Well, Sparky, let's see if we can make one. [Linked Image] It's not that hard!

For earth there is only one choice: Green/Yellow. It is already in universal use.

But what about the rest of the conductors?

Colours to choose from:

Blue, Brown, Black, Red, Orange, Green, Yellow, Pink, Purple, White, Grey

You shouldn't have "light" and "dark" of the same colour used for different things, as it will result in mistakes. But, you can specify that a colour should be dark or light to avoid confusion with another colour.

Green and Yellow can't be used since they can be confused with earth.

White and light Grey can be confused when the wires age. White OR Grey is a better choice.

If you use pink, red should be slightly dark to avoid confusion.

It's probably best to use light blue to avoid confusion with purple.

This leaves us with:
Light Blue,
Brown, Black, (Dark) Red, Orange, Pink, Purple, White OR Grey

(8 different colours)

Brown is as far as I can tell used for line everywhere: Thus, it seems like a good choice for first phase.

Purple and Pink are like brown always used for line. Also good choices for line.

Orange can be confused with brown, but it otherwise a good line colour.

Black is used for line in continental Europe and the US, but for neutral in the UK. Therefore, it can't be used for neutral. If used for line it should be second or third phase, since the cable will then contain a brown wire, which warns a UK electrician that it is not to the UK colour code.

Red is used for line in both the US and UK, but not in continental Europe. It was used for earth in Germany and "Germanic" countries (and Japan?). Therefore, it should not be used for neutral or first phase.

Blue is used for line in America and UK, but neutral in international flexible cords. It can't be used for line.

Grey and white are neutral in America but used for line in continental Europe. (The IEC was upset when CENELEC choose light grey for line last year) It seems like it's best to avoid these colours altogether.

The IEC recommend brown and black for line.

This leaves us with:

Earth: Yellow/green

Line: Brown, Orange, Purple and Pink

Line under certain conditions: Black, Red

Neutral: ???

It seems best to choose light blue for neutral, despite the risk of confusion with line in America. Since a cable will contain green/yellow earth and brown as line, the electrician is at least warned.

Here's my suggestion:

(L1/A, L2/B, L3/C, Neutral, Earth)

Brown, Orange, Purple, Light Blue, Green/Yellow.

If you more than three lines, next colours in line [Linked Image] are: Black, Pink, Red

Opinions?

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 11-18-2002).]