Conductor Color Codes
Since SOOW cord is a type of multiconductor cable with two or more conductors, there are insulation color standards used to indicate the intended connection and function for each conductor.
According to the NEC, the only required colors are white or gray for neutral conductors and green (or just bare copper) for equipment grounding conductors. There are no codes governing the use of other colors for conductors, but there are industry standards virtually all electricians follow for the sake of simplicity and safety when working with wiring (e.g. black and red insulation indicate “hot” wires).
Connection Types and Color Designations
The purpose for having standardized colors is to indicate the intended connections for each conductor so that anyone working around electrical wiring can know what each conductor is connected to. Keep in mind that we are assuming we have a 3-phase power supply.
Hot, neutral, and ground are the three most common types of connections for conductors.
Hot (Phase or Line Conductors)
"Hot" refers to wires that connect to the voltage supply source (typically a step-down transformer). The term “phase conductor” reflects the fact that virtually all long-distance electric power around the world is transmitted via high voltage AC, though high voltage DC transmission has been making gains in recent years.
The most common colors used to indicate hot wires are black and red, but other colors are also used to indicate hots (e.g. blue, yellow, and orange). Typically, you will only see different colors for hot wires in cables with 5 or more conductors. Please refer to the color code chart below to see what other colors we use for the line conductors in our SOOW cord.
The photo shows SOOW cord with 3 conductors. Black insulation indicates a hot wire, white indicates a neutral, and green indicates the equipment ground.
Neutral (Circuit Ground)
The neutral wire serves different functions in different conditions. An important distinction to keep in mind is that the neutral can carry current under normal operating conditions (e.g. unbalanced loads), while the equipment ground never carries current unless there is a fault in the equipment.
The neutral wire:
1) Prevents load voltages from drastically changing (i.e. maintains load voltage stability) by carrying the difference in current between unbalanced loads back to the transformer.
If your loads are balanced, it is possible to leave out the neutral wire, though it depends on what equipment you are powering. For example, a 3-phase motor draws a balanced load on each phase, so it would not require a neutral.
2) Acts as a “hot” conductor in two-wire circuits.
Your common household outlets are wired for 120V line-to-neutral loads with the neutral and hot wire carrying the same amount of current. Appliances, such as stoves and dryers, that require the full 240V line-to-line use different outlets.
The neutral wire either has either a white or gray insulation (NEC 200.6). Our SOOW cord will have white insulation for the neutral.
Ground (Earth or Equipment ground)
The purpose of equipment-grounding wire is strictly for safety. The ground wire connects the metal frame or other exposed metal surfaces in a piece of equipment to the ground wire receptacle (e.g. the D-hole in residential outlets) that is connected to a grounding electrode (e.g. a metal rod driven into the earth can be the grounding electrode).
Earthing or equipment-grounding wire is required for safety purposes. It only carries current under fault conditions when there is a loose connection and a conductor is touching a metal part of the equipment. If this happens, the metal casing of the equipment will have a positive voltage relative to ground, and touching any exposed metal part will result in electric shock.
Conductors serving such purposes must be readily identifiable, and NEC article 250.119 addresses the identification of equipment grounding conductors. Ground wires will either be bare (no insulation), have green insulation, or have green-colored tape at all the points where the wire is accessible according to NEC 250.119(B). The SOOW cord we carry has a green insulated conductor that is ONLY to be used for equipment-grounding connections.
There is an exception in 250.119 for power-limited Class 2 or 3 cables or communications cables with circuits operating at less than 50 volts and connected to utilization equipment (i.e. equipment that uses electricity) that does not require grounding according to NEC 250.112(1). In these cases ONLY, a conductor with insulation that is green or green with one or more yellow stripes may be used for something other than equipment grounding.
Color Code Charts
Our SOOW cord follows ICEA/NEMA Method 1, Table E-1, for cables with four conductors or more. Charts detailing ICEA/NEMA color codes for Methods 1 and 3 are shown below, along with industry standard Color Code Charts 1 through 4.
PLEASE NOTE: These color codes apply only in North America. For example, while the U.S. uses blue to indicate hot wires, in European countries light blue wires indicate neutral conductors.
Method 1
Colored insulation with contrasting ink tracers as required. Six different insulation colors and four different colored ink tracers are used to provide positive identification through 21 conductors. The same identification sequence may repeated for cables containing more than 21 conductors.
ICEA Method 1, Table E-1
| Conductor No. |
Background or Base Color |
1st Tracer Color |
2nd Tracer Color |
| 1 | Black | - | - |
| 2 | White | - | - |
| 3 | Red | - | - |
| 4 | Green | - | - |
| 5 | Orange | - | - |
| 6 | Blue | - | - |
| 7 | White | Black | - |
| 8 | Red | Black | - |
| 9 | Green | Black | - |
| 10 | Orange | Black | - |
| 11 | Blue | Black | - |
| 12 | Black | White | - |
| 13 | Red | White | - |
| 14 | Green | White | - |
| 15 | Blue | White | - |
| 16 | Black | Red | - |
| 17 | White | Red | - |
| 18 | Orange | Red | - |
| 19 | Blue | Red | - |
| Conductor No. |
Background or Base Color |
1st Tracer Color |
2nd Tracer Color |
| 20 | Red | Green | - |
| 21 | Orange | Green | - |
| 22 | Black | White | Red |
| 23 | White | Black | Red |
| 24 | Red | Black | White |
| 25 | Green | Black | White |
| 26 | Orange | Black | White |
| 27 | Blue | Black | White |
| 28 | Black | Red | Green |
| 29 | White | Red | Green |
| 30 | Red | Black | Green |
| 31 | Green | Black | Orange |
| 32 | Orange | Black | Green |
| 33 | Blue | White | Orange |
| 34 | Black | White | Orange |
| 35 | White | Red | Orange |
| 36 | Orange | White | Blue |
| 37 | White | Red | Blue |
Method 3
ICEA Method 3
ICEA Method 1, Table E-2
| Conductor No. |
Base Color | Spiral Stripe |
| 1 | Black | - |
| 2 | Red | - |
| 3 | Blue | - |
| 4 | Orange | - |
| 5 | Yellow | - |
| 6 | Brown | - |
| 7 | Red | Black |
| 8 | Blue | Black |
| 9 | Orange | Black |
| 10 | Yellow | Black |
| 11 | Brown | Black |
| 12 | Black | Red |
| 13 | Blue | Red |
| 14 | Orange | Red |
| 15 | Yellow | Red |
| 16 | Brown | Red |
| 17 | Black | Blue |
| 18 | Red | Blue |
| Conductor No. |
Base Color | Spiral Stripe |
| 19 | Orange | Blue |
| 20 | Yellow | Blue |
| 21 | Brown | Blue |
| 22 | Black | Orange |
| 23 | Red | Orange |
| 24 | Blue | Orange |
| 25 | Yellow | Orange |
| 26 | Brown | Orange |
| 27 | Black | Yellow |
| 28 | Red | Yellow |
| 29 | Blue | Yellow |
| 30 | Orange | Yellow |
| 31 | Brown | Yellow |
| 32 | Black | Brown |
| 33 | Red | Brown |
| 34 | Blue | Brown |
| 35 | Orange | Brown |
| 36 | Yellow | Brown |
Method 3
ICEA Method 3
| Conductor No. |
Printing |
| 1 | 1 - Black |
| 2 | 2 - White |
| 3 | 3 - Red |
| 4 | 4 - Green |
| 5 | 5 - Orange |
| 6 | 6 - Blue |
| 7 | 7 - White - Black |
| 8 | 8 - Red - Black |
| 9 | 9 - Green - Black |
| 10 | 10 - Orange - Black |
| Conductor No. |
Printing |
| 11 | 11 - Blue - Black |
| 12 | 12 - Black - White |
| 13 | 13 - Red - White |
| 14 | 14 - Green - White |
| 15 | 15 - Blue - White |
| 16 | 16 - Black - Red |
| 17 | 17 - White - Red |
| 18 | 18 - Orange - Red |
| 19 | 19 - Blue - Red |
| 20 | 20 - Red - Green |
| 21 | 21 - Orange - Green |
Chart 1
| Conductor No. |
Color |
| 1 | Black |
| 2 | Red |
| 3 | White |
| 4 | Light Green |
| 5 | Light Brown |
| 6 | Light Blue |
| 7 | Orange |
| 8 | Yellow |
| 9 | Violet |
| 10 | Gray |
| 11 | Pink |
| 12 | Tan |
Chart 2
| Pair No. |
Color | Pair No. |
Color |
| 1 | Black with Red | 14 | Green with White |
| 2 | Black with White | 15 | Green with Blue |
| 3 | Black with Light Green | 16 | Green with Yellow |
| 4 | Black with Blue | 17 | Green with Brown |
| 5 | Black with Yellow | 18 | Green with Orange |
| 6 | Black with Brown | 19 | White with Blue |
| 7 | Black with Orange | 20 | White with Yellow |
| 8 | Red with White | 21 | White with Brown |
| 9 | Red with Light Green | 22 | White with Orange |
| 10 | Red with Blue | 23 | Blue with Yellow |
| 11 | Red with Yellow | 24 | Blue with Brown |
| 12 | Red with Brown | 25 | Blue with Orange |
| 13 | Red with Orange | ||
Chart 3
| Conductor No. |
Color |
| 2 | Black, Red |
| 4 | Black, Red, Light Blue, Light Brown |
| 6 | Black, Red, Light Blue, Light Brown, Orange, Yellow |
| 8 | Black, Red, Light Blue, Light Brown, Orange, Yellow, Purple, Gray |
Chart 4
| Pair No. |
Color Combniation | Pair No. |
Color Combination |
| 1 | White/Blue Stripe Blue |
14 | Black/Brown Stripe Brown/Black Stripe |
| 2 | White/Orange Stripe Orange |
15 | Black/Gray Stripe Gray/Black Stripe |
| 3 | White/Green Stripe Green |
16 | Yellow/Blue Stripe Blue/Yellow Stripe |
| 4 | White/Brown Stripe Brown |
17 | Yellow/Orange Stripe Orange/Yellow Stripe |
| 5 | White/Gray Stripe Gray/White Stripe |
18 | Yellow/Green Stripe Green/Yellow Stripe |
| 6 | Red/Blue Stripe Blue/Red Stripe |
19 | Yellow/Brown Stripe Brown/Yellow Stripe |
| 7 | Red/Orange Stripe Orange/Red Stripe |
20 | Yellow/Gray Stripe Gray/Yellow Stripe |
| 8 | Red/Green Stripe Green/Red Stripe |
21 | Purple/Blue Stripe Blue/Purple Stripe |
| 9 | Red/Brown Stripe Brown/Red Stripe |
22 | Purple/Orange Stripe Orange/Purple Stripe |
| 10 | Red/Gray Stripe Gray/Red Stripe |
23 | Purple/Green Stripe Green/Purple Stripe |
| 11 | Black/Blue Stripe Blue/Black Stripe |
24 | Purple/Brown Stripe Brown/Purple Stripe |
| 12 | Black/Orange Stripe Orange/Black Stripe |
25 | Purple/Gray Stripe Gray/Purple Stripe |
| 13 | Black/Green Stripe Green/Black Stripe |
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