Cable Labeling

Mike Blair · May 15, 2015

i see this all the time for example

3 core and earth one electrician will use brown as switch live and black as perm live
as another electrician uses brown as perm live and black as switch live

might be a bit silly to ask but does anyone else come across this "for equipment like Pir ,emergancy lighting"

Darkwood · May 15, 2015

Both are phase colours but in domestic (single phase)the black should be identified either way with a brown tag/sleeve ... no definitive regulation but the general practice is BRN - L and BLK - SW

davesparks · May 15, 2015

In emergency lighting it's not uncommon to see the black as the permanent live, brown for switches live.
It's like rock roses, some use the A as the permanent live, others the L as the permanent live.

uksparks · May 15, 2015

If there's a brown, then I would always use that as permanent live, black is switched and grey is neutral or whatever else you use it for.

Marvo · May 15, 2015

Sounds like one of the few things that hasn't been dumbed down or over-regulated to the point where you don't need a tester. I wouldn't complain if I were you even if it does mean you need to be inconvenienced a little by having to take each installation as you find it.

NDG Elecs · May 15, 2015

uksparks said:
If there's a brown, then I would always use that as permanent live, black is switched and grey is neutral or whatever else you use it for.

Yep agree with that. Though sometimes I may swap the S/L to grey and neutral to black if the smoke alarm/fan isolator/etc terminals are laid out in a certain way. Bit of sleeving at all accessories obviously.

remer1957 · May 22, 2015

I can never understand why in 3 core SWA's the manufacturers don't have a variation of cable colours and make brown, blue and green and yellow cored cables. I find it a (time and space consuming) pain in the a*se carrying around loads of sleeving of different sizes to cover the black and grey cores. I don't ever like relying on armouring for earthing.

Deleted member 72666 · May 22, 2015

Because it's cheaper for them to produce and warehouse also the wholsalers would have to find extra floorspace to accommodate all the different sizes.

davesparks · May 22, 2015

remer1957 said:
I can never understand why in 3 core SWA's the manufacturers don't have a variation of cable colours and make brown, blue and green and yellow cored cables. I find it a (time and space consuming) pain in the a*se carrying around loads of sleeving of different sizes to cover the black and grey cores. I don't ever like relying on armouring for earthing.

Because three core SWA is intended for three phase, four core for three phase and neutral and two core is for single phase.
Why would you not use the armour for a cpc ? It's what it's there for!

Leesparkykent · May 22, 2015

davesparks said:
Because three core SWA is intended for three phase, four core for three phase and neutral and two core is for single phase.
Why would you not use the armour for a cpc ? It's what it's there for!

It is available though with brown, blue and green/yellow.

3 Core 2.5mm SWA Cable (Blue, Brown, Green/Yellow)| MeteorElectrical.com

remer1957 · May 22, 2015

Oink, never knew that, what a simpleton I am! I have enquired at the wholesalers I use and gave up asking. Thanks for the post.

remer1957 · May 22, 2015

I only use the armouring as mechanical protection. I don't rely on it as an earth because of the wet environments I install in, I don't like the chance that possible future corrosion might adversely affect it's functionality. Most of my installs are to quite high amperage motors, so I include a core in the SWA's for earthing i.e. 2 x 4 cores.

remer1957 · May 22, 2015

Most of the wholesalers don't stock much in the way of cabling these days anyway. I get my larger amounts from BATT cables and they have enormous storage. Most of the stuff I use is FP rated as well-400 or 600.