Calling Hella horn folks!

[ChuckH]

Rrdstarr and I put the dual hella horns in his truck a couple weeks ago and he can't use them! For some reason once he pushes the horn they come on and stay on. The only way to shut them off is by pulling the fuse. I put air horns in a week or two before that and mine work great. His horns are wired exactly the same as mine. Has anyone else had this problem? We didn't get around to pulling my relay out to try in his truck, but I think maybe his is fubar. Either that or the 2001's have something different about the horn circuit? Thoughts?

[Goliath the X]

Sounds like the relay is getting stuck in the open position.

I'd try swapping the relays first. Have you tried calling hella and see what they say?

Coolerman is MAXC's resident wiring expert, not sure if he surfs this board so I'll post the link on the MAXC board.

[coolerman]

Goliath is correct, the relay contacts are sticking closed. I would have to guess that the dual horns pull a lot more current than the stock ones and the relay contacts overheat and fuse. You may have to rewire it with a heavy duty relay and wire. But first do swap the relays, it could just be defective. If it continues to be a problem I can put together a kit to take care of it!

[rrdstarr]

I think we should probably have you make up the relay anyways! Tell me how much it will cost and I'll get some money out to you!

Thanks, Rick

[coolerman]

Get me a pic showing where the horns are mounted. Then explain how you wired them. I can then figure out how much wire and such I will need. I can make relay kits to handle up to 40 amps with normal relays. By the way the X horn is only fused at 10 amps! Also need to know what type of connectors are on the horns. If possible take a close up pic of them. If they are exactly like the stock horns then I already know what they are. I also have an ATC fuse block kit for the X. 6 circuit or a ten circuit. Up to 100 amps total and it's protected by a circuit breaker. Makes it real easy to connect stuff under the hood!

[rrdstarr]

Thanks Coolerman! I'll get some pics in the morning out to you! I am at work now and the truck is at home!

[ChuckH]

WOW is right!

I still don't understand why Rick has this problem and I don't, but as long as it can be fixed relatively easily, that would be cool.

BTW, the horn has those standard spade terminals like the factory horn has.

[Toy Man]

Rick/Chuck: Could you post a picture of how/where you mounted the horns?

Thanks

[rrdstarr]

As soon as it stops raining I'll get photos for Coolerman and Toyman. Ummm...you guys related???? :silly2:

[coolerman]

Not that I know of :flash: ! Has it stopped raining yet?

[rrdstarr]

Doing it tomorrow morning! Will get you pictures of that horn relay!

[ChuckH]

Well, here's mine. Rick put his on the side near the battery, but I opted for the left side. I used zip ties to attach the horns to the top of the ABS unit. The pump is circled in blue and sits nicely down inside that bracket. The yellow circle is around the relay. I have the Carand horn, which is the same as the Hella that Rick has...just has a silver top on the pump instead of red.

I'm not afraid to use it, BTW!

[ChuckH]

Hmmm, I just thought of something.

My horn is exactly the same as Rick's, but the Hella instructions call for a 25 amp fuse and mine calls for a 20 amp fuse. This may sound like a stupid question, but could that have any effect on the relay and it heating up?

BTW, Rick...I haven't found my wiring instructions yet. :o

[coolerman]

The size of the fuse will not affect the relay as far as it getting hot. By the way is the relay getting hot? If it is something is not wired correctly
So exactly how did you wire this? I would think you would take the wire from the stock horn, connect it to terminal #85 of the Hella relay coil, ground terminal #86 of the coil, run a fused wire from the battery to terminal # 30 on the relay then from terminal 87 to the air pump and ground the pump? If this is how it's wired and it stays on then it has got to be the relay. If it's not wired that way could you provide a description of how it is wired?

[ChuckH]

I believe that's how they are wired. I covered up all my wiring, so I can only confirm (without tearing stuff apart) that #86 goes to ground and #87 goes to the pump. I'm pretty sure that # 30 does go to the battery and #85 to the horn. Maybe Rick could verify his wiring, as his is more exposed. I never touched the relay so I don't know if it's getting hot.

What's weird is that one time I looked at his it woked fine with the door locks, but then stuck on when he honked the horn. This last time, it worked fine with the horn, but went whacko when he locked the doors.

Rick, we should have swapped the relays today...duh!