Question of you w/electrical knowledge...

Thank you for the follow up.

BTPO1 wrote:
So which way was it?

A 'senior moment' I suppose. I was wrong about the color of wires. The new alarm has red and black wires and the wires out of the MH are yellow and white. I was able to cut the wires with a male plug off the old alarm and attach it to the new alarm then it simply plugged into the old female MH plug.

Yellow is typically positive DC on boats. Did you get a detector rated for marine use?

D.E.Bishop wrote:

RLS7201 wrote:
Wiring standards dictate that colored wires are hot or positive. White and black are shades, not colors. In automotive applications, white should always be negative. I have seen black used for both positive and negative.
In your case, I would suggest that red & yellow are both positive.

Richard

I agree with your logic but, white and black are not shades. White is the combination of all the colors of the spectrum and black is the total absence of all color. Purple and Lavender or Red and Pink or Sky Blue and Royal Blue are shades of color.

# 1 - The First Answer: Color Theory #1 - Color as Light
Black is not a color. White is a color.

# 2 - The Second Answer: Color Theory #2 - Color as Pigment or Molecular Coloring Agents
Black is a color. White is not a color

#3 - My art teacher says black and white are shades.

So nothing is proven.

Richard

In DC circuitry (on the supply side at least), typically the positive is indicated by a red wire and the negative is indicated by a black wire. If it's a grounded system then the ground wire is usually green or bare. Not sure what the white and yellow indicate on the detector.

In AC circuitry, white is neutral, black is hot, and green or bare is ground. A red wire in AC circuitry is usually a switched hot lead.

RLS7201 wrote:
Wiring standards dictate that colored wires are hot or positive. White and black are shades, not colors. In automotive applications, white should always be negative. I have seen black used for both positive and negative.
In your case, I would suggest that red & yellow are both positive.

Richard

I agree with your logic but, white and black are not shades. White is the combination of all the colors of the spectrum and black is the total absence of all color. Purple and Lavender or Red and Pink or Sky Blue and Royal Blue are shades of color.

So which way was it?

goufgators wrote:
I bought a new propane gas alarm. The colors of the two wires to the old one are: red and black. Colors on the new one are: yellow and white. Do I connect the new yellow one to the old red and the new white to the old black? Or, vice-versa? Need your help! Thanks, Larry

Please disregard. I posted to quick. I've figured it out.

Wiring standards dictate that colored wires are hot or positive. White and black are shades, not colors. In automotive applications, white should always be negative. I have seen black used for both positive and negative.
In your case, I would suggest that red & yellow are both positive.

Richard

Here is where a DMM or test light comes in handy. In Lieu of those and/or any instructions in the package, try the yellow to the red and white to black. A trick you can try is to take a cigarette lighter plug for charging a cellphone or some other device and touch the yellow to the center and white to side, if the red power indicator LED come on your in business, if not reverse the leads.

Also the make and model helps, others have installed them and may have first hand knowledge.