Telecommunications

Cable colour codes

External Cable Colour Code

External Communications Cable Colour Code

The table below gives the colour-coding for external communications cables up to 100 pairs. The colour-code is based on the five-colour sequence of Blue, Orange, Green, Brown, Slate which are used in that order with a White mate for the first five pairs.

Knowing this sequence of five colours allows you to easily determine the order of the remaining pairs as follows: The next five pairs use a Red mate (in place of the white mate), again using the "Line -" colours of Blue, Orange, Green, Brown, Slate. The first ten pairs are bound together by a Blue binder-tape.

The second ten pairs repeat the sequence above, the only difference is that they are bound together with an Orange binder-tape. The binder-tape colour-sequence is shown below.

Pairs Binder-tape colours Pairs 1-10 Blue binder Pairs 11-20 Orange binder Pairs 21-30 Green binder Pairs 31-40 Brown binder Pairs 41-50 Slate binder Pairs 51-60 Blue/White binder Pairs 61-70 Blue/Orange binder Pairs 71-80 Blue/Green binder Pairs 81-90 Blue/Brown binder Pairs 91-100 Blue/Slate binder

PairLine +Line -

1WhiteBlue

2WhiteOrange

3WhiteGreen

4WhiteBrown

5WhiteSlate

6RedBlue

7RedOrange

8RedGreen

9RedBrown

10RedSlate

Internal Cable Colour Code

Internal Telephone Cable Colour Code

The table below gives the colour-coding for internal communications cables up to 100 pairs. The colour-code is based on the five-colour sequence of Blue, Orange, Green, Brown, Slate which are used in that order for the first five pairs. Knowing this sequence of five colours allows you to easily determine the order of the remaining pairs as follows:

The sixth pair uses the first colour (blue) with a white stripe (blue/white). Subsequent pairs (up to pair 10) use blue with each of the remaining colours in-turn (blue/orange, blue/green, blue/brown and blue/slate.

We have already used the blue/white combination so now (for pair 11) we use Orange (the second colour in our sequence) with a white stripe (orange/white). We then again use Orange with each of the remaining colours (orange/green, orange/brown, orange/slate (for pair 14).

Now we use Green with a white stripe (green/white) for pair 15, followed by green with each of the remaining colours down to green/slate for pair 17. Brown/white and brown/slate follows the same sequence (pairs 18 & 19) and we finish with slate/white for pair 20.

We now start all over again but this time with a different coloured "mate" than white.

Pairs 21 to 40 repeat the "Line -" colours but with a YELLOW mate for "Line +".

Pairs 41 to 60 repeat the "Line -" colours but with a BLACK mate for "Line +".

Pairs 61 to 80 repeat the "Line -" colours but with a VIOLET mate for "Line +".

Pairs 81 to 100 repeat the "Line -" colours but with a RED mate for "Line +".

PairLine (+)Line (-)

1WhiteBlue

2WhiteOrange

3WhiteGreen

4WhiteBrown

5WhiteSlate

6WhiteBlue/White

7WhiteBlue/Orange

8WhiteBlue/Green

9WhiteBlue/Brown

10WhiteBlue/Slate

11WhiteOrange/White

12WhiteOrange/Green

13WhiteOrange/Brown

14WhiteOrange/Slate

15WhiteGreen/White

16WhiteGreen/Brown

17WhiteGreen/Slate

18WhiteBrown/White

19WhiteBrown/Slate

20WhiteSlate/White