# IEC 60204-1 Wire Colour and Pushbutton Colour Chart > Source: https://netray.co/tools/iec-60204-1-wire-and-pushbutton-colour-reference > Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems. > Section: Free Tools ## Short answer Conductor, pushbutton and indicator lamp colours used in machine control panels, in one searchable chart. ## Category engineering-plm ## Industry Industrial Machinery ## Audience - Electrical designer - Panel builder - Machine designer ## Tool **Kind:** worksheet **Mode:** reference **Columns:** #### Group **Key:** group **Type:** text #### Colour **Key:** colour **Type:** text #### Typical meaning or use **Key:** use **Type:** text #### Note **Key:** note **Type:** text **Rows:** **Group:** Conductor **Colour:** Black **Use:** AC and DC power circuits **Note:** Main circuits **Group:** Conductor **Colour:** Red **Use:** AC control circuits **Group:** Conductor **Colour:** Blue **Use:** DC control circuits **Group:** Conductor **Colour:** Orange **Use:** Circuits that stay live when the main supply is disconnected **Note:** Externally supplied interlock circuits **Group:** Conductor **Colour:** Green and yellow **Use:** Protective earth conductor **Note:** Never use this combination for any other purpose **Group:** Conductor **Colour:** Light blue **Use:** Neutral conductor **Note:** Where a colour is used to identify neutral **Group:** Pushbutton **Colour:** Red **Use:** Emergency stop, on a yellow background **Note:** Mushroom head, latching **Group:** Pushbutton **Colour:** Red **Use:** Stop or off **Note:** Black, grey or white also allowed **Group:** Pushbutton **Colour:** White, grey, black or green **Use:** Start or on **Group:** Pushbutton **Colour:** Yellow **Use:** Intervention in abnormal conditions, suppress abnormal state **Group:** Pushbutton **Colour:** Blue **Use:** Reset or mandatory action **Note:** White, grey or black also allowed for reset **Group:** Indicator lamp **Colour:** Red **Use:** Emergency, danger, immediate action required **Group:** Indicator lamp **Colour:** Yellow **Use:** Abnormal condition, impending critical condition **Group:** Indicator lamp **Colour:** Green **Use:** Normal condition, safe to proceed **Group:** Indicator lamp **Colour:** Blue **Use:** Mandatory action required **Group:** Indicator lamp **Colour:** White **Use:** Neutral, other conditions **Note:** Use when other colours do not apply **Notes:** This chart reflects the commonly applied provisions of IEC 60204-1 (and its US counterpart NFPA 79 differs in places, for example in control circuit conductor colours). Customer specifications, regional codes and the edition in force take precedence. Verify against the current edition before releasing drawings. ## Content **Intro:** Electrical designers and panel builders often need the colour for a conductor or a pushbutton and do not want to open the standard. This chart lists the commonly applied colours from IEC 60204-1 for conductors, pushbuttons and indicator lamps on machines. **Sections:** #### How to use this chart **Body:** Filter by group to see conductor, pushbutton or indicator lamp rows. When laying out a panel, set a project wiring standard from the chart and put it in the electrical design brief, so every panel builder uses the same convention. Add any customer exceptions, such as site standards that require specific control colours. **Bullets:** - Pick one colour scheme per project - Record the standard edition on the drawing - Mark orange conductors clearly: they stay live - Label with wire numbers as well as colours #### Why colour conventions matter **Body:** A maintenance technician isolates the main supply and expects the cabinet to be dead. Orange conductors warn that interlock circuits fed from an external source may still be live. Colour on its own is not enough, since colour blindness and lighting affect perception, so combine colour with wire numbers, terminal labels and legends on devices. #### Worked example **Body:** On a 400 V machine with a 24 V DC control supply, you would use black for the main power, blue for 24 V DC control wiring, red for any 230 V AC control circuits, green and yellow for protective earth, and orange for an external interlock from a conveyor. Emergency stop is a red mushroom button on a yellow backing plate. #### Common mistakes **Body:** Using red for a start button because it looks like power is a common error. Another is wiring a reset in green. Mixing NFPA 79 and IEC conventions on one machine also confuses service teams, so decide by destination market and state it in the manual. **Cta:** If you sell machines worldwide and want the right electrical standard variant attached to each order in your ERP, we can help configure that. **Faq:** #### What colour is a DC control wire? **Answer:** Blue is the commonly applied colour for DC control circuits under IEC 60204-1, red for AC control and black for power. Customer standards or NFPA 79 may specify different colours, so confirm the destination requirement. #### What does an orange wire mean? **Answer:** Orange identifies circuits that may remain live when the main supply is disconnected, usually interlocked circuits supplied from another source. Treat them as live until verified otherwise. #### What colour must an emergency stop be? **Answer:** Red, ideally a mushroom head on a yellow background. See ISO 13850 for the function requirements, including that the device latches and resets only by a deliberate action. #### Can I use green and yellow for anything but earth? **Answer:** No. The green and yellow combination is reserved for protective conductors. Using it for signal or other conductors is a safety and compliance problem. ## Search terms iec 60204-1 wire colours, control panel wire colour code, machine pushbutton colours, emergency stop button colour, indicator light colour meaning, panel wiring colour standard, pe conductor green yellow, iec 60204-1 chart --- Talk to an engineer: https://netray.co/contact?intent=erp_ai | Machine catalog: https://netray.co/agent/catalog.json