The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Das horn no honk..

I have a single 6v Auto Lite horn in my 12v-converted truck.

Last winter the darn thing (under a shelter) went off at 3 am.
Over the yelling neighbour I ran outside and managed to put it out of its misery by disconnecting its battery lead at an inside fender connection.

Now it is Springtime and the horn wouldn't honk.

After doing some rudimentary TS it was unbolted from the truck ('55 1st) and the back bell cover removed to expose its components --pretty clean actually except for the old wirewound resistor (to ground), which is hooped -- its coil is severed near its end (and the core is crumbling).

My question is, anyone here know what value resistor I should be looking for as a modern replacement?
Thanks.

May I add a related question? Is there anything that you need to do to the stock 6volt horn when converting to 12 volts, or will it accept 12 volts without any problems?

It will honk with 12v.
It will be a higher pitch (the "vibrator" vibrates at twice the speed).

If you make a long sustained honk, I think you risk overheating something and perhaps melting the parts that vibrate to make the honking sound.

I do not know the technical details, but I have done it.

I think you are on the right track. Mine was operating on 12 volts. It worked well until it managed to operate on its own and blared until it was shut down ..about 5 minutes!
When I opened the unit the wire joints were all desoldered (probably due to excessive heat). But the relay coil and contacts still seem ok. And I think the heat affected the old wire-wound resistor.

I would like to replace it with an equivalent ..if I know its values (ohms and watts).

Any spec info on this is appreciated.

Thanks Tim. I'll probably install a voltage reducer- I don't want to chance ruining this old horn.

No need for voltage reducer, plus many voltage reducers are for low amps. Horns are kinda high amp draw.

All horns, old or new are intermittent duty,........so they will turn to toast with longer than short "honks". Modern horns have less than 1 minute duty cycle.

Your not going to get by with a voltage reducer as stated above. If you really love this horn then....there are people out there who will convert it to 12 volts but will look the same. I have dual trumpets on one of my rides and if I converted it to 12 volts I would just hide a 12 volts horn, up in the fender well, who's sound I could live with.