J
Jack Klarich
Guest
Don dont encourage them, HELP me LOL:newsmile100:
Horn/Electrical Problem
- Thread starter Dr. Dolittle
- Start date
Don dont encourage them, HELP me LOL:newsmile100:
Jack I learned early on that I am no match for the main frame AKA Glider. And now with the electron master AKA Hoople teaming up with the main frame, we are as good as toast.:bigsmiley30:
Now you see why I don't own a test light. Get a Good meter!
There's one in my tool box but if I can't figure out a simple test light, there's probably no hope that I'd get anywhere with it.
I've tried that but it's a giant pain cleaning the bugs out of your teeth!
First of all, how do you know which is the positive side of the horn? I touched the alligator clip to the forward most spade terminal on the horn, with the tester's probe touching nothing else, and the horn went off. Scared the daylights out of me AND our new puppy who was out helping me!
Not to worry Doc...the light is a just a light BULB with filament that heats up and glows...and not polarity dependent. This is why it is the easiest and handy to use. If there is power or ground present on one side of the circuit the opposite side if "conducting" will have sufficient voltage to light your test light from either ground or battery. Nothing to "burn out" so all is well. This test light is for "powered" circuit testing.
If you want more accuracy and want to determine easily the direction without disturbing the circuit it is easily obtained at Harbor Freight for about $5-$9 depending if it is on sale or not. A DMM is handy because it also has a self powered continuity checker called an Ohmmeter function (this for non-powered testing only! It is for checking things out of circuit for continuity without damaging things, as well as diode, resistor as well as shorts and open circuit checking. Most manuals will have a "brief" primer on how to use one. I have been thinking about putting one together in the Self Help tips section...PM me if you have any questions.
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Exactly what I thought - simple little fellow, right? Then why is it making my horn sound or creating a shower of sparks, depending on which horn terminal gets touched by the tester's clip? It's not polarity dependent and it's not a powered device, right? How is this happening?
I seriously need someone to have pity on me and just list a series of steps I need to follow, either with the test light or the meter Hoople mentioned. Real plain vanilla stuff please!
If you got a "shower of sparks" the bulb is conducting a lot more current then what I would call a test light. Could be the light is internally shorted in the socket...! In your case, spring for a decent Digital Multi-Meter (DMM). Also, the horn may be "grounded" internally so the "shower" of sparks is because the inline fuse is probably blown and your connecting power to it is providing unabated current at the terminal. I would pull the horn and see if the blade contact measures "Zero" Ohms (shorted) with respect to ground...you may have found your problem.
How would you check for the "light internally shorted?" Worked fine when I just touched the battery's terminals.
Can you describe, again step by step please, how I would perform the last test you describe? I have a DMM but obviously have no clue how it got in my tool box or how to use it.
Take a look at this simplified schematic...notice that one side of the horn is grounded. Now imagine if the opposite side of the horn where power enters were shorted to the horn (it has a tightly wound coil/electromagnet with a spring metal diaphram the makes and breaks electrical circuit rapidly, moving air and making sound). If it is internally shorted it could have blown the protective fuse or smoke open the wiring, relay contact or button in the bars that has power.
If you test light is working fine, then the "shower of sparks" came from you providing battery on one side of the test light, back feeding high current through a grounded horn terminal, and all the current that the test light can flow will go through the grounded horn (if it is bad) there should be no "shower of sparks", a small one maybe (horn ckt should only conduct 1-2 amps).
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s45/bills985/Wiringdiag.jpg
If you test light is working fine, then the "shower of sparks" came from you providing battery on one side of the test light, back feeding high current through a grounded horn terminal, and all the current that the test light can flow will go through the grounded horn (if it is bad) there should be no "shower of sparks", a small one maybe (horn ckt should only conduct 1-2 amps).
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s45/bills985/Wiringdiag.jpg