Horn doesn't work, best way to fix it?

[amodoko]

Hi all, still in the process of getting my 50cc motofino scooter to be a reliable form of transportation for me (got it in non-running condition, and now it is pretty much ready for the road except for a few small things).

It's running decent now, and the battery is either weak or dead so I kick start it right now. I'm going to trickle charge it later. I don't know if the battery is related to the horn when the scooter is running so that's why I'm mentioning the battery is currently not working.

Anyways, my horn doesn't work at all when the scooter is running. Does the battery need to be working for the horn to work? Or do you think I need to replace the horn apparatus? Thanks a bunch

[D-cat]

How well do the flashers work when it's running? This will give you an indication. The horn does draw juice off the battery circuit, but if the flashers are working normally, so should the horn be. If neither are working right, get a fully charged battery in there before replacing anything else electrical. You can temporarily jump to a car battery for testing purposes.

If still no horn, check the switch first. You can use an auto-tester between the horn's leads. If it lights up when you press the button, replace the horn. If it doesn't, check your grounds, and if okay, replace the switch. If the switch is bad, you can jump the light-green lead to +12v and the horn should sound. This will let you know if you need to order the horn too or not.

[felliott]

Sometimes just taking a scwewdriver handle and tapping the horn will free up contacts in the horn allowing it to work. Do what dcatoffn said first and if it come out it is a bad horn, do what I wrote.

[amodoko]

Everyone here is frickin awesome man!!! Got my scooter all ready to go now except for some stripped threads on my mirror inserts (no biggie, just annoying to fix). It's running good and everything. Want to give a special thanks to Rich and dcatoffm.

And I did get to the horn, I had to tighten a screw at the back of it and now it works! Couldn't believe it was that simple, lol. And I did charge the battery up with a 20$ charger from walmart, and now my scoot can be started by electric start! Plus it makes kickstarting easier too for some reason (as dcatoffm had mentioned).

Everything is good to go it seems:)

I do have a random question. I went to my parents house today and my dad had a 10Amp Battery charger sitting around that he didn't need so he let me take it. Is it safe to use a 10Amp charger on a scooter battery? It says it's made for 6V and 12V batteries. If it's not safe, why?

[Bluefront]

Don't use that 10A charger on a scooter battery.....these small batteries can only handle about 2A maximum for short periods. They'll over-heat quickly with that much current.

These newer chargers have circuitry that protects the battery from being over-charged. Walmart has them....."Battery Tender" is another popular brand.

[thecableguy]

Jun 25, 2010 2:13:29 GMT -5 amodoko said:

I went to my parents house today and my dad had a 10Amp Battery charger sitting around that he didn't need so he let me take it. Is it safe to use a 10Amp charger on a scooter battery? It says it's made for 6V and 12V batteries. If it's not safe, why?

Don't use cannon to kill mosquito
-Confucius

[D-cat]

I'd say follow the instructions that came with the battery. My newer one states it can be charged up to 6A (but not the first time). My old one calls 1.3A a "Quickcharge." Now, amperage is drawn, so a battery that is almost at full charge isn't going to pull that many amps anyway. If the charger has a meter you can observe the input or a switch that will limit to 2A, you might be okay with it as long as the battery is not near death to begin with... but I would still advise against it along with everyone else. You can (and probably will) heat the battery up, boiling off electrolyte and shortening the overall lifespan, which isn't incredibly long to start with. Sticking with the Wally-world charger/maintainer should be safe.