Horn relay?

[In Memory Walter K]

Having my dual trumpet horn function for a full season seems to be a major accomplishment. About two years ago I decided to throw away the original pair and purchased a pair of stainless steel Ongaro's. Wouldn't you know it, but after two weeks on the boat, they stopped working. Everything seemed to check out with a tester so I removed them (less fun than when you're on the hard) and sent them back to Ongaro who apologized for a defective set of horns and sent me new ones.
Now this season, no horns again, but a clicking sound coming from the relay under my bridge dashboard. It's a 3 pronged relay with the markings S B and H. Took it to an automotive store and sure enough for $17, there was a horn relay marked with an S B H.
My cousin (who is much smaller than me) reinstalled it and swears the same wires are on matching poles. Still no horn, still a click. Any ideas other than the possibility of another defective Ongaro horn? Any help would be appreciated. Walter

[Carl]

On some horns you need to adjust them to get them working properly, a little screw where the wires enter the horn.

Have you put a meter on the wires? Could be the wires have deteriorated a bit, under ideal circumsatnces it works while other times it's just not enough power to get things going.

[lobsta1]

Do you have a good ground? You have probably already checked for corrosion on the supply side. Now make sure the return path is good. Ongaro is a premium product as you know but I have heard they require a fair amount of power. Are your wires of sufficient size? If they are the original they may be undersized.
Al

[Bruce]

With the relay clicking the relay coil is working.

Put a meter to the horn wires and push the button to see if the horn feed has power. If it does the horns are bad. If not many times the coil feed and heavier load feed can be different.

[gplume]

Walter -

Same problem, and I followed your path with new Onargo horns also. Worked about 1/2 a season and then no more. I also assumed solenod.....but that clicking noise (as Bruce said indicator that the solinoid is working) got me digging deeper. I found that adjusting them to a slightly deeper pitch seemed to fix the problem and have had a full season plus without issue. Pretty easy to do. Pop the cover off and there will be an obvious adjust ment screw in sight (can't remember all the details.) I' let you know how I fare this year....it may be that they just get locked up and the adjustment frees them, or it may take less to excite then with adjustemnt scre backed off slightly.

[Skipper Dick]

Same thing happened to me that happened to Giff. My horns stopped working so I adjusted the pitch and they work fine now. The adjusting screw had some thread lock on it, so don't forget to put some back on or the vibration may undo the adjustment.

Dick

[In Memory Walter K]

There is a circular disk under the stick-on Ungaro logo on the end of each horn. Once the disk is exposed, there is a phillips screw head showing (seemingly to hold the disk on?). Is that the adjustment screw you're talking about, or is it under that disk? Walter

[Skipper Dick]

I think it is under the disc as I recall. The adjusting screw holds the tension on the vibrator. The whole mechanism is like a solanoid, but the part that vibrates to make the sound is managed by the adjusting screw. It doesn't take much of a turn to make a difference. I had to play around with it for a while. Then I had to make sure the two horns didn't clash in sound, so adjusting both screws was important to get the pitch that was loudest.

Dick

[Tony Meola]

Walter

Did you try running juice right to the horn, bypassing the switch. I would think that would tell you if the horns are bad. My Ongaro's have been sitting for two years while I was repowering. Now I am wondering if they are going to work.