MICC - identification based on colour

[Lister1987]

Just doing a mock exam i've got from college and one of the questions is regarding the colour sheathing on MICC cables;

I know that red is ubiquitious with fire alarm systems but don't know about the other colours, as luck would have it GSH has done a few videos recently on MICC and mentions the colours in passing (link:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xqn3N8zvQQ
) What i can find for love nor money is anything that backs up, verifies or stipulates what colour means what.

So far I've picked up the following colours of MICC and thier meaning;

red - fire safety circuit
white - EM lighting
orange - electrical
black - ?
bare - Oversleeve to the above.
purple (ducting is mentioned, whether or not a purple MICC with suffiecient cores exists is another matter)- data

Where are these definitions/identifications stipulated? I can't see anything in BS7671, [60702-1 5839-1 listed but not checked].

Any help?

 

[Simon47]

I've never come across anything setting rules for cable sheath colours like that. As you say, red is ubiquitous for fire alarm systems - there may be something in a BS for fire alarm systems that recommends it, otherwise it's just one of those conventions that's not actually codified anywhere.
Mostly, choices in cable sheath colour are there to cater for aesthetics and perhaps a bit of company standards.
Apart from purple which is a common colour for network cables with LS0H sheath.

At a previous job I recall being ona conference call with a client we'd just starting supplying an internet connection to on a science park. The customer was struggling to get the connection working, and had decided for some reason that a crossover cable was needed. On the call was the customer, their IT support (IBM), and one of the guys that managed our switches on site. The customer was asked if he could find a another crossove cable and connector - which he did. He said "it's yellow, is that OK ?" - his IT support guy said what me and our switch guy wanted to say, "I don't care what f-in colour it is as long as it's a crossover" The electrons really don't care what colour plastic is wrapped around the cable.

 

[westward10]

Red is suggested in BS5839:1, BS5266 for emergency lighting suggests no colour. Orange differentiates electrical pipework from other services so it can be assumed because MICC could resemble another service due to the copper sheath that orange is used.

 

[Lister1987]

Red is suggested in BS5839:1, BS5266 for emergency lighting suggests no colour. Orange differentiates electrical pipework from other services so it can be assumed because MICC could resemble another service due to the copper sheath that orange is used.

That makes sense. Would have thought it codified along the same lines as BS1710 for pipes

 

[davesparks]

So far I've picked up the following colours of MICC and thier meaning;

red - fire safety circuit
white - EM lighting
orange - electrical
black - ?
bare - Oversleeve to the above.
purple (ducting is mentioned, whether or not a purple MICC with suffiecient cores exists is another matter)- data

Red, white and orange has been used in specifications for some buildings to denote the use of the cable. Red for fire alarms, safety systems and associated circuits, white for emergency lighting circuits from central battery systems and orange for general wiring. However this is purely down to the specification for the particular job and there is no regulation for it.

Bare MICC wouldn't be oversleeved with anything normally, if you need part of the run protected by a sheath then you would get sheathed cable and strip the sections which need to be bare. Bare is used for aesthetic reasons.

I've never seen it in purple, but they will make it with any custom sheath colour you want.
You will see blue installed in train stations where it was/is used for a specific purpose, but I'm not sure what that purpose is.

 

[davesparks]

Purple is sometimes specified as an identifier for LSF/LSOH cable, this has become common with data cables but I believe flexshield is available on purple for this reason.

 

[vini]

Just doing a mock exam i've got from college and one of the questions is regarding the colour sheathing on MICC cables;

I know that red is ubiquitious with fire alarm systems but don't know about the other colours, as luck would have it GSH has done a few videos recently on MICC and mentions the colours in passing (link:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xqn3N8zvQQ
) What i can find for love nor money is anything that backs up, verifies or stipulates what colour means what.

So far I've picked up the following colours of MICC and thier meaning;

red - fire safety circuit
white - EM lighting
orange - electrical
black - ?
bare - Oversleeve to the above.
purple (ducting is mentioned, whether or not a purple MICC with suffiecient cores exists is another matter)- data

Where are these definitions/identifications stipulated? I can't see anything in BS7671, [60702-1 5839-1 listed but not checked].

Any help?

The question is about 3 phase wiring using a sleeve on conductors in micc. L1- brown L2- black L3- grey N - blue E- green/yellow .
Table 51

 

[littlespark]

I was going to say welcome to the forum, but you seem to have been here a while.

I think the subject of this 2 1/2 year old thread was the colour of the outer sheath of MICC rather than conductor colours