Light Switch Wire Colours Uk

In 2006 the old electrical wiring colours were finally.

Light switch wire colours uk.

Since red wires still conduct current they are considered hot. These are called travelers and typically used for two way switch wiring. Red wires are commonly found in sheathed multi conductor cable. Just to confuse matters there are other cables in the uk that have similar colours to the mains electrical wiring.

Tv aerial cables do not carry any voltage but many are brown in colour the same colour as the new live wiring in the uk. Iec wiring color codes for ac uk eu other countries. This is a diagram of a ceiling rose using the old colours where live is red and neutral is black. New wiring colours since 2006.

The live wire colour used to be red. This was the live wire. New vs old wiring colours. Ground wires return fault current to earth ground protecting the individual from electrocution.

This colour scheme had already been introduced for appliance flexes in the uk in the early 1970s however the original red black colour scheme recommended by the iee for fixed. The earth wire colour used to be pure green before 1977 then changed to green and yellow and has been the same ever since. As mentioned above most of the europe union countries and uk china russia hong kong singapore ukraine belarus kazakhstan israel turkey argentina south africa ksa saudi arabia uae united arab emirate and malaysia are following the iec international electrotechnical commission wiring codes. The earth wires have been omitted for clarity and would need to be connected at all switches and ceiling roses.

Other cable colours to be aware of. What were the old uk electrical wiring colours. 2 way light switch 3 wire system new harmonised cable colours 2 way switch 3 wire system old cable colours 2 way switch two wire control three way switching. The standard wiring colours in the uk are as of 2006 the same as elsewhere in europe and follow international standard iec 60446.

There is a chance that if your house has these old wiring colours the switch drops may be from a loop in loop out radial lighting circuit done with junction boxes rather than ceiling roses as shown in fig 2. Prior to 2006 different colours of cables were used in uk domestic electrical wiring and appliances for the neutral and live wires. The old colours were. 3 way light switching new cable colours 3 way light switch old cable colours 3 way light switch using a two wire control.

Although still used today the earth wire used to be pure green. Light wiring diagram. The black electrical wire used to be the colour for the neutral wire. In 2006 amendment 2 of 17 th edition bs7671 wiring regulations saw a change to harmonise the uk colours with the european cable colours for consistency and to avoid confusion.

The switch wiring is all the same but the switch wire cable c leads up to a different set up. A ground wire is used as a protective measure. The wires would also be covered by the protective outer sheath cable.