Decided to create a new thread rather than tag onto guitplayer. I made it “pretty” but I’d like it to be functional as well. I do not have a 6v battery to connect to for testing, just a 6/12 volt battery charger and it will not work connected to the 6v from the charger. Thought maybe not enough amps? Or the horn doesn’t work. Don’t want to fry it, so what heft of voltage reducer does a horn need? I bought a light duty ones for the heater blower and gas gauge. #2, if it does need to be torn apart, has anyone been successful and share experience for this old girl?
Larry Old man᠁Old truck᠁neither one goes very fast. All you need in life is TIME, PATIENCE and MONEY. If you are missing one component, you'll need an abundance of the others two.
Your battery charger may not put out anything unless it senses some voltage in the battery it's intended to charge. But you should be able to test using a 12V battery without damaging the horn. Just don't leave it connected very long.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Ok, so take this with some salt because I have not rebuilt that particular model. I rebuilt the one shown below last weekend. It was a 6V horn originally that I am running on 12V. From what I have read, it should be fine. By inspection, I agree. For testing purposes, I would not worry about the 12V vs 6V.
This one draws about 7A when it is running. Most of the modern battery chargers have some smarts in them and they won't put out power if they are not connected to a battery. If the horn is functional, its internal resistance is probably too low for the charger.
With that out of the way, step 1 is to see if it is electrically connected inside. Measure resistance from the case at the mounting bolts to the terminal. It should be less than 2-3 Ohms. The one I just did was 0.3 Ohms.
If that measures good, use your jumper cables to connect it to a 12V battery for a quick burst (less than 1/2 second). If it makes noise, it is probably good and ready to go when you get a new battery. If not, then it is likely frozen inside. The reason for the short burst is to not burn it up if it is frozen.
The next step is to open it up and see what went wrong.
The easiest things to check are:
Does the diaphram move smoothly in the coil? Is the coil open or shorted? Are the switch contacts clean? Are the switch terminals connected to the housing/post cleanly?
If those all come back good, then it is probably just out of adjustment.
Based on the ones I have torn down before, my bet is on the diaphram being frozen in the coil or dirty/scorched switch terminals.
Kevin, this old charger is dual amp/dual 6/12v with a couple of switches...old school and certainly not smart technology. I'll to the quick bump on 12v to my battery. Thanks for the starting point Fib. Company is headed this way for the holidays so I"ll give an update later. One of the few priorities over the '37 and a patient wife is granddaughters to play with! lol Last ? for the day though, Are you saying, like my starter, the horn will live fine with the 12v conversion I'm doing without a voltage reducer (if indeed it will come alive)?
Larry Old man᠁Old truck᠁neither one goes very fast. All you need in life is TIME, PATIENCE and MONEY. If you are missing one component, you'll need an abundance of the others two.
I'm using my 6 volt horn on 12 volts. Yes it's louder!
Wayne 1938 1-Ton Farm Truck Stovebolt Gallery Forums 1989 Silverado 1996 Mustang GT convertible When I die, I hope she doesn't sell everything for what I told her I paid for it!
Had a couple hours before anybody arrived so I went out and played with my horn. It had 2.5 ohms across the terminals but did not make a sound. Took apart, cleaned it up. Contact points looked pretty good but shined up with a points file. Put back together and she is LOUD on 12v. Must’ve just been the dirt and spider webs. Did not even adjust. Plan on using a relay when I do wiring. Thanks guys, happy holidays!
Larry Old man᠁Old truck᠁neither one goes very fast. All you need in life is TIME, PATIENCE and MONEY. If you are missing one component, you'll need an abundance of the others two.
