Neutral wires should be white. A simple standard electrical circuit has a black or red hot wire that carries power from the power source to the device eg switch fixture outlet appliance a white neutral wire that carries the power back to the power source and a green or bare copper ground wire that connects the device to the homes grounding system.
![Color Coding Electrical Wires And Terminal Screws](https://www.thespruce.com/thmb/Beki3Fa1hgUJhOZwEONCidFoxug=/4096x2304/smart/filters:no_upscale()/close-up-of-network-connection-plugs-914187578-5b32f3974cedfd0037fd4146.jpg)
Color Coding Electrical Wires And Terminal Screws
Light fixture wire colors. Identify the black positive wire on a ceiling light fixture. Light fixtures with more than one lamp may have a pair of black and white wires for each lamp. Blue yellow violet and brown wires often act as the travelers to transfer power between the switches in 3 way and 4 way switch applications. Wire manufacturers supply wire in a wide variety of colors and it is up to the electrician to use the correct wire color in home wiring. Brown blue and green stripe wiring is actually more common around the world than our black white and green. Standard colors used for home wiring.
When youre hanging a chandelier or any other ceiling light first find the 3 wires coming out of the hole in the ceiling where the light will go. The purpose of a red wire for wiring a light fixture. Most commercial fixtures such as led wall packs and led high bay lights use the standard usa color codes of black white and green. However if you see a white wire with electrical tape on it that may indicate that its being used as a hot wire. Recognize that the black wire is the positive one the white wire is the negative one and the green wire is the ground. And ground wires are often plain copper but the ground wire color can be green.
Its also possible to have some other colors may come into play depending on the system. These connect to the black and white wires in the electrical box with the provided larger wire nuts. In some types of fixtures both wires will be the same color. Instead blue and yellow wires are used as the live wires pulled through a conduit. Blue and yellow electrical wires while wires in these colors carry power they are not used in typical outlet wiring. All nm cables contain the basic black insulation and white insulation wires plus the bare copper or green insulated ground wire.
In this case the neutral wire is always. For example you might see yellow wires as switch legs to ceiling fans structural lights and outlets paired with light switches. In a three wire cable there will also be an additional red insulated wire commonly used as the traveler in an application such as a two way switch. Even our residential lights use the black white and green colors. In most modern fixtures the neutral wire will be white and the hot wire is red or black.