Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 17:35:25 -0700
Reply-To: mark drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: mark drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET>
Subject: Horns, improvements
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The stock Vanagon horn is not that great but can be improved. Simply
adding a relay down by the horn can make a big difference even with the
stock horn. Doing that increases the voltage at the horn as well as
triggers full volume from the horn even when the steering wheel contact
ring or button have only a weak connection. By using the steering wheel
button to simply trigger the relay the button can work with only a small
fraction of the power going through it that the horn itself would need.
Thus the relay can trigger and remain on with a much weaker connection
than the horn itself requires for sounding. With the relay providing the
ground the horn is louder, faster, and more consistent.
Here is a photo of a horn with the added relay and wiring to increase
horn performance. The 2 existing horn wires plug into this setup. No
additional wires need to be run. The yellow end is a male spade. The 2
existing horn wires have female ends. The stock black/yellow wire plugs
into the wire with a yellow end. The stock brownish wire plugs into the
remaining relay male spade pin #86. The wire with the ring terminal gets
grounded at the mounting bolt for the horn spring plates.
http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1101215.jpg
The horn in that first photo is actually a larger version of the stock
horn but mounts and wires up the same as a stock horn and in the stock
location. Here are both horns for a comparison.
http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1101214.jpg
I purchased that larger Hella horn from this place. I installed it in my
89 with the added relay. It is now much louder but still has the
familiar sounding beep known to old VWs.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HORN-DISC-12V-335HZ-MERCEDES-/280423157106?
Of course there are many still louder horns and I like some of the dual
horn setups from various Volvo, Mercedes, BMW, etc I get at the
junkyard. These have a totally different sound of authority but are more
complicated to mount in the stock location. I might get into that at
another time.
Mark