Air Horn Questions
crazycat
10-11-2004, 03:43 PM
Hi all.
My dad has a 2001 Chevy Suburban, and wants to install some air horns. I bought him the Fiamm air horns you can pick up at the corner autoparts store
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v187/crazycat5150/blue_two_airhorn_large.jpg
the kit has a relay and some instructions, but I admit I'm not that great with reading electrical schematics.
Anyone care to offer up a layman's way of wiring the aftermarket horn, like which wires run in and out of the fusebox I should be concerned with, etc?
any help is appreciated! :smile:
Thanks!
My dad has a 2001 Chevy Suburban, and wants to install some air horns. I bought him the Fiamm air horns you can pick up at the corner autoparts store
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v187/crazycat5150/blue_two_airhorn_large.jpg
the kit has a relay and some instructions, but I admit I'm not that great with reading electrical schematics.
Anyone care to offer up a layman's way of wiring the aftermarket horn, like which wires run in and out of the fusebox I should be concerned with, etc?
any help is appreciated! :smile:
Thanks!
chuck16
10-11-2004, 04:10 PM
Two Ways you can install this.
((Assuming the Suburban has the same layout as my Silverado does under the hood))
Option one:
Just remove your old horns and install these in their place. You will have to mount them pretty close together and on one side as the compressor and Air Horns need to be close to each other. Kit comes with a short Air Line.
The Best place to do this install is on the Passenger side behind the Radiator tank. You can mount the horns to the fender there and run the wire from the pump to the wire on the front where your stock horn is. If you lie underneath the passenger side, in front of the tire, and look up you'll see the one horn on that side. The Driver side is a bit more difficult to disconnect. Remove the Headlights, and turnsignals. You will see the horn behind the Turn signal and in front of the washer reservoir; instead of removing it, just unplug it.
You'll notice that two wires go to the stock horn. Unplug both horns, then use a Test light to determine which wire is hot. You'll need a second body to hit the horn while you test the leads at the stock horn location. The one that lights your test light is the one you wire to the compressor on the horns.
I installed this same set on my Wife's Impreza. I just disconnected the stock horn and wired the Air Horn without the Relay. There was enough Juice in the stock circuit with out a relay.
On my Silverado, I removed one horn from mine and put a set of horns on from a 78' Buick Park Avenue but, what I found was that it sounded unbalanced with sound only coming from one side. So I hooked up the one factory horn on the Driver's side. Now it's super loud!
Option two:
Requires a lot more wiring. Not too hard but, can be done. Same as above but, you implement the relay into the circuit. I can pretty much guarntee that you don't need to go this route but, if you want the relay you can do it this way. Simply do everything above but, wire a 12V hot lead to the horn location as well. Now refer to the directions that came with the horns and the relay.
HOT 12V to pin 30 on the Relay
Ground to 86 on the Relay
Lead coming from your stock horn setup to pin 85 on the Relay.
Lead coming from the Horn Compressor to pin 87 on the Relay.
Test and your done.
There is an image of this here:
http://www.carcentral.net/content/guides/thumbnails/WiringAFogLightRelay.gif
***Except the lights are your horns and the On S/W is from your Horn S/W ***
I would suggest option 1. A lot less work....
If you have any questions let me know.
Evan
:grinno: :thumbsup:
((Assuming the Suburban has the same layout as my Silverado does under the hood))
Option one:
Just remove your old horns and install these in their place. You will have to mount them pretty close together and on one side as the compressor and Air Horns need to be close to each other. Kit comes with a short Air Line.
The Best place to do this install is on the Passenger side behind the Radiator tank. You can mount the horns to the fender there and run the wire from the pump to the wire on the front where your stock horn is. If you lie underneath the passenger side, in front of the tire, and look up you'll see the one horn on that side. The Driver side is a bit more difficult to disconnect. Remove the Headlights, and turnsignals. You will see the horn behind the Turn signal and in front of the washer reservoir; instead of removing it, just unplug it.
You'll notice that two wires go to the stock horn. Unplug both horns, then use a Test light to determine which wire is hot. You'll need a second body to hit the horn while you test the leads at the stock horn location. The one that lights your test light is the one you wire to the compressor on the horns.
I installed this same set on my Wife's Impreza. I just disconnected the stock horn and wired the Air Horn without the Relay. There was enough Juice in the stock circuit with out a relay.
On my Silverado, I removed one horn from mine and put a set of horns on from a 78' Buick Park Avenue but, what I found was that it sounded unbalanced with sound only coming from one side. So I hooked up the one factory horn on the Driver's side. Now it's super loud!
Option two:
Requires a lot more wiring. Not too hard but, can be done. Same as above but, you implement the relay into the circuit. I can pretty much guarntee that you don't need to go this route but, if you want the relay you can do it this way. Simply do everything above but, wire a 12V hot lead to the horn location as well. Now refer to the directions that came with the horns and the relay.
HOT 12V to pin 30 on the Relay
Ground to 86 on the Relay
Lead coming from your stock horn setup to pin 85 on the Relay.
Lead coming from the Horn Compressor to pin 87 on the Relay.
Test and your done.
There is an image of this here:
http://www.carcentral.net/content/guides/thumbnails/WiringAFogLightRelay.gif
***Except the lights are your horns and the On S/W is from your Horn S/W ***
I would suggest option 1. A lot less work....
If you have any questions let me know.
Evan
:grinno: :thumbsup:
crazycat
10-11-2004, 04:31 PM
Evan,
You rock!
I was very concerned that the stock wiring leading to the existing horns weren't gonna cut it without a meltdown! But if what you say is true, then I'll have nothing to worry about.
You rock!
I was very concerned that the stock wiring leading to the existing horns weren't gonna cut it without a meltdown! But if what you say is true, then I'll have nothing to worry about.
chuck16
10-11-2004, 05:22 PM
Well thank you, glad I could help :grinno:. I've had my horns wired for over a month now with good use and no problems...
My Wife's Air horn's have been on her vehicle for over 4 Years now with no problems.
Make sure you do your best to keep the trumpets out of the weather. IE: Up away from water and dirt. I had a set once, and aimed them forward from behind my grill on a previous vehicle. They were dead within a year. Water and Dirt just get's driven right into the trumpets.
My Wife's Air horn's have been on her vehicle for over 4 Years now with no problems.
Make sure you do your best to keep the trumpets out of the weather. IE: Up away from water and dirt. I had a set once, and aimed them forward from behind my grill on a previous vehicle. They were dead within a year. Water and Dirt just get's driven right into the trumpets.
skipr
10-14-2004, 01:20 AM
I installed these exact horns on my 1979 C20 silverado, it's my work load truck and I needed something too really get the attention of these def narcoleptic high schools students (I do alot of side electrical work at local high schools) well they worked just great. I used basically option 2 , but no problem mounting on drivers side fender (underhood) alot of room under this trucks engine compartment. Even with a 454 cid in there, it was fairly simple, but then again I do wiring almost every other day.
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