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Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 5:50 pm
by Jonah D'Avella
I hooked up a MAG horn 2 my 26 Model T. I connected the horn's body to ground and the terminal to a switch and then to the Magneto. When I ran the car on a MAG and turned on the horn, the engine died. What am I doing wrong? Is the horn taking too much of the Magneto power?
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 6:30 pm
by Dan Hatch
Post a picture of your horn.
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 7:04 pm
by Jonah D'Avella
Horn pictures
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 7:48 pm
by DanTreace
Guess is the horn's coil is bad and grounds out causing a direct short, taking all the AC current to ground.
Remove the cover and test the coil for conductivity at the terminals.
- mag horn cover7.jpg (83.02 KiB) Viewed 3279 times
- mag horn coil .jpg (86.15 KiB) Viewed 3279 times
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 8:01 pm
by Jonah D'Avella
I will do that. Will it cause any damage to my Magneto?
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 8:05 pm
by Dan Hatch
How close is that screw to the spark plug? Is the plug shorting to horn?
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 9:01 pm
by ThreePedalTapDancer
- BD7FA589-9BAE-4C1F-BD28-4E9A7F44CD34.jpeg (116.79 KiB) Viewed 3222 times
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 9:07 pm
by Henry K. Lee
Who needs a horn..., watch for a finger!
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 9:22 pm
by Norman Kling
If that car has a battery and a generator, it should have a battery horn.
There are only two possible reasons the horn would cause the car to stop running. One would be a very weak magneto which is right on the edge, or something in the horn circuit which is grounding the magneto when you honk the horn. It should not damage the magneto unless your spark plug is shorting against the horn circuit which could cause very high voltage to enter the magneto. If the magneto still works when you are not trying to honk the horn, it is not damaged.
Does this cause the engine to stop even when you are running at a fast speed? Or is it just at idle that it stops?
Norm
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 10:33 pm
by Stephen_heatherly
Henry K. Lee wrote: ↑Wed Dec 16, 2020 9:07 pm
Who needs a horn..., watch for a finger!
That's hilarious!
I use both.
Stephen
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 8:31 am
by Jonah D'Avella
i will check and respond to these inquiries near noon.
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 12:24 pm
by Jerry VanOoteghem
Norman Kling wrote: ↑Wed Dec 16, 2020 9:22 pm
If that car has a battery and a generator, it should have a battery horn.
There are only two possible reasons the horn would cause the car to stop running. One would be a very weak magneto which is right on the edge, or something in the horn circuit which is grounding the magneto when you honk the horn. It should not damage the magneto unless your spark plug is shorting against the horn circuit which could cause very high voltage to enter the magneto. If the magneto still works when you are not trying to honk the horn, it is not damaged.
Does this cause the engine to stop even when you are running at a fast speed? Or is it just at idle that it stops?
Norm
I think the spark plug shorting to the long screw, (which should be trimmed), would simply send the high voltage directly to ground, which shouldn't hurt anything, aside from ignition in #2
.
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2020 8:33 am
by Rich Huggins
Touch that long screw and honk the horn i bet you wont do that again
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2020 7:11 pm
by Susanne
The horn won't be the only thing making noise...
Re: Loss of power when activating horn?
Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2020 7:18 pm
by Jonah D'Avella
I tried it on my little brother, he wasn't happy.
