Help to wire washing machine cables into wall motor protection switch

[mlxmilano]

Hello,

I have two electrical switches in my house that should be connected to the washing machine and the dryer machine, respectively. After having opened them I found 5 cables: black, white, red (connected to the central part) and yellow, yellow-green. I am nearly sure the yellow is the neutral, while the yellow-green is the ground. The black usually is the hot wire when I connect laps and similar, but I really don't know what are the other 2 cables.

After some research I understand this is a special setup that i am not familiar, but that seems pretty common for these type of switches. The switches are functional (the previous owner was using them), so I just need to know where to connect the wires from the washing and drying machines: these two machines have a classic 3 pole switch, so I expect when I cut the cable I will find 3 wires.

Could someone please help telling me whre to connect the washing machine cables? On the 3 sides of the central black part, there are the notes L1, L2, L3 and T1, T2, T3.

Many thanks for your help.

FYI: this is a Swiss house.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

This is a 3-phase circuit so there are three line wires L1, L2 and L3; one neutral and the protective earth / ground. The colours follow the Swiss code that was used between 1970 and 1980.

L1: Black
L2: Red
L3: White
N: Yellow
PE: Green/Yellow

If your washing machine has a 3-core cable it is single-phase. You can use any of the three available phases L1, L2 or L3 to power it. These correspond to the switch outputs T1, T2 or T3.

Therefore:
Phase (Brown) > T1 (Black) or T2 (Red) or T3 (White)
Neutral (Blue) > Neutral (Yellow)
Earth (Grn/Yel) > Earth (Grn/Yel)

Three points to note.

Make sure the circuit is designed for the full load current of your machines. If the previous machine was 3-phase the load might have been spread across the 3 phases. E.g. old machine 3x 6A, new machine 1x 16A. Check the fuses / circuit breaker.

Related: It is probably best to connect the two machines onto two different phases so that the combined load is not drawn from one phase of the house supply. You might like to look at the way the other circuits in the house are allocated to the three phases and avoid the circuit with the highest load. This is often L1, in which case put one machine onto T2 and the other T3.

Voltage between any two lines is 400V, between line and neutral or earth is 230V

Die alten Kabelfarben sehen für mich nett aus, ebenso die Beschreibungen, wenn sie auf Deutsch sind. Außenleiter. Schutzleiter. J'aurais dû écrire tout ça en allemand, o forse francese o romancio, as I don't know where in Switzerland you are. Romansh is all Greek to me though.

 

[mlxmilano]

This is a 3-phase circuit so there are three line wires L1, L2 and L3; one neutral and the protective earth / ground. The colours follow the Swiss code that was used between 1970 and 1980.

L1: Black
L2: Red
L3: White
N: Yellow
PE: Green/Yellow

If your washing machine has a 3-core cable it is single-phase. You can use any of the three available phases L1, L2 or L3 to power it. These correspond to the switch outputs T1, T2 or T3.

Therefore:
Phase (Brown) > T1 (Black) or T2 (Red) or T3 (White)
Neutral (Blue) > Neutral (Yellow)
Earth (Grn/Yel) > Earth (Grn/Yel)

Three points to note.

Make sure the circuit is designed for the full load current of your machines. If the previous machine was 3-phase the load might have been spread across the 3 phases. E.g. old machine 3x 6A, new machine 1x 16A. Check the fuses / circuit breaker.

Related: It is probably best to connect the two machines onto two different phases so that the combined load is not drawn from one phase of the house supply. You might like to look at the way the other circuits in the house are allocated to the three phases and avoid the circuit with the highest load. This is often L1, in which case put one machine onto T2 and the other T3.

Voltage between any two lines is 400V, between line and neutral or earth is 230V

Die alten Kabelfarben sehen für mich nett aus, ebenso die Beschreibungen, wenn sie auf Deutsch sind. Außenleiter. Schutzleiter. J'aurais dû écrire tout ça en allemand, o forse francese o romancio, as I don't know where in Switzerland you are. Romansh is all Greek to me though.

This is a 3-phase circuit so there are three line wires L1, L2 and L3; one neutral and the protective earth / ground. The colours follow the Swiss code that was used between 1970 and 1980.

L1: Black
L2: Red
L3: White
N: Yellow
PE: Green/Yellow

If your washing machine has a 3-core cable it is single-phase. You can use any of the three available phases L1, L2 or L3 to power it. These correspond to the switch outputs T1, T2 or T3.

Therefore:
Phase (Brown) > T1 (Black) or T2 (Red) or T3 (White)
Neutral (Blue) > Neutral (Yellow)
Earth (Grn/Yel) > Earth (Grn/Yel)

Three points to note.

Make sure the circuit is designed for the full load current of your machines. If the previous machine was 3-phase the load might have been spread across the 3 phases. E.g. old machine 3x 6A, new machine 1x 16A. Check the fuses / circuit breaker.

Related: It is probably best to connect the two machines onto two different phases so that the combined load is not drawn from one phase of the house supply. You might like to look at the way the other circuits in the house are allocated to the three phases and avoid the circuit with the highest load. This is often L1, in which case put one machine onto T2 and the other T3.

Voltage between any two lines is 400V, between line and neutral or earth is 230V

Die alten Kabelfarben sehen für mich nett aus, ebenso die Beschreibungen, wenn sie auf Deutsch sind. Außenleiter. Schutzleiter. J'aurais dû écrire tout ça en allemand, o forse francese o romancio, as I don't know where in Switzerland you are. Romansh is all Greek to me though.

This is a 3-phase circuit so there are three line wires L1, L2 and L3; one neutral and the protective earth / ground. The colours follow the Swiss code that was used between 1970 and 1980.

L1: Black
L2: Red
L3: White
N: Yellow
PE: Green/Yellow

If your washing machine has a 3-core cable it is single-phase. You can use any of the three available phases L1, L2 or L3 to power it. These correspond to the switch outputs T1, T2 or T3.

Therefore:
Phase (Brown) > T1 (Black) or T2 (Red) or T3 (White)
Neutral (Blue) > Neutral (Yellow)
Earth (Grn/Yel) > Earth (Grn/Yel)

Three points to note.

Make sure the circuit is designed for the full load current of your machines. If the previous machine was 3-phase the load might have been spread across the 3 phases. E.g. old machine 3x 6A, new machine 1x 16A. Check the fuses / circuit breaker.

Related: It is probably best to connect the two machines onto two different phases so that the combined load is not drawn from one phase of the house supply. You might like to look at the way the other circuits in the house are allocated to the three phases and avoid the circuit with the highest load. This is often L1, in which case put one machine onto T2 and the other T3.

Voltage between any two lines is 400V, between line and neutral or earth is 230V

Die alten Kabelfarben sehen für mich nett aus, ebenso die Beschreibungen, wenn sie auf Deutsch sind. Außenleiter. Schutzleiter. J'aurais dû écrire tout ça en allemand, o forse francese o romancio, as I don't know where in Switzerland you are. Romansh is all Greek to me though.

Hello Lucien,

This is so helpful, many thanks for you time responding to me! I am near Zurich, but I do not speak well German - my wife does.

The new washing machine is a Beko 9kg, and also the dryer is a Beko. I saw on the manual it should be 10A. I haven't cut the cables yet but I remember I saw 4 cables from the old dryer when they removed it. It was a Miele, but an old one.

I think most of the lines are on the black, like lamps etc. I never saw a white or red anywhere else, so it is really a good advice to connect those on the machine.

I'll write here if I need more help but I think I have enough info to try now

All the best

You are also right on the color code: my house is from 1981, so I think the cables are also from those years.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

I think most of the lines are on the black, like lamps etc. I never saw a white or red anywhere else,

In single-phase circuits the unswitched line will be black regardless of which phase it is derived from. Only in 3-phase circuits do the white and red identification colours come into use. Therefore the presence of black wires throughout your installation is no indication of how the load is spread between the supply phases.

 

[mlxmilano]

In single-phase circuits the unswitched line will be black regardless of which phase it is derived from. Only in 3-phase circuits do the white and red identification colours come into use. Therefore the presence of black wires throughout your installation is no indication of how the load is spread between the supply phases.

Hi Lucien,

Just wanted to thank you again. Your advice was perfect and I could do the work without any issue! Have a great day.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Thank you for the update!