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09-06-2022, 10:08 PM | #1 |
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Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: Limerick, ME
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Aftermarket one wire horn
I picked up a replacement 'Ahooga' horn at our club's auction this summer. It looks the part, so I'm going to use it...I hope. It has a single wire coming out the back. I tested it with my charger and it sounds really good. My question is....how do I hook it up? I mounted it to the light bar, but when I touched the yellow wire from the harness it went off (as it should) since that wire comes from the genny cutout (to battery). I suspect that only the blue wire (with tracers) should be connected????? When the button is pressed it will complete the circuit I assume.....there's that word again!. Not really sure what to do.
I'm tempted to just hook up the brake light with a connection from battery to switch to light with a separate ground to frame and forget the lights completely....and never drive in the dark for sure...lol Craig |
09-06-2022, 10:43 PM | #2 |
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Re: Aftermarket one wire horn
You will need a relay. The horn is hot all the time, and the horn button grds it, which completes the circuit. So if you use the light bar as grd and then hook up the hot, it will be energized all the time. Hence a relay energized by the grd horn button to energize the hot .
You could use another horn button, like a doorbell to energy the hot, and dispense with a relay, and your stock horn button. |
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09-07-2022, 06:18 AM | #3 |
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Re: Aftermarket one wire horn
Would it be possible to insulate the horn mounting bracket from the light bar so I can use both original wires?
Craig |
09-07-2022, 06:49 AM | #4 |
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Re: Aftermarket one wire horn
Insulating your horn from the light bar would work, but I can't think of a way to do it that wouldn't result in a poor mounting that wouldn't vibrate and shake like crazy. Your horn would need to hang on some sort of rubber/ plastic mounting from the light bar, which would flop around. Chuck's idea of using a separate switch, like those cheap horn button switches from auto supply stores would work well. Just mount your new horn button on the steering column. I did that on our 35 Ford, and it works well.
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09-07-2022, 07:38 AM | #5 |
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Re: Aftermarket one wire horn
So, two horn buttons?????
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09-07-2022, 07:43 AM | #6 |
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Re: Aftermarket one wire horn
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09-07-2022, 10:51 AM | #7 |
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Re: Aftermarket one wire horn
Find a horn relay from the 6-volt era say 40s or 50s Ford car or truck and mount down in the frame area where the headlamp wires are run or in the engine compartment on say the radiator shell or engine pan. The horn power wire from the generator will be the power wire and the horn grounding wire will be the ground for the relay. A person would only need the one power wire from the relay to the horn. Not too big a problem. It all ties together in the light switch. A person just needs to know the terminals to connect to.
This link shows the diagrams. https://www.mafca.com/downloads/Semi...ex%20Janke.pdf Last edited by rotorwrench; 09-07-2022 at 11:06 AM. |
09-07-2022, 02:06 PM | #8 |
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Re: Aftermarket one wire horn
The auction site has "6v horn relay" for sale.
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09-07-2022, 04:12 PM | #9 |
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Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: Limerick, ME
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Re: Aftermarket one wire horn
I may just 'bite the bullet' and purchase an original style horn, OR go the relay route....spent a lot of time rebuilding the horn button and straightening the original rod, so I'd like to still use it.
Thanks for all the suggestions Fordbarn! Craig |
09-08-2022, 10:36 AM | #10 |
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Re: Aftermarket one wire horn
Remove the cover off the horn and see if the wire that goes to ground can be easily "ungrounded". If so, problem solved.
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09-08-2022, 03:18 PM | #11 |
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Location: Massachusetts
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Re: Aftermarket one wire horn
If you take to back cover off the horn you will see the power wire for the horn motor is connected to the field winding of the horn. If you look closely you should see the other wire from the field winding stuck into the frame of the horn. You may be able to carefully pull that ground wire out of the frame, if not you may have to cut it. Once you get that wire exposed that gives you the second wire you need to connect to the standard horn button. Once you get this far I'm sure you can figure out how to make all the connections. Good luck.
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09-08-2022, 03:33 PM | #12 |
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Re: Aftermarket one wire horn
Thanks katy and Doug....never thought about that! May give it a try. The horn sounds great and looks the part, although aftermarket. Only cost me $15, so definitely worth 'tinkering with'.
Craig |
09-09-2022, 10:14 PM | #13 |
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Re: Aftermarket one wire horn
Katy and Doug's suggestions will work, that's what I did on my one wire horn years ago.
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09-10-2022, 05:07 PM | #14 |
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Re: Aftermarket one wire horn
They sure did! Once I figured out which wire was grounding the body (small solid wire), I cut it, then 'wire nutted' the remaining short braided wire to an extension which I hooked to the ground of the wiring harness. Works like a charm....on the cheap too....just labor.
Took the old girl for its maiden voyage about 5-6 miles on the back roads. |
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