Wire color for breadboard connections

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Dadu@

Joined Feb 4, 2022
155
Usually when we need to test a circuit we implement it on a bread board. We have wires available in many colors. Do you use a specific color for a specific signal?

I use red color for power, black for ground.

What color do you prefer for breadboard connections for microcontroller and input / output device's
 
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ElectricSpidey

Joined Dec 2, 2017
2,757
If I have mixed voltages in a circuit usually 12 and 5 volts DC, I use the following.

Yellow for 12 VDC positive
Red for 5 VDC positive
Green for ground
Black for negative

From there I just use any color I have available for signals, blue, white...etc.

But I have to admit, that is mostly for my finished boards, when I breadboard I have a habit of just choosing a jumper that is the correct length.
 

Jim@HiTek

Joined Jul 30, 2017
59
After some years designing electronic circuits I developed my own color code system because I didn't find many schemes that applied to my work. But it was similar to ElectricSpidey's coding. Used those exact colors for the exact same thing so I guess it's kind of standard.

As far as signals go, any color for inputs and any color for outputs but I'd stay consistent with blue for inputs, and orange for outputs.
 
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SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,031
With solid fixed spaced jumpers, it is whatever color fits. With flex jumpers Red for +V, Yellow for -V, Blk for GND, Blue for signal or whatever color is available if I don't have the usual color handy. When I solder modules, Red for +V, Yellow for -V, Green for GND, Blue for signal.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
I use red color for power, black for ground.

What color do you prefer for breadboard connections for microcontroller and input / output device's
Do whatever is convenient for you. I'm making all of my new jumpers from a 1000' spool of brown wire, so I tend to use brown for everything. If I happen to have other colors in the length I want, I'll use them.

If I'm making connections to microcontrollers, I tend to use ribbon cable with DuPont connectors and try to use the color code in some meaningful manner (like D0=black, D1=brown, etc).
 

ErnieM

Joined Apr 24, 2011
8,377
My personal convention for power is black for return, hot colors for positive supply and cool colors for negative supply. Earth ground has never been a part of my projects, but I would always reserve green for that.

Intermediate connections depend on how many they are. If but a handful I would attempt to make each one its own color, though I can't remember a project with that few connections. Otherwise I group common types by color, say data blue, address orange, control blue, and such.

My worst wiring job was installing a timed pump controller into a lighthouse with solar powered I was volunteering at. A previous volunteer had wired the place using house wire, properly color coded, though I do not believe he ever got earth ground bonded. That did make black or red as hot and white as "neutral" or return. I just could not get my fingers to see black as hot in a DC circuit and managed to destroy the first controller I attempted to install. Number two went in fine a few weeks later as I had to mostly rebuild the controller (PICs don't take kindly to reverse power), with the pigtails out of my box coded black as hot and white as return, and my newly installed reverse power blocking diode was never called for to protect.
 

Alec_t

Joined Sep 17, 2013
14,280
For the power supply: red for +ve, black for -ve. Green for virtual ground (if any). Any other colour for all other uses, because in most circuits I breadboard there are too many connections for a consistent assignment of colours.
 

k1ng 1337

Joined Sep 11, 2020
940
Do whatever is convenient for you. I'm making all of my new jumpers from a 1000' spool of brown wire, so I tend to use brown for everything. If I happen to have other colors in the length I want, I'll use them.

If I'm making connections to microcontrollers, I tend to use ribbon cable with DuPont connectors and try to use the color code in some meaningful manner (like D0=black, D1=brown, etc).
I've made quite a few jumpers from magnet wire of all lengths. I like how they can molded like putty and will their position. Being one colour, I have become more vigilant to placement rather than relying on a colour code.
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
9,068
The only colors I am strict about using are red for V+ and black for V-. If I have more than one voltage for some reason I might label the wire that is the ”unexpected” voltage.

If I have no red jumper for some reason I will label whatever I do have. Sometimes just with a red Sharpie (near the ends and dashes along the way). I try to choose an alternate color that will show the red but failing that, I have red vinyl tape that does the trick.

I do this because a mistake with V+ is potentially destructive (I hate that “snap”) and if I had to say there was some number one rule for me it would be never use black for V+.

I do have a preference for yellow for data out from a device and yellow for data in (from the point of view of the MCU) but I don’t always the luxury of available jumpers for that.
 
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