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Wire color code standard — Parallax Forums

Wire color code standard

Velvet LeopardVelvet Leopard Posts: 47
edited 2004-09-15 03:44 in Robotics
Hewwo, all.· I haven't been into robotics as a part of the big picture for long.· I was just wondering does the field of "hobbyist" robotics have a wire color code standard?· I have been told to look at various bot setups and such and tried to find out from the pics just how the wires were routed and used.· I got confused.· Is there some kind of standard or do different biulders just use whatever colors they got?·

Comments

  • cabojoecabojoe Posts: 72
    edited 2004-08-17 06:59
    Different builders use what they want except for Red and Black. If anyone says any different I· have alot of rewiring to do. You can make up your own codes that are easily recognized by you. Colors can help keep you and your bot real organized.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2004-08-17 13:36
    My wires include Black, Red, White, Green, Yellow and Blue.· Generally speaking I use Black for GND connections and Red for VCC connections.· As for the others, I don't have any constant definition for use, but I mostly use the white wires for data signals, green for chip select or address and blue/yellow in case I need to run these signals on other chips in the same circuit so I can tell which wires belong to which circuit.


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    Chris Savage

    Knight Designs
    324 West Main Street
    P.O. Box 97
    Montour Falls, NY 14865
    (607) 535-6777

    Business Page:·· http://www.knightdesigns.com
    Personal Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/chris
    ·
  • Velvet LeopardVelvet Leopard Posts: 47
    edited 2004-08-17 21:04
    That's cool.· I was just wondering if there was a kind of unwritten standard for the hobbyists.· Thanks for the info.· Would some kind of standard wire color code be a good idea for the hobbyist world?· Or would it be too far fetched an idea?
  • J. A. StreichJ. A. Streich Posts: 158
    edited 2004-08-18 01:19
    I think that publishing a standard would probably lead to a lot of people saying "that's nice but I like to do it this way."
    EDIT: I too mean beyond red and black.

    Post Edited (GameMaster) : 8/19/2004 2:11:42 PM GMT
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2004-08-18 03:23
    With the exception of Red & Black...I think that's always a good idea for power in a circuit...It's intuitive, and makes it easier to identify power lines.· My own opinion of course...

    idea.gif


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    Chris Savage

    Knight Designs
    324 West Main Street
    P.O. Box 97
    Montour Falls, NY 14865
    (607) 535-6777

    Business Page:·· http://www.knightdesigns.com
    Personal Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/chris
    ·
  • DntGvaShtDntGvaSht Posts: 65
    edited 2004-08-18 04:03
    As for hobby projects, i'll pretty much use red/black for power, and any other conductors will be the first ones I can grab.· I do find myself leaning towards using yellow for discrete signals, and blue for data.

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  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2004-08-22 11:27
    Yes, yes. Red and Black are pretty much standard.

    For a beginner, it is really easy to over-buy wire.

    If you are really trying to figure out your choices,
    buy a one meter (or one yard) hunk of solid 22 guage, 25 wire cable, remove the outer covering, and you will have an ample sellection of colors -- including stripes.

    The solid 22 guage is commonly used on the breadboards. If you get strand wire by mistake, it is still useful for flexible connections between circuit boards and outboard devices.

    DO NOT buy spools of wire in a variety of colors. You will never finish using them (unless you need to install a lot of doorbells and intercoms).

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    G. Herzog in Taiwan
  • jakjrjakjr Posts: 88
    edited 2004-08-23 02:45
    If you buy stranded wire you can still use it, but youl'l have to tin the ends so its stiff enough to plug into the breadboard.
  • thoseythosey Posts: 7
    edited 2004-09-03 13:56
    I teach a robotics & PLC class for Kent State Trumbell campus in the workforce development unit. I am also a certified Ohio Journeyman in Industrial Electrical Maintenance. And have a 2 year certificate from the state of Ohio. I have built plenty of Industrial Robotics and Electrical enclosures through my work and as a hobbiest with the Basic stamp and the SX. And yes there is a color code that should be followed and there are the other wires that you can specify

    Red and Black. While most electronic project use these colors aas RED(+) and Black(-) you will find very few of these colors on 24v industrial photo eyes like a Banner or AB right sight. Mostly where I find RED and Black is for 5v dc use only. Red is normally a designator for a switched 110v ac and Black a non switched 110v ac supply. Where as white is for the Nuetrall of the 110v ac supply. White is also used as the sink on most 24v photo eyes and proxie switches also.

    Green or Yellow/Green is ALWAYS used for a ground. No exception.

    Brown, Yellow, and Orange are used for 480v ac.
    Grey or Nuetral is used for the Nuetral of a 277v ac line.

    Blue is for +/- 24v dc in cabnets
    Blue is also for -24 v dc for photo and proxie switches.
    Brown is for +24v dc for photo and proxie switches.
    Black is for the source for photo and proxie switches
    white is for the sink for photo and proxie switches.

    It is common also to see yellow used for power of 110v ac for machines that need power when the main machine shutoff is off but the ceiling shutoff is still on.

    In electronics though usually you would use ide or ribbon cableing for wire. The type of wire that is all glued together or housed together in a cable.
    If you really get down to it. Usually there is no color code for electronics per say other than this since most electronics do not use wire but use boards. Then they follow the electrical color coding since you are connecting industrial switches and wiring to them.

    Just my 2 cents.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2004-09-03 15:19
    This is one of those cases where the color codes really are dependant on the field they're being used in.· Red for +5VDC and Black for Ground have always been the standard in Computers and most low-voltage electronics systems I've worked on.· They teach you that in some college courses, depending on what guides they're going by.· Also in computers yellow is +12VDC, orange is +3.3VDC, White is -5VDC and Blue is -12VDC, but I wouldn't post most of those here since they don't apply.

    So that people aren't confused, I still think the Red & Black for Vcc & Vss should be standardized, and then what people use for their signals should really be their preference unless their project will interface to a design with a known color code for the wiring.

    Phones are Cars are totally different too...



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    Chris Savage

    Knight Designs
    324 West Main Street
    P.O. Box 97
    Montour Falls, NY 14865
    (607) 535-6777

    Business Page:·· http://www.knightdesigns.com
    Personal Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/chris
    ·
  • AntzAntz Posts: 7
    edited 2004-09-15 03:34
    Yes indeed, in communications gear it's·typically red & black for any DC supply, green or green/yellow for earth.

    I would also·recommend buying a short·length of multicore cable to get a variety of colors if you want them.
    A typical 25 pair cable will have Blue Orange Green Brown Grey as primary colors, and White Red Black Yellow Violet as the secondary, giving the 25 combinations of twisted pairs. There are lots of other variations though from different manufacturers.


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  • Buck RogersBuck Rogers Posts: 2,160
    edited 2004-09-15 03:44
    Hello there from Buck Rogers
    I don't mean to be peculiar, and pedantic, but if you want to see some strange colors, then I suggest you should examine the 50 colored wires that make up the AMP connector wire, that's the RJ21X stuff. The interstation wire, that can be bought from GreyBar that's two conductor is typically just one specific pair.

    There are fifty seperate wires, that reproduce their functions across all of them.

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    Buck Rogers

    www.gregg.levine.name
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