Hi,

I have a 1944 bsa m20 and it has the original horn. It has sound and I have adjusted it but is not very loud. I know it is 6v but it should be louder than the engine correct? Anyone have a lead on why it is soft or how to rebuild?

email (option): jeff@infinitymedspa.com

It may be worth putting it on a 12Volt battery for a few moments, what happens after a while is the internal contacts get a slight oxidation on them (just like ignition points) and if you get it moving a bit faster than if it were on a 6 volt battery it sometimes helps, don't do it continuously, just short bursts and it may improve it, try not to get involved with taking off the big nut at the front and messing around with the adjuster, just keep trying using the one on the back. If it dosen't work any better after doing this it is really time to send it to a professional to get it sorted, you can sort them out yourself, but you really have to have a good understanding of them. I've done a few of them myself, but it was more a trial and error than based on a real understanding as there seems to be no info on setting them up. Although I did get it working, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're pretty confident about their functionality, I had nothing to lose with mine as they didn't work at all. It may be worth reading Taff the Horns website about repro horn replacement parts as sometimes it can be a repro rim that can cause a problem by restricting the sounding disc from moving.

email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com

Ah! well this could be the problem with mine. It did work, before I took off the big nut and the outer ring to paint strip it! Now it wont work. ummh

email (option): andrew.honychurch@btinternet.com

You should be ok if you just took off the outer ring and the big nut as this just holds the sounding disc on , as long as you didn't mess with the adjuster in the middle of it, it may just be that some paint got on the contacts while you were spraying it, just try "livening it up" with the 12v battery

email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com

Sounds a good plan. Will try it a bit later today. thanks!

email (option): andrew.honychurch@btinternet.com

I forgot to ask, what is the small triangular bacolite insulators purpose? It appears to simply sit over the terminal but since they are not connected anyway, I am not sure what function it fulfills, nor why it has a fourth elongated hole in it.

email (option): andrew.honychurch@btinternet.com

Andrew the purpose of that little plate is to make the wires safe. By passing the wires through that elongated hole before they are connected to the terminals. This will stop and pull or drag of the wires at the terminals. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Thanks Ron.......I suppose I should have worked that out really. On the one hand this forum is superb for finding out information, on the other hand it does make ones grey cells a bit lazy!

email (option): andrew.honychurch@btinternet.com

Thanks agin for the help I will try the 12 v trick tomorrow and see if it helps

email (option): Jeff@infinitymedspa.com

well, surprisingly my horn works on 12v, although it sounds a bit sick, loud but not very tuneful, but will not make any noise on 6 volt. any ideas? I suppose it seems that I may have to strip it down to clean the points. As for Taffthehorn, I have been on his website, but cannot see any way of contacting him. Maybe I am missing the link as its a pretty full site to say the least.

email (option): andrew.honychurch@btinternet.com

It IS on his website, but hidden somewhere! Just carefully go through the whole site, take a weekend for it

email (option): viaconsu # planet dot nl

Try these contact details. lynn.isac@tinyworld.co.uk tel 01792 233763.
Taf is very into Speedway and sand racing. You could point him in the direction of the book that Dave (Horror) has offered on this site if he doesn't already know about it.

I have had long conversations with him about his other interests. But personally I've never found him helpful regarding repairing your own horn. He seems to just want to sell refurbed horns. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

when i opened mine up it looked inside as is was off the Thistlegorm,i shook the rust out and closed it up it will only work with the dyno charging and when tooted the ampmeter goes to full charge

well, happy days! for some reason it decided to work now! I jumped directly from the 6v battery rather than through the wiring loom and off she went, then it was ok on the wiring loom as well. So for me, thats the end of that little discovery quest. Well until the G3 I suppose. thanks all .

email (option): andrew.honychurch@btinternet.com

The sound of a WD Clearhooters 180 horn: MEUH

Jan

email (option): wd.register@gmail.com

No Jan! We've had this argument before....They go Parp!

Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

email (option): wd.register@gmail.com

I think it's more of a TOOOOT.

parp is a posh persons f*"t