The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Horns and Amps, how many?

My 6 volt horn works as it should, unless the lights are on and then is pretty weak. Still running 6 volts. I do have limited 12 volts available via a 6 to 12v stepup transformer rated @ 10 amps that powers the radio. My thought is to seperate out the horn wiring and power with 12v. However without a small 12v battery in the mix I do see this not working due to the horn drawning more than the transformer can supply. A small 12v battery would work for radio & horn but then how to regulate the charging current.......Complications!

Could you not just use a relay and wire direct to the battery with a fuse? That would be the quick and easy way. You can use the same wire to the horn to energize the relay.
But it really sounds like grounding needs to be addressed if your wiring is good. 6v systems will work as good as 12v systems normally.

Lee, a relay was my first thought. But then while reading the recient posting on 6v horns on converted 12v trucks I’ve started thinking along the lines of au 12v Loud horn and it’s early warning benefits.

A little delay here, I've been out in the garage working on my 55. Although my 53 is 12v (It was that way from the previous owner) I have run a lot of 6v stuff, and the horn on the 53 is a 6v running on 12v. It is loud, but it gets hot fast. I only use it for short honks. The way I drive it I have never used the horn other than to say Hi to someone I know. I have come to realize that by the time I could lay on the horn, I could have already braked to a stop. And people don't listen anyways, too busy with their cell phone. LOL

Just a point of interest: You do not have a step up transformer as such. Transformer will not work on dc. As the guys who hang around in the radio section will tell you, a vibrator is used to turn your supply dc voltage into a square wave. This square wave can then be sent through a step up transformer to produce much higher voltages necessary to operate the old vacuum tube radios.

Thanks beltfed. Fact is I'm in the same camp on electrical issues as one of the members here who's tag line says; If a hammer wont fixit, it's an electrical problem. I do understand basic watts to amps and understand my power bill and kwh, past that and I call little bro, the electrical engineer.