These sodding air horns

Darth Paul · July 13, 2003, 20:57

Right guys (GSB).

Bought (from Halfords) a set of dual air horns. The kit comprises two trumpets, a relay, a compressor, some air tubing and some dubious looking mounting brackets. Bought all the bits and bobs I'll need to fit them – wire, in-line fuse etc. Our car's horn is on a 10 amp fuse, and the air horns require a 20 amp fuse.

I've removed the bumper and had a good butchers.

I've read the (basic) fitting instructions – many times. I understand the wiring diagram, and the fact that only one of the original wires will be used (there are two).

So my question. How the hell do you get the wire (with in-line fuse) to power. In the instructions it says 'to the battery' Our battery is in the frigging rear! s:? :? s:?

HELP!! s:cry: :cry: s:cry: GSB? You there?

DP

Slacey · July 13, 2003, 21:23

Errrrr... a long wire s:?: :?: s:?: s:!: :!: s:!: s:?: :?: s:?:
Have you asked on Spyderchat DP? These things are pretty popular over there, someone is bound to know.

markiii · July 13, 2003, 21:25

Easy,

Front fuse compartment. Has a bus bar that all teh fuses come off. You will be able to see a small amount of it. cut back the plastic covering it slightly so that you have say 7mm of bar showing. (you may need more.

Get some high current terminal block. Take the screw out of one side. Using a dremel cut a slot into the end of the terminal block thick enough to slide over the bus bar. put back the screw and secure to the bus bar. Now use the other side of the block to take your wire.

Works a treat and won't move anyware.

Mark.

Slacey · July 13, 2003, 21:29

The collective knowledge on this board never ceases to amaze me - what a great place!

Comer · July 13, 2003, 22:42

Quote from: "Darth Paul"Right guys (GSB).

Bought (from Halfords) a set of dual air horns. The kit comprises two trumpets, a relay, a compressor, some air tubing and some dubious looking mounting brackets. Bought all the bits and bobs I'll need to fit them – wire, in-line fuse etc. Our car's horn is on a 10 amp fuse, and the air horns require a 20 amp fuse.

DP. Did you intend to buy air horns with a compressor etc? I too followed GSB's example and upgraded my horn with twin tone horns from Halfords but they are FIAMM horns that are made by Ring Automotive and cost about £15. They bolted straight onto the car and the wiring plug from the originals plugged straight onto the back of them. I just had to run a earth lead to where they screw to the car body from each horn. But if you did intend to have air horns then I'm clueless on fitting those s:? :? s:? . Good luck and I'll hear them at JAE.

Darth Paul · July 13, 2003, 23:52

Quote from: "Comer"
Quote from: "Darth Paul"Right guys (GSB).

Bought (from Halfords) a set of dual air horns. The kit comprises two trumpets, a relay, a compressor, some air tubing and some dubious looking mounting brackets. Bought all the bits and bobs I'll need to fit them – wire, in-line fuse etc. Our car's horn is on a 10 amp fuse, and the air horns require a 20 amp fuse.

DP. Did you intend to buy air horns with a compressor etc? I too followed GSB's example and upgraded my horn with twin tone horns from Halfords but they are FIAMM horns that are made by Ring Automotive and cost about £15. They bolted straight onto the car and the wiring plug from the originals plugged straight onto the back of them. I just had to run a earth lead to where they screw to the car body from each horn. But if you did intend to have air horns then I'm clueless on fitting those s:? :? s:? . Good luck and I'll hear them at JAE.

Yeah, I intended to get the air horns as I heard rave reviews about them on SC.

So what are your new ones like? Are they noticeably louder? Are they two tone? Answers on a postcard... s:)

s:)

Seriously though, if your opinions of them are good, I may well go back and do a swap. Seems A LOT less hassle! s:D

s:D

Thanks though to Markiii for that absolute gem of info. You are a GOD!! s:lol: :lol: s:lol: s:lol: :lol: s:lol: Us mere mortals are simply not worthy! If I do decide to keep the air horns, then I will put this into practice. I'll await Comer's reply with bated breath... s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

DP

markiii · July 14, 2003, 00:08

welcome,

Having heard them today, they are good. But not quite as good as the air horn sample I was sent by exboyracer.

I'm still waiting for him to produce more of spyderwomans hooter, but at this rate I may do it myself. What kit did you buy?

Mark.

Darth Paul · July 14, 2003, 00:52

Quote from: "markiii"welcome,

Having heard them today, they are good. But not quite as good as the air horn sample I was sent by exboyracer.

I'm still waiting for him to produce more of spyderwomans hooter, but at this rate I may do it myself. What kit did you buy?

Mark.

£15 Ring set from Halfords. They are Fiamm horns, along with the compressor etc. You will need to buy further bits, as mentioned in the instructions.

DP

Anonymous · July 14, 2003, 07:17

Quote from: "Darth Paul"Right guys (GSB).

So my question. How the hell do you get the wire (with in-line fuse) to power. In the instructions it says 'to the battery' Our battery is in the frigging rear! s:? :? s:?

DP

Why not put them in the back ?

Anonymous · August 31, 2003, 11:12

Quote from: "Comer"I too followed GSB's example and upgraded my horn with twin tone horns from Halfords but they are FIAMM horns that are made by Ring Automotive and cost about £15. They bolted straight onto the car and the wiring plug from the originals plugged straight onto the back of them.

Sorry to dig up and old thread, but I was looking at these yesterday, and even the twin non-air horns in Halfords seem to have a relay, and require a high-current (21A from memory) feed. Is this the same set, and if so, you fitted them straight onto the existing 10A feed?!

Anonymous · August 31, 2003, 11:20

I've still got mine knocking around... found that with the Aircon pipes they're much much more tricky to fit... and beyond my workshop's capabilitys (and hence are sitting gather dust).

They look like a "thicker" version of the two horns already there. They do come with a little black box... but as far as I can tell, that's only used if you want to keep your existing horns as well as use the new ones.

markiii · August 31, 2003, 11:26

well I fitted my airhorns no problem.

If you remove the existing horns and mount a triangular bracket off the existing mounting points the horns will sit behind the passenger side corner of the bumper and fire through the opening below.

No pipes to get in the way, nothing obvious to show you have fitted them and plenty of space.

Anonymous · September 1, 2003, 09:34

Just to finish this off, I successfully fitted the Halfords/Ring/Fiamm electromagnetic horns, as just a simple replacement (ie no relays or complex wiring).

As phil suggested, aircon pipes meant I had to put them in a slightly different position (both to the right as you look at them from the front of the car), and with a bit of "adjustment" of the brackets (read: large hammer), got them both forward-facing as well, and angled down slightly to avoid water ingress.

Result: a real horn, that says "look where you're going, you stupid...."

Anonymous · September 2, 2003, 10:02

Where did you feed the earth too? Everything in that area of the chassis seems to be painted, which doesn't make for good earthing does it?

Anonymous · September 2, 2003, 10:08

Connect it to the bracket which you're mounding the horns on. I just wrapped it around the bolt.

GSB · September 2, 2003, 10:59

Oops, apologies for my tardy reply to this subject, I must have missed it, despite the fact it's got my name written all over it...

On the subject of the fitting of airhorns... As you've found you need a high current capable supply as you are running an electric air compressor. While they look small they gobble huge amounts of current when starting from rest, as until they are spinning they are effectively a short circuit across the power supply. The fuse board in the front is capable of supplying this demand if you tap onto its main bus bar, but you MUST fit a suitable fuse into your new power supply as close as possible to the point where you tap into this supply. Personally I would use a heavy guage cable, with a secure insulated and soldered ring tag. This would be only 3-4 inches long and double insulated with heatshrink to avoid the insulation chaffing through on any nearby parts.

The danger here is that the busbar in the fuse board will itself be fused, but at a rating of around 60-80 amps and usually with an anti-surge fuse that will withstand this current for anyting up to several seconds before disrupting the supply. If you were to route a cable from the busbar to a fuse holder on the other side of the bay, and over the course of time the insulation were to rub through on say, a brake pipe, the resulting short would have enough energy and heat to blow a hole in the cable, the pipe, the surrounding metalwork, and in all liklihood start a fire. The net result of this is you'd have no brakes, a lot of smoke, a big bill for repair and perhaps no car at all...

So keep the un-protected part of the circuit as short as possible, and if the above problem occurs, you'll only blow your new, fast acting, lower rated fuse, and not your whole car.

The little black box people are describing is used if you want to keep your existing horn wiring, (ie the button on your steering wheel) and not your horns. Your existing horns will be removed and directly replaced in the circuit with the little black box (a relay). Your horn button will then do nothing more than make the relay click on or off, which it does with a very small current demand. The relay's other terminals are then connected to your new air horn compressor circuit, and when you press the horn button, the relay contacts close and thus allow the current to pass from your front fuse box, down your safely installed and properly fused power supply wire, through the compressor to earth.

Hope this helps answer few questions, if I can offer any more help then ask here, as I'm watching now!...

Anonymous · September 3, 2003, 09:11

Quote from: "phil4"Connect it to the bracket which you're mounding the horns on. I just wrapped it around the bolt.

Ditto; works fine.

Anonymous · September 10, 2003, 11:34

Quote from: "pmdye"Just to finish this off, I successfully fitted the Halfords/Ring/Fiamm electromagnetic horns, as just a simple replacement (ie no relays or complex wiring).

As phil suggested, aircon pipes meant I had to put them in a slightly different position (both to the right as you look at them from the front of the car), and with a bit of "adjustment" of the brackets (read: large hammer), got them both forward-facing as well, and angled down slightly to avoid water ingress.

Result: a real horn, that says "look where you're going, you stupid...."

I took the non violent route and made myself a triangular mounting bracket (from aluminium, no rust). That and some use of spade connectors and it all works quite nicely now. As other Phil mentions, they're to the right of the normal mounting point looking at the front of the car, and both are angled downwards to reduce water buildup.

So there are other disadvantages to A/C s:)

s:)