Horn Voltage Question (Solved)

[YellowJacket!]

My horn has not worked since I got the bike.? I went ahead and bought a new very loud horn but while I had the front stuff off to replace it I decided to do some tinkering.

I checked the voltage at the leads withthe bike off and when I press the horn button the voltage reads at 6 volts.? Withthe engine running, the voltage reads 8 volts when I press the button.? Battery is fully charged and new.? Bike starts good and strong, so Im wondering what is going on.

The new horn is controlled through a relay that connects to the horn switch and to the battery, so the low voltage should not be a problem.? All I need it to do is click the relay.? But Im wondering if its more of a deeper problem.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

David

[QBS]

You've got good voltage at the battery and weak voltage at the horn.  Sounds like resistance somewhere in the horn circuit.  Suspect corroded connectors or an almost broken wire.  Time to start cleaning and looking.Cheers.

[Lucky]

another, & i think equally likely possability is that you may have a poor ground. 

the stock horn works by completeing the circuit to ground when the horn button is pressed. The horn itself is allways "hot", it gets power from the 10A "signal" circuit, to the horn, thru the horn, to the switch & then ground when the button is pushed.

If i remember right, the horn button grounds to a black wire in the switch pod that goes to the bikes ground system.

the contact for this ground under the button may be dirty or corroded.

--Lucky

[YellowJacket!]

Thanks QBS and Lucky.  Both your tips solved my problem.
When I restored the bike last year, I cleaned all the contacts on the wiring harness, however, I did not lubricate them, so I had some corrosion on some of the connectors in the headlight bucket.  However, I think the main culprit was the switch.  I took apart and cleaned the left side control pod and their was a lot of rust and grime inside it.  Also, during my reassembly, the bike tipped over onto its left side.  So, something may have gotten mucked up inside the pod.  Louthepou had sold me a couple control pods last year (headlight issue), so I cleaned up the left pod that he sold me, exchanged some parts between the two and reassembled it.
Now my horn works...sounds like a big car too.  :D

Thanks to all...

David