Depending on which end of the cable you're looking at, you can read the colors clockwise or counterclockwise from the center black conductor. Let's say you cut your cable and see this series of colors: black, white, red, green, orange, and blue, in that order and in. Tray cable comes in many different styles, featuring a variety of layouts, insulations, jackets, shields, and even colors. Unlike standard electrical cables, tray cables feature enhanced insulation and jacketing to withstand mechanical stress and exposure to oil, sunlight. In many cases there is more than one type of cable for a particular application, for instance both cables rated as tray cable (TC) and cables rated as metal clad (MC) can be used for 600- volt motor power cables. But wire colors are screwed up from the start. Nearly all runs require a ground, so one should be green or bare. So, any 120 volt run. The outer jacket of a tray cable does more than hold everything together — it's the cable's first line of defense against the world. It protects against abrasion, chemicals, UV light, and temperature extremes. It determines whether a cable can be buried, run outdoors, exposed to washdowns, or.