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Last Friday I drove from NJ to CT to pick up a wheel from ct50f1, Dan. He was kind enough to drive an hour in my direction and save me 2 hours of drive time. He brought along other parts he was looking to get rid of, including a horn that didn’t work. He said he was giving it away, and since the PO of my 48 put in a little squeaky horn, I figured I could fix it so I grabbed it. Heck, I have a paper that says I’m an electronic engineer so if I can’t fix a simple electrical/mechanical horn I should give it back.
over the weekend I pulled it apart, but some screws were rusted so I soaked it in PB Blaster. That and some heat got the screws loose. The points were frozen, one of the wires was rotted away, and all the solder joints were bad. I cleaned up everything, resoldered all the wires, replaced one.
Today I hooked up my battery charger and after some tweaking of the points adjustment, and some big sparks that scared me to death, I have some noise from it. Once I install it in the truck I’ll tweak the tuning but I’m confident it’s working now.
FYI....the rule of inverse proportionally came into play. “The number of screws holding a thing together is inversely proportional to the number of times it’s been serviced”. 2 screws fell off the bench only to be lost forever.
Nice work. Once you tear into an old horn you realize they are pretty simple and can almost always be rejuvenated (unless 6V horn burned out on 12V).
Way better sounding and looking than modern replacements.
Nicely done. As you have likely learned, the adjustment post requires only tiny changes to shift from no noise to waking up the neighbor's dog loud.
LOL...I haven’t learned that yet. I got it to the point of making noise but I figured I wait to tweak it until I can do it outdoors. I actually put it inside one of my snow boots to muffle it.
Nice work. Once you tear into an old horn you realize they are pretty simple and can almost always be rejuvenated (unless 6V horn burned out on 12V).
Way better sounding and looking than modern replacements.
I actually don’t think 12v would burn it out. This sucker draws current!! I measured the coil at 2.3 ohms, at 6v that 2.6A!! Of course it’s not a continuous draw when it’s operating, but until the points are opening and closing properly it is. I suspect it will handle 12v just fine.
I actually don’t think 12v would burn it out. This sucker draws current!! I measured the coil at 2.3 ohms, at 6v that 2.6A!! Of course it’s not a continuous draw when it’s operating, but until the points are opening and closing properly it is. I suspect it will handle 12v just fine.
I measured the current draw for both horns to be in excess of 30A so I am using a 40A relay at 12 Vdc. People know when you are in the vicinity.
I measured the current draw for both horns to be in excess of 30A so I am using a 40A relay at 12 Vdc. People know when you are in the vicinity.
I haven’t measured, but that seems excessive. I measured the coil at 2.3 ohms, at 6v that’s 2.6A. at 30A you’re over the limit of 12AWG, not to mention the wire in that circuit is 14AWG. I’m not doubting you, I’m just wondering if something is up with your horn.
Mr. Bob -
Two questions with reference to middle picture:
Is that a paper gasket that looks completely perfect that lies about 11'clock from the horn assembly? Anyone have any suggestions on replacing the paper gasket. I was going to try some cardstock, which relatively speaking, is quite a bit thicker than the paper.
So is the paper cup in the 2: o'clock position something to eat?
Mr. Bob -
Two questions with reference to middle picture:
Is that a paper gasket that looks completely perfect that lies about 11'clock from the horn assembly? Anyone have any suggestions on replacing the paper gasket. I was going to try some cardstock, which relatively speaking, is quite a bit thicker than the paper.
So is the paper cup in the 2: o'clock position something to eat?
There are 2 gaskets, one on each side of the diaphragm. One came off perfectly, the other in pieces. I reused the one gasket and used RTV on the other. I would think any heavy paper would work as well, but cardstock seems too thick to me.
Thats not a paper cup, it’s plastic. You might not want to eat that, it’s solder flux.
Horns are pretty easy to fix. Most of the time it's corrosion. I've been buying 12v North East Electric Ahooga horns and refurbishing them with a lot of success . I currently have one I just finished if anyone is interested.
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'clock from the horn assembly? Anyone have any suggestions on replacing the paper gasket. I was going to try some cardstock, which relatively speaking, is quite a bit thicker than the paper.
