What colour wires do I want ?

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Boo2

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Hi,

I've got a few wiring projects lined up and some of them require 3-core wire. I don't want to buy actual 3-core because it's more economical to buy reels of single core and make it up with heatshrink ties along its length.

My question is what colour do I want in addition to the red and black I definitely need ? The wire will be used in applications with multiple positives like auto/manual bilge pumps and tricolour nav lights. To be more specific I am asking if there is any kind of standard in use ?

Thanks,

Boo2
 
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For what it's worth, the three core I used for my bilge switch was red, black, and green. Seems logical to me for the "other positive" to be the opposite colour to the normal positive.

I'm not aware of a standard.

Pete
 
Boo2 said:
Hi,

I've got a few wiring projects lined up and some of them require 3-core wire. I don't want to buy actual 3-core because it's more economical to buy reels of single core and make it up with heatshrink ties along its length.

My question is what colour do I want in addition to the red and black I definitely need ? The wire will be used in applications with multiple positives like auto/manual bilge pumps and tricolour nav lights. To be more specific I am asking if there is any kind of standard in use ?

Thanks,

Boo2
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I would have thought all +Ve would be red, 0V black and -Ve blue.

Cores should have cable ID's, if like this you would know what voltage to expect when investigating any problems with a meter.
 
Colour code of wires

So clearly there is no standard. However most would agree that red is +ve black is -ve. You could then resort to the 3phase AC code of red,blue and yellow or white for different kinds of +ve. So you make up your own code good luck olewill
 
Standard normally used in UK for DC is: positive volt with ref to 0V - RED

0 Volts - Black

negative volts with ref to 0V - Blue

+ve 12Volts Red and Black
-ve 12Volts Blue and Black (black being 0Volts)
 
There can be an issue with red and green as it's the most common form of colour blindness and some people don't even know they have it as it's more pronounced in certain low light conditions. So mixing red and green cables may not be such a great idea.
 
As others have said any colours are OK as long as you record with a wiring diagram. Personally I would prefer to use double insulated cable as this will give added insulation plus more importantly added protection from chafe and wear. You can use regular multi strand 3 core Brown/Blue/green-yellow. I would have thought this would be cheaper than single core with heat shrink.
 
All the original wiring on my Jeanneau has little plastic tags to identify the individual wires, as shown in this photo. I don't know wrere you can buy them, but they are certainly a huge help if you are trying to identify wires, or tap into an existing circuit. Armed with a supply you could wire in just two or three colours and still be able to identify each wire.
P.S. If anyone knows where to buy them, I would like to get a few.

IMG_1617.jpg
 
Having wired new and rewired a few boats I use Red for live and black for earth, however, I use cable markers on the terminal strip connections and make a full schematic drawing of all cable locations and leave draw cords in strategic locations.

Instrument and com's cables will be all sorts of colours so the colour is included in the drewings along with any warnings about isolation prior to working on them, they also have cable markers placed so all wires can be identified.

Good luck and fair winds. :)
 
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