talking to a buddy of mine who is looking at putting air horns on his Dodge Cummins 24V truck. I have found horns online that quote upto 152 dB, which is REALLY fawking loud. According to some research 120 dB is front row at a rock concert with no hearing protection and temporary exposure of 140 dB or more can permanently damage your hearing.

So the question came up is there a (relatively) simple method to control the volume and/or pressure from within the cab, maybe something along the line of an Edge box with 1-10 on a knob, etc. My high school physics has left me.

This would allow the user to beep beep the horn at say 70 or 80 db and not scare the pants off anyone, however if the need arose, as it often does in Atlanta traffic, you could crank that fawker up to 152 db and peel the paint off someones car... :D:

I have researched a few package air horn/train horn systems and didnt find any that were adjustable for frequency or loudness (i searched here and google for air horn, train horn, etc.)

The louder the horn, the larger the air supply required to run it. If you put train horns on it, you might as well mount a 60 gallon air tank in the bed.
Train horns are cool, when they work properly,(However, technically illegal in many places) but they sound like ass without the proper volume of compressed air supplied to them.
Good luck!

A 5 gallon tank at 150psi toots a set of 4 bell Buell horns just fine. These aren't "real" train horns, but then if they were some Nathans or Leslies, I doubt they could fit in front of the radiator and behind the grill on an F150.

I don't know why you'd want to tone down the loudness...because doing so will probably effect their sound quality. But, if you have to, just install one of those mini 3/8" regulators between the horns and the tank. Also, be sure to cut all the supply lines from the manifold the same length...otherwise some horns will prompt before others and make it sound ridiculous.

just run another button for the air horns.

toot the regular horn, if that doesn't work, push the other button you mounted to activate the air horn and blow out some windows :)

just run another button for the air horns.

toot the regular horn, if that doesn't work, push the other button you mounted to activate the air horn and blow out some windows :)

That's what I'll be doing.

I wouldn't add another button, in a panic, it'll be easy to forget.

Rather, I'd tap into the horn circuit and place a ON/OFF switch between the air solenoid and the OEM horn. This way, you could ARM it when necessary, but still use the OEM horn as originally intended. The only downside to this is the OEM will be honking in conjunction with the air horns...but one wouldn't even notice it.

Also, to increase the "alertness" you can step up to larger ID fittings, larger air hose (Goodyear synflex or similar) and a much larger solenoid.

thanks for the info guys...thought about keeping the factory horn and then adding some type of control for the air/train horn if its needed. however i agree with the point above that when/if you hit your horn in a panic (someone pulls out in front of you, etc) then you are not going to have time to hit another button or think about flipping the switch....

maybe one side of the steering wheel does one and the other side does the other?

keep the ideas coming....

thanks

You could easily put in a double throw switch so that one side contacts to the OEM horn and the other side contacts to the air horn. Just splice it inline with the horn wirering for the oem horn on one side and run a new wire from the switch to the solinoid for the air horn. I kind of doubt I'll ever be using the OEM horn though...:clown:

We don't get confused about it. We've got the button in the wheel for a freindly reminder, and we've got the cable hanging from the overhead when we need to be "Rude". :evil:

I wouldn't add another button, in a panic, it'll be easy to forget.

Rather, I'd tap into the horn circuit and place a ON/OFF switch between the air solenoid and the OEM horn. This way, you could ARM it when necessary, but still use the OEM horn as originally intended. The only downside to this is the OEM will be honking in conjunction with the air horns...but one wouldn't even notice it.

Also, to increase the "alertness" you can step up to larger ID fittings, larger air hose (Goodyear synflex or similar) and a much larger solenoid.

like arming your uberhorn before honking in a panic wouldn't be easy to forget too?? :rolleyes: :flipoff2:

some fucker blows my eardrums out here in atlanta traffic and i know where to come look for him :flipoff2:

like arming your uberhorn before honking in a panic wouldn't be easy to forget too?? :rolleyes: :flipoff2:

some fucker blows my eardrums out here in atlanta traffic and i know where to come look for him :flipoff2:

So says the guy who's having difficulty running a coax for his CB. :shaking::flipoff2:

Nope...everytime I get in....it goes on...to the detriment of fellow nondrivers. It's DOT approved and Memphis "permits" horns when used in an appropriate manner so as to warn other drivers of potential harm.

After I left it armed a few times and my alarm went off....I learned real quick to check the switch before I departed my DD.

IMO, those chrome plated brass shorty dual horns from Grover are the easiest to hide and are about $100 than the 4-chime Buells.

So says the guy who's having difficulty running a coax for his CB. :shaking::flipoff2:


difficulty? nah, more like i want to do it right and am looking for advice :flipoff2:

i'd still rather hook up another button altogether, but whatever floats your boat. you guys just want all kinds of little NAWS switches with safety covers so you can look cool :flipoff2: :flipoff2:

difficulty? nah, more like i want to do it right and am looking for advice :flipoff2:

i'd still rather hook up another button altogether, but whatever floats your boat. you guys just want all kinds of little NAWS switches with safety covers so you can look cool :flipoff2: :flipoff2:

Uh huh...

No NAWS switches here....just a single pole/throw chrome toggle.

Have you thought about stebel motorcycle horns? 139 decibles. Guys wire these up with their regular horn circuit. Since is is an air horn, there is a little delay when you push the horn button. This delay allows you you to use the factory horn only for those time when you just want to tap the horn.

http://www.amazon.com/Stebel-Nautilus-Compact-Motorcycle-Horn/dp/B000NPRTII/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-9951683-2964923?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1182343226&sr=8-1

www.hornblasters.com

fucking hilarious footage on that site

^^^ seen several of those floating around on the web....good laughs...

May get the motorcycle version above for my DD since I dont have room for large horns, tanks, compressors, etc..

^^^ seen several of those floating around on the web....good laughs...

May get the motorcycle version above for my DD since I dont have room for large horns, tanks, compressors, etc..

Like I stated earlier, don't discount the stubby Grovers. A 2gal "sneaky pete" tank would work well for a few blasts in a small car/truck/other confined area.

Also, if you have a home compressor capable of airing up to 135psi +, there's really no need to have OBA....it's just a pain to air up.