# Three blacks for 3 ph equipment ?



## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

I use 3 of the same color for 3 phase all the time. I have a label printer and tape.


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

Most of the JWs here carry red, white and blue heatshrink.


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

chewy said:


> Most of the JWs here carry red, white and blue heatshrink.


Getting patriotic ?:laughing:


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

Shockdoc said:


> Getting patriotic ?:laughing:


It can also be red yellow and blue haha.


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## butcher733 (Aug 4, 2012)

Ever seen an mc cable job that was three phase and most of the cable was 12-2 with a black hot? Confusing as hell!


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

I felt like a hack because all the old undersized wiring I ripped out was phase colored, blue ,black, red. And here I was pulling all blacks thru the existing conduit.


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## drspec (Sep 29, 2012)

what size wire were you pulling?


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

depends on what it is. 3 blacks and a green is common for motorsk for small gauge wiring for lights its stupid.


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## 3xdad (Jan 25, 2011)

...so three blacks a green and a white walk into a bar....

Ah forget it.


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## ampman (Apr 2, 2009)

if no grounded conductor was present or a different voltage


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

chewy said:


> Most of the JWs here carry red, white and blue heatshrink.


No one dinks around with heatshrink in the field here.

We use it for ID'ing and labling in the panel and machine building shop sometimes but not for building wiring.


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

Shockdoc said:


> How bad is it?
> Did you ever end up in a situation where all you had is black, white and green and then find out it's three phase?


You may not even be required to identify them at all.

Is there more than one voltage system in the building?


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## HARRY304E (Sep 15, 2010)

drspec said:


> what size wire were you pulling?


It could be big ...


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

Jlarson said:


> No one dinks around with heatshrink in the field here.
> 
> We use it for ID'ing and labling in the panel and machine building shop sometimes but not for building wiring.


I was talking about the mains and sub mains, we just use romex here.


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

drspec said:


> what size wire were you pulling?


#10s


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

BBQ said:


> You may not even be required to identify them at all.
> 
> Is there more than one voltage system in the building?


Only primaries to step down 120/208y


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## Chrisibew440 (Sep 13, 2013)

Shockdoc said:


> How bad is it?
> Did you ever end up in a situation where all you had is black, white and green and then find out it's three phase?


I would never energize a white or green to accommodate a phase. Run all blacks. In heavy motor control using all the same colors can sometimes be easier.


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## Norcal (Mar 22, 2007)

Chrisibew440 said:


> I would never energize a white or green to accommodate a phase. Run all blacks. In heavy motor control using all the same colors can sometimes be easier.


 
You do not like what some doofus did here?  As far as I know it's still like this.


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## Wirenuting (Sep 12, 2010)

I would rather find a green on a device then find another conduit being used as the neutral out of a 3 phase 3 wire 208 panel. 
The times I've found a green being used as a hot they have always been terminated on something and pulled tight thru any boxes so a person can't splice into it. 
It's someone being lazy and not going back to the truck for another roll of wire.


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## SparkyDino (Sep 23, 2013)

can you post a pic of the black wires for me so I can see what color they are?

I like pictures


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## oldtimer (Jun 10, 2010)

SparkyDino said:


> can you post a pic of the black wires for me so I can see what color they are?
> 
> I like pictures


 
Duh ! Black, Blacker, Blackest ! :laughing:


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## SparkyDino (Sep 23, 2013)

oldtimer said:


> Duh ! Black, Blacker, Blackest ! :laughing:


what he said ^ :laughing:


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## btharmy (Jan 17, 2009)

butcher733 said:


> Ever seen an mc cable job that was three phase and most of the cable was 12-2 with a black hot? Confusing as hell!


 It's pretty much the same as using all black romex. Do you use red, white and bare romex in residential?


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## bill39 (Sep 4, 2009)

Black for ALL 480V wiring is the rule for about every industrial customer I've ever worked for.

Red for all 120VAC wiring, and blue for all DC wiring regardless of voltage is also very common in industrial work.


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

bill39 said:


> Black for ALL 480V wiring is the rule for about every industrial customer I've ever worked for.
> 
> Red for all 120VAC wiring, and blue for all DC wiring regardless of voltage is also very common in industrial work.


Under current NEC rules that is likely a violation.


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Three blacks- tape the first on once. tape the second on with two spots of tape . Tape the third one with three spots of tape wrapped around a few times.

Now you have identified your phases. Leave the light on so when some old fart like me who understands exactly what them wraps of tape all mean can see them since they are black on black........


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## bill39 (Sep 4, 2009)

BBQ said:


> Under current NEC rules that is likely a violation.


 
BBQ, 
I left out the part about 120V neutrals being white & grounded DC -'s being blue w/white tracer or white w/blue tracer, but other than that what is the violation? Most or all industrial specs are very specific about wire labels being on each wire..

Also, there are always the fuzzy exceptions in the NEC about industrial machinery and control panels not needing to follow the NEC if under engineering supervision.....yada, yada, yada.
=====
Thanks,


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## oldtimer (Jun 10, 2010)

What I ALWAYS do is , ....... .......

Tape one conductor with RED tape .

Tape the second conductor with Blue tape .

Tape the third conductor with BLACK tape .


:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing: 

Therefore all 3 black conductors are very easily identifiable ! 

:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:


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## gesparky221 (Nov 30, 2007)

We normally pull black for all unswitched ac supply. We mark the wiring with labels to indentify. We use red for switched AC, PLC inputs, outputs, relay control, Blue for dc. Yellow is used to show a seperate power source. Our color code was set in place by the Electrical Engineer that was in charge when I started here, 28+ years ago.


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

Industrial guys like to carry 79 color code over to everything. :laughing:


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