Train horn setup is killing my car

[Redog]

OK I hooked up the horn today, I hooked the switch and compressor to the fuse box bolt. After hooking everything up, the car wouldn't start.

So I figured that the compressor line, which I put under the main wire, was interfering with the connection from the battery to the car so I undid that and the car started, weakly

The battery light came on, and I finally got the car started (after 3 tries) and it almost stalled, dropped down to 500 RPM and then shot back to idle and ran fine.

My dome light is dim and it flickers a bit, then stays lit normal after about 1 min. The gauge pod gauges are jumpy too. More so the voltmeter than the EGT gauge.

So I drove the car about for about 10 mintues, and it's still hard to start.

The train horn is going to get it's own battery, I can't risk the car breaking down like this.

How bad is my situation? Do I just need a good charge, or did I fuck the alternator?

[sound_xtreme]

uhh, id say you should take it to a pro and have THEM install it. cause it sounds like you hooked it up wrong

[bigd6983]

yea im with soundextreme.....you had to have wired it wrong somehow....what are the connections like?? does it have a relay? what wire hook ups are there? i doubt it pulls that much power that it wouldnt allow your car to run right, do you have a link to the horn maybe?

[Silentalero]

yea dood i have mine connected to my battery and i just have a cutoff switch for it. Sounds like your pullin to much juice. Put a cutoff switch on the compressor

its fine while the car is on but if its off. its a killer

[Redog]

Yeah I think I'm going to hit up a pro :(

[doubleN0alero]

again...seems like sooooooo much hassle to go through for a horn...

[sound_xtreme]

it's not if u know what ur doin. we'll hook it up at ASS, lol

[Silentalero]

/\ true, it took me a hal hour to wire it up.

[Wreckless]

Yeah I think I'm going to hit up a pro :(

Why you would want a train horn to begin with is beyond me but I have to say I admire you persistance to get this thing working.Id deffinately have a good laugh if I heard a train horn in a car when someone cut them off.LOL

[Satsuriku]

if i could i would soooo get a train horn!!! ive never had to use my horn on my car yet and ive had it for almost 3 years........sorry, i used it once!!! lol

[SweetNLow]

wiring is a bitch to someone who doesnt really know whats going on.........

brad remeber when you stopped by my place back in the summer time and my car was just sitting in the driveway? it was just sitting there cause i took my air tanks our and unwired abunch of my valves and shit and ended up fucking stuff up. i still dont know exactly what i did to screw it up....... or exactly what i did to fix it....... but wiring is difficult if your not 100% positive of what your doing.....

thats why i go out to joels house when i have a big wiring job haha

[sound_xtreme]

you called ME to fix it and walk you through it :x

[SweetNLow]

i did call you but you didnt help much trust me......... in that situion it was like a rocket scientist(you) trying to explain thermal dynamics to a monkey (me)

[doubleN0alero]

wiring is a bitch to someone who doesnt really know whats going on.........

brad remeber when you stopped by my place back in the summer time and my car was just sitting in the driveway? it was just sitting there cause i took my air tanks our and unwired abunch of my valves and shit and ended up fucking stuff up. i still dont know exactly what i did to screw it up....... or exactly what i did to fix it....... but wiring is difficult if your not 100% positive of what your doing.....

thats why i go out to joels house when i have a big wiring job haha

Yes, I do remember the HUGE mess that you had made trying to move your airtank down in the spare tire compartment. That is just something I wouldn't want to mess with. As I said before, if it was for something like air ride, then the headache might be worth it, but a horn, not so much.
A
I also remember your car was laying on a the ground. Low enough that you couldn't get a jack under it...thus I ended up spending alot more on new rotors that I had wanted to, but I guess it happens.

[Redog]

I took the car to the mech today to check the alt and battery out, they are both "low" but he says they should clear up in a few days of driving around. Car started right up this morning with no problem, but after I got home and restarted the car, it started and died, 2nd try, started right up. Voltmeter is at 14, it did spike at one point comming home to 18 for a super quick second (nanosecond) but back to normal ASAP.

The compressor works fine, we did get it running for a few seconds, but the wiring into the relay is were the problem is. He said I have great grounds, and the wiring is good, but he doesn't know the relay points.

I'm getting my windows retinted on Thursday, and they are going to look at it

[sorrowfulkiller]

Like everyone has said so far though... once you get it working correctly... post a vid :)

[sound_xtreme]

heres how i would do it. if you wanted you could put a toggle switch on the ACC 12v+ Switched. fixed

[Silentalero]

also dood make sure your relay and switch can handle a 30amp line. That was a problem i ran into with mine at first. Its a juice puller.

[SweetNLow]

ya the compressor draws a TON of current....... and another little tip..... dont touch the compressor or the line after its been running for awhile. that fucker gets HOT

[Silentalero]

u mean tha air line from it...not the power line, if your power line gets to hot then you have to small awg wire.

[SweetNLow]

nah i ment the airline marc........ i just wasnt clear enuff i guess

[MixtapeMessiah]

ur gonna need a massive battery to power that huge horn dude, Id custom made a 200 amp alternator for it too, wouldnt wanna risk fuckin up or fryin anything.

[sound_xtreme]

ur gonna need a massive battery to power that huge horn dude, Id custom made a 200 amp alternator for it too, wouldnt wanna risk fuckin up or fryin anything.

ur dumb. dont listen to him. Most relays should be 40a. Switch wont have to be 40a since all that does is switch the valve open(which has ~18ga wire)

[SweetNLow]

ur gonna need a massive battery to power that huge horn dude, Id custom made a 200 amp alternator for it too, wouldnt wanna risk fuckin up or fryin anything.

dude you have no clue at all what your talkin about

[MixtapeMessiah]

still gonna wanna run its own battery tho, expecially if u keep honkin the horn cuz youll be drainin the battery more than the alt can charge it back up...so i aint dumb home boy

[sound_xtreme]

still gonna wanna run its own battery tho, expecially if u keep honkin the horn cuz youll be drainin the battery more than the alt can charge it back up...so i aint dumb home boy

uh NO. again, if you dont know what you're talking about, dont.

[SweetNLow]

still gonna wanna run its own battery tho, expecially if u keep honkin the horn cuz youll be drainin the battery more than the alt can charge it back up...so i aint dumb home boy

the battery dont power the horn HOMEBOY.

you need power to run the compressor.....

so you is dumb

[Silentalero]

still gonna wanna run its own battery tho, expecially if u keep honkin the horn cuz youll be drainin the battery more than the alt can charge it back up...so i aint dumb home boy

The horns arent what drain the battery, all they are is a funnel for the air pressure coming outta the tank. Its the compressor that drains the battery. Its a juice puller, even if you have a separate battery your going to have to recharge it meaning you need a battery isolator and its going to have to run off the same alt anyways. I have it on a yellow top w/ stock alt on my CL and never have any problems if the car is running. Obviously you wanna get a big enough tank so the compressor isnt going 24/7. I have a 3 gallon and a vlair 30% duty compressor and i can play with the horn for hours without the car battery dieing.

Ken, another reason your battery might be dieing is becasue its friggid cold to. Batteries HATE cold weather. Ive been having that problem. Sometimes its my neg terminal not connecting right, and sometimes I gotta bust out the jumpbox.

[Silentalero]

ur dumb. dont listen to him. Most relays should be 40a. Switch wont have to be 40a since all that does is switch the valve open(which has ~18ga wire)

not 100% right, if its pulling 30a through the line your gonna need a 30amp switch. I ran a 20a at first and it melted the switch. Just FYI from past experience.

[SweetNLow]

when the temperture is in the single digits a battery's cranking power is reduced by 50% compared to summer time

[Redog]

Really 50%! I didn't know it was that much

I used all 18 gauge wire to hook it up. The switch is on it's own circut. It's a 20 amp switch and I have a 20 amp fuse.

I connected everything the the ground on the fuse box. I know I know stupid. My mech told me that was the ground today :banghead:

I'll get it working :p

[sound_xtreme]

not 100% right, if its pulling 30a through the line your gonna need a 30amp switch. I ran a 20a at first and it melted the switch. Just FYI from past experience.

if you're talking a switch to cut the power to the compressor then yes. im talkin the switch for the valve.

and compressors dont pull THAT much power. especially just one. I mean, an audio amplifier pulls a ton more. This isnt like a juice setup.

Ill garuntee the reason Ken's car was dead was because it was miswired. i mean, Ken already said that he(or the mech) changed some stuff and it starts fine. a little harder, but to be expected after completely killing it.

[SweetNLow]

Really 50%! I didn't know it was that much

i was shocked as well when i was told that

[Silentalero]

Really 50%! I didn't know it was that much

I used all 18 gauge wire to hook it up. The switch is on it's own circut. It's a 20 amp switch and I have a 20 amp fuse.

I connected everything the the ground on the fuse box. I know I know stupid. My mech told me that was the ground today :banghead:

I'll get it working :p

There are your mistakes.

#1 18awg is fine for the normal connections.

#2 use at least 10awg for your power from the compressor. That line has to be burnin up if your using 18awg. Its gonna melt and ground itself if you dont change it!!

Compressors use about 28amps so do yourself a favor and swap it all to 30a. Its all gonna melt away if you leave it, trust me.

And joel, ALso remind you an amp will pull more power if the sub is being hit hard constantly so the amp is needing that much juice to use it. Hense your lights goin dim. The compressor does close to the same but its a constant draw, enough so you wont notice untill its to late.

Do what i told ya ken and you'll be alright, btw make sure the ground wire is the same awg as the power for the compressor. Just drill into random metal and put a screw in it. Ground it to the car itself, not the fuse box.

[sound_xtreme]

lol, if you say so marc. 1 compressor will not be a problem for a stock charging system. 2 compressors, maybe, but considering compressors generally only run for ~7 minutes till the tank fills back up, still easily handled by the stock charging system.

youll notice ive marked 10gauge where you need a heavier gauge on that diagram ken, so make sure youve got that covered.

[Silentalero]

no problem if the car is on, but if you leave it off and expect it to keep going ya got another thing coming. Itll kill the battery quick so make sure your car is always on when its running.

[sound_xtreme]

ive ran mine all the way from 0 to 190psi with 2 compressors and started with no problem too. granted, if ya did that a couple times, itd kill it dead im sure

[AftermathAlero]

#1.) OK you don't need a 20amp or 30amp switch. MARC.. I'M SORRY! your wrong! LOL. The switch is only to open the valve for the horn to sound. which Valves only use less than 5amps to open. (joel & brent are right!) The switch that controls the pressure switch power wire to the compressor relay only takes less an 1amp to open also. (if ken followed joel's diagram in above post).

#2.) compressor and relay main power wire is 18gauge and you grounded everything back up where the fuse box is.. then its going to melt. Grounds, you want them to be short as possible. and scrap off the paint where u ground it at for better connection. Following the diagram joel has provided of where 10ga wiring needs to be. (he did take his time making it yesterday, LOL)

otherwise 18ga is fine for the rest of the wiring.. cept where the battery to the compressor relay wire. that needs to be 10ga like stated.

[Redog]

Car is 100% fine now.

Loose battery connection. The battery connection I had was very hard tohook up right, it's been swapped, car runs great

[Silentalero]

#1.) OK you don't need a 20amp or 30amp switch. MARC.. I'M SORRY! your wrong! LOL. The switch is only to open the valve for the horn to sound. which Valves only use less than 5amps to open. (joel & brent are right!) The switch that controls the pressure switch power wire to the compressor relay only takes less an 1amp to open also. (if ken followed joel's diagram in above post).

#2.) compressor and relay main power wire is 18gauge and you grounded everything back up where the fuse box is.. then its going to melt. Grounds, you want them to be short as possible. and scrap off the paint where u ground it at for better connection. Following the diagram joel has provided of where 10ga wiring needs to be. (he did take his time making it yesterday, LOL)

otherwise 18ga is fine for the rest of the wiring.. cept where the battery to the compressor relay wire. that needs to be 10ga like stated.


#1 ok we were talking to diff switches then, i meant the switch to shut off the compressor. Since mine is directly to the battery. I have 2 switches. an on/off for the compressor and a second is a momentary for the valve itself to sound the horn.

[sound_xtreme]

#1 ok we were talking to diff switches then, i meant the switch to shut off the compressor. Since mine is directly to the battery. I have 2 switches. an on/off for the compressor and a second is a momentary for the valve itself to sound the horn.

thats a jacked up install right thur

[Silentalero]

never had a single problem with it and ive got a cutoff to the power for the compressor. I dont see anything jacked about it.