Wiring color code?

[Just_There]

I just replaced the vent fan in the bathroom of my Class C. The switch was wired to the green wire. I thought it was odd that the switch would be on the ground side, not the hot wire. Turns out the green was the hot wire! Is this normal/typical? I am familiar with American, European, automotive and electronic color coding. I have never seen green used as a hot, or anything other than ground unless it was in a harness perhaps.

Is there any standard of color coding for RVs?

[Just_There]

Mystery solved on the color coding for my RV. It was obviously wired by a Rasta man.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The only entity that I am aware of, that has tried to make an effort to improve this nightmare is the Yacht Safety Council.

They successfully changed the color code of battery negative regardless of voltage to yellow. This was done to greatly reduce the chances of misidentification with AC line voltage. Today even 0000 cables can be easily found with a yellow jacket.

I insisted on using a jacketed duplex wire with black and white wires sheathed in a white jacket for AC voltage.

To me, green is sacred. Earth ground. I reserve orange for the switched side of low voltage meaning the load side of the switch. Red is always low voltage positive after fusing and always alive until the battery bank is switched off.

But that is just me. 🙂

[wa8yxm]

Your mistake was in assuming that there is an actual STANDARD.. now on the 120 volt side of life TRADITIONALLY green is ground. White is neutral and Black or Red hot or hot switched (Red is often used for that) But it is not, as far as I know a STANDARD so much as a tradition.

On the 12 volt side of life about the only Tradition is Black is negative and Red positive. all other colors are whatever the builder want them to be and even that is not followed in RV's where WHITE is often the negativw and Black is Positive.

So.. ALWAYS meter the wire ALWAYS only way to be sure.

Back in the 50's The dash on your car was Steel and grounded so the SHELL of a cigg-ligher (not called 12 volt accessory) socket was negative on 12 volt cars made in the USA (positive on an English Ford)

Then they started making dashes out of plastic and the worker whould hook up the wires to the lighter/accesory socket without paying attention.> Thus the Shell on many was Positive and the "tip" (Center contact" Negative.. I have (Somewher) a lighter plug with a LED light in it.

Green = Normal
Red = Reverse
Yellow = AC not DC

[Just_There]

I normally meter EVERYTHING, but I did not anticipate the aluminum framework for the vent would be grounded. FWIW, it is, whether intentional or not...cost me a 15amp fuse to discover this and that green was hot. Learned something new.

As a side note: living in a developing country I learned quickly that any color wire could/would be used for any purpose based on availability. If you were lucky it MIGHT be tagged with the proper color on the ends.

[dougrainer]

RV wiring
1. Winnebago used GREEN for ground for years and BLACK for Positive. I believe they were the only ones and this was at the Coach battery connections. The interior appliances then had various colors for Positive. As a side note, this battery wiring caused problems 35 years ago. Winne started using Sears Diehard batteries as OEM coach batteries and expected the vast Sears network to handle battery warranty issues. Sears did for about a year. Then both Sears and Winne issued a bulletin that Sears would only work on Winne/Itasca batteries AFTER they were removed from the motorhome. It seems the Sears Technicians did not know about the color scheme for Winne--GREEN for Ground and BLACK for Positive. They replaced batteries and reversed connected them and the resulting melting and problems caused Sears money. So they stopped working on Sears Diehards in the Motorhomes.
2. Standard for almost all other RV makers is WHITE for Ground.
3. ALL other colors will be Positive.
4. To make it more confusing. Regardless of RV maker they use BLACK going to a Genset for Ground and RED for the positive.
5. Bottom line, you can NEVER be sure without using a voltmeter.

[ppine]

Wired by a derelict with a hangover.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The last totaled burn-out I did for Good Sam, allowed me to see the quality of the then brand new Alpenlite trailer.

The burnout was caused by a defective neutral.

Seven hot wires 120vac had been punctured by staples. Some of the longer 12vdc wires had been extended using plastic butt connectors. The tank's info panel had a dozen wire nuts.

I had a helper who was saving up to return to Mexico City. The guy had a near-genius understanding of cabinets and paneling from several years working at the Fleetwood factory in Pomona. One wire powering the outside porch light had been stretched so tight it had been pulled out of a spade terminal.

The owner kicked in the difference and he opted for a Trace 2500SB inverter. We upgraded the batteries to genuine Trojan T-105's. Homero (?) readjusted the furniture to allow a couple of inches more clearance for the dining table. Sal, at Kool Fun, sold a then hard to get refrigerator control board and hot water heater control to me.

The biggest pain was running a 24 conductor wire from the water tanks to the monitor panel.

Armando my hyper supercharged assistant did far better work about twice as fast as the Fleetwood crew according to the discharged Fleetwood employee (whose verified name is lost to me).

The owner opted to replace the Onan Emerald governor with an electronic governor (which did not get affected. At the time the price of the Woodward unit was less than half the price as it is today. During testing, he could scarcely believe 60.0 Hz versus Onan's sloppiness and tendency to surge. I cold not flatten it out.

Good Sam did not pay for the upgrades...the owner did. The owner brought the rig up from the San Fernando Valley and helped strip out the burned harness. The loss of neutral had occurred at the hot water heater after burning through a connector at the entry drop.

I got too good of a look at how OEM wiring was installed. Yucko, The new guy had pronounced it as "typical".

The insulation of the Alpenlite impressed me. Those days were in the summer. I placed a swamp cooler at one door and the air exited out the other end. The ex-factory worker looked at me like I was nuts when I asked him how the factory did it,

[pianotuna]

Welcome to the forums!

Don't assume that color code is consistent even within one RV.

For example the dash radio in my class C runs from the house batteries and has an undocumented in line fuse. Good luck to anyone finding it except by accident.

[DFord]

Each assembly line may have their own. There is no standard that I know of.

[azdryheat]

And so goes the quality of our RV's.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

"Oye Guillero we got any yellow left?"

"NO! Only green"