www.iFourWinns.com

I am looking at replacing the air horns on a Vista 378.

I have purchased 12V DC Twin Horns to match the ones that were removed. However on reinstallation they don’t work.

I can only get 6 Volts at the dash board. The engines are not installed at the moment and the generator is not running. I am using shore power for this.
Do I require the generator to the operational to get 12 Volts on the dash board to power the air horns?


Thanks

Peter

Have you checked your other 12-volt circuits to see if you are running the full 12(ish) volts through the system. The shore power does not directly operate the 12-volt system. It just charges the batteries. Any 12-volt accessories/systems still operate off the batteries. Is the shore power still connected to the charger and the charger to the battery bank?

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

The NAV light out the front operates, but I’m not sure if it is bright enough, all the cabin lights seem to operate fine. The reading from the batteries gives me 12V and the Shore power runs through the charger and the charger to the battery bank.

Let step back, you said "I am using shore power for this." So you have no batterys on board then?? I would not try to run anything on your battery charger. Remember, shore power in 120V AC, not 12V DC. Also, if your batterys are out, make sure your battery connectors are not grounded. If your charger is on, you could burn them out.

Sorry if my original post was misleading, I do have batteries (four) in the boat at the moment, I was just specifying that I also had Shore power connected as well, but no generator. I ran a metre over the batteries and it reads 12V.

If you have 12 volts at the batteries, there is no good reason to have only 6 volts at the dash. Check your wiring something is loose or corroded, check the grounds too.

If you have 12 volts normally but only 6 when you use the horn, either the horn is bad, or more likely the wiring is too small to handle the horn current. Hook them directly to the batteries as a test to see if the work.

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2008 V358 Two-tone Blue V/P Dual Prop 320 HP
Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

Yes!

Interesting. My horns only seem to work consistently when the engines are running. It's hit or miss when running off battery power only.

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'01 Vista 298

When I was a kid my family had a 16' Starcraft with twin horns out on the bow. Those horns (and the two replacement sets Dad installed thinking they had to be defective) would never work unless the boat was IN the water and the engine was running. He never did get to the bottom of that.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Ah that’s some good news; I hope to be dropping the second engine into her this week and will run them for a small bit. So might check the Volts across the dash then.


Thanks,