What Each Colored Wire Inside a USB Cord Means
USB Color Coded Wires
Most hardware pieces today connected to our CPUs are USB-driven, meaning that they require use of a USB cord or wire. This includes your keyboard, mouse, webcam, memory flash drive, some speakers, the external hard drive, camera or digicam, video cam, and more.
So what is inside it, exactly? USB stands for Universal Serial Bus, and there are four wires inside of it — usually, it's a red, green, white, and black cord. Each of these wires has a corresponding code:
- Red color indicates the positive wire with 5 volts of DC power.
- Black has always been the ground wire in almost all electronic devices.
- White is the data as a "positive" wire, while
- Green is also for the data , but as the negative wire.
Other Colors
Some USB cords have different wire color combinations, like orange, blue, white, and green. In this case:
- Orange is the positive, with 5 volts of power in the DC (direct current).
- White indicates a ground wire, meaning the negative wire.
- Blue corresponds to the negative data
- Green as the positive data.
Important Things to Note about USB Cords
These are generally the types of different USB color coded wires out there. So, if you are asked or asked about the color codes in the wiring of a hardware device, you can reference this article.
- Note that the wiring inside a webcam has four wires, but check if your webcam has microphone built in inside. You can trace the wire if so.The Nokia USB pinout has the same code if we skin the wires.
- Now that you know about the inside of a wire, the next question is: should you use a shield on your USB pin out? Yes, you should. Shielding is very important for protection.
- You also cannot have a USB cable without the positive and negative, or the ground. The most important wires inside are the positive and negative wires. These are the paths of electric power needed to run your device. Also, you now know what color they are!
Feel free to leave a comment below if you have questions or suggestions. I hope you learned something today. Thank you!
Poll on USB cable defects:
What is your common USB problem?
This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.
Questions & Answers
© 2012 Mark Johann
Comments
Thanks .... I was connecting two cables.... One: black, white, red, green. Other: Orange, blue, green, white...
I was just confused about how should I connect it. Your article helped...
PS. The comment MARK MANN post is right, as I am from China, BUT those info are for AC currents (he/she said that), NOT USB cables.
how do you hook up an antenna for Wi-Fi to your USB port the Wi-Fi only has two wires but it has two sets and those are the same
So, my roommate's cat chewed partly through the USB cable for my keyboard, so I had to cut off the damaged part of the wire, but am having trouble reconnecting the wires. There is a red wire, a black wire, a green wire, a white wire and a copper wire...
HELP...?
Hey, I have one usb cable with white, blue, orange, green and the other one is black, red, yellow, blue. So, how do join these 2. which cable to which? Please help. Thanks.
Hi, I'm trying to attach my phone charger to a battery made of pennies, and I got the battery to work (it made 6.5 volts), but I don't know how to attach it to the charger. The charger has four wires (red, green, black, and white), but I don't know how to attach them. Any ideas?
Can i use just the red for hot and the black for ground? I dont need the other two wire for data im trying to make a solar panel charger and the solar panel is only got two wires
I don't know a thing of this cable just that most red is possible and black is neg.i learned a lot
I cut the usb 4 wire cord one mine to wire up with a 2 wire.... now the 2 wire was white and green , I used the white and green on the 4 wire. Will this charge up my drone?
there is also a copper wire in my samsung data cable. what is the use of it... ?
Not working only red light work and my mouse has got damaged now.....................................................HELP
Thanks for the explanation. Most helpful
Please be careful with generalized comments as in the article, "Black has always been the ground wire in almost all electronic devices." Terms like "almost" are too subjective" and this is a technical article correct? Moreover, the statement is false! CHINA the worlds largest producer of consumer electronics uses BLANK and DARK BROWN for the POSITIVE (Non-Ground) side for AC Circuits. I understand USB is 5V DC typically around .5A with Smart Phones Fast Charging with as much as 2A, however never the less, CHINA is taking over, at least by the numbers, and they do NOT subscribe to our colors that were made popular by the American Automotive Industry. Incidentally CHINA likes BLUE for negative and YELLOW/GREEN for Earth Ground. CHINA also does not follow the AWG. In CHINA wires are ALWAYS "under specification" when an AWG is called out. They will commonly misstate raw materials particularly "copper" and "Oxygen Free Copper." Economically, FALSE STATEMENTS from CHINA "always" or let me say "Unequivocally" is in their Economic Favor (i.e. they benefit by the false statement in terms of universal value and exchange). Thank you for reading, Mark Mann M2TECHNOLOGY
The USB plug came off my flash drive motherboard while I was trying to modify it to fit into my xbox.
Is it posible to only use the black and red wire? I don't need to transfer data but only electricity. (Sorry for my bad english
what do the colors blue, brown, white and grey do in a USB????
I have red , white, , green, light yellow
Is the light yellow also wire ?
I have a usb with wires red, green, white, black and the other one usb kable with wires red and white .
How can I connect them both?
Device charging slowly...
I opened my usb extension cord because I am trying to connect usb to solar panel for my solar power pack idea, But to test my usb after cutting in half and striping the wires I connect both peices back together only using the red and black wire but nothing worked after I connected them. I have no idea what is wrong
Trying to wire red,black,white,green to light pink,light green, light grey, white. What colors do I connect together? Both are standard android chargers.
How USB can be connected to a Head Phone (Includes microphone also)
mine has 1 red wire, and all the others are white wtf
I'm trying to convert. Into a positive an negative battery charger
Can I put red and white together and green and black together and convert it down to a two wire plug in
Poor connection on micro usb connectors!
Two white wires, a grey wire and a light brownis maybe pink
Thanks much
friends, I have a usb wire unlike most.
it has the Red/white, Green. but in the grouping it also has 2 bare naked wires, and the shield.
can anyone help me find out
what I want is a USB cord where I pull the power from a high speed phone charger and the data transfer cables go to a computer, so I have the ability to quickly charge the phone while transferring data
thanks
Am modifing the micro of phone part if the USB cord to a line out. So need to know which wire goes to Whats.
Thanks
We have wire A and B
Colours of A are Blue, White, Green, Orange
Anf of B are Red, Green, Black, White
Connect
A B
Blue Green
White Black
Green White
Orange Red
Connect with corresponding color
your post is great bro.tnx for support:)
Have USB cable charger with white green and red wire no black which is power an ground
Thank You so much.
I had to join two USB cables, the one was of the common color coded but, the second was Orange, White, black and blue.
So, thanks again.
So could it be possible to double up each wire where they originally connect to get "double", or faster charge ?
I have a gamepad with red white green and orange wire what to do then
Hi Mark
1.I have a USB cable (I-phone 6) which has three wires light Red,White & Green, other than this it also has a Non- insulated wire wrapped around these three wires. Could you please let me know the order in which i need to join it with USB connector.
2.I have another USB cable (I-phone 6) which has three wires i.e. Two white (One is bit thicker than other) & one Gray wire other than this it also has a Non- insulated wire wrapped around these three wires. Could you please let me know the order in which i need to join it with USB connector. Many Thanks !!
I have a USB with the wire colours of,
White
Green
Blue
Black
Where can I get the USB end to fit this?
Thanks
Hi there!
I have RED 5+ wire BLACK is ground WHITE is data + and GREEN.
Here I have another one naked wire I suppose is Ground as BLACK wire. Am I correct ?
My charger has four wires, red, green, white, black. There is also a bare wire leading from the front of the plug itself. What is that for?
USB doesnt connect to aux, without an active adaptor, at least not in the sense of transmitting audio directly, as AUX carries an analogue signal encoded completely different from USB's UART digital encoding.
So how do u make a USB to aux where does the green wire hook up to
how do you wire up the battery in your phone useing the wires and usb on t5he other end
Me too Luca! Gotta jumpstart these devices!
my keyboard is having in orange,white,green,blue and board is having clock,date,gnd,vcc. so which wire is connet to which place, what i do
why we use red(5v) wire here?
Wiring up a snapped USB cord to the battery of a mobile phone that has the USB port dissoldered, so can’t charge itself up.
Thanks
Color are different
My wires are bkack white. Second charger i spliced there was 2 white and 2 blue wires. One blue wire has silver wire and the other 3 wires are copper. What wires do i use to charge my s5 as the charging port is broken.
Need small cell phone u.s.b color code and tv audio and video color code
I was "fixing" my phone charger and it has 2 red wires? Lg 5
What if data cable has only 2 wires red and black. My charger Cable has 2 wires only
amazing its very usefull for me thanqq
My wire has only two wires : Black and Red
I want to use it for some other purpose
What is the circuit???
i gt keyboard usb icant match the color and symbol, my usb wire color are blue,green,white and orange. symbols are D,C,G and V help me which color to which symbol
Need to splice 3color coded wires to 2wires not color coded, both refriderators. I can't get it right keep blowing my circuit.
The USB plug on my Mp3 Player charging cord broke off! I cannot tell which side of the plug is meant for the positive or negative
Which wire is the charging line. Red probably eh?
What wires do i connect if one USB cord has red n orange & light green n white wires and the other USB cord has red n white & green n black wires
I would like to connect an External WIFI antenna directly to my tablet. Does anyone know which two USB wires must go from the antenna to the USB plug so it will function.
Can a USB white no green and white wire still be used?
Thank you so much for your help
Pls hw will i connect game pad with 5 wires red white green yellow black
I have a galaxy note 5 i use for experiments with root which fascinates me to no end for some reason. But the wires from the connected battery broken off ( which is why it was given to me) and the battery is no where to be found. Ive grown tired of being bound to a wall so im trying to test out how i can use a usb cable and batteries such as the little 9v square batteries to keep it on while i walk around. Anyone that can help give me some ideas please email me with note 5 in the subject line i would really appreciate it. Thanks.
Sir my USB has pink white yellow and grey I want to make a wireless charger what wires should I use
i have an tomtom with an small monitor i want to use the end(what is used for in the car) to connect it to an usb so i can charge my cellphone, but an usb has green in it and the tomtom doesnt, is it important?
I have a usb cord three wired copper white an red which r which
My USB has 4 wires and now I can tell which has positive and which has negative charge . Thank you for information
i have 4 cables a pink yellow white and light grey
hello sir .i have a logitech speaker without head connection.my mean is it is 3.5mm or usb male but its same own 4 wires.blue,green,black and white..i am aimmed blue is v+ and black is v- and connect it to power supply and led indicator work.white and green yes is data. But i found 2 extra wires coloured white and red bulked.what is it sir?
I have a USB cable with the colors Black,Brown, Orange and White. I want to connect to a 2.5mm female Jack. which two colours do I connect please.
I like the topic I need to learn more on USB cabling. I needed yo replace the usb socket / plug but failed because I needed to understand the color codes. Thanks. But I'm still having the same challenge.
Hi Mr Mark.
Hope you're doing well.
I have a small problem. Having read this post I thought you might help me.
I have a laptop table below which are fixed two 5-volt fans that receive power from the USB port in the laptop.
The problem is that the metallic piece of that USB cable that is inserted in the laptop is corroded. So I cut that corroded USB cable metallic piece and tried to attach another one. But I have failed in doing so when though I have connected the right type cords. i-e green with black and red with white and tried to test it with a battery as well. But that didn't work.
Please help
How to check positive and negative
Yes it is important to have positive and negative known wires ,but the ground is vital
I have a USB cable with pink light green and white. Very confused. Connecting to a new end with white red black and green?
Hi Mark, my USB cable wires are,yellow,white,light green,and ash colors.what is meaning?thank you
I have a headphone which has blue white red and blue color wires. So please tell me that which is positive and negative
I'm trying to connect a micro USB (female to female), in order to connect my bluetooth controller to my cellphone, because the bluetooth isn't working. Firstly, is this possible? My problem is, I have one female end with red, green, white and black wires. The other female end has red, green and white wires, but there is no black wire. But there are two exposes wires without a color coding. Do you have any idea as to which ones I should connect? Do the two uncolored wires matter? Thanks for the help.
Hey i wanted to know can i use normal wires if i'm making my own USB cable
thanks
i got a question. wiring a mouse from PS2 to USB. i manage to get power on butt he mouse doesn't receive data.
ps2 wires are Black, Green, Yellow, Red. The USb wires are Green, Blue, Orange and white.
the connections are Red-Blue, Black-orange, Green-Yellow, Green-white.
None of this is right.. Blue is usually ground, not data-, green is always data+ in any color scheme, and white is data-..
The correct scheme if you want to connect these 2 different colored wires together would be this:
Red or orange = 5 V
White or gold = Data−
Green = Data+
Black or blue = Ground
So in other words, orange to red, white to white, green to green and blue to black
Hi is it applicable to charger... my charger has 2ampere the wires are red and black only, but the charging pin is broken so i decided to change to other pin but the pin i was have are 4 color which is red black green and white ... how can i connect it
Hello Mark,
My usb only has red, white, and green. Could you please tell me what the positive and negative are? I am trying to turn my childs swing from battery operated to wall charge.
Hello Mark,
My usb only has red, white, and green. Could you please tell me what the positive and negative are? I am trying to turn my childs swing from battery operated to wall charge.
Hello mark, I'm looking for a temporary solution to my phone charging problem until i get it fixed. It's a Galaxy Note 3 and it seems that one of the pins inside the charging port has been bent/pushed back i think. I can see it near the back of the port when I look. Anyways, it currently charges if i use a wall charger and even charges when plugged into my PC as well as transfers files, but it charges significantly slower than it use to and it will not recognize most external power banks. They charge other phones but nothing happens when plugged into mine and the power banks eventually just turn off because they arent being used.
In short, I'm wondering if I can modify one of my cables by removing a wire or rerouting the wire in order to either fix the external power bank issue or to increase the speed my phone charges back to it's normal speed. 2 questions in 1 but I've searched for days and asked in other places. this hub seems very informed and even if It my problem cannot be fixed, any insight would help alot, and I've already bookmarked this to read other articles. Thanks in advance
(side note - some power banks work on the phone and some do not, even ones from the same brand.)
I have a USB type C cable... Trying to do a power project. The four wires I have are loght Grey, Pastel Pink, Pastel Green, and White. Can you help me determine which two are the 5v Positive and the Negative colors? Plz and Thank You... :)
hello, im want a ask.how i want to connect if their is 2 wire as red and black.. and i want connect with usb ports. which is black , red, green and white color. how i want to consider this to correctly connect it. hope for ur reply. thanks!
i had a white usb cable and when i cut it open i have a pink wire and a white wire.
which is which??
Hey I have a little problem. My Dog chewed my iPhone charger cord and I need to replace it with an old wire they were both iPhone. The one that my dog chewed was green red and white and the other charger is greeen red and black . Do I splice the white and black together ? Thank you!
My "other" proplem
Is that after 2-3 months of modered use, my caple starts charging slower and slower... soon yes i end up with
(Not detected - Detected - Not detected -Detected and so on) and always ends with Not detected
I think the proplem is just whering down the copper by use.
I think it's cutting corners on prize by manifactural proses..
Maybe they need a better metal or metal mix or maybe use just a little more copper in the tupes... they know chargers and most Usb with mini usb end will move around alot more now day's
*Hope u understood this, dont have time 4 spellcheck now
cheers from Iceland
hi mark,
I have a usb cable with red, green, white and cloth like white wire. It also has a unshielded wire. I am wondering if I can make this cable a charge only cable? I want to get ride of the data cables, which are they?? Thanks, im lost here. Its for my samsung note 10.1...trying to see if I can get rid of the red x while charging so it doesn't take 24 hours.
I bought a charger that is like 4ft. long for my cell phone. It has on the outer side's yellow & pink wires, the center has Lt blue (maybe Lt.green) and white.
What is positive and negative?
I'm trying to hook up a security camera going usb, I would like to know what colors I can use to get video from my camera to my pc. The only wires I have from my camera are typical shield ground and one positive the wires I have on the usb are red, green, black and white along with the shielded
I have a flat micro USB phone charger that has 4 wires 1 white and 3 clear I want to splice a normal charger on it with a red and black wire... how do I do that
I have a I pod nano I'm trying to splice the wires and wire it back up using another USB but there are 3 wires in the charger to my I pod and only 2 to my USB witch ones are hot out of my I pod
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