I recently visited my car which is the hands of Steve Hodgson. I had a repro Rist horn fitted(12 volt system). It produces much more a toot than 6 volt Rist on Steve's car. Did I mistakenly get a 6v repro from Willie that is being over driven, or is there something having 12v rather than 6v, that is causing this? And is there any way to get that wonderful guttural honk with the 12v?

Enjoying early Junuary here in Seattle.

Hi erich,

The new riste horns that willie makes look stunning from the outside.

Sadly I think due to manufacture costs they have a cheap modern day beep beep horn inside.

The sad thing with this is when it's fitted under the bonnet, it's realy seen,

But always sounds like a cheap modern horn.

I must say willies work on these is very good, but they are what they are.

If you want that original guttural honk, you need to fit an original horn.

Tony.

Location: Huncote on the pig

I have one of these too. Bought second hand for the right money. And minus the mounting bracket.

I must say, when I bought it I suspected a replica as the casing was so tidy.

And it does make the most diabolical beep.

If I ever sell a car I shall take a proper one off and fit it. Or keep looking for an original but rotten one and swap the guts

Location: not north wales any more

Hi Tony, Yes it looks the right part and would be difficult to tell from the original, very nice workmanship, but the sound destroys the effect. I'm a bit unclear on how they work, but it would seem that a different diaphragm might be the trick. And a question for the electrical wizards...if I use an original Rist horn (6v) on my 12 volt car, will I have to reduce voltage some way, or will the horn work on 12 volts?

Original Rist horns do like 12 volts and sound awful. I used the redundant dynamo field resistor to drop the voltage.

Thank you, Dave. I'm a bit of an electrical idiot, so how would that be accomplished?

Erich,

I'm not the best at electrics either, but you are in the right country.

an American company called vintique make 12v to 6v inverters.

I have a box full here as well.

They can be fitted in line to reduce for one item.

Vintique supply to most usa suppliers.

Same as trafficators, put one in line and it will reduce just the trafficators.

Tony.

Location: Huncote on the pig

Erich,
You could try a cheap, small 12v motorcycle horn on 6v. I fitted one on my special, inside a Klaxon which had a burnt out motor. Not very loud but the right croaking frequency.
Dave

Location: Sheffield

Thanks for advice all. I may do some experimenting with the guts of Willie's before I give up completely and go the old Rist route. Tony, I presume the inverters are pretty unobtrusive?

Erich

Can the inverter take the current required? Don't have a Rist myself but my 6v Klaxon works very well on 12 Volts.Scares the living s*** out of errant drivers.

Location: Piddle Valley

I had a similar problem finding a suitable horn for my A7 RN and eventually bought one of these which looks similar to the Rist but is in plastic, however, with a coat of black gloss paint you'd be hard pushed to tell.
I never found a maker of 6V but as I use a separate 12V battery to operate the flashers, I simply wired it into the same circuit. It works a treat and makes me legal. There are lots of sellers on EBay but I used this one because they had them in black at the time.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sis.html?_nkw=12V+110dB+CAR+TRUCK+ANTIQUE+STYLE+CLASSIC+TRUMPET%2FKLAXON+HORN+FOR+BMW+Honda+VW&_id=171938786228&&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2658

Brian

Location: Near M1 Motorway Jtn 28

Location: Huncote on the pig

Someone is selling new diaphragms for the Rist horns on the net, not sure if they have the original sound.
Sorry can't post a link, but google "new diaphragm for Rist horns" and you will see it top of the list. Hope this helps Ian M

Unfortunately I can't find that link, Ian. However, I acquired a replacement stainless steel laser-cut diaphragm for my Rist horn in 2011 - not cheap at around £30. It was made by a chap called Richard Staddon who had a website at the time that featured pictures of some of the vehicles he had supplied diaphragms for. I had written down a contact number, possibly incorrectly looking at the dialling code, as 0208 549 9234. I can't find a link for him on the web now, but somebody may know of him.

Location: Doncaster

This is the link that Ian mentioned above, if you click on the 'MG for Sale', the MG car he's selling is described as 'MOT until May 2017' so he's obviously updated that part of his website fairly recently.

http://www.austinseven.club/austin_7_seven_rist_horn_repairs.html

Elsewhere on the net you'll find other links to the same Richard Staddon who is also a Magic Circle Magician trading as Magic Oz. The link below gives his mobile number. He used to occasionally post on ASF Forum when he owned a Seven - I think he sold it to buy the MG.

https://vimeo.com/user58235765

Jeff.

Location: Almost but not quite, the far North East of England