Air horn install in Vehicle

FEltjaked

Member
May 21, 2010
60
New York
Hey I'm looking for some tips/information on how to install airhorn's in a vehicle...


I want to know what kind of compressor I need, and does it matter what horn I use with what compressor...stuff like that.


Any info on this is HIGHLY appreciated =]


Thanks everyone,


Jake D.


http://cgi.ebay.com/AIR-COMPRESSOR-1-5- ... 4aa51334a9


Would I be able to use one of these?
 

Jarred J.

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 21, 2010
11,580
Shelbyville, TN
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5439


also this has been brought up on the freeyab elightbars site, lightbarn, etc.


1 member put up a whole thread how he installed air horns into a full size pick up.
 

bdd012

Member
Sep 10, 2010
21
South Jersey
airhornsoftexas.com has complete kits. send you everything you need. have one on my dump truck and is amazing! buddy of mine has the fire truck one on his pickup and it is better than what we have on some of our trucks. highly recommended.
 

FEltjaked

Member
May 21, 2010
60
New York
bdd012 said:
airhornsoftexas.com has complete kits. send you everything you need. have one on my dump truck and is amazing! buddy of mine has the fire truck one on his pickup and it is better than what we have on some of our trucks. highly recommended.


Thanks a lot! Will def look into that.
 

C17LVFD

Member
May 21, 2010
1,537
Harrisburg, PA
bdd012 said:
airhornsoftexas.com has complete kits. send you everything you need. have one on my dump truck and is amazing! buddy of mine has the fire truck one on his pickup and it is better than what we have on some of our trucks. highly recommended.

bear in mind.... airhorns of Texas no longer sells actual Grover Stuttertone emergency horns. I made that mistake... I don't like sound of the emergency horn they sell...


Anyway, i got my Grover and all is well... Just don't be fooled...
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
The springs included with airhors of Texas have been shredding the diaphrams where I work. We finally filed down the ends and the problem stopped. Had a lot of trouble getting them to admit there was an issue. Finally they sent replacement diaphrams (and more sharp edged springs)... Now we use actual stutter tones.
 
May 25, 2010
129
Los Angeles, CA
If you want the fire truck sound, only the Grover Stuttertone air horn will work. Grover may cost more, but you get a quality product that is durable and has been a staple for close to 60 years on US fire apparatus. IMO Air Horns of Texas has become very dishonest by continuing to use Grover order numbers for cheap, knock-off Asian trumpets long after Grover dropped them as a supplier. Shame on them!
 

VolEms

Member
May 24, 2010
2,112
NY, USA
I also got a 1510 from airhornsoftexax.com . I was fooled I thought it was a Grover. What is the best website to buy a Grover 1510?


This is my 1510 China one form them. I want to replace it with a real grover


ai950.photobucket.com_albums_ad345_VolEms_airhorn1.jpg


ai950.photobucket.com_albums_ad345_VolEms_airhorn2.jpg
 

C17LVFD

Member
May 21, 2010
1,537
Harrisburg, PA
VolEms said:
I also got a 1510 from airhornsoftexax.com . I was fooled I thought it was a Grover. What is the best website to buy a Grover 1510?
This is my 1510 China one form them. I want to replace it with a real grover


ai950.photobucket.com_albums_ad345_VolEms_airhorn1.jpg


ai950.photobucket.com_albums_ad345_VolEms_airhorn2.jpg


What type of vehicle do you have there?? Looks like you've got a fair amount of audible warning under the hood :D If it's not already in the install section, I'd like to see some more pics please!


Seth


PS: Cheapest I found was here... http://lees911.com/grover-emergency-air-horns-1510.html
 

VolEms

Member
May 24, 2010
2,112
NY, USA
Its a Toyota Sienna 2010. Whelen Cencom gold, 2 sa315p, Howler, 1510. Tomar Blade High Power, 12 Whelen M6, M7 and M4's. 10 Rect13's 6 LInz6's 4 Whelen LAW and 8 Vertex's. Ill try to post it in the install section soon.
 
May 25, 2010
129
Los Angeles, CA
Grover has a web site and phone number in LA, but go directly to Grover at www.airhorn.com. Sometimes if you call they are less than helpful, but they should be able to direct you to a dealer. The guy in LA who distributes the Hi-Lo horns to LAFD might have some. If so, I'll let you know. He no longer sells Grover, but he may stll have one.


I looked under Grover, and Air Hons of Texas still seems to list themselves as a Grover dealer. Bad business ethics. You don't know who you can trust.
 

VolEms

Member
May 24, 2010
2,112
NY, USA
Agreed. I bought 2 from airhorns of Texas thinking it was Grover. Both are installed. When its cold it wont work and the one installed in my friends car is having problems.
 

C17LVFD

Member
May 21, 2010
1,537
Harrisburg, PA
VolEms said:
Its a Toyota Sienna 2010. Whelen Cencom gold, 2 sa315p, Howler, 1510. Tomar Blade High Power, 12 Whelen M6, M7 and M4's. 10 Rect13's 6 LInz6's 4 Whelen LAW and 8 Vertex's. Ill try to post it in the install section soon.

Jesus! That sounds like a lot of warning power for a mini-van. It'll be interesting to see what you do with it :twisted:
 

rescue52

Member
May 23, 2010
386
New York
VolEms said:
I use it to Respond. The main reason for so much is its a Demo Car.

Pics ?? Is the vehicle finished ??
 

philyumpshus

Member
Jun 20, 2010
1,281
Malone, NY
My rescue squad has a pair of Buells on our ALS intercept Suburban and they really move traffic. If I were installing them I would put at least two 3-gallon tanks because they can drain the tank in about 6 seconds of continuous duty. It'd still be cheaper than buying the "fast recovery" setup that Buell sells, too.
 

whatevah

Member
May 26, 2010
388
Delaware, USA
Every ambulance with air horns in my area uses the standard "Emergency" horn set from Grover. Most only have one of the two horns actually hooked into the airline, the second is just for show. I haven't seen (or heard) any other models here.
 
Oct 27, 2010
279
Irving TX
philyumpshus said:
My rescue squad has a pair of Buells on our ALS intercept Suburban and they really move traffic. If I were installing them I would put at least two 3-gallon tanks because they can drain the tank in about 6 seconds of continuous duty. It'd still be cheaper than buying the "fast recovery" setup that Buell sells, too.


I nearly choked when i saw the price for that fast recovery system. I could get an 8 gallon tank and two compressors for cheaper.
 

Harbor Patrol

Member
May 22, 2010
301
NY
if you want the real firetruck sound, i bought a kit on Amazon.com by WOLO, the trumpet is called "Fire Chief" it sells for about $100 and the whole kit you can get for about $300. it sounds EXACTLY like a real firetruck, better than the grover 1510. i also installed it myself, was pretty easy. Dont forget to also buy the Solenoid, to run a switch/foot pedal for the trumpet (kit also comes with an external air hose extension to fill up tires! pretty cool)
 

SIFD7101

Member
Feb 2, 2011
118
USA, Missouri
If you want the best sound, take the time to find a Grover 1510, they're all over, you just gotta look in the right places. I found one in a junkyard, and the guy gave it to me free, all I had to do was take it off the truck. I also have nothing against the Buell horns, in fact I'd like to get my hands on a pair of them just as much as I would a locomotive horn :p

Harbor Patrol said:
if you want the real firetruck sound, i bought a kit on Amazon.com by WOLO, the trumpet is called "Fire Chief" it sells for about $100 and the whole kit you can get for about $300. it sounds EXACTLY like a real firetruck, better than the grover 1510. i also installed it myself, was pretty easy. Dont forget to also buy the Solenoid, to run a switch/foot pedal for the trumpet (kit also comes with an external air hose extension to fill up tires! pretty cool)


I'm a little sketchy on the idea it sounds exactly like a fire truck, and better than the Grover 1510, especially being a WOLO horn. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most fire trucks use the Grover 1510, so to me that would be the real sound. Just my opinion.
 
Oct 27, 2010
279
Irving TX
FD7108 said:
If you want the best sound, take the time to find a Grover 1510, they're all over, you just gotta look in the right places. I found one in a junkyard,
Thats a really good idea. I never would have thought to check out junkyards
 

Harbor Patrol

Member
May 22, 2010
301
NY
FD7108 said:
If you want the best sound, take the time to find a Grover 1510, they're all over, you just gotta look in the right places. I found one in a junkyard, and the guy gave it to me free, all I had to do was take it off the truck. I also have nothing against the Buell horns, in fact I'd like to get my hands on a pair of them just as much as I would a locomotive horn :p




I'm a little sketchy on the idea it sounds exactly like a fire truck, and better than the Grover 1510, especially being a WOLO horn. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most fire trucks use the Grover 1510, so to me that would be the real sound. Just my opinion.



i was sketchy at first and tried it, being a vol FF for about 10 yrs now, i cant tell the difference, and when my friends hear it they are in shock as to how real the sound is. i bought everything off amazon.com, if you dont like it you can return it through amazon, thats another reason why i went for it
 

Jastexas

New Member
Apr 12, 2013
2
tx
I thought I would jump in here and clear up a few things. We stock emergency horns from 3 different manufactures. Grover , United Pacific and a company out of Taiwan . We were 100% Grover for years until they decided to not let us sell Stuttertone horns to the general public . So we decided to look for another manufacturer of our Grover style horns .. The company in Taiwan has been building the Grover line for 20 + years now since Grovers Patents ran out in 70s.. I contacted them and asked them to build the 1510 emergency horn for us, which they did . The first batch of 500 came out with a issue in the spring/diaphram set up . The springs were cut leaving a sharp edge and it would tear the diaphram after a short time . So i got with the Manufacturer and had them correct it .. That issue is now resolved and we have sold 1000s since then with no problems at all. We sell to many firetruck manufacturers, rescue boat builders and ambulance manufacturers on a daily basis. Anyways, if you guys need help with any air horns, parts and installation questions, feel free to contact me . Mention this Forum and get our dealer discount!!! Thanks Jason airhornsoftexas.com
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
Jastexas said:
I thought I would jump in here and clear up a few things. We stock emergency horns from 3 different manufactures. Grover , United Pacific and a company out of Taiwan . We were 100% Grover for years until they decided to not let us sell Stuttertone horns to the general public . So we decided to look for another manufacturer of our Grover style horns .. The company in Taiwan has been building the Grover line for 20 + years now since Grovers Patents ran out in 70s.. I contacted them and asked them to build the 1510 emergency horn for us, which they did . The first batch of 500 came out with a issue in the spring/diaphram set up . The springs were cut leaving a sharp edge and it would tear the diaphram after a short time . So i got with the Manufacturer and had them correct it .. That issue is now resolved and we have sold 1000s since then with no problems at all. We sell to many firetruck manufacturers, rescue boat builders and ambulance manufacturers on a daily basis. Anyways, if you guys need help with any air horns, parts and installation questions, feel free to contact me . Mention this Forum and get our dealer discount!!! Thanks Jason airhornsoftexas.com

I had to grind down many of the ends of the springs on the ones on our trucks. I'm glad that was fixed. Aside from that they are great and sounded just like a stutter tone. PM me I need more horn diaphragm I think.
 

Jeremy0966

Member
Aug 12, 2012
248
Idaho
ike said:
wolo and airhornsoftexas suck for all equipment go to hornblasters.com

I can understand Wolo not being the first choice but airhornsoftexas is a great site. Hornblasters is not a bad site but doesn't provide any type of emergency style or stutter tone type horn, only train horns. So unless you wanna sound like a locomotive, hornblasters isn't going to help much.
 

Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
Jeremy0966 said:
I can understand Wolo not being the first choice but airhornsoftexas is a great site. Hornblasters is not a bad site but doesn't provide any type of emergency style or stutter tone type horn, only train horns. So unless you wanna sound like a locomotive, hornblasters isn't going to help much.

I don't know what they're using, but the Odessa FD/EMS has some awesome sounding airhorns on their big International ambulances. They have to be similar to train horns as you can hear them for more than a mile down the road. I was pulling into the grocery store parking lot one day and one of their new units was crossing an intersection a good mile south of me. They let loose on that awesome horn and I thought they were on my bumper! They also have Whelen electronic sirens and the little Eagle motor sirens. Those Eagles are small, but loud for a small siren. But with those loud horns, they don't need a siren. :yes:
 

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