small boat electrical horn wiring help

[CantFishEnough]

Hi all,
I have a '94 Alumacraft lunker v16 ltd. (tiller handle boat with small fuse and switch panel by driver's seat) I'm trying to find out if anyone has an idea of the wiring diagram. I need help with the horn circuit. The horn that was in the boat looked like it had actually been under water it was badly corroded.

The previous owner had it wired to two orange wires which seem likely to be correct since the horn switch at the panel is also orange with white stripe. But I can't seem to get power to the new horn in the bow.

It's a small electrical horn that looks like one that goes in a car. I've been doing some research and see that sometimes electrical horn circuits might include a relay. I have no idea where this relay would be under the floor. It's not in the compartment where the horn was or the switch panel.

I may need to just run a new pwr wire to get it to work, but I don't know if it needs a relay and if so what type etc.

(I also have several other wires up there that may have gone to a fish finder of some time in the past - a diagram would be helpful to know what's going on with those as well... I have contacted Alumacraft, but am not holding my breath for 20+ year old one and a half steps up from bare basic boat model to have electrical diagrams still sitting around in their archives)

thanks.

 

[alldodge]

The horn should have one side going to ground. The other side should go from a fuse/breaker to the horn button/switch and to the other side of the horn.

Start at the horn button and see if you have 12V on one side and that 12V goes to the other side when pressed

 

[gm280]

Here is a typical boat horn setup with one exception, there is no fuse or circuit breaker inline.


You really need a fuse or circuit breaker in any circuit. You can install one either at the battery, or most anyplace inline. However, if you run this horn circuit straight from the battery, I would install that fuse/circuit breaker at the battery. That way if there ever is a short on the line, the fuse/breaker will protect the entire circuit. If you install the fuse at the push switch or even the horn itself and there is a short between the wires from the battery to that fuse/breaker, it will burn up the wires leading to the short and could easily cause a boat fire. Not a good thing.

One other issue. Never ever use an aluminum boat hull as your ground. Run the proper gauge wires for both the positive wire and the ground wire to the circuits. Also make certain your push switch can handle the current draw of the horn and all will work well. JMHO!

 

[CantFishEnough]

The horn should have one side going to ground. The other side should go from a fuse/breaker to the horn button/switch and to the other side of the horn.

Start at the horn button and see if you have 12V on one side and that 12V goes to the other side when pressed

Yes, I have power through the built in fuse block and through the switch going out the molle (?sp) connecter to the bowels of the boat. I checked that the other day - I haven't had a chance to find out how it is at the front of the bow yet (checked last summer and just gave up trying because there were several unknown wires and my meter was acting crazy... will update

 

[CantFishEnough]

Here is a typical boat horn setup with one exception, there is no fuse or circuit breaker inline.


You really need a fuse or circuit breaker in any circuit. You can install one either at the battery, or most anyplace inline. However, if you run this horn circuit straight from the battery, I would install that fuse/circuit breaker at the battery. That way if there ever is a short on the line, the fuse/breaker will protect the entire circuit. If you install the fuse at the push switch or even the horn itself and there is a short between the wires from the battery to that fuse/breaker, it will burn up the wires leading to the short and could easily cause a boat fire. Not a good thing.

One other issue. Never ever use an aluminum boat hull as your ground. Run the proper gauge wires for both the positive wire and the ground wire to the circuits. Also make certain your push switch can handle the current draw of the horn and all will work well. JMHO!

Yes, the main Accessory wire from the battery has an inline fuse in it (I think it is a 10Amp or 15Amp fuse) . Also the boat has a built in fuse box with 5 Amp fuses for the horn and a couple other accessories as well as the bilge, live well fill/aerator, and nav/anchor lights. And I did read about not using the boat hull as a ground - but thanks for the reminder. Thanks for the diagram - that is how I though it should be installed - but I just started seeing that there were "horn relays" and wasn't sure what that was all about... or where it would be. Hope to have time to mess with it some more this weekend.

 

[gm280]

Yes, the main Accessory wire from the battery has an inline fuse in it. Also the boat has a built in fuse box with a fuse for the horn and a couple other accessories as well as the bilge, live well fill/aerator, and nav/anchor lights. And I did read about not using the boat hull as a ground - but thanks for the reminder. Thanks for the diagram - that is how I though it should be installed - but I just started seeing that there were "horn relays" and wasn't sure what that was all about... or where it would be. Hope to have time to mess with it some more this weekend.

CFE, if the horn doesn't draw a huge amount of current, it is quite possible there is no horn relay. The only way you would need one is if the push switch isn't robust enough to handle the current the horn would need or if you have tandem horns. If you have a simple single horn, it may be wired without a horn relay. JMHO!

 

[redneck joe]

I always start by disconnecting anything and touching straight to the battery to see if good. Then work back on the wiring from there. I hate electrical sh......tuff.

 

[CantFishEnough]

the original (or at least the one in it when I got it was trashed - literally. I hooked it straight to the battery and to the truck battery and nothing. Then took it apart to see if a cleaning woudl help - got a small crackle or pop but that's it - so it went in the trash when I found out they were pretty cheap to replace. The new one works straight to the battery - I just wasn't sure if the wires it was hooked to in the bow were the right ones - It had orange on both sides rather than looking like a hot (the orange from the switch) and a black (assuming that would be ground). I have several sets of wires in that don't go to anything at this point - I think they are from an old sonar instal. Which was why I was hoping there might be a schematic running around out there.
Thanks to all replies. (I hope to have some time to work on it this weekend- unless I have time to go fishings ) in which case I'll just carry the small air horn with a can of air

 

[Can'tFishEnough]

I got some info from Alumacraft in email today for a '96 Lunker v16 LTD. Looks very similar to what I'm seeing. I'll try to post some of the pages if I can figure out how to add a pdf. It may help someone in the future - but it looks like it answered my question - no relay for horn and possibly the previous owner hooked the wrong wire to the old one instead of the ground (Or I just didn't pay close attention when taking it apart - slightly possible). So when I can get the cover off next, I'll check power to the black ground and orange with white stripe that should be horn wire and see. I pretty sure it was wired with two orange (one with wht stripe one solid)... but that would have it going from an empty spot on the wire block for an accessory that didn't even have a fuse and the horn which would make since why I didn't have power... to Positive leads... update soon.

 

[Can'tFishEnough]

trying to post up the pdf from Alumacraft: This is for a 1996 Lunker V16 LTD. mine is a 94 and as far as I can tell it is practically the same. Some of the drawing dates are from 92 and 93.

I also got the horn hooked up - this time to the correct ground. In the boat there is one black wire only measuring about 4.5 volts. (I guess that mystery will remain for a while until I have to do the wood in the floors -hopefully after this summer is over).
The other black wire that was crimped off (I assume from an original crimp long ago based on the plastic that matches the plastic on the crimps at the fuse box and switch panel had 12 volts so I used the orange/white stripe and that ground and it works great now.
Also looks like the purple and other color wires are for a tilt trim (mine is currently manual trim).

Thanks to all who posted. Hope this helps someone in the future.