Thermostat Wiring

September 8, 2011
2 min. read

I have delusions of possibly making an embedded thermostat solution that tracks energy usage, inside and outside temperature and humidity and possibly online weather forecasts for setting house temperature. 

For this to work, I need to fully understand thermostat wiring.  It took a bit of looking around the net to identify thermostat wire colors, thermostat terminals and functions, so I thought I would summarize it in a post.

All signals are 24 VAC controlled

Label Code Function Wire Color
R Power (24 VAC) Red
RC Power for Cooling Red
RH Power for Heating Red
           (RC and RH may be jumped together)

| Y | Cooling Power to Compressor Relay | Yellow | | Y2 | 2nd Stage Cooling Power | Varies (Lgt. Blue) | | W | Heating (Gas, Oil, or Electric) | White | | G | Indoor Blower Fan | Green | | C | Common for 24VAC Transformer | Black | | O/B | Reversing Value for Heat Pump | Varies | | O | Energized in Cooling Mode | Orange | | B | Energized in Heating Mode | Dark Blue or Blue (Rheem/Ruud)| | E | Emergency Heat | Varies | | X/Aux | Back up for Heat Pump or Aux Heating | Varies | | S1-S2 | Shielded Outside Air Temp. Sensor | Varies |

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