Hey everybody, I’m new here and this is my first post.
Earlier in the week I went for my horns and nothing happened. I inspected and shortly found no blown fuses, and noticed that when I push the button the compressor clicks, which I assume indicates that it’s relaying properly.
So my only guess now is that it isn’t filling with air. Does anybpdy have any suggestion? Any help is appreciated.
Welcome to the forum!
So the compressor is getting power, but it is not running?
What compressor?
Thank you!
That is what appears to be the problem, yes.
It isn’t allowing to upload a photo, but my compressor is a HornBlasters 120psi 1.5 gallon tank. Do you need any other information on it?
Hi there. I think you need to be a little more specific so we can narrow down the potential cause, so here’s a few questions:
Can you confirm what model horn kit you purchased from HB?
Has the setup worked previously and is only now showing a fault? If that’s the case, check your ground and power wires (probably the most common fault). You’ve said that you believe the compressor is getting power, but how have you checked that? Let us know if you have a voltage test meter. Alternatively take the two wires from the compressor motor and hold them briefly onto the terminals of a 12v car battery to test if it runs (i.e. bypass any switches, relays or other wires).
If the kit has never worked for you yet, can you confirm how you’ve wired everything.
Anyway, let’s start with the above before we get too ahead of ourselves.
2)My kit has indeed functioned properly. Once, about a month or two after installation, I had a similar problem so I took it into the shop who installed it and they said a fuse had simply popped and replaced it and I went on my way.
However, I checked the fuse on the power cable in my engine bay and it is fine. If there is another fuse somewhere that I am unaware of, that could very well be the problem I suppose.
Again, I push the button for the horns to sound and I can hear it relay to the compressor and click. I assume that means theres power to the compressor. I might have a voltage test meter at my fathers house. I’ll ask him.
Yes, “the button” is in reference to the horn button. The solenoid being the clicking is definitely a possibility. I’m far from an expert on these things haha
OK … good news is that the 127 is a nice simple kit. Your clicking will definitely be the air solenoid - perfectly normal, nothing to worry about and more importantly nothing to do with the compressor.
The nice thing about this kit is that it does not use a compressor relay, so you basically only have to worry about one power and one earth wire. Get those two things right and you’ve got a functioning system.
The compressor is essentially turned on/off via the pressure switch mounted on the tank. Here’s a basic diagram of what’s going on and I’ll go into the reference points (1-4) below:
Let me start by saying, that a small cheap multimeter or test light will be your friend here. If you can borrow one of those it will make the job of testing the wires a whole lot easier. OK, so here’s the deal (reference the green points 1-4):
(1) Ensure that your wiring to the battery is A-OK. Check you have 12V coming into your fuse and then back out again the other side
(2) I know you’ve said that you’ve checked the fuse, but test it rather than just look at it. Even just replace it.
(3) HB includes a toggles switch in this kit and normally that’s placed in-line after the fuse but before the compressor. It can however be left out or even placed on the earth line. In any case, check again that you have power running through the switch
(4) Power enters the pressure switch, which is mounted on the tank and then comes back out to go to the compressor. Like before, check that you have power flowing through the pressure switch.
(5) Is where the power coming back out of the DC motor of the compressor goes back to the negative terminal of your battery (i.e. through ground/earth). Most commonly this where the trouble with dodgy wiring will be since people tend to wire it to a bolt or chassis on the car, rather than back to the battery. Depending on the connection used, your earth will tend to corrode and create resistance in the circuit which will cause you a number of issues. Ideally you want a wire leading back to the negative terminal of your battery.
Hope the above makes sense. It’s a very basic circuit and you just have to trace through it to ensure power is able to flow smoothly through all of those components. As I said above, I’d check your earth wire first, then test your compressor by just running two wires direct from the compressor to the battery terminals. The rest is just switches and fuses which are best checked with a meter.
If you’re confused with anything I’ve written above, let me know.
Welcome to the forum. Isn’t it great having an engineer, such as DBO, who is so helpful?
This thread is very informative. I know what to do know if I get the same issue.