Unplugged horn = Exploder?

[pipeline010]

Quick one:

So a few weeks back my horn was grounding out whenever I turned the wheel. This is a 69, so no fuse and no relay, just straight power. To fix it I....unplugged the horn (at the horn).

I knew I'd be replacing the wheel and the time has come so I'm thinking about the grounding issue again. Which got my neuroses going:

Is there an inherent danger in the fact that (again No relay and NO fuse) I simply unplugged the horn while there was a ground issue likely within the column? Am I getting heat somewhere in there that could be causing potential issues even though I'm no longer hearing the horn?

Or did the fact that I unplugged the horn shut down the circuit sufficiently far enough up the cable above the potential short?

I'm asking simply because when I get the wheel off I'm going to "kinda" try to fix the horn ground issue. If it becomes a pain I'll skip it....UNLESS there's potential for a greater issue.

Thanks!

 

[DirtDonk]

Maybe... Not completely safe from harm yet, but not necessarily in dire straights either. You won't really know until you get there.
With the '69 as you know, you have 12v positive running up to the horn button, then back down to the horn.
If all that was happening was something was closing the horn contacts and sending 12v down to the horn, then yes you're 100% fine because you disconnected the wire down at the horn. That's because there is no short-circuit in that scenario. Just some wonky wiring.

But if there is some short from wire to wire that is sending power down to the horn, then it's also possible that it could find it's way to short out to ground (the very definition of a short-circuit). In which case you could have much more excitement in your life.

But chances are still pretty good that you're fine. Just leaving the horn disconnected is avoiding a short circuit and keeping things quiet at the same time.

Good luck. Hopefully it's an obvious problem, and a quick fix.

Paul