# Control Wire Colors



## sparky970 (Mar 19, 2008)

Any wholesale house should be able to get it


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## GPM (Jun 17, 2012)

I am sure they can. I guess I need to see what the minimum spool size will be. Sometimes it is a GIANT amount of wire for the smallest spool.


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## Peewee0413 (Oct 18, 2012)

Ebay has partial spools of wire,


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## bill39 (Sep 4, 2009)

GPM said:


> I am sure they can. I guess I need to see what the minimum spool size will be. Sometimes it is a GIANT amount of wire for the smallest spool.


We're able to buy it in 500 or 1000 ft reels and it's available in3-5 days.
We just make sure to order a new reel before the last one runs out.


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## denny3992 (Jul 12, 2010)

We use blue with white stripe.. And it is hard to find... In thhn but readily avail in mtw


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## Big John (May 23, 2010)

denny3992 said:


> We use blue with white stripe.. And it is hard to find... In thhn but readily avail in mtw


 That's what I remember. MTW was off the shelf through the supply house. And I believe we custom ordered SIS from Omnicable. They were 500' spools.


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## Cemo (Feb 5, 2011)

GPM said:


> I know what the code (NFPA 79) says about wire colors but it is a pain to find "white with a blue stripe" for DCV ground/return. What are other people doing and is there a special www.whitewithbluestripewire.com website I am missing?
> 
> We aren't building panels every day so a 5,000 foot roll might be more than we need. I can ID it with tape or shrink tubing I suppose but I would rather have a 500 foot roll of the wire so I can just cut a length and go.
> 
> Thanks


It is not ready available around here we usually order it from Anixter 2-3 day for delivery.


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

You can order it online from automation direct if you can't get it in town.


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

I'm thinking about just using all purple wire from now on


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## GPM (Jun 17, 2012)

It's a long story but in the past we have not followed the code regarding wiring colors for panels because they were one off panels that were being used in house. We followed code for ACV but on low voltage DCV we used our own scheme and everything is labeled. However, we are now making some prototype control panels that will eventually be produced in quantity so I need to be sure they are up to spec.

It seems odd to me that with all the machine panels out there, and all the DCV requires a return wire that is white w/ blue or blue w/white that this stuff not readily available off the shelf. I am not a panel builder so maybe some of you guys who regularly build panels can help me out with this. The DCV return must be one of those colors correct?

Thanks


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## Peewee0413 (Oct 18, 2012)

For a universal understanding, yes white with blue.


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## bill4807 (Jan 4, 2013)

I use blue/wht for -24. And if you are running alot of it i would use MTW. Although shiny THHN looks nice, if you are doing alot of bends MTW is definitely easier.


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## bill39 (Sep 4, 2009)

GPM said:


> ........
> 
> It seems odd to me that with all the machine panels out there, and all the DCV requires a return wire that is white w/ blue or blue w/white that this stuff not readily available off the shelf. I am not a panel builder so maybe some of you guys who regularly build panels can help me out with this. The DCV return must be one of those colors correct?
> 
> Thanks


Correct me if I'm wrong but blu w/wht is only required by the NFPA-79 if the DC- is grounded.

If DC- is ungrounded the use blue.


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