Horn Broken

I have a 2005 Mainship 400 and both upper and lower horn switches are not operating the horn. I suspect a blown fuse/circuit breaker.

Does anyone know where the fuse/circuit breaker is for the horn on a MS 400?

Jeffrey Guttenberger
R Time
2005 Mainship 400

Stupid question, but worth asking. The switch at the panel needs to be on for the helm. At the helm, there is a switch for the horn. Both need to be on before the horn at that station will work. Both the power to the helm station and the horn switch at the helm are on before you hit the horn, correct?

I don't think it's a stupid question. Thanks for the response.

Check power to horn when pushing switch prior to checking for fuses or if there's a main switch in breaker or as previously said any switches at either helm.

Both switches are on.....just wondering where the circuit breaker would be located.

Jeffrey Guttenberger

It is highly unlikely both switches or horn buttons are faulty so yes you have to ensure you have power but also they rely on a good ground to complete the circuit and sound. Check your ground wire or jump to ground temporarily to check. Good luck!

This is a prime reason/example for not having hidden inline fuses and breakers.

One thing I've noticed on this site. Most of you have pictures of your boat as your avatar. I have a picture of my wife. What am I doing wrong?

lol

Jeffrey Guttenberger

Jgutten said:

One thing I've noticed on this site. Most of you have pictures of your boat as your avatar. I have a picture of my wife. What am I doing wrong?

lol

Jeffrey Guttenberger

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Jeff, looking at the picture of your beautiful wife, I want to know what I am doing wrong.
Must have something to do with my sterling personality?

OldDan1943 said:

Jeff, looking at the picture of your beautiful wife, I want to know what I am doing wrong.
Must have something to do with my sterling personality?

Click to expand...

Yeah, what he said!!!

Now back to the horns, not the horny old guys.

One side of the switch is 12Vdc. Check with a VOM.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Now back to the horns, not the horny old guys.

One side of the switch is 12Vdc. Check with a VOM.

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Yes to the first sentence.

Your Avatar's great and we all give you a thumbs up.


Sign on the back of a car in Ireland.
Horn broken, watch for finger !

Irish Rambler said:

Your Avatar's great and we all give you a thumbs up.


Sign on the back of a car in Ireland.
Horn broken, watch for finger !

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Deaf person onboard, hope you can read sign language.

That's a cracker Dan, I'll remember that for future reference.

On my MS 2005 430 aft cabin, I believe you have to have the lower helm horn switch in the on position which will allow you to use the fly bridge horn switch.

Jim

The breakers are mostly either in the main panel next to the galley, or in the panel in the engine room on the aft bulkhead.

Turn on the switch on the main panel labeled "bridge main." I'm not sure that it is what it is (you said neither the lower helm nor the upper works, correct?) but it is worth a try.

Activate the switch at the lower helm that say "horn."

If that doesn't work then look closely at the breakers in the ER.

If none of those things help it's time to get out the voltmeter.

Some of the wiring on my 400 is "creatively" done. A lot of the switches on my FB helm don't do anything at all. My Auto Pilot and DSM stayed on 24/7 when I bought the boat, I wired a switch into them.

I think the biggest weakness of my boat QC wise, is how they rigged the wiring. I try to fix things as I go along, but there are a lot of things they could have done better.

One thing I did that has really helped is to run the third leg of my charger to the genset start battery. I was always fighting a dead battery on the generator before that. I also reconfigured the battery set up with a dedicated start bank and house bank. Much better.

Old joke, why does a cow wear a bell? Because it horns dont work.

So until you figure out where the problem is with the horns...... get a really big bell?

Maybe it's the horn itself. Very common failure. Time to get out the 12v test light or DVM.

I am going to assume you shorted out the horn buttons.

mine is also not working .the horn button is enclosed in a box on the helm .to test for voltage I am going to have to crawl in to the upper helm and across to a terminal strip . i need to loose some weight it's tight in there.lol

The horn didn't work on Northstar on the delivery trip. It turned out that the compressor was seized. Removing the compressor and disassembling it returned it to full function.

Man, how often do y'all blow your horns? I verified that mine worked once when I bought the boat and test it once a year or so. Other than that, I never use it. Nobody in Florida listens to or understands horn signals anyway.

Honestly, if it stopped working I would just buy a cheap air horn and keep it at the helm to satisfy CG requirements and move on. Not worth fixing a horn.

I use it everytime it might avoid a situation that it would be required by COLREGS.

Failure to do so could get complicated.

But then again, I am one of the few that display an anchor ball.

Fixed

So Jeff was the issue found and fixed?

Always test the horn to confirm it works. Definitely a prolonged blast (four or so seconds) when leaving/arriving a marina when breakwater cancels visibility.

psneeld said:

...


But then again, I am one of the few that display an anchor ball.

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Joined the club previously!

Would you make a prolonged horn sound upon entering this marina? (The correct answer is "yes.")

Today, heard sirens at a road intersection. Did I proceed when the signal lights turned green. No way! Soon the fire engine passed. Pay attention to your ears!

Please don't give a "pipsqueak" quarter-second blast when you needed one sixteen times longer to count as a prolonged blast.