LoadedAgain

I bought the two cone air horn setup from the Harbor Freight store in Austin. Nice price; $13. See: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=40134

Whew, These guys are LOUD.

I have the horns all nicely mounted, etc. I'm pretty sure the xB would use a horn relay to drive the stock horn. I'm also pretty sure the wire going to the stock horn is positive (hot).

But.. I don't know for sure. My question: Can I use the wire that goes to the stock horn to drive the air horn and do I need to use an additional horn relay?

Thx!

LoadedAgain

OK. I got tired of waiting for you guys to answer. Gee wizz, it's been over an hour.... ;)

I found a wiring diagram and the xB horn is driven by a relay so I used the stock wire from the horn in front of the radiator. No additional relay needed.

Here is the mandantory install pic. I put a 15A fuse inline just to add a bit of extra safety.

Sciond

LOL search is awesome

TheShortBus

hey LoadedAgain,
i like the shaved fruit cocktail can as the compressor 'reservoir'--nice touch!

LoadedAgain

Thanks. Oh, and good eye, but it is a bean can and NOT a fruit cocktail can. How dumb do you think I am....

Here's the deal.... bolt that goes into the compressor is open on the bottom. My concern was if that bolt got loose the compressor could fall down. Drilling a hole in a can and putting the bolting bolt for the compressor through that hole keeps this from happening.

I gotta say, for $14 I'm pretty impressed.

LoadedAgain

Oh... and you didn't mention the bolting bracket for the horns.... It's an old door hinge....

TheShortBus

actually, my initial guess WAS a green bean can (we feed our 2 retrievers a can for dinner!). and of course, that door hinge--what can I say LOL

pooder

Tha's cool; that'll work . . . BUT (there's always someone with a but, isn't there?) . . . your horn will have more beans (so to speak ;^) if you wire it with its own relay and run a fused larger-gauge wire straight from the battery, to the relay, and then to the horn compressor . I've made quite a few LOUD horn installations on cars and motorcycles, and that's the way to get the most outta your horns.

BTW, <<nice>> installation with the can and the hinge!!

bB2NER

Those are the same horns I have but in chrome. I mounted mine directly behind the grill outta sight. Can't get over how loud these are and the reactions you get when you "need" to use them.
I used the relay tho cause I've had problems in the past when not using it. I got tired of replacing fuses everytime I used the horn for extended periods.

Sciond

hmmmm i may go get one....

LoadedAgain

Well, for the price you certainly can't go wrong.

sonofxb

How did you wire the compressor, i have the same horns, but need more info on how to install..

LoadedAgain

I unplugged the wire from the two stock horns. One horn is in front of the radiator (you can see it from the front of the xB). The other horn is in front of the battery. The connectors unplug very easy, just squeeze them and unplug.

I then connected the "+" terminal on the compressor to the stock "radiator" horn wire. The "-" terminal on the compressor is connected to the metal frame of the xB (ground).

That's it. The whole job took me about an hour.

Any other questions?

sonofxb

Its really that simple. wow LOL


Thanks !!!!!!

bB2NER

There is more planning that just that. It depends on how clean you want the install to look. I spent 3 hrs just deciding on the right placement and another 2 hrs doing the actual install. Mine are outta sight with the hood up and I didn't drill a single hole. I also wired in the relay to keep from replacing fuses.

smokeydadog

pooder> Let me see if I understand your method...post 1 on the relay would connect to the + terminal you disconnect from the factory horn. Post 2 would go to ground. Post 3 would be the larger gauge wire (what size exactly?) to the battery, and Post 4 would be the larger wire going to the compressor's positive terminal. The compressor would also be grounded to the frame. Does that sound right?

midtowndesi

if u need any help or reference, click the link in my signature for my horn installation. i could have used the stock horn relay on the box but decided to use a seperate one.

in addition, since i installed two sets of horns, i used 2 relays. redundant? maybe. but this way i know for sure i wont be messing up the stock electrical stuff. $4 investment l0l.

enjoy ur setup!

smokeydadog

4 horns?! You're insane...I love it! The wiring diagram in your how-to was just as I pictured it. My airhorns have been ordered. This is gonna be fun!

midtowndesi

4 horns... insane? if you notice my grill, i have space for another set - another 2 horns :-D l0l0l0l0l0l0l

now that would be insane haha. im absolutely happy with my setup although it certainly is no where near as loud as some of the other xb setups i've seen. my setup cost maybe $140 for the horns + misc. parts so it's definitely the best bang for the buck, imo.

although after seeing the link for the $13 air horns, im wondering if i should get a set....................................

pooder

Yup, assuming 1-2 is coil and 3-4 is contacts. The gauge should be 14-12. Larger would be unweildy and wouldn't buy much. Smaller would be defeating the purpose of the exercise.