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Joined: Aug 2001
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That group does indeed look interesting. In fact I've just spent a while browsing through and felt brave enough to post a couple of responses.

I wish my French was better though!

I saw one gentleman who was asking about getting Canadian wiring codes as he hopes to be immigrating to Quebec. I've pointed him in the direction of ECN's Canadian Section.

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The plot thickens....

I've been given this link , which contains information somewhat at odds with that posted previously.

According to this reference, the old French color code was used up until 1970 and was:

Phase = Green
Neutral = Red
Earth = White or Gray

That sounds very much like the old Dutch system.

Quote
Navette de phase entre interrupteurs
Not sure what "navette" means, but from the "between switches" part I assume this is referring to what we would call travelers on a 3-way switching arrangement.

P.S. It was bugging me, so I had to go find my French-English dictionary to check on navette -- It means shuttle. I guess that "Shuttle of phase between switches" is as close to travelers as we'll get!



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 11-25-2002).]

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I'm trying to see if I can get an answer to this question at fr.sci.electrotechnique .

Re the current colors in France, we already knew green/yellow for ground, blue for neutral, and black for line.

For 3-phase it appears that the phases are most often now black, red, brown, but with some variations possible. (Shades of BOY vs. other colors in the U.S.?)

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Paul,

Please contact me via E-Mail when all the data has been obtained, regarding making a "World Wide Color Coding Database".

I'll send you a message regarding what I have so far, plus idea[s] for posted materials.

Scott s.e.t.


Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!
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I'm not exactly sure if the information on the DIY page is trustworthy. It seems strange that the old neutral color (red) is now used as a phase. I can't really say, but something is strange with that website, and I doesn't exactly believe into what it's saying. Furthermore I recall endless discussions about the accuracy of DIY sites, so why should we trust this one?

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Ok, I finally found some decent info on the old german/austrian color coding:
flexes:
P: black
N: grey (can be connected to ground terminal of receptacle with jumper to neutral, TN-C)
G: red
L2, L3: black, blue
fixed wiring: single phase: see flexes
2 switches in one box: feeder black, switch loops grey and red
3 ph: 4w
R,S,T: black, blue, red, neutral (usually only ground) grey, red one can be pink as well, was also commonly used for flexes, this was the most common wiring arrangement.
5w (pretty rare): see flexes.
As you see this system was rather inconsequent, and this is one reason why it was phased out.
However, 4w 3ph systems still have black, brown, blue for phases and y/g for ground.

Anyway, this color code is definitely NOT reliable, even electricians usually took whatever wire color was just handy!

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This reminds me pretty much of the current US 120/208 color coding, except for the neutral being grey instead of white.
I suppose phase order was the following:
L1 (R): black
L2 (S): red
L3 (T): blue
or black-blue-black with 5 wire

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Good point T-R. Something about that site didn't sit quite right in my mind either, although I couldn't put my finger on it at first.

Looking at their "new" colors, I've realized that for line they say brown or red. I know for a fact that black is certainly used as line in France (as in practically all of Western Europe now, excluding the British Isles). But they only list black as being for 3-way travelers.

I agree... Something there doesn't add up.

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Well, I've received a few more posts from the French newsgroup.

It seems that before adoption of the new color code around 1970 that France used a variety of schemes, more or less depending upon the person installing the wiring. Somebody mentioned that he's even seen red used for ground, German-style. (Perhaps in eastern France? I don't know.)

However, it seems as though the modern standard for phase colors is black, red, brown, and that they often use orange for 3-way switch travelers.

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I found a new color code. It is either from Czechoslovakia or Italy. I bought a used photo print drying press, made in Czechoslovakia. However, the Schuko plug and cord switch are "Made in Italy", hence the confusion.
It is phase red, neutral green and ground yellow. Once again, completely different from all other color codings.

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