2012 Chevy Caprice Horn ring hook up help

HI all, Building a 2012 Caprice and am having issues with the horn ring. I found the factory Up fitter harness that contains the horn wire that Chevy provides for horn ring taps. Problem is the wire is a constant 12V and not 12V when you hit the horn. This tells me the Horn wire they provide is before the horn relay. Am i missing something? Do i have the right wire? If not where is the Horn Ring wire located? The wire i found was Brown with a black stripe and was under the passenger side dash taped up away from the other 3 up fitter harness. Thanks for any help you guys can provide. OH, and its a detective unit and not a full blown patrol if that makes a difference. Thanks again.
 

cajunblitz

Member
May 20, 2010
1,217
Saint Martin Parish LA
Autobot Cruiser said:
HI all, Building a 2012 Caprice and am having issues with the horn ring. I found the factory Up fitter harness that contains the horn wire that Chevy provides for horn ring taps. Problem is the wire is a constant 12V and not 12V when you hit the horn. This tells me the Horn wire they provide is before the horn relay. Am i missing something? Do i have the right wire? If not where is the Horn Ring wire located? The wire i found was Brown with a black stripe and was under the passenger side dash taped up away from the other 3 up fitter harness. Thanks for any help you guys can provide. OH, and its a detective unit and not a full blown patrol if that makes a difference. Thanks again.

Correct wire, incorrect polarity. The provided horn ring loop is a ground trigger from the steering wheel to the bcm, which only then converts the signal to a positive 12 volts to the horn. Same on the Impala and Tahoe. If your siren utilizes a ground type horn ring interface, like a Unitrol, then you can use the provided loop as is. If it's a positive type horn ring circuit, like with a Whelen, then you'll need to leave the loop intact and intercept the horn wires after the bcm/ relay, usually at the horns themselves.
 
cajunblitz said:
Correct wire, incorrect polarity. The provided horn ring loop is a ground trigger from the steering wheel to the bcm, which only then converts the signal to a positive 12 volts to the horn. Same on the Impala and Tahoe. If your siren utilizes a ground type horn ring interface, like a Unitrol, then you can use the provided loop as is. If it's a positive type horn ring circuit, like with a Whelen, then you'll need to leave the loop intact and intercept the horn wires after the bcm/ relay, usually at the horns themselves.

The siren is the whelen HHS2200. From the instructions it look like it has provisions to hook up a ground signal horn ring. BUt IS it normal for the provided signal wire to be constant? Thats whats throwing me for a "loop". Haha
 

cajunblitz

Member
May 20, 2010
1,217
Saint Martin Parish LA
Autobot Cruiser said:
The siren is the whelen HHS2200. From the instructions it look like it has provisions to hook up a ground signal horn ring. BUt IS it normal for the provided signal wire to be constant? Thats whats throwing me for a "loop". Haha

Whelen horn ring circuitry is positive. Leave the factory provided horn ring loop intact and run your own wires to the horn(s) and tie in there. Find the wire in the horn(s) that shows 12V positive when the horn is pushed, and cut. Tie your HORN wire from the siren to the HORN and the RING wire from your siren to the CAR wire.
 

rescue290

Member
Jul 25, 2010
55
MD, USA
Whelen horn ring circuitry is positive. Leave the factory provided horn ring loop intact and run your own wires to the horn(s) and tie in there. Find the wire in the horn(s) that shows 12V positive when the horn is pushed, and cut. Tie your HORN wire from the siren to the HORN and the RING wire from your siren to the CAR wire.

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I am encountering the same trouble. Where are the horns themselves? I'm looking to hook into that wire directly as well.
 

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