Color marking of wires. Color coding of electrical wires

Each wire is labeled and color coded. This is a necessary measure that allows you to unify electrical products, and also facilitates work with them. The norms and requirements for wire designations are described in the rules for the design of power plants (PUE). This is a document that electricians are guided by.

Marking of networks 220v and 380v in single-phase and three-phase execution

Standards for marking AC wires for single-phase or three-phase network are identical. They match the color of zero and ground. The color of the phase wire can match or be complemented by other colors.

Color coding performed along the length of the conductor. Identification is allowed at the ends of the cores and at the connection points, colored heat-shrinkable tubes (cambric) or colored electrical tape are used.

To recognize the phase, zero or ground, it is necessary to strip the cable from the top insulation by 5 - 10 cm so that the inner cores remain in their sheath. The purpose of the wire is determined by their color:

• Grounding. Use insulation dyed bright yellow and green color. In this case, color stripes can be applied both longitudinally and transversely. Sometimes there are wires with completely green or yellow insulation. This also says that given vein goes to the ground.
• Zero wire. The neutral wire is painted blue or blue. The standards are provided for in the PUE.
• Phase. Depending on the number of phases in the electrical network, the wires are painted in colors:
  • Red.
  • Black.
  • Brown.
  • Grey.
  • Orange.
  • White.
  • Turquoise.
  • Violet.
• In electrical engineering, the phase has a red, black or white color.

ATTENTION: PUE standards are valid in electrical engineering and electrical appliances in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Other countries may have their own markings, as well as other symbols. A product that is not intended for sale on the territory of Russia and the CIS countries should be checked according to the instruction manual, or using the “ringing” method using a multimeter.

Letter designation

PUE standards also include letter designation wires. For AC 220V or 380V, the wires are marked:

• Earth - "RE".
• Zero is "0" or "N".
• Phase - "L".

For a multi-phase cable, the wires are indicated in sequence from L1 to Ln, where N is the number of phases. The marking and color of the wire may differ from the specified standards.

Wire color options, as well as switching errors

The color color and marking of wires may differ from modern PUE standards due to:

1. PEN marking. Common case. It can be found on old wires and electrical wiring diagrams. This is a TN-C earthing system. It involves the union of two wire cores - ground and zero. The circuit is convenient for installation, but dangerous in terms of a short circuit. TN-C system wires are marked PEN. The only wire to zero and ground is colored yellow-green with bright blue marks on the ends of the wire.
2. Wiring marked according to the requirements and standards of other countries. So in the USA, the marking of zero and earth may have a different color:
   1. Zero - white/grey color.
   2. Ground - Bare Copper/Green/Green Yellow/White.
3. Wiring in substandard or counterfeit electrical products. Products from third world countries may have different colors. Workers in clandestine factories make wiring from whatever they have on hand. Therefore, it is necessary to disassemble and repair such products with extreme caution.
4. An electrical network not installed according to the rules of the PUE. Unfortunately, such cases also happen. Self-taught electricians, or non-professional specialists, do the wiring “anyhow”. Incorrect connections are dangerous, they can lead to failure of electrical equipment, short circuits, electric shocks of the consumer.

IMPORTANT: Incorrect switching of wires or confusion in marking entails administrative responsibility and a fine. If you have installed poor-quality wiring, in which case there was a short circuit or failure of electrical appliances, you can go to court. The judicial authority will order damages and fines for an unscrupulous installation company.

To be sure which cable core is responsible for what, you need to know the methods for determining. This will require basic knowledge of electrical engineering and a minimum set of indicator tools.

How to determine phase, zero and ground if single-color wires are not marked

Often wire definition in a visual way is not possible. A similar situation can be observed when replacing wiring in houses built during the Soviet era. Having removed the socket or switch, a person finds two or three wires of the same white color.

To resolve the contradiction that has arisen, you will need an indicator screwdriver or a multimeter. The first tool will allow you to determine the working phases under load. Phase and zero are searched for by touching a bare wire with a screwdriver. If the light comes on, it means that this wire is under load. Zero will not give signals.

To determine the ground using a device - a multimeter. It sets the value of the alternating current to over 220V. One of the contacts of the tool is attached to the phase, the second in turn to the remaining wires. Zero will fix the voltage of 220V or higher. Earth will show significantly less than 220V.

In new buildings, sockets with marked wires are installed, as this is required by SNiP 3.05.06-85 and GOST 10434-82.

IMPORTANT: Be careful when you turn off the household power supply in your apartment or house to check the wires. Sometimes the machines in the switchboard are installed incorrectly. They are cut into a gap of zero, not a phase - electrical appliances in the house will not work, but the voltage from the phase will not go anywhere. It is necessary not only to turn off the machine, but also to watch the change in the load on the wires inside the apartment using an indicator screwdriver.

These methods allow you to identify wires in a household AC electrical network. Consider cable marking direct current.

Coloring of wires in a DC network

In a DC network, only two cores are used:

• Positive bus (denoted by "+").
• Negative bus (denoted by “-”).

According to regulatory documents, the wires and tires of a positive charge are painted red, and the wires and tires of a negative charge must be blue. Middle conductor (M) denote blue color.

INFO: In three-phase networks, busbars and high-voltage bushings of transformers at power stations and substations are painted: yellow- wires and busbars with phase "A", green - with phase "B", red - with phase "C".

Conclusion

Visual identification of wiring is a simple matter. The main thing is to know which color is responsible for what. For safety reasons, it is worth checking the wires for the presence of phase and ground before starting work with them. Incorrect switching of the wire strands can lead to a short circuit or burnout of the connected electrical equipment.

important for faster and correct installation electrical distribution devices, ease of repair and elimination of errors. The colors of wires in electrics are regulated by regulatory documents (PUE and GOST R 50462-2009).

Why color coding of wires and cables is needed

Installation and maintenance work in electrical installations is not only about reliability, but also about safety. Full error elimination is required. For these purposes, a system of color designations for core insulation has been developed, which determines what color the wires are phase, zero and earth.

According to the PUE, the following colors of current-carrying conductors are allowed:

• red;
• brown;
• black;
• gray;
• white;
• pink;
• orange;
• turquoise;
• purple.

The following list contains many wire color options, but there are not several colors that are used only to indicate:

• blue color and its shades - working neutral wire (neutral - N);
• yellow with green stripe - protective earth (PE);
• yellow-green insulation with blue marks on the ends of the cores - combined (PEN) conductor.

It is allowed to use conductors with green insulation with a yellow stripe for grounding, and for combined conductors of blue insulation with yellow-green marks at the ends.

The colors must be the same in each circuit within the same device. Branch circuits must be carried out with the same colored conductors. The use of insulation without differences in shades indicates a high installation culture and greatly facilitates further maintenance and repair of equipment.

Phase color

In cases where the installation of the electrical installation is carried out using rigid metal tires, the tires are painted with indelible paint in the following colors:

• yellow - phase A (L1);
• green - phase B (L2);
• red - phase C (L3);
• blue - zero bus;
• longitudinal or inclined stripes of yellow and green color - ground bus.

The color of the phases must be preserved within the entire device, but not necessarily on the entire surface of the tire. It is allowed to mark the phase designation only at the connection points. On the painted surface, you can duplicate the color with the symbols “GZK” for the paint of the corresponding colors.

If the tires are not available for inspection or work when voltage is present on them, then it is allowed not to paint them.

The color of the phase wires connected to the rigid busbars may not match them in color, since the difference in the accepted designation systems for flexible conductors and rigid stationary distribution busbars is visible.

Neutral color

What color is the neutral wire, stipulate GOST standards, so when looking at the installation of the power plant, the question should not arise, blue wire- this is a phase or zero, since the blue color and its shades (cyan) are taken to indicate neutral ().

Other neutral core colors are not permitted.

The only acceptable use of blue and blue insulation is the designation of the negative pole or midpoint in DC circuits. You can't use this color anywhere else.

Ground wire color code

Regulations specify what color the earth wire is in electrical installations. This is a yellow-green wire, the color of which stands out well from the rest of the wires. It is allowed to use wire with yellow insulation and a green stripe on it, or it can be green insulation with a yellow stripe. No other color of ground wire is permitted, nor are green/yellow conductors permitted to be used in circuits where voltage is present or may be energized.

The listed marking rules are observed in the countries of the post-Soviet space and in the EU countries. Other states mark the cores in a different way, which can be seen on imported equipment.

Basic colors for marking abroad:

• neutral - white, gray or black;
• protective earth - yellow or green.

The standards of a number of countries allow the use of bare metal without insulation as a protective ground.

Ground wires are switched on prefabricated non-insulated terminals and interconnect all metal parts of the structure that do not have reliable electrical contact with each other.

Coloring in the network 220V and 380V

Installation of one- and three-phase electrical networks is facilitated if the wiring is made with multi-colored wire. Previously, flat two-core white wire was used for single-phase apartment wiring. During installation and repair, in order to eliminate errors, it was necessary to ring each core separately.

The release of cable products with colored cores in different colors reduces the complexity of the work. To designate phase and zero in single-phase wiring, it is customary to use the following colors:

• red, brown or black - phase wire;
• other colors (preferably blue) - neutral wire.

Phase marking in a three-phase network is slightly different:

• red (brown) - 1 phase;
• black - 2 phase;
• gray (white) - 3 phase;
• blue (cyan) - working zero (neutral)
• yellow-green - grounding.

Domestic cable products comply with the core color standard, so a multi-phase cable contains differently colored cores, where the phase is white, red and black, zero is blue, and the ground is yellow-green conductors.

When servicing networks mounted according to modern standards, you can accurately determine the purpose of the wires in junction boxes. If there is a bundle of multi-colored wires, the brown one will necessarily be phase. The neutral wire in the distribution boxes has no branches and breaks. The exception is taps to multi-pole switching devices with a complete opening of the circuit.

Coloring in DC networks

For DC networks, it is customary to mark the conductors connected to the positive pole in red, to the negative - in black or blue. In bipolar circuits, blue-tinted insulation is used when marking the midpoint (zero) of the power supply.

There are no standards for color markings in multi-voltage circuits. What color are the plus and minus wires, what voltage is in them - this can only be determined by decoding the device manufacturer, which is often given in the documentation or on one of the walls of the structure. Example: computer power supply or car wiring.

Automotive wiring is characterized by the fact that in it the circuits with a positive voltage of the on-board network are red or its shades (pink, orange), and those connected to ground are black. The rest of the wires have a specific color, which is determined by the car manufacturer.

Letter designation of wires

Color marking can be supplemented with letters. Partially, the symbols for designation are standardized:

• L (from the word Line) - phase wire;
• N (from the word Neutral) - neutral wire;
• PE (from a combination of Protective Earthing) - grounding;
• “+” – positive pole;
• “-” – negative pole;
• M - middle point in DC circuits with bipolar power supply.

To designate the protective earth connection terminals, a special symbol is used, which is stamped on the terminal or on the instrument case in the form of a sticker. The ground symbol is the same for most countries in the world, which reduces the likelihood of confusion.

In multi-phase networks, the symbols are supplemented by the phase serial number:

• L1 is the first phase;
• L2 - second phase;
• L3 is the third phase.

There is marking according to old standards, when the phases are denoted by the symbols A, B and C.

A deviation from the standards is the combined phase designation system:

• La is the first phase;
• Lb is the second phase;
• Lc is the third phase.

In complex devices, there may be additional designations characterizing the name or number of the circuit. It is important that the markings of the conductors match throughout the entire circuit where they participate.

Letter designations are applied with indelible, clearly visible paint on the insulation near the ends of the cores, on pieces of PVC insulation or a heat-shrinkable tube.

Connection terminals may have printed signs that indicate the circuits and polarities of the power supply. Such signs are made by paint, stamping or etching, depending on the material used.

When working with electricity, you can see that the strands of wires are painted in different colors. Interestingly, the colors never repeat, regardless of the number of conductors in one sheath. Why this is done and how not to get confused in the color variety - this is our today's article.

The essence of the color marking of wires

Working with electricity is a serious matter, because there is a risk of damage electric shock. To the common man not so easy to deal with, because by cutting the cable, you can see that all the cores have various colors. This approach is not an invention of manufacturers in order to distinguish their products from competitors, but is very important when installing electrical wiring. To avoid confusion with the color of the cable cores, all the variety of colors is reduced to one standard - PUE. The electrical installation rules state that wire cores must be differentiated by color or alphanumeric designation.

Color marking allows you to determine the purpose of each wire, which is extremely important when switching. The correct connection of the cores to each other, as well as during the installation of electrical installation products, helps to avoid serious consequences, such as a short circuit, electric shock, or even a fire. Properly connected wires help to subsequently carry out repairs and maintenance without problems.

According to the rules, the color of the wires is present along the entire length. However, in reality, you can find electrical wires painted in one color. Most often this is found in the old housing stock, where aluminum wiring is laid. To solve problems with the color designation of each individual core, a heat-shrinkable tube or electrical tape of different colors is used: black, blue, yellow, brown, red, etc. Multi-colored marking is done at the junction points of the wires and at the ends of the cores.

Before talking about the color difference, it is worth mentioning the designation of wires with letters and numbers. A phase conductor in a single-phase AC network is indicated by the Latin letter "L" (Line). In a three-phase circuit, phases 1, 2 and 3 will be respectively designated "L1", "L2", "L3". The grounding phase conductor is designated by the abbreviation "LE" in a single-phase network and "LE1", "LE2", "LE3" in a three-phase network. The neutral wire is assigned the letter "N" (Neutral). Zero or protective conductor designated "PE" (Protect Earth).

Ground wire color code

According to the rules for the use of electrical equipment, all of it must be connected to a network that has a ground wire. It is in this situation that the manufacturer's warranty will apply to the equipment. According to the PUE, the protection is in a yellow-green shell, and the color stripes must be strictly vertical. In a different location, such products are considered non-standard. Often you can find cores with a sheath of bright yellow or green color in the cable. In this case, they are used as grounding.

Interesting! A hard single-core ground wire is colored green with a thin yellow stripe, but in a soft stranded one, on the contrary, yellow is used as the main one, and green acts as an additional one.

In some countries, it is allowed to install a ground conductor without a sheath, but if you come across a green-yellow cable with a blue braid and the PEN designation, then you have ground combined with neutral. You should be aware that the earth is never connected to the residual current devices located in the switchboard. The ground wire is connected to the ground bus, to the housing or the metal door of the switchboard.

On the diagrams, you can see a different designation of grounding, so to avoid confusion, we recommend that you use the following memo:

A separate color for the neutral wire and a variety of colors for the phase

As evidenced by the PUE, for the neutral wire, which is often called zero, a single color designation is allocated. This color is blue, and it can be bright or dark and even blue - it all depends on the manufacturer. Even on color schemes, this wire is always drawn in blue. In the switchboard, the neutral is connected to the neutral bus, which is connected to the meter directly, and not using the machine.

According to GOST, the colors of the phase wires can have any color except for blue, yellow and green, since these colors refer to zero and ground. This approach helps to distinguish the phase wire from the rest, since it is the most dangerous at work. Current flows through it, so it is extremely important to provide the correct designation in order to work safely. Most often, phase cores in a three-core cable are indicated in black or red. The PUE does not prohibit the use of other colors, with the exception of colors intended for zero and earth, therefore, sometimes you can find a phase core in the following shells:

• brown;
• gray;
• purple;
• pink;
• white;
• orange;
• turquoise.

If the colors are mixed up

We have given the basic rules for marking L, N, PE lived in an electrician by color, but it often happens that not all craftsmen follow the rules for installing electrical wiring. Among other things, there is a possibility that the electrical wires with a different color of the phase core or even a single-color cable have changed. How not to make a mistake in such a situation and make the correct designation of zero, phase and ground? best options in this case, the wires will be labeled according to their purpose. It is necessary with the help of cambric (heat shrink tubes) to designate all the elements that depart from the switchboard and follow into the dwelling. The work may take a long time, but it's worth it.

To work on identifying the ownership of the cores, an indicator screwdriver is used - this is the simplest tool, which is elementary to use for subsequent marking of the phases. We take the device and with its metal tip we touch the bare (!) Core. The indicator on the screwdriver will only light up if you have found a phase wire. If the cable is two-core, then there should be no more questions, because the second conductor is zero.

Important! Any electrical cable always has L and N cores, regardless of the number of wires inside.

If a three-wire wire is being examined, a multimeter is used to find the ground and neutral wires. As you know, the presence of electricity is possible in the neutral conductor, but its doses will hardly exceed 30V. To measure on the multimeter, you must set the AC voltage measurement mode. After that, with one probe they touch the phase conductor, which was determined with the help of an indicator screwdriver, and with the second - to the remaining ones. The conductor that showed the lowest value on the device will be zero.

If it turned out that the voltage in the remaining wires is the same, you must use the resistance measurement method, which will determine the ground. For work, only cores will be used, the purpose of which is unknown - the phase wire is not involved in the test. The multimeter is switched to the resistance measurement mode, after which one probe touches a deliberately grounded and cleaned to metal element (this can be, for example, a heating battery), and the second probe touches the wires. Ground should not exceed 4 ohms while neutral will be higher.

Everyone may face the need to repair electrical wiring or purchase various cable products for a future new home, and the color of wires in an electrician plays an important role. The reasons for this are different, but when you start to eliminate it, you should count on one encouraging factor that there is a color marking of wires. It is worth understanding what it is and why they do it.

Basic definitions

In AC power networks up to a thousand kilovolts, the color marking of wires and cables is strictly regulated by state regulatory documents, such as the "Electrical Installation Rules" (PUE), namely, the section of the seventh edition in Chapter 1, paragraphs 1.1.29 - 1.1.30 is responsible for this. It states that "Identification of wire cores by colors or numerical designations" must be used in accordance with GOST P 50462-92 (IEC 446-89). Marking has the main designations:

In 3-phase AC switchboards, the busbars are painted:

• yellow - L1 (phase A);
• green - L2 (B);
• red - L3 (C);
• blue - block of the zero working conductor N;
• alternating longitudinal or transverse stripes of the same width of yellow-green color - PEN grounding bus.

Important! If the body of the electrical panel serves as a grounding contact at the same time, then the place of connection of the wires is indicated by the sign (ground) and is painted yellow-green.

The PUE allows you to designate the color of the main wires of the phase, zero not along the entire length of the bus, but only to perform at the points of connection to the contacts, if the bus is invisible, it is allowed not to color it.

Important! It is necessary to use the color marking of wires and cables when installing electrical equipment located in the same building with the same color schemes.

We must not forget that the designation of wires by color, in no case, should reduce the degree of electrical safety and convenience in the repair or maintenance of electrical equipment.

electrical safety

Alternating electricity with a voltage of 380V - 220V is a dangerous factor, so if an unauthorized person touches bare wires, or metal parts of electrical equipment that may be under this voltage, it can result in severe burns or fatal injury! For this, the PUE gives an answer not only to the questions: what color is the ground wire, or what is PEN, but what it is for.

In order to protect a person as much as possible from possible exposure to electric current, electrical safety systems were adopted, characterized by one or more factors, such as:

• grounding;
• protective zeroing;
• separation of networks by a transformer.

To provide safe work in existing electrical installations up to 1 kV, five grounding systems are used: TN-C, TN-S, TN-C-S, TT, IT with different ways grounding, zeroing and separation of networks. The PUE defines each of the systems as:

1. TN-C, where the working zero N and grounding PE conductors are combined in one PEN wire. It is characterized by: the use of a cable with four cores in a three-phase network and a two-core cable in a single-phase network. This is the oldest electrical network device, still found everywhere, for reasons of economy, for example, in street lighting.
2. TN-S, where the working N conductor and the grounding PE are separated from the supply transformer to the end consumer. Such networks are made of five-core cables for a three-phase network and three-core wires in a single-phase network.
3. TN-C-S, where there is one combined PEN conductor of four-core cable, from the supply transformer to the group panel at the entrance to the building, which is further divided into N and PE, respectively, into five and three-core wiring. This is the most common system for constructing power supply networks for buildings and structures.
4. TT, where there is only one working N conductor, and only the electrical equipment case is grounded. In such a system, four and two-wire wiring, respectively, are used. Yes, basically arranged air lines power lines.
5. IT, where the electrical installation is separated from the supply network by a transformer and completely isolated from the ground. This is the safest system for humans, it is used for special purpose consumers only.

Thus, the color of the wires phase and zero, L and N in an electrician will help to visually determine the security system used in a given electrical network.

DC electrical networks

Along with alternating current DC circuits are used, for example, in on-board networks of cars and household appliances. In such wiring there is no phase wire and zero. The wire color rule in DC electrics is much simpler, since there are only two potentials positive, denoted by electrical diagrams, both (+) and negative, having a (-) sign. The colors of such wires are easy to remember: plus - red, and minus - black.

Important! For household appliances, these colors are correct only for supply lines; in the further part of the diagram, the positive wire may have a different color.

Practice

Starting directly to electrical work or repair in electrical wiring, you may encounter non-compliance with the color regulation, which is established by regulatory documents. As practice shows, this case is not the rule, but the exception.

Eg:

• you can buy a three-core cable type BBG 3x1.5, which has cores with white, red and brown colors;
• often found cable products with white wires with a color stripe of black, gray or of blue color, along the entire length;
• in the wiring that was done before, in general, you can find a two or three-wire white wire.

Here are some practical tips:

1. When repairing in existing networks, it is necessary to use electrical safety devices, such as a voltage indicator or an indicator screwdriver. With their help, you can always determine the color of the phase wire.
2. In the absence of the correct color coding for cable products, purchase a cambric or insulating tape of the required color. The main thing is to mark the color of the ground wire in yellow-green color, the working zero in blue, and for the L phase in the electrician, you can choose any other color.
3. When laying new wiring, use a cable of the same brand so that there is no confusion with the color of the wires in the electrician.

Color coding abroad

The yellow and green marker of the ground wire PE and the blue working zero N - are designated absolutely identically in all CIS countries, while they are clearly unified with the countries of the European Union. The color designation of the phase wire is somewhat different, but this is not of fundamental importance in terms of electrical safety.

Other countries such as Brazil, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand the PE ground wire, along with the yellow-green color, can simply be green, and the working zero N is designated by any of black, white or blue.

In the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US, the PE conductor may not be insulated at all.

Important! Earlier in the USSR, according to the old edition of the PUE, there was a color marking that was fundamentally different from today. So, the dead-earthed neutral and all grounding conductors were indicated in black, and the white color of the wire corresponded to the working zero.

It is worth remembering that electric installation work require an electrician to have knowledge of electrical installations and safety precautions. Clearly knowing the marking, there will no longer be a question of how to choose the right wire color during operation, and repairing electrical wiring or installing equipment will become not only safe, but also convenient.

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Modern installation electrical wiring it is impossible to imagine without the use of wires in insulation of different colors. Color marking is not done for beauty, it is urgently needed in the electrification of objects. Color marking not only indicates the purpose of each individual wire in a common bundle for ease of connection, but also reduces the risk of wiring errors. Allows you to prevent the likelihood of short circuits during test switching or electric shock during service and repair work ah on the net.

A certain choice of color marking is not accidental, but corresponds to the main standard - PUE. They are prescribed to identify wire cores by color or alphanumeric characters.

Color coding of electrical wires

Installation of lighting networks and power distribution to sockets is carried out using a cable with three conductors.

Multi-colored marking is applied to the entire length of the conductor. It is also possible to identify the ends of the cores and switching points using a multi-colored heat-shrinkable tube (cambric) or colored electrical tape.

We propose to consider how the color marking of conductors is carried out in electrical networks single-phase, three-phase and direct current.

The grounding conductor must be marked yellow-green. In switchboards (RShch), the "ground" must be connected to the ground bus, to the body or the metal door of the shield. In junction boxes, the connection is made to the ground wires of the fixtures and to the ground contacts in the sockets. The "ground" conductor does not need to be connected to a residual current device, therefore, the RCD is recommended to be installed only in those in residential premises where the "old-fashioned" electrical wiring is made with two conductors.

Ground conductor

Zero (neutral)

The "zero" conductor is marked in blue. In the RSH, it is always connected to the zero bus, denoted by the Latin letter N. All blue conductors are connected to this terminal. The zero bus is connected to the electrical input through a metering device (electric meter) or directly, without additional use circuit breaker. IN junction box, all conductors (except the conductor from the switch) of blue color (neutral) are connected together and do not take part in switching the voltage. For three-pole sockets, blue conductors are connected to the contacts marked with the Latin letter N, marked on the back of the socket.

Conductor "zero"

Phase

To designate a "phase" wire, brown, black, red, or even white colors. In a house switchboard, the phase conductor going to the load consumer is connected to the bottom contact of the RCD or circuit breaker. In switches lighting fixtures the phase conductor is switched, when turned on, the contacts close and the voltage is supplied to the consumer. In phase sockets, the black wire must be connected to the contact marked with the Latin letter L.

With regret, it is worth noting the fact that at present, many electricians, when conducting wiring, are guided by old standards. After that, other electricians, when carrying out service or repair work, have to look for "phase" and "zero" using probes.

Phase wire designations

If it is not possible to purchase conductors of the required colors, cables of various colors can be used. It is important that at the ends of the strands they are correctly marked using heat shrink tubing or colored tape.

Watch a video about the types of wires and cables: