birdshill123 Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 One thing leads to another! As I had posted a few months ago my air horn stopped working. I did the test of the controller and it failed. They were out of stock so I bought a small horn button and will wire it to the air solenoid. I did some testing and there are 2 white wires connected to the solenoid. One tests as a ground the other is dead. I applied 12 volts to one of the solenoid terminals and nothing happened. Suddenly I realized that the unit has been sitting in my shop for months and there is no air!! Dummy!! I started the engine and was waiting for the air to build. I noticed that the radio and the monitor for the camera and Alladin were dead. I checked all the fuses in the front run bay. None were blown. I removed the dash cover and there were no other fuses. I pulled the upholstered panel by the driver's sat. I would have to get in there anyway to run a wire to the front run bay and then to the air solenoid. Monaco sometimes likes to hide fuses. Nothing. . I was through for the day but hooked up the wires to the air solenoid anyway. Went inside and the radio lit up!! Monitor is working. Somehow the ground to the the radio and monitor must be hooked up to that solenoid. I am stumped. That cannot be right! Any ideas?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocketman3 Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 Is your salesman switch working? In my 2000 Dynasty- I have two continuous relays attached to the salesman switch - one goes to my 12v fuse box for the interior. The other goes up front to a fuse box that runs the front fans and a lot of other stuff. I had that relay die on me a while back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr4Film Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 Welcome to the wonderful world of Monaco-land where the lack of common sense was running rampant within the company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdshill123 Posted March 24, 2022 Author Share Posted March 24, 2022 I have given up on repairing the controller or the wiring. I understand that the horn button applies a aground when pressed. This must send a signal to the controller to send 12V to the air solenoid. I am waiting to hear if the mfr. has that model in stock. One dealer had it but it was almost $350.00. I wonder if a newer version of that controller would work? I am trying to find a way to run a wire from a small horn button to either the front run bay or to the area behind the dash. So far no luck. I removed the upholstery panel under the driver armrest. There are wires covered with black foam. But that does not get you into the front run bay. I am becomnig frustrated and that is never good! Rocketman: Thanks but this has nothing to do with the salesman switch. I finally got the radio and monitor to work by turning off all power for an hour. I guess something had to reset. But the horn does not work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdshill123 Posted March 24, 2022 Author Share Posted March 24, 2022 I just got off the phone with VIP. No chips for any of their products. No ship date for the chips. She said ti could be a year or more. They are looking for an alternate supplier but so far nothing. I think the controller may be repairable. I have a small horn switch that would work if I could figure out how to run the wires. Any help appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank McElroy Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 Bruce - Because you mentioned a smartwheel control box, I'll assume you have a conventional and not a chassis multiplex coach. See page 7 in the attached file. If you ground pin 3 of connector P2 on the smartwheel control module, it should activate the air horn relay. Try with a jumper from P2 pin 3 to ground and see if the air horn relay works. It should then be an easy install for a remote switch to ground. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdshill123 Posted March 25, 2022 Author Share Posted March 25, 2022 Thank you Frank. I will try that. But isn't it pin2 to ground? I have old eyes! I looked at the schematic again. Pin3 goes to horn relay. I have ground at the air solenoid. But no 12 volt. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank McElroy Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 Yes pin 2 goes to ground but you need to ground pin 3 to close the air horn relay. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdshill123 Posted March 25, 2022 Author Share Posted March 25, 2022 Hi Frank. Yes the horn honks when I ground that pin. But the horn honks for about 4 seconds. Even when you remove the ground. ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdshill123 Posted March 25, 2022 Author Share Posted March 25, 2022 (edited) Correction. If I remove the ground it keeps honking until you remove the fuse on the F8 Board. Strange. About 6 years ago the horn started to honk in the middle of the night. I went outside with a flashlight and re move the fuse. next morning all was good. I have had problems before in the front run bay. The bay was subject to water intrusion. I fixed that many years ago and all has been OK since. I wonder if that f8 board is faulty? Edited March 25, 2022 by birdshill123 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank McElroy Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 The wire from P2 pin 3 goes to a relay that you should be able to see with the generator door open. Either cut the wire going to the smart wheel module or unplug this wire from the air horn relay and connect a wire to ground with a switch on your dash to work the air horn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdshill123 Posted March 26, 2022 Author Share Posted March 26, 2022 Thanks Frank. There is no relay in the front area. My new horn switch has very light wires so I will put a bosch relay in the front run bay and run the hot to the air solenoid. I tried just putting 12 volts to that solenoid and it works. I think that relay is on my board 8 and it may be faulty. I think it is soldered.. I really appreciate your help. I still do not know what is wrong. One day when I have time I will go through the diagnostic again. I may take the controller to a guy that does electronic repairs. he is very inexpensive. I do not think it is that complicated for him. I tried to remove board 8 to see if anything on the back showed a problem but I could not remove that board. Something is holding it from behind. I did not feel like undoing the boards surrounding that #8. I wish I could run a ground from the existing steering wheel horn switch. Or pick up the ground from that horn relay in the front run bay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdshill123 Posted March 26, 2022 Author Share Posted March 26, 2022 This is my board; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
granvillebarker Posted March 26, 2022 Share Posted March 26, 2022 I don't see a pic, check the back of your vip board for corrosion. That may be your issue if you had water in that bay. Those boards don't have a conformal coating. — Granville Barker 05 Dynasty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdshill123 Posted March 26, 2022 Author Share Posted March 26, 2022 Granville. The pic shows on my computer. I tried to remove he board but there are buss connectors on the back. I would have to remove some other boards to get it out. Don't want to disturb anything.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank McElroy Posted March 26, 2022 Share Posted March 26, 2022 13 hours ago, birdshill123 said: Thanks Frank. There is no relay in the front area. My new horn switch has very light wires so I will put a bosch relay in the front run bay and run the hot to the air solenoid. I tried just putting 12 volts to that solenoid and it works. I think that relay is on my board 8 and it may be faulty. I think it is soldered.. I really appreciate your help. I still do not know what is wrong. One day when I have time I will go through the diagnostic again. I may take the controller to a guy that does electronic repairs. he is very inexpensive. I do not think it is that complicated for him. I tried to remove board 8 to see if anything on the back showed a problem but I could not remove that board. Something is holding it from behind. I did not feel like undoing the boards surrounding that #8. I wish I could run a ground from the existing steering wheel horn switch. Or pick up the ground from that horn relay in the front run bay. Yes, the horn relay is located on board 8 in the FRB. The horn is tied into the smart wheel data code like the wheel keypads and you would need to rewire if you want to use the horn pad on the wheel. Also, the clock spring may or may not be able to handle a relay current. Likely FRB #8 J2 pin 1 connects to the smart wheel P2 pin 3. If that's the case, if you want to have a switch to work your horn, either add a separate relay like you mentioned or cut the wire #3 on smart wheel P2 and connect to a switch going to ground to operate the horn relay on FRB board #8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdshill123 Posted March 26, 2022 Author Share Posted March 26, 2022 Thanks Frank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aimcorep Posted March 27, 2022 Share Posted March 27, 2022 I did not read though all of the replies on this so it may have been covered... It sounds like you are describing exactly what I dealt with. Had lost air horn, radio, electric windshield shades, etc. Fixed by replacing the house continuous duty solenoid for the house. There are two of them in the passenger side rear electrical bay. Turns out one of them was corroded internally and would work at times but acted liked a bad ground. Hope this helps. BW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdshill123 Posted April 10, 2022 Author Share Posted April 10, 2022 I have wired in a temporary horn button. It has nothing to do with any solenoids . But thanks. When the controller is available I will just buy a new one. There are a few used units available but none come with any warranty. Pig in a poke. Could be a long time for anyone waiting for electronic parts. Was bad enough before but now Shanghai is shut down. The Ford factory here in Mexico has 15,000 cars parked waiting for " chips". M & M can fix it but quite costly. I may take it to an electronic tech that works from home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Harris Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 The horn simply stopped working on my 2006 Dynasty. All of the functions on the smartwheel work but I replaced the clockspring anyway. I have read all of the posts regarding this topic and there are many references to the horn relay being on Board #8 in the front run bay. Which relay is the horn relay? I have included a picture of my Board #8. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr4Film Posted April 24, 2023 Share Posted April 24, 2023 There is an extensive wiring diagram for the 2006 Monaco Dynasty on this site that you can download to your PC. Link below. My guess is that it will show you exactly which relay you are looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Harris Posted April 24, 2023 Share Posted April 24, 2023 Thanks Dr4Film, there is a world of valuable information in the downloads found on your provided link. I am embarrassed to say, after doing the Smartwheel diagnostics I discovered a three-position switch on my dash that toggled the horns to off, two horns and then three horns. I've been sweating some kind of circuit board failure since January. This coach is new to me and I discover something new every day. Thanks again, John Harris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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