wire colors

[robocon]

What is + and - on the front panel wire colors? I just plugged a set in and I am assuming that white is + and the solid color is -.

[Spools]

It's best to confirm wiring by reading the manual for your case and the manual for your motherboard.

[flanzig1]

I consider the white as the - or negative. The reason why is that white is used on most of the powered connectors and a different color for each connector. So, that makes white a common color and hench the common or - or return for DC power.

[glc]

The only ones that are critical are the HDD and power LED - and if you reverse them you won't damage anything, they just won't work right. The power LED won't work, and the HDD LED will stay on. The speaker, if your case has one, is easy - red is +. The power and reset buttons will work fine either way.

[robocon]

Spools - there isn't a reference to wire color in the box manual nor the other manuals. That is why I asked. Did you consider that?

[Khalil]

at the end of the wires on the plastic tips, are there no - + markings?

[glc]

Not all case manufacturers mark them like that.

[Khalil]

Most do, if not there must be some kind of markings! Unless it is some generic case, i have to say I don't remember the last time I saw case wiring that did not have markings! This is why it is hard answering questions when we do not have all the information!

[glc]

Some of the ones I build with only have what it is stamped on the plastic (HDD LED, PWR LED, etc.).

[Khalil]

Like you said earlier though, if you put them in the wrong way around it is not going to hurt anything, you can always test it and figure out which was it should go. It's never been a problem for us.

[glc]

Exactly.

[edfair]

I remember back a few years when there was no marking at all and you were expected to trace the colors back to the panel LED to figure out what you had if there were doubts.
Although there were standards, red wire for HDD, green for POWER, yellow for TURBO, there were enough cases supplied with wrong stuff to keep the brain cells working.

[David M]

One would think this would have been standardized to a single no-brainer connector ages ago.

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by David M One would think this would have been standardized to a single no-brainer connector ages ago.

LOL, you would think have you tried reading one of the owner manuals that come with motherboards? Even Asus, there are so many grammer errors.

[glc]

Actually Intel did standardize it quite a while ago. All their branded motherboards are set up for a unitized connector. However, very few case manufacturers got on board with that.

[David M]

Originally Posted by Khalil LOL, you would think have you tried reading one of the owner manuals that come with motherboards? Even Asus, there are so many grammer errors.

Have you seen the horrible English in Lian-Li's website and documentation? Some of it is pretty funny.

[glc]

Gotta love stuff written in Chinglish.

[rwest]

Oh, that's funny. I gotta rember that one. Chinglish...I like it.

But yeh, I remember some rules of thumb for wirings. Like the solid was hot and the striped was ground. Maybe?!

[David M]

Originally Posted by rwest Oh, that's funny. I gotta rember that one. Chinglish...I like it. But yeh, I remember some rules of thumb for wirings. Like the solid was hot and the striped was ground. Maybe?!

Not necessarily....put a multimeter across it first to determine polarity.

[rwest]

You got a multimeter in your back pocket at all times?

David, you're missing the idea of a 'rule of thumb'. I personally have never known the rule to be right or exact in all cases.

Perfect example. A charger for a cell phone may fit the phone but it's not garranteed to work. But 'Rule of thumb' says it should.

Here's a scenario that actually happned to me. We were on vacartion visiting my folks in South Alabama when the blower for he AC went out in the car. My dad took me to a junk yard to get the blower. When installing, the wire colors didn'tt match. I guessed just from different years. Anyway I hooked the solid red up to the solid black and the red striped up to the black and white striped . Worked great. There was no way I was spending money on a manual for the car and a multimeter(of which I had both in Ohio) to determine which wire colors were hot and which were ground.

[quartet-man]

Fonzie had a rule of thumb. It was, if you stick your thumb up in the air you have to say "aaayyyyyyyyyy".

[David M]

Originally Posted by rwest You got a multimeter in your back pocket at all times? David, you're missing the idea of a 'rule of thumb'. I personally have never known the rule to be right or exact in all cases. Perfect example. A charger for a cell phone may fit the phone but it's not garranteed to work. But 'Rule of thumb' says it should.

I know exactly what it is. If you want to use a rule of thumb to determine whether or not you got the polarity correct, possibly doing damage to an electric part if you are wrong, then be my guest.

There is also a rule of thumb that says red is positive and black is negative....unless you are dealing with AC current. Not all colors of wire mean the same thing. The consequences of getting it wrong are not worth having rules of thumb for a lot of things, including wire colors.

[rwest]

Originally Posted by David M The consequences of getting it wrong are not worth having rules of thumb for a lot of things, including wire colors.

I can agree with that. Probably why the OP was asking in the first place.

I think most of us know not to use an 'iffy technique' on anything thats truly important, or for pc connectors, but as GLC noted - for the most part the low voltages of the front connectors arn't really gonna do any damge if connected wrong.

Could you imagine stabbing in the dark with house current? or Worse?

I had a fellow tell me one time that he never goes to the fuse box to work on the outlets or switches in his home. He said he just shorts the - and + together quickly and it throws the breaker. .... Not for me.

[Kidd]

Originally Posted by glc Gotta love stuff written in Chinglish.

Engrish?

Perhaps we should be using the 'rule of wrist'.

[David M]

Originally Posted by rwest I had a fellow tell me one time that he never goes to the fuse box to work on the outlets or switches in his home. He said he just shorts the - and + together quickly and it throws the breaker. .... Not for me.

Whew...reminds me of the cartoon of the bomb tester. You hit it on the top with a sledge hammer and it does not explode you put a big "Dud" stamp on it.

[DOS_equis]

Originally Posted by rwest I had a fellow tell me one time that he never goes to the fuse box to work on the outlets or switches in his home. He said he just shorts the - and + together quickly and it throws the breaker. .... Not for me.

Yeah that is an old one kinda. I met an electrician once that had a "tool kit" for finding the correct breaker when the panel index was missing, illegible, etc. One of the tools was a lamp socket to 2 prong adapter that had a momentary or wall switch rigged up as a plug. The switch would plug into the lamp base adapter, which was screwed into the lamp base of the circuit in question. He would hit the switch to short it so it would trip the breaker. His motto was "When in doubt, ground it out". It seemed to work for him. In theory it should be fine, although not exactly the correct way to do it. The wiring, if designed and installed properly, should handle a power surge like that until the breaker trips. That usually happens in a fraction of a second so it's not like it sits there cooking in the wall or attic for an extended period of time. Would I do that, no but I found it entertaining that a "pro" was resorting to redneck engineering to trace circuits.

DOS_equis