The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 6V vs. 12v horn

I thought I had my horn issue resolved. I have a couple questions for the electricians in the know. I tested my horn with a 12v battery, and it sounds great. I started to install it in my 6v system and only get a click and little hum from the horn. Based on the design I assumed the horn was old enough it had to be a 6v horn. See the picture. There are no markings anywhere on the horn.

Does it need to be wired through the horn relay before it will work or is it in fact a 12v horn and that is why it won't sound off with 6 volts?

My 1st guess is that it is a 12v horn. The click and hum when running on 6v are probably the coil trying to pull the armature and diaphragm hard enough to open the points to shut off current flow and start over again. But the 6 volts can't pull hard enough.

Yes, it's almost certainly a 12v horn if it won't work on 6v. Cadillac switched to 12v in 1953 and used long, loud horns like that up into the 1960s. They called it a "Country Horn" because it's so loud.