How to wire a light fixture with green and yellow wire and Hunker10 electrical wire colors and what they actually mean.

Each wire function in a circuit is specified by the colors of the electrical wires that bind your home together.What does each one mean?

The color coating around the copper conductor gives you clues as to what each wire does and whether it is hot, neutral, or ground.

This is incredibly important to know before you start any kind of home wiring project, as well as essential to your safety, so let's explore what these colored wires mean and when to use them.

Black electrical wires are used for power in all types of circuits.When you see a black wire, make sure you use extra caution.Black wire should be considered live at all times.

The wires are used as a switch leg to transfer power from one circuit to another.Black wires are meant to be used as the power feed for an outlet or switch and are not used for a ground wire.Residential buildings are where they are found the most.

Secondary live wires in 220-volt circuits are found in red electrical wires.These wires are used to connect smoke detectors to the power system.

You can link a red wire to a black wire.Red wires are considered hot because they conduct current.

Blue and yellow wires are used in commercial buildings to pull live wires through a conduit.These wires are not used in typical outlet wiring.Travelers are hot wires that are used to conduct current between switches and poles.

Blue wires are usually used as travelers for three- or four-way switches, while yellow wire is used for switch legs to ceiling fans, structural lights, and outlets.

A neutral wire is indicated by the colors white and gray.The neutral bus bar is connected to an electrical panel.

Once power leaves the electrical panel through the hot wire of a circuit and works through devices such as a light bulb or an outlet, the current returns back to the service panel via the neutral wire.

Residential buildings usually have white wires while commercial buildings have gray wires.Only white and gray wires can be connected.

Even though the wires are neutral, they may still carry a current.If you see a white wire marked with black or red, that means it is no longer neutral and is acting as a hot wire.

The ground bus bar has green wires running to it from an electrical panel.Their primary purpose is to ground an electrical circuit and provide a path for a circuit's electric current if a live wire within the circuit interacts with another metal.

These wires act as failsafes and allow electricity to have a place to escape.Treat them cautiously because they can carry significant current.

The most common colors used in electrical wiring are these.striped wires can be used for other applications.

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