cable color code

[gharib]

Dear Friend,

I have Bay Flexible 4 core cable with Black, bleu , brown and Yellow green
which one i will use for neutral and wich one i will use for Phase1 , phase 2, and phase 3

i would like to follow the international cable coding.

Regards

 

[riveralt]

Dear Friend,

I have Bay Flexible 4 core cable with Black, bleu , brown and Yellow green
which one i will use for neutral and wich one i will use for Phase1 , phase 2, and phase 3

i would like to follow the international cable coding.

Regards

On Site Guide (BS7671) states...
Red = Line 1
Yellow = Line 2
Blue = Line 3
Black = Neutral.

Though I think you should be using the new cable colours.

Brown = Line 1
Black = Line 2
Grey = LIne 3
Blue = Neutral

 

[JohnW2]

On Site Guide (BS7671) states...

Do you know if that also applies in Algeria?

Kind Regards, John.

 

[riveralt]

On Site Guide (BS7671) states...

Do you know if that also applies in Algeria?

Kind Regards, John.

Absolutely, I rang the Algerian embassey just to clarify - they also suggested that if there was a problem with the colours, in so much as I didn't like a particular colour, then I could paint it to my choosing - as long as I left a note with the occupier to say what I had done.

Seriously though, BS7671 standard is compatable with the EU - and I understand that Algeria is also committed, through the European Neighbourhood Policy to those standards.

 

[JohnW2]

Seriously though, BS7671 standard is compatable with the EU - and I understand that Algeria is also committed, through the European Neighbourhood Policy to those standards.

Fair enough.

Kindest Regards, John.

 

[ricicle]

It is not good practice to use the green/yellow for anything other than the circuit protective conductor.

 

[gharib]

The same is applicable in Algeria for that i will paint the end of cable and i will use the int coding

 

[OwainDIYer]

but which core are you going to use for the earth/cpc?????

Because cables have to have a circuit protective conductor running through them.

If you want 3ph + neutral then you need a FIVE core cable.

 

[The Dentist]

It is not good practice to use the green/yellow for anything other than the circuit protective conductor.

Not only is it not good practice, it's contrary to the regulation 514.4.2

 

[riveralt]

It is not good practice to use the green/yellow for anything other than the circuit protective conductor.

Not only is it not good practice, it's contrary to the regulation 514.4.2

But does BS 7671 apply in Algeria - they are supposed to come into line with European Standards but have they?

 

[JohnW2]

It is not good practice to use the green/yellow for anything other than the circuit protective conductor.

Not only is it not good practice, it's contrary to the regulation 514.4.2

We've discussed this before and, although it's definitely 'not good practice', it is far from clear that oversleeving the G/Y core of a multicore cable is contrary to 514.4.2 ...

The middle paragraph of 514.4.2 makes it very clear that oversleeving of a G/Y single-core cable and using it for something other than a protective conductor is not permitted.

However, as for insulated cores of multi-core cables, all we have is the first paragraph of 514.4.2, and what that actually says is that it is not permissible to use the G/Y colour combination to identify anything which is not a protective conductor. Per 514.3.2 it is permissible for a cable to only be 'identified' (e.g. by oversleeving) at its terminations. That can be interpreted as indicating that, provided it is identified (by oversleeving) correctly at its terminations, use of a G/Y core for something other than a protective conductor is probably not strictly contravening 514.4.2 - even though it is an undesirable practice.

Kind Regards, John.

 

[bernardgreen]

But if someone taps into the cable some time in the future they may assume the green/yellow is the earth and use it as an earth to equipment. That could be lethal.

 

[ericmark]

It is a long time ago that I worked in Algeria and at that time they had a 110 volt three phase system in Algers. It was 110 phase to neutral and 190 volt between phases. It was common to try to run 220 volt items on two phases and in the main it worked. However the air conditioning units kept failing due to the reduced voltage.

What I worked on seemed to use black for all phases similar to German system of that time. So I would think one needs to be very careful in advising what should be done.

Moving post to "Electrics Outside of the UK" may help. But as an Ex-French system I would think better to comply with French rather than British regulations. I would also say better to post question on a French forum but of course one would need to read and write French.

 

[JohnW2]

But if someone taps into the cable some time in the future they may assume the green/yellow is the earth and use it as an earth to equipment. That could be lethal.

Yes, that point was raised last time we discussed this issue, and it's probably the strongest argument as to why it's definitely not a good practice. However, I was merely responding to the comment that the practice contravenes 514.4.2, which I don't think is strictly true. Had they so wished, they could very easily have worded the middle paragraph of 514.4.2 such as to prohibit the use of any G/Y-insulated conductor for a purpose other than that of a protective conductor, but (for whatever reason), they chose to restrict the scope of that paragraph to single-core cables.

The hazard you mention is probably at its potential worst if one uses a G/Y-insulated core for something other than a protective conductor - but corresponding hazards obviously exist if one 'taps into' any cable in which cores have been sleeved at the terminations to indicate a use other than that which would be implied by the insulation colour. In particular, if one 'tapped into' a cable in which the blue- (or black-) insulated core, sleeved brown (or red) at terminations, was being used to carry L or S/L. Of course, one shouldn't be 'tapping into' a cable without being absolutely certain what the various cores are carrying, but the same is true when the G/Y cores is being used for something other than a protective conductor.

Kind Regards, John.