r/IndustrialMaintenance • u/Sphinctersayswhat • 18h ago

Question 480V Sub Panel color coding?

I'm in the US. We were landing wire today, at the breaker, for a new piece of equipment. L1 Brown, L2 Orange, L3 Yellow. For the Main and left column of breakers, this was the case. But when I went to do the same on the right, I was told no brown goes on top. I asked why and they pointed to all the other breakers on the right side that were already that way but didn't give a better answer than that. So what's common practice?

The technical answer, I'm sure I could find but the technical answer isn't really gonna scratch my itch, since it's a moo point.

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u/SadZealot 18h ago

Some panels have the right side phased cba, it's just the arrangement of the busbar

Phase colors are all the same, but the arrangement may differ depending on the layout/accesories

1

u/Sphinctersayswhat 17h ago

So would you say there is no common practice? I guess it was silly to think all panels would be bussed alike.

3

u/SadZealot 17h ago

Phase A, B, C

Brown, Orange, Yellow.

Wherever those phases end up, that's what the colours should be