Horn Problem

Basic info on DKW NZ 350's

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DARIVS
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Horn Problem

Post by DARIVS » Sat Oct 16, 2010 10:06 pm

I just received this horn from Werner Teufl in Austria. The condition of the horn was rather poor. The parts were all rusty and the horn was not working. I cleaned all of the parts and repainted them. I am convinced that the horn was not assembled properly.

Can anyone tell me how to assemble this horn? Does anyone have pictures of how the internal parts are arranged? I am trying to salvage this $250 pile of parts somehow.

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Wilhelm_Heidkamp
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Post by Wilhelm_Heidkamp » Sun Oct 17, 2010 3:38 pm

THe horn looks ok. It needs to be assembled like an electric razor, the little contact over the magnet works like an ignition contact. It moves up and down and its frequent moving makes the horn beep.

The metal anchor should be fixed directly over the magnet. At least, you have to put some electricity to the horn and adjust the contact screw on the outer side of the horn. As an ignition contact, it needs a correct distance. It can take nerves and lots of time to find the correct setting.

On Seco horns it is even important to tighten up the upper screw on the front side very hard, or the horn won`t work.

You see, bringing a horn to beep again is some kind of tricky...
DKW F 102 1965
DKW NZ 350-1 1945
DKW KL C100/C1 Funkwuerfel 1943
DKW GG400 Funkwuerfel
DARIVS
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Post by DARIVS » Sun Oct 17, 2010 5:47 pm

Does anyone have pictures of the inside parts? I don't know what order the parts are assembled in. How does this horn go back together?
DARIVS
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Post by DARIVS » Fri Oct 22, 2010 10:42 am

Werner Teufl in Germany, who sold me this horn, sent me some great pictures showing how to assemble it. The small conical washer shown in my photo above was accidentally left out of Werner's photo below. In Werner's photo below, the conical washer is still under the first compression disc which is on the sitting on the bolt, so you cannot see it. That conical washer goes between the contact bar and the first compression disc.


The parts below are described, from left to right, as follows:

Contact bar with conical washer and first compression disc (shown assembled), second compression disc, tympani, two spacer washers, tympani cover plate, front disc, and nut.

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I learned that the nut on the front adjusts the gap between the electromagnet and the bar that is attached to the tympani. As the nut is tightened, the compression discs located behind the tympani are squeezed, creating a gap between the contact bar and the electromagnet.

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If you test fit the tympani assembly onto the casing, you should be able to press onto the front of the nut with your thumb and see the tympani flex until the contact bar touched the magnet. If there is no gap, then the horn will not work. Tighten the nut to compress the compression discs until a gap is formed between the contact bar and the magnet. Once this gap is set, such that the bar is not in contact with the magnet, then you put the entire horn together. Make sure that the bakelite case es screwed together tightly, but don't break it.

Once you put the tympani assembly together, note that the contact bar must line up with the electromagnet, and also the small dimples on the outer edge of the tympani must align with the holes on the bakelite casing. The dimples prevent the tympani assembly from rotating. It is interesting to note that the front disc is much thicker than the tympani disc. The reason for this is that the front disc is a weight which slows the oscillating motion of the tympani and reduces the frequency of the sound. If the front disc was lighter, then the horn would vibrate much faster and sound higher in pitch. It would not have the loud, low trumpet sound, but sound more like a high squeal.

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Finally, you adjust the screw on the back of the horn to adjust the electrical contacts. While applying 6V voltage to the horn, you adjust those contacts to produce the loudest and smoothest sound. This tunes the horn. The adjustment screw on the back of the horn adjusts the upper electrical contact shown in the picture below.

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My horn is now working perfectly and is installed on my DKW NZ 350-1.

THANK YOU WERNER!
Last edited by DARIVS on Wed Feb 18, 2015 1:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
martdapp
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Re: Seco-claxon

Post by martdapp » Tue Feb 17, 2015 1:41 am

Hello Darvis,
Could You put in the pictures again please, or otherwise mail them to me?
martdapp@hotmail.com.
I have a complete Seco-horn but don't know exactly were the contacts from the coil must be conected and don't want to spoil this rare part.
Regards,
Martin
DARIVS
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Re: Seco-claxon

Post by DARIVS » Tue Feb 17, 2015 4:33 am

martdapp wrote:Hello Darvis,
Could You put in the pictures again please, or otherwise mail them to me?
martdapp@hotmail.com.
I have a complete Seco-horn but don't know exactly were the contacts from the coil must be conected and don't want to spoil this rare part.
Regards,
Martin
I sent them to your email address.
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thomas591
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Re: Horn Problem

Post by thomas591 » Tue Feb 17, 2015 12:35 pm

Hi Darvis,

would it be possible to put the pictures and your description into a document? I would than publish it in the download section as a pdf file for future reference.

I think your experience will be very helpful for other owners.
Best regards - freundlichste Grüße

Thomas
martdapp
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Re: Horn Problem

Post by martdapp » Tue Feb 17, 2015 5:41 pm

Pictures are already send to Thomas,
regards, Martin
DARIVS
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Re: Horn Problem

Post by DARIVS » Wed Feb 18, 2015 1:21 am

thomas591 wrote:Hi Darvis,

would it be possible to put the pictures and your description into a document? I would than publish it in the download section as a pdf file for future reference.

I think your experience will be very helpful for other owners.
Pictures have been re-posted... :)
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