Trying to connect the horn

[v-tec]

it no workey...


nah, i dunno whether i did it right, tho.

i got the peice of wire of the horn button


and touched it with that, but nothing happened. Im still trying to figure out how the boss kit makes the horn go off.

The horn button has the wire attach as seen above ^^^^ that wire then goes through the kit and is attached to a circular thin peice of metal (maybe copper - not sure ) and then i think that peice of metal either just sits next to or on that bit thats circled in the red. What i think dont understand is what happens when you press the button or rather how it signals the horn to work

[sotiros86]

dude, that thing in red isn't a button. It's a spring loaded contact that crazy86 explained the workings of. Check to see that when the adapter goes onto the steering shaft, it has a little metal ring on it that touches that "button" you circled. When I changed the wheel on my car the dopey bastard who had the wheel before me stuffed the horn contact ring on the adapter, broke the wire off and stuck it back on with glue. Needless to say the wire didn't make very good contact with the ring thus my horn didn't work.

There should also be 2 wires on that horn button that goes in the middle of the wheel, one goes to somewhere on the adapter, or perhaps the adapter has a wire on it? Need more pics of it. And the other goes to one of the screws that holds the steering wheel to the adapter plate. That's how mine worked anyway.

Do as crazy86 says, touch that wire to anything metal and if the horn still doesn't go check that:
you actually have a horn, the bit that makes all the noise
the fuse isn't blown if there's a fuse for it
the horn thing itself isn't rooted

edit: connect these two bits together with any old bit of wire you can find.


how do I attach a picture? when I hit preview the picture doesn't appear.

[v-tec]

Thanks whoop, when i was saying button in my post (although i might have done otherwise in earlier posts) i was refering to the plastic horn button that is on the steering wheel:

when i said that at the start i was talking bout the plastic horn button

this sorta explains what mine like atm, plus as you said later that i need two wires to be connecting to the horn button, i dont have that second wire connected to the plastic button.

So i guess that means i need to get another one for it to work

i have realised when i tested the horn from what crazy86 said, being the stupid bastard i am i didnt read what he said right

thanks for your help, whoop and crazy 86



EDIT: ok, just did what you guys just said to do, and yeah the horn does work.

Now that ive realised im missing a peice of wire from the original kit i think i may be able to fix it with just a peice of copper wire.

[crazy86]

OK, you now know that your horn works, so Im sure all you have to do is connect the black wire to the pint you could see in your first pic, where it had originally broken off.
You probably dont need to add a second wire, and i will tell you why.

OK, Point C is the "signal" (to use your term) or -ve from the horn. Points A and B should both be earth connections.
What normally happens is that when the horn button is inside the Boss, Point A actually rubs inside the boss to give you an earth. This is usually all you need to complete the circuit. that way the boss acts as the second wire.

BUT

Sometimes this can be unreliable, so you can connect point B to a second wire, and attach that wire to the boss with a screw or bolt. This can give a more reliable earth, but most people dont use it, and you shouldn't need to either, once you fix the broken black wire.

[crazy86]

Just remember that the steering wheel has to rotate (allow for about 4 turns, 2 each way) so the black wire should connect to that brass disk, and the brass disk will rub on the connection on the rack as the wheel turns.

Actually, Im not so sure about that last statement, its been a few years (10?) since i last wired up an aftermarket horn, Mabey someone else can clarify.

[v-tec]

ok thanks mate... ive been trying a few things this morning... with no success

I tryed to solder the 'point c' back onto the brass circular disk, however, it just wont stay on.

My next thoughts were tying the wire around the brass disk, but as you said you need for the disk to rotate when hitting that point in the red. And so if i do that the wire hits the contact thing on the steering wheel which just doesnt work.

Basically what i need to finally get this to work is the somehow attach the 'point c' to the brass plate.... and i havent got any other ideas atm.

[crazy86]

You could extend the black wire (point c) with a long peice, and wrap it around the shaft about 6 times, then "loosen" the winds about 3 turns, so the wire still goes around 6 times, but is not tight, then solder it to the red point. Make sure you use a decent guage of multicore though, as it will want to eventually break with all the steering lef/right.

[sotiros86]

you may be able to silver solder the thing on there if you have access to the stuff. I'd just be trying to braise another bit of copper onto the ring so I could then just atttach a female spade connector onto it like how the wires hold onto the plastic button copper terminals.

I can't remember how I held mine on there. I *THINK* I may have just stripped some insulation from the wire, curled it around on the bottom of the boss kit & put the metal ring on top of it, held down with glue but made sure to keep the glue away from the wires unlike the guy before me. I forget now. There's all sorts of ways to fix it, just depends on what tools you have access to.

Or you could just do what I did before I fixed it, put a button on the dashboard for the horn