I just ripped apart an old USB mouse to scavenge for its wires and found them to be in colours which were not of usual colour coding. There is light-grey, blue, green and white cables and I am unsure which of each are the power and ground and data cables.

Also I have a Nokia AC-3X adapter which does not seem to work so I cut the wire where it just enters the housing of the 3-pin plug since I can't open it. There is a black and a white cable. This, too, I am unsure which of which is Power and Ground.

Help much appreciated thanks!

hmm, do you still have the circuit board of the mice? If you're lucky the connectors are labled. If you only need the power/ground lines just hook them up to a USB wall charger and measure it with a multimeter.

Quote from ACCAkut :

hmm, do you still have the circuit board of the mice? If you're lucky the connectors are labled. If you only need the power/ground lines just hook them up to a USB wall charger and measure it with a multimeter.

I do and I noticed it only states the initials of the colors of the wires connected to the respective places and did not say anything about its role. Is the multimeter route the only way to find out what the various wires do? Are there any similar devices with the same color coding with which I can refer to?