12v wires

[Boat&Bikes]

Obvious to many i know but when wiring 12v is there a positive and negative and if so which colours go where? If its important im about to wire up led strip lights.

 

Ian.

[Ex- Member]

Obvious to many i know but when wiring 12v is there a positive and negative and if so which colours go where? If its important im about to wire up led strip lights.

 

Ian.

 

Red positive + Black Negative -

 

I must say If you don't know this very basic information are you sure you are able to do this correctly and confidently. I would imagine most school children would know that 12 volt colour code which is in everyday use in battery powered equipment as well as cars and smoke alarms.

Edited August 2, 2012 by Julynian

[ditchcrawler]

Red positive + Black Negative -

 

I must say If you don't know this very basic information are you sure you are able to do this correctly. I would imagine most school children would know that colour code.

But check it with a meter before you connect it anyway. Not everyone uses the right colours.

[Paul C]

There is no standardisation in 12V wiring colour codes. For example, if you followed the above red & black guideline, your canal boat would have an awful lot of red wires and an awful lot of black wires, and would be very confusing to troubleshoot!

 

There are a few colour coding conventions I can think of, but they are for cars, not sure if really applicable to a canal boat. If you're fitting new stuff, so long as you keep wire colour codes logical and keep a note of them, should be okay. If you're deciphering someone else's wiring.......best of luck.

[Boat&Bikes]

Red positive + Black Negative -

 

I must say If you don't know this very basic information are you sure you are able to do this correctly. I would imagine most school children would know that colour code.

 

 

I have 2 wires,1 is red ,other is red/black stripes.May i add i take your reply as an insult.

[Ex- Member]

There is no standardisation in 12V wiring colour codes. For example, if you followed the above red & black guideline, your canal boat would have an awful lot of red wires and an awful lot of black wires, and would be very confusing to troubleshoot!

 

There are a few colour coding conventions I can think of, but they are for cars, not sure if really applicable to a canal boat. If you're fitting new stuff, so long as you keep wire colour codes logical and keep a note of them, should be okay. If you're deciphering someone else's wiring.......best of luck.

 

 

Most importantly, you should always follow the color-coding standard used in the industry when adding or replacing the wiring in your boat.

 

 

The 12volt standard is as follows:

• Black - Common ground for the electrical system
• Red - Main (+) for the electrical system
• Purple - Accessories positive lead between key switch and positive lead of accessory
• Purple w/white stripe - Positive lead between key switch and choke solenoid on engine
• Yellow w/red stripe - Positive lead between key switch and starter solenoid
• Red w/white stripe - Positive lead feeding power to individual solenoids on an engine
• Brown - Positive lead for pumps like bilge or wash down
• Tan - Sender lead for temperature gauge
• Pink - Sender lead for fuel sender in fuel tank
• Dark Blue - Lighting - primarily in instrument panel gauges
• Gray - Navigation lights
• Light Blue - Oil pressure sender lead between engine oil pressure sender and gauge "S" terminal
• Orange - Alternator output lead which connects to starter solenoid positive post to recharge batteries
• Yellow - This color in a solid form is seldom used but can be used for windshield wiper circuits
• Green - Vessel earth ground which is used in bonding circuits to provide an earth ground to the vessel
• Orange w/yellow stripe - Horn positive lead
• Purple w/red stripe - Blower positive lead as well as accessories such as nav equipment and radios
• Tan w/ stripe - Warning circuit between sender and alarm circuit, match stripe color to sender type, ie blue for oil, brown for temp etc

http://www.marinesurveysplus.com/boatwiring.aspx

[Paul C]

Playing devil's advocate (slightly)....If anything, I'd not use red or black - keep these for older style 240V live and neutral. Similarly, avoid brown, blue and yellow/green.

 

Or, you could standardise on brown for earths, like some cars do.

 

When a wire is striped with a major colour and a minor colour, often the major colour relates to a group of similar devices, and the minor colour differentiates between the individual wires.

[ridders]

I have 2 wires,1 is red ,other is red/black stripes.May i add i take your reply as an insult.

i would as well- unnecessary

as above test it with a meter to check , it may be a good chance to work out how all the wiring works on your boat, always a help if problems come along!

even a cheap shop digital meter will work ok, and will show a minus voltage when connected the other way round. it'll come in handy for a million other things if you keep it on board

paul

eta if you add wires or circuits to your dc system, keep a drawing of what's what for future reference, very few british older boats will be wired to the (american) standard shown above, and i wouldn,t like to have to buy a reel of each colour to use once and never again.

edited again for spelling sorry

Edited August 2, 2012 by ridders

[Ex- Member]

I have 2 wires,1 is red ,other is red/black stripes.May i add i take your reply as an insult.

 

 

It wasn't meant to be, but even 12 volt electrics can be dangerous and this is very basic knowledge so I question your competence to safely work on a 12 volt electrical system.

[Chalky]

I used red and black for 12V and Brown, Blue and green with yellow trace for 240V for all circuits. I also added cable numbers on each end of the cable and recorded these on the circuit diagram. I did consider using wires with trace colours (I work in an industry where I have access to the full range) however I stayed with red / black since it meant that anyone else could debug it if I sold the boat. If I need to sort out a wire from a bundle I can use a signal tracer.

[ridders]

I used red and black for 12V and Brown, Blue and green with yellow trace for 240V for all circuits. I also added cable numbers on each end of the cable and recorded these on the circuit diagram. I did consider using wires with trace colours (I work in an industry where I have access to the full range) however I stayed with red / black since it meant that anyone else could debug it if I sold the boat. If I need to sort out a wire from a bundle I can use a signal tracer.

excellent, numbering kits available from screwfix etc as well, remember to check you're not overloading any circuits you're altering, and that they're protected with suitable fuses or breakers

Edited August 2, 2012 by ridders

[Boat&Bikes]

I made a mistake,and described poorly my question.My boat wiring,12v is red and black,im wiring in via a 2 pin plug a 2 wired strip light.On closer inspection the strip has 1 black,1 red wire,the confusion was caused by the black wire pulling a fine line of red with it where they join(hope that makes sense).Will add though that some here are rather quick to insult.Thanks for help to the others.

 

Ian.

[Ex- Member]

I made a mistake,and described poorly my question.My boat wiring,12v is red and black,im wiring in via a 2 pin plug a 2 wired strip light.On closer inspection the strip has 1 black,1 red wire,the confusion was caused by the black wire pulling a fine line of red with it where they join(hope that makes sense).Will add though that some here are rather quick to insult.Thanks for help to the others.

 

Ian.

It wasn't meant to be, but even 12 volt electrics can be dangerous and this is very basic knowledge so I question your competence to safely work on a 12 volt electrical system.

[bowten]

I have 2 wires,1 is red ,other is red/black stripes.May i add i take your reply as an insult.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.Yo seem to know more about Fiat engines.

[Boat&Bikes]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.Yo seem to know more about Fiat engines.

 

Tis my speciality yes.Glad you noticed.

[bowten]

I made a mistake,and described poorly my question.My boat wiring,12v is red and black,im wiring in via a 2 pin plug a 2 wired strip light.On closer inspection the strip has 1 black,1 red wire,the confusion was caused by the black wire pulling a fine line of red with it where they join(hope that makes sense).Will add though that some here are rather quick to insult.Thanks for help to the others.

 

Ian.

It don't matter which wires you choose(red or black) the light doesn't know.You will have noticed of course that one as to be careful what one says when asking questions or answering said questions otherwise the trolls will bite.Thats why this post was edited 3 times.

Edited August 2, 2012 by bowten

[Boat&Bikes]

It don't matter which wires you choose the light doesn't know.

 

 

Thank you.

[bowten]

Unless its a Fiat.

[Boat&Bikes]

Unless its a Fiat.

 

well thats just stating the obvious,Fiats have no working electrics.

[nicknorman]

It don't matter which wires you choose(red or black) the light doesn't know.You will have noticed of course that one as to be careful what one says when asking questions or answering said questions otherwise the trolls will bite.Thats why this post was edited 3 times.

It doesn't matter what colour the wires are, but it does matter to get the electrical polarity correct for LED light strips.

[BlueStringPudding]

well thats just stating the obvious,Fiats have no working electrics.

 

[Pretty Funked Up]

Negative = black

Positive = anything but black

 

My personal preference though lol defo not a standard

[Keith M]

Most importantly, you should always follow the color-coding standard used in the industry when adding or replacing the wiring in your boat.

 

 

The 12volt standard is as follows:

• Black - Common ground for the electrical system
• Red - Main (+) for the electrical system
• Purple - Accessories positive lead between key switch and positive lead of accessory
• Purple w/white stripe - Positive lead between key switch and choke solenoid on engine
• Yellow w/red stripe - Positive lead between key switch and starter solenoid
• Red w/white stripe - Positive lead feeding power to individual solenoids on an engine
• Brown - Positive lead for pumps like bilge or wash down
• Tan - Sender lead for temperature gauge
• Pink - Sender lead for fuel sender in fuel tank
• Dark Blue - Lighting - primarily in instrument panel gauges
• Gray - Navigation lights
• Light Blue - Oil pressure sender lead between engine oil pressure sender and gauge "S" terminal
• Orange - Alternator output lead which connects to starter solenoid positive post to recharge batteries
• Yellow - This color in a solid form is seldom used but can be used for windshield wiper circuits
• Green - Vessel earth ground which is used in bonding circuits to provide an earth ground to the vessel
• Orange w/yellow stripe - Horn positive lead
• Purple w/red stripe - Blower positive lead as well as accessories such as nav equipment and radios
• Tan w/ stripe - Warning circuit between sender and alarm circuit, match stripe color to sender type, ie blue for oil, brown for temp etc

http://www.marinesurveysplus.com/boatwiring.aspx

 

 

This is an USA standard

 

And not used in the UK

 

keith

[David Schweizer]

My experience suggests that there is no standardization for wiring colours. Our boat was built 30 years ago, and uses what I believe was standard vehicle coding at the time, ie. brown for negative and a range of colours for positive, red being reserved primarily for the charging and fuse box suuply circuits. This also means that some lighting circuits have black positive cables!!

 

I have added quite a lot of additional circuits since aquiring the boat and have used black for negative and a range of colours (excluding brown) for the positive cables, this has led to the bizzaire situation where extensions to the existing circuits have red cables connected to the black, and black cables connected to the brown.

 

The important thing, as has already been suggested, is to use a meter to check polarity before connecting anything.

[Albion]

edited out

Edited August 4, 2012 by Albion