generic wiring query

[poohbah]

This particular query makes me feel very stupid, but here goes.

My '81 GTV has Narva fog lights fitted to the front bumper, fully wired-in with their own switch under the dash.

They still work fine, however the lens on one is now broken. I've hunted high and low and it appears impossible to find direct like-for-like replacements.

So I thought I'd look for similar style replacements, and wound up buying some "maxtel" ones online that are the same size and shape (oval 65mm by 75mm). Yep they were cheap, so if they are no good I won't really care about binning them.

But the problem I have is this. Each Narva light, as you would usually expect, has a black ground wire and a red power wire. I had foolishly assumed I would be able to simply reconnect the existing wires (maybe after fitting new connectors) to the new lights.

However the new maxtel lights each have a black wire with an exposed end (ready to attach a connector), and a white braided wire fitted with a rounded-end male connector. (see pics - I have added a comparison pic showing the current Narva lights)

Can anyone advise if the black wire is the ground and the white wire is power? Or does their colour coding denote an entirely different job for each wire? Could they even be in reverse? Or maybe need additional wiring to mate with my existing set up?

[bazzbazz]

Black is universally recognized as earth.

Before fitting them just connect the white to 12v and the black to earth to see if they fire up ok.

As the 3 amigos say, "What could possibly go wrong?" 

[poohbah]

Cheers Bazz, will do.

Fire extinguisher at the ready when I do...

[bazzbazz]

Fire extinguisher at the ready when I do...

With your history I would have thought you never went anywhere without one. 

[poohbah]

To conclude this topic, it was totally straightforward in the end, just a matter of fitting new male connectors and new brackets. When I went back today to check properly before fitting, the ones already on the car had exactly the same colour-coding as the new ones - white and black. (Didn't have my glasses on when I first looked - just saw the conventional black and red wiring on the car that the short wires from the Narva lights plugged into).

The new lights work and look fine. But the brackets and casing seem much flimsier than the Narva ones I replaced, so I guess it's going to be a case of seeing how long they last. As they cost less than $40 online, it won't be a big deal if I need to replace them again.

Bigger concern is trying to replace the twin headlights. When I've gone searching in the past, proper OEM Carello lights cost north of $800 qnd have to come from overseas. I've replaced the outer lights before with non OEM ones, but they don't have parker elements. And the silver backing on the bowl of one of the inner hi-beam lights is really corroded, so I'd like to replace all 4 with correct ones eventually. But not at Carello prices, they are just stupid.