6 volt in a 12 volt system

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erv s

Member - Posts: 4

Joined: March 05, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: March 05, 2006 at 12:57 PM / IP Logged

hi all, i have been in and out of this site and have gotten a lot of help restoreing my 78 ford truck. now i have found some thing i am doing i can not find any where. i would like to put a 6 volt air horn in my truck but it is 12 volt. the horn draws 14 amps. anyone have any ideas? i could just put a battery in the bed but that takes up a lot of space, and keeping it charged right. thanks, erv

78 Ford F250 4x4

old iron

Hoptup32

Copper - Posts: 87

Joined: December 25, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: March 05, 2006 at 7:34 PM / IP Logged

Here is a couple of ideas

http://www.ford-trucks.com/article/idx/9/040/article/6_To_12_Volt_Conversion_Guide_.html

cvl

Member - Posts: 2

Joined: January 07, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: March 06, 2006 at 9:26 PM / IP Logged

Use ohms law to calculate the value of a resistor you can put inline of the power wire, there's not much else you need. your horns draw a fair amount, but I doubt you'll have to worry bout the resistors getting too hot.But that's only my $.02

geepherder

Platinum - Posts: 3,668

This member consistently provides reliable information

Joined: October 27, 2003

Posted: March 07, 2006 at 6:47 AM / IP Logged

That's too much current to use a resistor. Why do you feel the need to use 6 volt horns?

My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

erv s

Member - Posts: 4

Joined: March 05, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: March 07, 2006 at 4:08 PM / IP Logged

Just like the old school look of them. They came off of an old semi and would just like to get them to work on the 78 I have. It has 5 tones. Sounds really nice. I guess I will have to go with the battery in the bed and charge it with a switch and use a resistor to do that. Thanks, Erv

78 Ford F250 4x4

old iron

loneagle

Member - Posts: 2

Joined: January 06, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: March 08, 2006 at 6:07 PM / IP Logged

You could measure the resistance of the 6 volt unit, and put about the same

value resistor in series with it to get voltage-drop from 12 to 6 volts; with

power rating about 50 watts or so, as the horn shouldn't be operating

more than a second or two...I hope. I use 50 to 100 watt audio load resistors

at about 1 ohm for that current , or two 1 ohm units in parallell, if the drop is

too much...sounds like fun playing with it...

loneagle

erv s

Member - Posts: 4

Joined: March 05, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: March 08, 2006 at 6:21 PM / IP Logged

loneagle, thanks, thats all i want to do is play. if you saw my truck you would understand. the wife just shakes her head. can i get these at radio shack? or can you give me a web site to get them. a part number would be great if you can. i can rewire a house or car but this kind of stuff is way passed me. wish i would have gotten into it more when i was young. if you would like to see my truck go to ford-trucks.com and look for my gallery.my user name there is ervin. Thanks again, erv

78 Ford F250 4x4

old iron

KPierson

Platinum - Posts: 3,527

Joined: April 14, 2005

Location: Ohio, United States

Posted: March 08, 2006 at 8:13 PM / IP Logged

If you can figure out exactly how much current these horns draw at 6vdc you could build an inexpensive power supply that would run off of the 12vdc source. Also, do you have any more information on the horn itself? It would be interesting to know the absolute max voltage of the unit.

Kevin Pierson

erv s

Member - Posts: 4

Joined: March 05, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: March 08, 2006 at 8:37 PM / IP Logged

I ran it off of a battery charger and my meter read 14 amps. It is dated back in the 1950's some where, so I have no info or company name . Came off an old Mac. That 14 amps was under load so would that be a max reading? Is that some thing I would be able to biuld? And where would I fine a print or plan for something like that? Erv

78 Ford F250 4x4

old iron

KPierson

Platinum - Posts: 3,527

Joined: April 14, 2005

Location: Ohio, United States

Posted: March 08, 2006 at 10:01 PM / IP Logged

14 amps is going to be a hefty power supply to build, but it can be done. I'm not sure how much effort you want to put in to this though!

Kevin Pierson

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6 volt in a 12 volt system

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