Re: Color code for home alarm wiring

[Frank Olson <Use_the_email_links@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

me@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> I am building a new home and it comes standard with a alarm pre-wire.
> I have over 30 years experience with electronics, but not with alarms.
> I plan to buy a Power 832 or vista-20P and install it myself.  Could
> someone provide me the standard wiring color code, or point me to a
> web site.
>
> Thanks for any help or advise, Bob T


Any of the keypads for the systems you purchase will have the wiring
colours pretty well labelled.  Red (+), Black (-), Green and Yellow for
"data".  The colours aren't really important.  What is, is that you
maintain a uniform "colour code" throughout your installation.  We use
yellow and black for contacts, green and red for negative and positive
power on devices that require it.  On a lot of panels, the keypads use
the same "aux power" terminals as the other devices on the system (DSC
happens to be one of the exceptions to this).  Using the standard keypad
colour code suggested by the manufacturer and the wire colours I
mentioned for other devices' power (red and green), you can very quickly
differentiate the keypad runs from the rest of the system.  This could
cut your troubleshooting time down by several minutes on the larger
systems.  When it's time to identify your wire runs, you can find more
information  here:

http://www.yoursecuritysource.com/markingcable.htm.

Good luck!!

Frank Olson
http://www.yoursecuritysource.com