# Switch leg's and travelers



## Chip1973 (Jun 2, 2021)

Was at work today and was ASK by my foreman to pull in some three-way and four way switch's, All 120v . He wanted me to use high voltage colors for my travelers is this acceptable by NEC?????


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## just the cowboy (Sep 4, 2013)

Are they being used by high voltage in the building ? Then no.
If not used as high voltage in the building and are not grey, white or green you can use them.

Cowboy

PS 
welcome.


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

Chip1973 said:


> Was at work today and was ASK by my foreman to pull in some three-way and four way switch's, All 120v . He wanted me to use high voltage colors for my travelers is this acceptable by NEC?????


What do you mean by high voltage colors, he had you use brown, yellow, orange? (I don't think he made you use gray...)

I think if you have both 120/208 and 480/277 systems on the same premises, and you use the color code to indicate which is which per 215.12(C), using the colors you use for 480/277 for 120/208 travelers would not be code compliant. Otherwise you could use whatever hot color you want for travelers and it's NEC compliant.

Using pink and purple for travelers seems like a good way to go, if you have both on the premies, you could use pink for 208/120 travelers and purple for 480/277 travelers.


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## SWDweller (Dec 9, 2020)

High voltage colors? Please enlighten me. There is no color code in the NEC, worse there is no light code for starters. Went down the rabbit hole once with a code panel over this. Dam they just beat me up and left me in the ditch.
I agree a standardization of colors would be fantastic, just not going to happen that I can see. 
High voltage is considered every thing above 1000v AC or 1500v DC. Below 1000v is all low voltage. 
Your actually pretty lucky if the color code on a single job stays the same.

In the United States, the National Electrical Manufacturer's Association (NEMA) defines high voltage as over 100 to 230 kV. taken from WIKI


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

Yiou know what he means by high voltage colors. No the nec does not state what colors to use but there is a standard that is used. As stated above if you have 480V or whatever in the building that is using the colors you want to use for the travelers than that is an issue otherwise you can use whatever colors you want besides white and green


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## mburtis (Sep 1, 2018)

Put the cover on the box and dont say nothing. That's what the guy before me did when he ran white for all the wires to some 3 phase heaters in the shop.


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## Easy (Oct 18, 2017)

I think for sake of argument you could probably use most any color for your travelers except white, green or grey. Some inspectors might be picky and disagree but that's up to them.
Personally I would use any color other than Brown, Orange, Yellow on a 120v system. Also I would probably not use Black Red or Blue for travelers if I could afford the extra cost of wire and were not restricted by financial constraints. Both travelers can be the same color so you really only need one more color like *purple*. This way it's easier to trouble shoot in a multi gang box. Travelers, switch legs and phase conductors will be easier to decipher.


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## Yankee77 (Oct 5, 2020)

splatz said:


> What do you mean by high voltage colors, he had you use brown, yellow, orange? (I don't think he made you use gray...)
> 
> I think if you have both 120/208 and 480/277 systems on the same premises, and you use the color code to indicate which is which per 215.12(C), using the colors you use for 480/277 for 120/208 travelers would not be code compliant. Otherwise you could use whatever hot color you want for travelers and it's NEC compliant.
> 
> ...


*

.....to the letter of the code that would be a code violation*


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## wiz1997 (Mar 30, 2021)

Why not tag the travelers?


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

Yankee77 said:


> *.....to the letter of the code that would be a code violation*


Is it? I am missing it ... where is that prohibited?


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## Easy (Oct 18, 2017)

*you could use pink for 208/120 travelers and purple for 480/277 travelers* 
How could that possibly be a code violation? 
We use grey and violet for 0 to 10 volt switching on 120vt systems. Grey is designated for 480 volt neutrals but when we use it for dimming we automatically know what it is by it's size.
Purple and Pink really have no designation that I know of. Perfect colors to use as travelers.


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## mburtis (Sep 1, 2018)

Or would a 480 traveler have to be brown, orange, or yellow, if that system is defined on premise?


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## Easy (Oct 18, 2017)

mburtis said:


> Or would a 480 traveler have to be brown, orange, or yellow, if that system is defined on premise?


Some designs actually spell out what they want. It just helps to quickly identify what's what at your switches.


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## just the cowboy (Sep 4, 2013)

Yankee77 said:


> *.....to the letter of the code that would be a code violation*


If they are not used for anything else in the building you would be ok as travelers as long as one color was used for each voltage. Where it gets tricky is when you have 208/120 three phase 240/120 3 phase and 480/277 3 phase all in the same building. 
The answer I got from an inspector was " as long as the high leg is orange and the other wires color reference to ground are the same you are good." In other words the 208 wires and A & C phase of delta could all be black, no need for red and blue.

Cowboy


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## Yankee77 (Oct 5, 2020)

just the cowboy said:


> If they are not used for anything else in the building you would be ok as travelers as long as one color was used for each voltage. Where it gets tricky is when you have 208/120 three phase 240/120 3 phase and 480/277 3 phase all in the same building.
> The answer I got from an inspector was " as long as the high leg is orange and the other wires color reference to ground are the same you are good." In other words the 208 wires and A & C phase of delta could all be black, no need for red and blue.
> 
> Cowboy


Show me the exception for switches with a building that has both 120/208v and 277/480v systems


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

Yankee77 said:


> Show me the exception for switches with a building that has both 120/208v and 277/480v systems


Looking at the code I think you're right. Here is 210.12(C), 215.12(C) is similar for feeders



> (C) Ungrounded Conductors.
> 
> Where the premises wiring system has branch circuits supplied from more than one nominal voltage system, each ungrounded conductor of a branch circuit shall be identified by phase or line and system at all termination, connection, and splice points.
> 
> ...


You have the rules that reserve white and gray for neutrals and green for grounding, other than that you can use whatever color you want in general. BUT, if you have more than one voltage system on the premises (usually 120/208 and 277/480) you have to identify your hots by phase / line at all termination, connection, and splice points, and post the scheme. Color coding is one means of identification you can use in your scheme, the usual black-red-blue-white and brown-orange-yellow-gray being the color scheme people tend to use by convention (i. e., everyone does it that way) but code doesn't require or even mention that color scheme. 

Using pink for 120/208 travelers and purple for 277/480 travelers alone wouldn't satisfy the requirement to identify *by phase or line AND* system - it would identify the *system* by color, _*but not the phase / line*_. 

Now if you added phase tape or tags to the pinks and purples to indicate the line / phase, and posted that in your scheme, you could do it.


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