Horn

[zach103]

ive stared at this for about an hour for everyday this weekend trying to figure out how to do it.. but when i removed the old horn there were only 2 wires.. now the horn i have now is a double so 4 wires.. so i just connected them into 2 wires...can i do that?.. and how do i connect it... its got a push button switch with a wire connect to a fuse then back to the battery.. ill post pictures tomor cuz i know that will help

 

[jtexas]

Re: Horn

Yes you can combine the wires into a single wire. Connect the other side of the fuse to the (+) side of the battery. Connect one (combined) horn wire to the empty pole on the switch. Connect the other (combined) horn wire to the (-) side of the battery.

 

[zach103]

Re: Horn

ive connected everything.. found a nice diagram.. pushed the button made a slight noise.. hit it 2 more time s and it died. wehn i push the button the leads on the horn shot 12 volts.. what am i doing wrong?

 

[Boatist]

Re: Horn

Did the horn come with a wireing diagram? Are both wires the same color?

I replaced my dual horn about 5 years back, but I also had trouble. I bought the horn and took it straight out to the boat and hooked it up. One wire from each horn to the positive wire and the horn switch. The other wire from each side horn to my ground wire. I hit the button and it made noise but not near as loud as my old horn when new and it was the same type horn.

Did not want to upset my neibors so took inside and hooked up to a battery and one horn made a lot of noise and the other was no noise. Looking at my old horn I took the back cover off and found it had a adjustment you could turn and made a big difference is sound pitch and how loud it was.

Did the same with the new horn but the one just made very little sound. Took it back to the store and took the sales guy over to the batteries and showed him the problem. He said no problem and went and got another. I ask do you mind if I test it before the long drive home and he said ok. It was worse yet. Finally the third horn both worked loud a clear.

Though I was done but when got home I hooked it up and again just not that loud. This is where I found the Quality of the dealer added work not like the factory work. They used 3 different size wires and a inline fuse with 18 guage wire. Changed it all to 12 guage from end to horn and what a difference. Neibors looking out all over. To this day I have to warn the boss (wife) before I test the horn on the water and make sure no one is closer than one mile. Inside the cab it still hurts the ears but i know I can count on it.

See if your horn wires are color coded and test each horn on a battery first before hooking to the boat.

 

[zach103]

Re: Horn

i cant remember.. even if i did i doubt i could find it.. it has 2 grey wires of each horn the positives have black strip on them. (should i try those wires on the ground?) well those go to the positive on the switch.. the other two go all the way down to the negative on the battery

i saw a screw on the horn that looked like it adjusted it so maybe ill try that

Did not want to upset my neibors

yah i scared them enough when i started the motor. i should prolly do it inside

i just dont understand how they could not work.. i used them max of 5 times.. they have been outside for a year. but they're marine grade horns how would that matter?

 

[jtexas]

Re: Horn

I might have made an incorrect assumption, if so I apologize. Unlikely as it seemed, it's possible your horns have some technology (semiconductor-type stuff) built in, and polarity matters. Switching the pos/neg might make a difference.

 

[zach103]

Re: Horn

want pictures?

 

[jtexas]

Re: Horn

want pictures?

heck yeah, we love pics! worth 1k words.

 

[zach103]

Re: Horn

 

[zach103]

Re: Horn

 

[zach103]

Re: Horn

it thought it was the rust but i took apart the other horn and cleared the rust but still nothing

 

[Boatist]

Re: Horn

My horn are the Big Stainless trumpeter dual horns and the adjustment is a mecahical.
My old horn had a lot of rust inside and I cleaned up and tried some Silicon spray and WD 40.
That helped a little but I had to replace mine along with all the wireing.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Horn

Polarity won't matter to those. How old are they? Maybe the diaphrams just wore out. Have ya hooked 'em directly to the battery?

 

[zach103]

Re: Horn

i bought them maybe 2 years ago.. were on the old boat then that one crapped out. so they were sittin outside for a year. nothign when i hooked them up directly