Light Switch Wire Colours Uk

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.

Light switch wire colours uk. 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. Ground wires return fault current to earth ground protecting the individual from electrocution. Just to confuse matters there are other cables in the uk that have similar colours to the mains electrical wiring. 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. New wiring colours since 2006. In 2006 the old electrical wiring colours were finally. Although still used today the earth wire used to be pure green.

The live wire colour used to be red. 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. Red wires are commonly found in sheathed multi conductor cable. What were the old uk electrical wiring colours.

These are called travelers and typically used for two way switch 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. The switch wiring is all the same but the switch wire cable c leads up to a different set up. The earth wires have been omitted for clarity and would need to be connected at all switches and ceiling roses.

The wires would also be covered by the protective outer sheath cable. 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. Iec wiring color codes for ac uk eu other countries. This was the neutral wire.

This is a diagram of a ceiling rose using the old colours where live is red and neutral is black. 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. New vs old wiring colours. 3 way light switching new cable colours 3 way light switch old cable colours 3 way light switch using a two wire control.

A ground wire is used as a protective measure. Other cable colours to be aware of. It s important that properties get their wiring checked to see if the wiring colours are out of date have deteriorated over time and to check if they comply with bs 7671 wiring. This was the live wire.

Wiring colours conductor colours. Light wiring diagram. The earth wire colour used to be pure green before 1977 then changed to green and yellow and has been the same ever since.