Air horn mounting location

jmamrak

Member
Jul 17, 2014
382
Lagrange KY
I have an air system on my f150. I own 1 Wolo chief and 2 Grover stuttertones. With the Chief I didn’t feel I was getting the authentic Grover sound. So I bought a set of grovers. Now that I have a real Grover I can tell a difference between them but not much. I think my issue may be this; when I blow either horn with my hood open it sounds great! When I close the hood it looses the stuttertone sound. It is pointed from the rear of my engine compartment directly to my honeycomb grille of my F150. Thoughts on how to fix this? I figure relocating is my only options but I thought I would ask. If you have any opinions on relocating I would appreciate that as well.
 

Turd Ferguson

Member
Jul 3, 2011
2,250
Sumner, Wa
On commercial trucks, I've only ever seen 3 ways for them to be factory mounted, 1 on the roof, 2 under the cab pointing out to the sides or straight back and 3, up front on the frame rail, angled down so the horn doesn't just project into the bumper.

Now some guys buy train horns and mount them on the back of the cab, but again that's not factory.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmamrak

C17LVFD

Member
May 21, 2010
1,537
Harrisburg, PA
I mounted a 24” Grover stutter tone on my Tahoe. I mounted it in the frame of the truck under my front passenger seat area which made it easy to route the air line. It was mounted forward with a slight downward angle. It worked amazingly!!! 150psi and people MOVED!
Also, only mount a single horn. Dual won’t get u much more than dropping your air pressure twice as fast.

Good Luck,
Seth
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmamrak
May 21, 2010
1,256
Minnesota
I have mounted them in 2 ways. Had a Ford van that I mounted them to the frame rail facing forward and angled down slightly. This allowed the sound to bounce off the ground out from under the van very nicely. It also allowed water to not collect in the trumpet. The 2nd had a vehicle with very limited space. I mounted them sideways behind the grill in an X pattern. I was happy with how they preformed under the circumstances.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmamrak

Phillyrube

Member
May 21, 2010
1,272
Flatistan
I mounted a 24” Grover stutter tone on my Tahoe. I mounted it in the frame of the truck under my front passenger seat area which made it easy to route the air line. It was mounted forward with a slight downward angle. It worked amazingly!!! 150psi and people MOVED!
Also, only mount a single horn. Dual won’t get u much more than dropping your air pressure twice as fast.

Good Luck,
Seth
Any problems with getting crud inside? I had a set of trainmaster 3 bells under a F350. Passenger side. They would catch mud and road crap and snow in winter. I turned them pointing to the right, which really didn't affect the sound, especially if someone drifted over from the right.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmamrak

C17LVFD

Member
May 21, 2010
1,537
Harrisburg, PA
Great Question. Neglected to mention, I got the cap for it... and I made sure to use it every time I drove.... just to make sure it was always working
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmamrak

Sparky_911

Supporting Donor
May 15, 2013
2,648
Central Illinois
On my 07 Silverado I pointed my wolo at the radiator and had no issues, hood up/down, stationary/ moving in excess of 90mph.
Video of my install here
Forgive the quality it was from long time ago, full view of horn starting at 4:20.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmamrak

jmamrak

Member
Jul 17, 2014
382
Lagrange KY
@Sparky_911 @C17LVFD @Phillyrube @Jennifer Rose Towing @SeattleSAR
Thanks everyone for your help. I relocated my horn and now it sounds right!! Very happy. My last question is, I have a 30 gallon tank, would it help to add a second horn? I have the horn just sitting on the bench not being used. Thoughts? C17 said it doesn’t do much more. Anyone have personal experience? I plan on playing around with my dB meter from a fixed distance with single and dual horns.
 

C17LVFD

Member
May 21, 2010
1,537
Harrisburg, PA
My understanding is that dual horn is similar to dual siren speaker which doesn’t add a lot unless you have dual tones...

30gallon air tank is sizeable so as long as it’s not ur air brake tank, it can’t hurt much. Would be curious to know what the differences are in dB.
I’ve heard of many fire trucks just hooking up one of two stutters to conserve air but have the balanced look of two.

Keep us posted!
Sett
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmamrak

Sparky_911

Supporting Donor
May 15, 2013
2,648
Central Illinois
30 gallon?! That should be plenty if you have an on board compressor. Have any bed space left, lol.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmamrak

jmamrak

Member
Jul 17, 2014
382
Lagrange KY
Alright guys I did some dB testing at roughly 15 feet away. Keep in mind both my horns are pointed at the ground. I achieved 121.9 on the freshly rebuilt Grover. I achieved 124.1 on the Wolo. Both together I achieved 124.5. I do like the tone of having both horns together. I am very pleased with the sound. This test was using 150 psi regulated to 110. There was no change in pressure from beginning to the end of the test. Let me know your thoughts. Both horns do have a deeper rumble vs the single horns and seems to echo more off of the building in my area.
 
  • Like
Reactions: C17LVFD

C17LVFD

Member
May 21, 2010
1,537
Harrisburg, PA
If you’ve got a good dual tone, run with it. I’d like to hear what they sound like together if u have the ability to upload a video.
Seth
 

C17LVFD

Member
May 21, 2010
1,537
Harrisburg, PA
@C17LVFD thoughts on the tone?

I like it! You’ve got the air capacity which is always my biggest concern especially on FD rigs... someone gets happy with an air horn and all of a sudden you don’t have air left for your brakes. Not the case here best I can tell.

I think they compliment each other and give some additional harmonics... so if u have the space and air keep em!

Nice Work!
Seth
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmamrak

jmamrak

Member
Jul 17, 2014
382
Lagrange KY
I like it! You’ve got the air capacity which is always my biggest concern especially on FD rigs... someone gets happy with an air horn and all of a sudden you don’t have air left for your brakes. Not the case here best I can tell.

I think they compliment each other and give some additional harmonics... so if u have the space and air keep em!

Nice Work!
Seth
Thanks!
I will update with more dB testing. I plan this week to do PSI vs dB from the same distance. Starting at 60 psi and working up.
 

Sparky_911

Supporting Donor
May 15, 2013
2,648
Central Illinois
I discovered 90psi was optimal for the chief. Parted traffic like moses did the red sea.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmamrak

Sparky_911

Supporting Donor
May 15, 2013
2,648
Central Illinois
Jealous af.....Q and horns...drool.....
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmamrak

Jarred J.

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 21, 2010
11,580
Shelbyville, TN
what kind of dashcam do you run?
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmamrak

jmamrak

Member
Jul 17, 2014
382
Lagrange KY
what kind of dashcam do you run?
It is the Aukey DRO2. I bought it for several reasons. It is low profile and doesn’t stick out. I keep it tucked up above my rear view mirror. I keep it set to motion activation and keep the screen off. It is totally touchless. The motion activation is amazing and it records all my responses from start to finish automatically. It also does my speed and location which is a plus if someone calls on me. The gps unit is an optional $20 extra if you need it. It’s not mandatory. When motion is sensed it kicks on for 30 seconds, if no motion is detected after 30 seconds it turns off.
 

Attachments

  • 6376FFAC-6B7C-421D-AF77-C1E40AD41EE6.png
    6376FFAC-6B7C-421D-AF77-C1E40AD41EE6.png
    256.9 KB · Views: 3
  • D7EFFDE0-0990-43AB-BE08-24AF58CBF334.jpeg
    D7EFFDE0-0990-43AB-BE08-24AF58CBF334.jpeg
    106.6 KB · Views: 3
  • B9384C67-B337-4FD1-B175-89E1C12BC534.jpeg
    B9384C67-B337-4FD1-B175-89E1C12BC534.jpeg
    78 KB · Views: 3
  • Like
Reactions: Sparky_911

Jarred J.

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 21, 2010
11,580
Shelbyville, TN
does it "auto write" what kinda time can you get off of it.. i bought a uniden dashcam and its good picture but it only records 1- 3 minutes at a time...
 

jmamrak

Member
Jul 17, 2014
382
Lagrange KY
does it "auto write" what kinda time can you get off of it.. i bought a uniden dashcam and its good picture but it only records 1- 3 minutes at a time...
I have mine set to do 10 minute lengths (I forget the options available but there are several but I choose 10 mins) and it loop records (unless you save a clip with the dedicated button) on a 128 GB little SD card. 10 mins is more then enough as my responses are generally 6 mins.
 

jmamrak

Member
Jul 17, 2014
382
Lagrange KY
And using the auto motion detect, I usually have about over week of driving on it. The 128 I believe holds around 8-10 hours of driving.
 

jmamrak

Member
Jul 17, 2014
382
Lagrange KY
Also @Sparky_911 @C17LVFD I did some PSI vs dB testing today. Here are my results. These results were achieved with a three second blast at 18 feet
60 psi = 120.5 dB (horns sounded terrible)
80 psi = 122.4 dB
100 psi = 123.7 dB
120 psi = 124.5 dB
130 psi = 125.0 dB
140 psi = 125.1 dB

with these results I decided to run mine at 120 psi
 

Forum Statistics

Threads
53,964
Messages
449,809
Members
19,102
Latest member
Hilux01

About Us

  • Since 1997, eLightbars has been the premier venue for all things emergency warning equipment. Discussions, classified listings, pictures, videos, chat, & more! Our staff members strive to keep the forums organized and clutter-free. All of our offerings are free-of-charge with all costs offset by banner advertising. Premium offerings are available to improve your experience.

User Menu

Secure Browsing & Transactions

eLightbars.org uses SSL to secure all traffic between our server and your browsing device. All browsing and transactions within are secured by an SSL Certificate with high-strength encryption.