard for analogue. I have seen purple being used for analogs, or low voltage signals like thermistors)
"

Click to expand...

I agree with Jesper on the Orange - Basically it means supplied from other sources ie hot (live) when the panels turned off

On the Analogues we always use Grey for 0-10V or 4-20mA as singles but generally use a proper screened belden in the panel and mark this up on the drawings.