What is the NMEA 0183 Colour Code Wiring?

The NMEA 0183 wire colour code is as below:

Talker A/+ = WHITE

Talker B/- = BROWN

Listener A/+ = YELLOW

Listener B/- = GREEN

Because the NGW-1 was first created in 2008, subsequent changes to the Standard do not require existing products to be changed. If it were an easy change, we would likely do it, however, our customers have been used to the wire colours we chose for over 10 years now and changing them could likely create confusion.

It is also important to highlight that there is the question of which wire colour pairing do you choose, as either can cause confusion. For example, if you are connecting Talker to Listener and use the Talker wire colours, the Listener wires have then also taken the ‘White and Brown’ Talker colours. We felt it best to leave our wire colours as they are to avoid any confusion for users.

For more information on NMEA 0183 and how it works, please download our free guide to NMEA 0183 networking.
For more information on NMEA 2000 and how it works, please download our free guide to NMEA 2000 networking.