Trying to replace horn....Having problems!

[CrowdedHouse]

I have a 1990 Avalon Walkaround. It's 20 feet long with an inboard/outboard motor...By the looks of it, it had a horn,
switches for the blower, bilge pump, and lights from the factory....The previous owner added a marine radio, am/fm cassette radio, gps,
compass and fish finder.....The electrical area under the gauges is a spliced up mess....I have an original horn now that sounds like a sick duck, it always has...
...so I bought a new red button switch and a new horn....The new horn went...."thud" with no horn sound....I tried reversing the wiring with no luck...

My brother is pretty good at testing out electronic equipment....He said it seems as if the new horn is not getting enough voltage to
make it produce the proper horn sound....could all that splicing affect the amount of voltage going to the new horn? We tested the new horn
directly to the battery....It works fine....We tested the old horn directly to the battery and the horn switch....It sounds the same hooked up
both ways.......instead of BEEEEP...it sounds like......woooonk.........

Thanks for your help!

Tony

 

[alldodge]

I have a 1990 Avalon Walkaround. It's 20 feet long with an inboard/outboard motor...By the looks of it, it had a horn,
switches for the blower, bilge pump, and lights from the factory....The previous owner added a marine radio, am/fm cassette radio, gps,
compass and fish finder.....The electrical area under the gauges is a spliced up mess....I have an original horn now that sounds like a sick duck, it always has...
...so I bought a new red button switch and a new horn....The new horn went...."thud" with no horn sound....I tried reversing the wiring with no luck...

My brother is pretty good at testing out electronic equipment....He said it seems as if the new horn is not getting enough voltage to
make it produce the proper horn sound....could all that splicing affect the amount of voltage going to the new horn? We tested the new horn
directly to the battery....It works fine....We tested the old horn directly to the battery and the horn switch....It sounds the same hooked up
both ways.......instead of BEEEEP...it sounds like......woooonk.........

Thanks for your help!

Tony

Many horns do require a bit more amps then others and having a bunch a splices can create enough resistance to keep it from working correctly. In this case amps are more important then voltage. Look at the horn and it's specs to see how many amps it draws. Some where on the box or the side of the horn this will be listed. I will guess it probably will take no more then 10 amps. The switch you use to turn the horn on needs to be rated at the same or more amps then the horn. Run a 12AWG wire from the positive side of the battery to a fuse (20amp). From the other side of the fuse run that to your switch then your horn. Run the other side of the horn to a good ground. If you don't have a good ground run another wire back to the negative on the battery or the engine block.

If you want to do the same thing with a switch that has a less amperage rating then the horn it can be done, but a relay will need to be added