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Where is/should my horn be? & connecting horn to steering wheel switch...
markie76 - 8/8/12 at 01:14 PM

Hi GUys,

Quick question - on my JC Wide Body Sports Locust where should the horn be?

On pressing the left stalk where the horn logo is nothing happens.
It has a Mountney steering wheel fitted with central push button - nothing happens pushing this either.

I have had a good look around the engine bay and inside the nose cone - no sign of a horn or mounting brackets or wiring.


On the assumption the horn has been removed I bought a pair of snail airhorns which I am going to fit and hope to wire up to the steering wheel central button.

Can anyone offer any tips on doing this to make it a smooth enjoyable job?


Thanks,

Mark.

blakep82 - 8/8/12 at 01:28 PM

the horn would be wherever the builder put it.
a horn is a current requirement for IVA testing, but wasn't required for SVA before that, so possibly was never fitted, but the logos came with the steering wheel and stalks, and weren't removed.

so yeah, chances are it never had one

markie76 - 8/8/12 at 01:54 PM

quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
the horn would be wherever the builder put it.
a horn is a current requirement for IVA testing, but wasn't required for SVA before that, so possibly was never fitted, but the logos came with the steering wheel and stalks, and weren't removed.

so yeah, chances are it never had one


oh, so no audible warning device required for the SVA - but its passed MOT's before so would have needed to have one for those?

blakep82 - 8/8/12 at 02:14 PM

well, this is what i can't really work out, there was no requirement for a horn in SVA, as for then the MOT, maybe its a case of if it has one, it had to work.
MOT rules have changed now, but last year (before the new rules came out) you had to have reversing lights for IVA, but they didn't have to work for MOT.
I had a BMW, reversing lights never worked, passed many MOTs like that too.
so for SVA/IVA and MOT, they never really quite matched up. maybe its different now with the new mot rules.

avagolen - 8/8/12 at 05:48 PM

Hi,

Whichever switch you use to sound the horn, use it to switch a relay and run the horn from that.

Len.

markie76 - 1/9/12 at 11:53 PM

quote:
Originally posted by avagolen
Hi,

Whichever switch you use to sound the horn, use it to switch a relay and run the horn from that.

Len.

Right, just an update.

My JC Locust Wide Body Sports now has a lovely £6 dual airhorn..!!!

I had a look at the Mountney steering wheel horn push - this turned out to be a red herring. The centre of the steering wheel has what looks like a horn push - until you remove the 'push' and behind it all you find is a sprung metal tab in a cylindrical plastic housing - you remove that to expose the steering column securing nut expecting to see some sort of connector to wire the horn push. BUT there is nothing, just metal, no hole for any wiring going to a contact ring - NOTHING.
Which makes you wonder why do Mountney bother putting in the 'dummy' horn push in the first place - makes NO sense to me

Luckily the Sierra indicator stalk has a 'push for horn' and luckily it was wired up as per the original loom and wiring diagram. One end of the horn push to fused +ve and I found the other end in the engine bay loom by following the colour code - the sheathed connector was tucked into the loom - so you had to really tug on the short bit of exposed wire for the connector to pop out (I had tugged it previously but as it didn't give I assumed it was connected to something).

As the horn push wiring is high current wire 3mm thick!!! I wired up the twin horns in parallel and they work great!!!

[Edited on 1/9/12 by markie76]

Macbeast - 2/9/12 at 05:31 AM

But, as said above, you would be better to use a relay to actually drive the horns. No matter how thick the wiring is, the heavy current drawn by the horns could easily burn out the horn switch.

snowy2 - 2/9/12 at 07:07 AM

The horn in the automotive world is a bit of an odd ball as they are commonly wired in two different ways depending on make.
they are often wired using relays. They can be earthed switched or live switched.

For earth switching you need a two terminal horn. using a relay take a live fused supply to pin 30 on a 4 pin relay and connect pin 87 to one terminal on the horn, connect the other terminal on the horn to pin 85, pin 86 connects to your horn switch (usually the wire to the centre horn push button) when the button is pushed it earth's to the steering column, activating the relay and the horn works.....(less wiring this way)

For live switching, take a live supply to your horn switch (stalk type usually...not always) and run it to pin 85 on your relay pin 86 to earth. take another live (you can use the same supply as pin 85 but this is not usual as it means the switch is taking all the current of the horn and defeats the object of the relay) and connect to pin 30 of the relay (fused preferably) connect pin 87 to the horn contact (there needs to be only one terminal on this style of operation) the horn earth's through its body...but if you have a two terminal horn connect the second terminal to earth.

markie76 - 2/9/12 at 03:01 PM

Thanks for the replies.

I got a relay, connectors and wiring expecting to be wiring up the centre horn push on the wheel but that idea was abandoned due to the wheel not being designed to be wired up with a horn push.

I agree about the current and the horn push switch - but surely as its original Ford equipment the design should take into account the current going through the switch.

For now I'm happy as I have a horn without having to install a switch...