23-05-2022, 05:10 AM
The horn on my Ruby stopped working. A replacement horn worked when connected directly to the battery, but wouldn't work when connected into the car wiring system. After cleaning the horn button contact with brakeclean and rubbing with fine sandpaper, still no sound from the horn apart from a clunk.
The wiring seemed OK.
The next step was to curse whoever thought of using the vehicle body as the return wire in an electric circuit. Where could the poor connection be? There were several places that connection could be poor.
I decided to eliminate these with two modifications.
First I connected the brass tang of the horn button contact to the flange of the inner tube of the steering column. See photo. It didn't cost anything, just cut a strip from a baked bean tin.
Second was fitting a clamp on the bottom of the inner tube where it protudes from the bottom of the steering box by about half inch. This was made by cutting down a small battery terminal clamp. From this clamp I ran a wire to where the battery earthing lead connects to the starter.
Hence a reliable return circuit for the horn.
It's not pretty, but the horn now works well.
The wiring seemed OK.
The next step was to curse whoever thought of using the vehicle body as the return wire in an electric circuit. Where could the poor connection be? There were several places that connection could be poor.
I decided to eliminate these with two modifications.
First I connected the brass tang of the horn button contact to the flange of the inner tube of the steering column. See photo. It didn't cost anything, just cut a strip from a baked bean tin.
Second was fitting a clamp on the bottom of the inner tube where it protudes from the bottom of the steering box by about half inch. This was made by cutting down a small battery terminal clamp. From this clamp I ran a wire to where the battery earthing lead connects to the starter.
Hence a reliable return circuit for the horn.
It's not pretty, but the horn now works well.