diy solar

diy solar

How good of an electrician are you?

T

Tecnodave

Solar Addict
Joined
Mar 22, 2021
Messages
1,119
Electrical I.Q. Test.....

1: Name the three colors of wires DECLARED in the NEC....this is valid in the US only
This answer will be in the NEC format......i.e. this color wire is for this purpose !
its not what you think, 90% of newby electricians get it wrong on the electrician’s exam


This is a different question.......What is the voltages and phasing in these main boxes?


2: There are 4 wires in the box, the colors are black, red, white, green.......ok i threw you an easy one

3: There are 5 wires in the box, the colors are black, red, blue, white, green........getting tougher

4: There are 5 wires in the box, the colors are black, red, orange, white, green.........tougher still

5: There are 5 wires in the box, the colors are tan, brown, orange, white, green......gonna weed out a bunch.

IF you really work in the field you should know this.....
 
I am an Electronic Engineer so I find the Electrical color coding a bit confusing but as far as I know it goes something like this.

Black and Red plus Orange are hot wires with Black being primary Red being Secondary and Orange being a bypass hot wire for when a switch is off, like powering down a device but keeping the fan still running.
White and Tan are Neutral Wires
Green is ground
Blue and Brown are usually some kind of pass through hot wire interlinking switches in multiple locations.

That is pretty much how I remember it but I am not an Electrical Engineer.
 
robby said:
I am an Electronic Engineer so I find the Electrical color coding a bit confusing but as far as I know it goes something like this.

Black and Red plus Orange are hot wires with Black being primary Red being Secondary and Orange being a bypass hot wire for when a switch is off, like powering down a device but keeping the fan still running.
White and Tan are Neutral Wires
Green is ground
Blue and Brown are usually some kind of pass through hot wire interlinking switches in multiple locations.

That is pretty much how I remember it but I am not an Electrical Engineer.
Click to expand...
Not even close.......all 5 wires are part of a power feed.........from the power company. The load wires are not considered here.....the key is the phasing of the wires....
 
Hint, Hint, once you figure out the three colors that are declared in the NEC the other questions will fall in line
 
1. Ungrounded conductor, grounded conductor, and grounding conductor?
2.120/240 split phase L1, L2, N, Grounding…
3.120/208 3phase L1,L2,L3,N,Ground
4. 120/277/208or240 depending on circumstance, stinger hot orange feed… otherwise same as 2.
5. 277/480 3Phase L1,L2,L3, N, Ground…
 
There are a LOT of feeder delta,wye etc combinations… the industrial feeder supply combos are tricky sometimes…
 
Answer 1 is way off base, but when you figure that one out the others will line up
 
Yeah, I’m not sure what you are referring to with question one. I deal with a ton of feeder colors supplied by the power company. Orange is a tricky one, as it get used with multiple voltages and phases, residential vs. commercial/industrial.
most likely you don’t like my response with question 4. Since it includes red and black, the orange is a 3Phase hot wye feeder usually, but I have seen it on 208, as well.
 
Supervstech said:
Yeah, I’m not sure what you are referring to with question one. I deal with a ton of feeder colors supplied by the power company. Orange is a tricky one, as it get used with multiple voltages and phases, residential vs. commercial/industrial.
most likely you don’t like my response with question 4. Since it includes red and black, the orange is a 3Phase hot wye feeder usually, but I have seen it on 208, as well.
Click to expand...
once you can answer question 1 you will see why question 4 is wrong and a lot of electricians will get it wrong

yes orange is the tricky one but there are three colors that mean this color wire can not be used for anything else
 
This is the correct answer to question #1 amazingly most electricians and building inspectors cannot answer this one.


OK.....in the NEC

white is always neutral
green is always ground
orange is always “non standard voltage” i.e. “the stinger leg”

standard voltages are 120, 208, 240, & 480
 
Yup, so, it can be several things, but in a blk/red/org combo, it is usually, 120/240 wye combo split phase, and 3Phase… usually, BK L1, RD L2, OR is high leg, 3rd phase… which would be 277 to N IT GETS COMPLICATED AND THE PANEL WILL HAVE 2 phases that get 120V to N, but the OR will be 277 … always be wary when there is an orange in the bundle…
 
I have even seen where Or has no connection to N… and sometimes it is 480… like I said, complicated.
 
Ya got it,

Question 4
Its 120/240 delta high leg

black L1 120 to ground
red L2 120 to ground
orange L3 165-180 to ground......the stinger leg, a non standard voltage

Question 5
Its 480/277 volt wye three phase
all three voltages are non standard but cant use the same color so tan, brown, orange will say 480/277 three phase

A lot of electricians think orange means three phase, but it does not, it is a ”non standard voltage”

480/277 is a non standard voltage (to ground) so orange is used there
120/240 delta hi leg L3 is a non standard voltage (165-180) so orange wire there

Like you noted many electricians do not know what the three dedicated colors are so they misapply orange to where it should not be used.

There is a very good reason for the code.

I do lots of industrial so i learn these tricks. It helps to know what you are dealing with at a glance.
 
Supervstech said:
Yup, so, it can be several things, but in a blk/red/org combo, it is usually, 120/240 wye combo split phase, and 3Phase… usually, BK L1, RD L2, OR is high leg, 3rd phase… which would be 277 to N IT GETS COMPLICATED AND THE PANEL WILL HAVE 2 phases that get 120V to N, but the OR will be 277 … always be wary when there is an orange in the bundle…
Click to expand...
You got just a bit of this wrong


120/208 is wye three phase, all legs are 120 volts to ground....so black, red, blue

On 120/240 Delta hi-leg

L1 is 120 to ground
L2 is 120 to ground
L3 is varying voltage approx 165-180 volts...not 277 volts

on 480/277 WYE three phase all three legs are “non standard voltage” thus, tan, brown, orange (277 to ground)

and yes always be wary of that orange wire, the voltage is not declared but it will be a “non standard voltage”

After i pooped out on EMI/RFI in the communications division of GE I transferred into power systems so i did a lot of feild analysis in GE turboshaft generators which are widely used as backup power in mission critical applications.
Did mostly 2 mw to 8 mw units both jet-A and natural gas in N+1 arrays. So a bunch of big power experience before I retired from corporate bulls##t

unlike parallel inverters which is almost always one master and one or more slaves on a N+1 system no single one is the master, first one to respond is master and and the others are slaved to the master. If you need 6 generators at a minimum then you have 7 in the N+1 net so anyone can fail and another will come on line. These were used to power hospitals in a 100% no fail 24/7/365 situation
 
Last edited:
Yup, it is always fun when I find a delta setup in a home.
Industrial, its all over the place, depending on distribution transformers, but on residences customers ALWAYS want me to feed with all the breakers, and cannot understand why I can't
 
I have seen many shops where some unqualified person has gone into the panel and used the only space available and installed a breaker to feed a 120 volt item...on the “stinger leg” ....the magic smoke is released from the unsuspecting device.

I always attach a custom label which clearly points out the “stinger leg” when i do three phase delta hi-leg panels, I had them designed and printed on vinyl. And wrap orange tape on every “stinger leg” feed wire, both in and out from the panel.....still i get fools that say it will work.....its only 120....
 
I was good at electrical work from an early age. When I was about 15, my father taught me how to use a soldering iron. I immediately got good at fixing CD players for my friends. Later, I moved on to fixing custom headphones, and the whole college came to me for help. Of course, I would have liked to do better at it. To pass a Master Electrician exam, you must be 22 years old. And when I was about 26 years old, I decided to take that exam after all, and an electric car repair company hired me. But my dream job now is to work for Tesla. Thank you for these questions, I enjoyed taking them, but I don't see the point in impressing you with the answers. Please, tell me how I can get closer to Tesla? Where should I apply?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Z
All Neutrals head back on bus bar? Question!
Replies
2
Views
323
Zybane
Z
T
AC/DC Buried Conduit Separation
Replies
17
Views
434
Sigunas
S
W
Wire size (and type) for 522V, 9A panel strings in 100 feet of PVC conduit?
Replies
1
Views
422
timselectric
T
downhilltrucker
Getting Ready to Install - Critique Please!
Replies
1
Views
194
MaikaiLife
MaikaiLife
CaliSunHarvester
Please review my panel setup
Replies
21
Views
1K
zanydroid
Z

diy solar

diy solar
Back
Top