Which color is commonly used for the 480 V line conductor in a motor starter bucket?

• A. White
• B. Black
• C. Green
• D. Orange

Answer: (B)

Color coding for conductors helps distinguish hot versus neutral and ground. In a motor starter bucket carrying 480 V, the line conductors are the hot, live paths feeding the equipment. The standard practice is to use a color designated for ungrounded (live) conductors, with black being the most common choice for at least one of those hot legs. White or gray is reserved for neutral, and green (or bare) is reserved for equipment grounding, so they aren’t used for the hot line. While other hot colors can appear in multi-phase systems, black is the default color most often used to denote a line conductor, making it the best fit for a 480 V line in this context.