What color wires need to go where when installing a battery in a sailboat. are some for lights? rado? blue?

Question

What color wires need to go where when installing a battery in a sailboat. are some for lights? rado? blue?

Answer 1

There is a standardized code set out by ABYC (American Boat and Yacht Council).  It follows as best as I can with my bad memory

DC wiring code

Red=positive from battery to distribution panel

Yellow=negative from battery to ground strip (NOTE:  This used to be black until the code was changed in 1997-1998 to prevent confusion with any AC lines on the boat. Black can still be used if there is no AC on the boat but it is not recommended.

Purple= ignition

blue=instrument lights positive

gray=navigation lights positive

light blue=cabin lights positive

brown=bilge pumps positive

Green=yacht bonding system to metal through hulls and all metal underwater appendages (struts, rudder logs and shaft logs)

  

Now to really confuse you.  I have in one of my reference manuals these following two charts.  Some of the colors may be a little contradictory, but it should at least give you an idea of what colors to use or what may already be on the boat.



Color Where Used / Function

Black All Ground until 1997-1998 change in code

Brown Reference Electrode MerCathode System

Orange Anode Electrode MerCathode System (The previous two are only for I/Os that use the mercathode system)

Lt. Blue/White Stripe Trim UP Switch





Lt. Green/White Stripe Trim DOWN Switch

Brown/White Stripe Trim Sender to Trim Gauge

Purple/White Stripe Trim "Trailer" Switch

Gray Tachometer Signal

Black/Yellow Stripe Shorting or Stop Circuit

Pink Fuel Sender to Gauge

Red Unprotected Wire from Battery

Red/Purple Stripe Protected (Fused) Wire from Battery

Red/Purple Stripe Protected (12 Volt +) to Trim Panel Control

Purple Ignition (Switch) to 12 Volt Positive

Tan Temperature Switch to Warning Horn

Tan Temperature Sender to Temperature Gauge

Tan/Blue Stripe Temperature Switch to Warning Horn

Yellow Starter Solenoid to Starter Motor

Yellow Starter to Regulator (Charging Circuit)

Yellow/Red Stripe Start Switch to Start Solenoid to Neutral Start Switch

Yellow/Black Stripe Choke (Enrichener System)

Green with Color Stripe Switch Box to Coil - Striped and Numbered

White/Black Stripe Bias Circuit (Switch Boxes)





The ABYC Recommended Colors which have a few variations follows ( this is directly out of the ABYC supplementary manual.  I can't remember which of the manuals are in current use as I don't wire boats anymore (retired in 2000).  Either way you go at least it gives you an outline for what to expect.



Color Where Used / Function

Yellow/Red Starting Circuits

Brown/Yellow or Yellow Bilge Blowers

Dark Grey Navigation Lights & Tach Signals

Orange Accessory Feeds

Brown Pumps

Purple Instrument Feeds

Dark Blue Cabin and instrument Lights

Light Blue Oil Pressure

Tan Water Temperature

Pink Fuel Gauge Sender

I realize that this is a long answer but I don't know how many items you will be putting on the sailboat or what size she is.

I know this answers your question.

Answer 2

Color coding your wires is very important.  You also have to remember that sometimes you may be running off of the batteries or you might be running off of shore power.  Some people only use shore power to charge the batteries and other use shore power to run stuff on the boat.  Whatever you do, don't get the battery power wires confused with the shore power wires.

Shore power is 120 volt ac and the standard colors are black for the "Hot" wire, white for neutral, and green for ground.  If you have 240 volts ac going to boat, then the other hot wire shall be a red color.

If you are not going to use shore power, then red and black will work fine, but I would STRONGLY recommend using others colors for your 12/24 volts dc power if you do use shore power.

Answer 3

Color coding of wires differ depending on manufacture. The only thing standard, as far as colors go , are Black-Negative and Red is Positive, The rest depends on the person. Just make a diagram and label each color wire with the item it powers. Hope this helps

Answer 4

The only thing that should be connected to a battery is battery cables, red positive and black negative. All other wiring originates at the battery switch or distribution panel with circuit breakers or fuses. Engine wiring usually originates at the starter. I recommend you get a current book on boat electrical systems and read up.