Preventing Dead Batteries

My `54 TF developed a condition that would result in a dead battery after being parked for more than a month. Normal trouble-shooting tests revealed a constant current drain of about .2 amps. The problem was traced to the horns. It seems that rain water had entered them and built up a conductive layer of corrosion near the “hot” wire connections that caused a leak to ground. A good cleaning and drying cured the problem. I decided to go a step further and prevent a return of the condition. As wired originally, a hot wire carries current to the horns and another wire runs to the horn button near the driver. This button blows the horn by completing the circuit to ground. I changed this, and now have one terminal of the horns grounded. The other terminal of the horns is still connected to the wire that goes to a “hot” terminal on the ignition switch. The result? Horn operation normal and no possibility of future corrosion causing a dead battery.

John G. Nauman
Merritt Island, FL