Roy,

On Wed, 4 Jan 2006 09:56:03 +1300, Roy wrote:

>...
> I am not sure about Europe but the "international colour code" 
> 
> Brown for live phase 230v or 115v
> Blue for neutral (In NZ the neutral is tied to earth at the
> switchboard).
> Green with yellow strip for earth.

I don't know how international this is - these "harmonised" colours (and the others used for 3-phase wiring) 
haven't been agreed for very long, and most in-place wiring will follow old national standards (at least one 
of which used red for Earth!).

In the UK the Brown / Blue / Green-Yellow has been used for portable wiring (flex) for some time, but for 
installed wiring our old standard of Red / Black / Green-Yellow has only been superceded recently - it could 
still be used up to the beginning of this year, I believe.

So although in theory there is an international standard, the colours you will actually find will vary a lot 
from one country to another - as will the wiring standards and techniques.  For example, in the UK nowadays 
lighting is often wired using the "loop-in" system, which means that every ceiling rose will have live wires 
at all times, which is why I don't recommend wiring changes with the power to that circuit turned on!

Cheers,


Howard Winter
St.Albans, England


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