Miata Mailing List: May 1997, Message #9
sponsored by



     



From: 	Lanny Chambers <lanny@derived.com>

Subject: Re: European horns: off unless ignition is on?  (was Re: Another DRL question

Date: 	Thu, 1 May 1997 01:34:22 -0500



On 4/30/97 23:35, James McElroy (mcelroy@ma.ultranet.com) wrote:



>>European normally-off automotive horn and lighting relays--Hella or

>>whatever--

>

>Just curious, does anyone know why this is the case (i.e.normally off)?



Actually, the "normally-off" part refers to the connection between 

battery and horn or light (one presumes the horn should be off until one 

presses the appropriate button <g>), and has nothing to do with the 

switch side of the circuit. All the switch does is tell the relay to 

connect the device to the battery, so the switch doesn't have to carry 

the higher amperage that the horn or light draws. Relays are more rugged 

inside than switches; plus, the wiring to the switch can be much smaller 

gauge if it only passes the milliamps required to energize the relay.



>My GTI needs the ignition to be on for the headlights or horn to work.



Gak! That alone would probably keep me from considering a car, although 

it should be fairly straightforward to wire around such a moronic defect. 

(Me? Opinionated? Nahhh...)



---

Lanny Chambers, St. Louis

'94C. Red, of course.

Team "My other car is a...er...hmmm...gee, I can't remember..."