hanging light fixture, black, YELLOW, ORANGE?

bergerdude

Hi,
My newer home in chicago never has the colors I expect in the boxes.

So I have a ceiling box to hang a simple 2 wire fixture plus a bare copper ground to the box which has black-hot- then my confusion, yellow and orange is in there too.....neither of which seems hot no matter what combo of switches in the house I use. I have a double switch in this room, and one switch is for the outlet I believe.

Aren't orange and yellow for 480VAC, just regurgitatin what an internet search came with for standard color use.

I am guessing I will cap the orange or yellow and wire black and the other to the 2 wire lamp....2 wires shouldn't matter....just needs to go and on, right?

Dave632

I think I'd start by taking the cover off your double switch, and see if there are any yellow or orange wires in there. Might be a clue as to what is going on.

frenchelectrican

Due you are in Chicago they have uquine wiring colour format so let me post this real quick.,

White-Neutral
Grey-Dedicated neutral for GFCI
red-black -blue--Power
Brown--travelers for three way
purple--GFCI protected power
yellow-orange---switch legs

This is typical but be aware there may be some change along the way but this listing will typically cover most case beside the AFCI which I have not check it out yet.

Merci,
Marc

__________________
The answer will be based on NEC ( National Electrical code ) or CEC ( Cananda Electrical code ) or ECF ( Electrique Code France )

mpoulton

As unnecessary and crazy at most of Chicago's rules are, this is a very useful standard. It's pretty cool to have that kind of predictability and identifiability in an electrical installation. Most commercial jobs elsewhere don't even have that.