Chassis - Horn Installation
After painstakingly refinishing the original horn I'm sorry to say I think I made a huge mistake. Prior to installing the horn assembly back on to the bike, I wanted to make sure it was operating properly. I attached the contacts directly to the 6V battery. After a few squeaks from the unit it sounds no more!
According to the electrical diagram there doesn't appear to be any step down of voltage to the unit so its either that it received too many amps or a mismatch of polarity fried one of the coils. I didn't think that polarity was an issue here since its a very simple magnetic coil and field system and it should work in either direction.
After inspecting the electrical schematic closer I noticed that a I installed the horn leads from the bike on the wrong terminals. I'm praying that it is something as simple as polarity and I wont have to purchase a repro horn.
I have a feeling though that this isn't the case and I just put this vintage part into an early grave.
2 comments:
I don't think you fried it. What you should do is open the horn up. In the center of the two coils you will see a contact that opens and closes as the membrane of the horn is pulled (then contact opens and released). Open up the contact with a screw driver by prying it a little. Get some 800 grit sandpaper and clean off the terminals on both sides. This is easiest done by letting the contact grip the sand paper and gently pulling it.
After you're sure it's all clean, put the horn back together. You will notice what looks like a terminal on the back of the horn, except that it clicks. That is an adjustment for the relay switch. Put a voltmeter across the OTHER two terminals measuring resistance. Adjust 'adjuster' until the resistance declines to '0'. That is the right point.
Plug her in and horn away. I JUST did this on my 1965 R60/2 and it works like a charm.
I did open the horn up initially and it was surprisingly clean inside. The contacts were clean and there was no visible damage to the coil. It’s such a simple apparatus I was surprised that it wasn’t working. I did not try the voltmeter and now that I understand the adjustment will give that a try and see what happens. Thanks!
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