in the past i have used two regular car horns with different tones hooked up to a alternating flasher for a do it yourself hi/lo two tone warning (attention getter). has anyone done anything similar?
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car horns with a twist
- Thread starter signal12
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sorry no vids or audio recordings.
just get two horns from junk yard and a turn signal flasher. it works real nice and is a great attention getter.and it can be synched with flashing non led lights.
just get two horns from junk yard and a turn signal flasher. it works real nice and is a great attention getter.and it can be synched with flashing non led lights.
two pairs of horns are even better. and with todays multi flash pattern headlight flashers, you can make some pretty interesting horn sounds/warnings. try it, its a very minimal cost to create.
1 momentary switch, two old car horns, some wire and an alternating flasher.
we are talking what 30 to 50 bucks tops?
1 momentary switch, two old car horns, some wire and an alternating flasher.
we are talking what 30 to 50 bucks tops?
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We had a Engine (around here) that used this system for a cheap back up alarm. Very effective but they said they ended up replacing flasher on a regular basis.
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LACoFD squad trucks had something similar but with a (name escapes me) hi-lo that's powered by a small alternating compressor that they use for confined & populated areas. Those suckers is sorta loud and a doozy to adjust the horns to get maximum output.
LACoFD uses Fiamm emergency air horns. Imported from Germany if I recall, where they are used as sirens.
yes but these require no compressors and can not be classified as a siren or electronically produced tone. i was doing this back in the late 70's and early 80's
1. LACoFD and LAFD use Fiamm / Stebel / Unus compressor horns, only Fiamm being still available from a US distributor located in Southern California.
2. A very loud disc horn (electromagnetic) is to use 2 sets of Hella Supertone horns (2 each, hi and lo) with an alternating flasher. These are not melodious,...they are intense and harsh, to be heard. At a slightly different frequency, the same horns are sometimes used in Germany on EVs, especially in the past on police cars (fire trucks mostly used/use Martin air horns). 4 horns are very loud (about 118-119 dbA in LAFD testing at 10'), but directional, straight ahead. LAFD used these in the mid 70's on ambulances, but found the Hi-Lo air horns to be better because they were less directional or some other reason, so they went back to them. The Hella horns cost about 70.00 per set, but they are about 3-4X louder than a regular horn.
The Hella horns are a combined 280 watts, 140 per side. A suitable relay must be used, and a flasher must be HD, preferably with an alternating rate of 70-80 per minute. When all 4 horns are sounded together, they are piercing and aggressive.
2. A very loud disc horn (electromagnetic) is to use 2 sets of Hella Supertone horns (2 each, hi and lo) with an alternating flasher. These are not melodious,...they are intense and harsh, to be heard. At a slightly different frequency, the same horns are sometimes used in Germany on EVs, especially in the past on police cars (fire trucks mostly used/use Martin air horns). 4 horns are very loud (about 118-119 dbA in LAFD testing at 10'), but directional, straight ahead. LAFD used these in the mid 70's on ambulances, but found the Hi-Lo air horns to be better because they were less directional or some other reason, so they went back to them. The Hella horns cost about 70.00 per set, but they are about 3-4X louder than a regular horn.
The Hella horns are a combined 280 watts, 140 per side. A suitable relay must be used, and a flasher must be HD, preferably with an alternating rate of 70-80 per minute. When all 4 horns are sounded together, they are piercing and aggressive.
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Back in the day, we called them "hee-haws." If memory serves, they were the standard in Europe for a long time.
If you can find a heavy duty 537 flasher, it'll drive those horns quite nicely. It needs to be the long can (3") instead of the short ones.
If you can find a heavy duty 537 flasher, it'll drive those horns quite nicely. It needs to be the long can (3") instead of the short ones.
If you can't find an heavy duty alternating flasher. You could wire it so that the each output on the flasher turns on a relay. Then you could run any type of horn without worrying about the flasher being overloaded. I would like to see what a ULF44 could do to some horns.
The UCLA ambulances are equipped with Stebel/Poli Hi-Lo air horns, similar to LAFD and LACoFD. These
are not electromagnetic horns, as discussed previously, even though they are Hi-Lo horns. The Bosch or
Hella horns are harsher and have a more irritating sound IMO. The disk horns have not been used since
the 1980s. Only air horns have been used since then, as heard here:
are not electromagnetic horns, as discussed previously, even though they are Hi-Lo horns. The Bosch or
Hella horns are harsher and have a more irritating sound IMO. The disk horns have not been used since
the 1980s. Only air horns have been used since then, as heard here:
I'm going to give this ago. I'm going to pick up a pair of high and low tone horns this week and ill post a video.
signal12 said:
I have done this several times over the last 20 years or so. I used a school bus light flasher for one set. For another set, I used the 537 flasher (the 537 flashers I used failed quickly), and on 2 others I used the Gall's wig wag headlight flasher. For two sets, I even went to the trouble of going to the junk yard and trying out the horns until I found two extra loud ones with just the 'right' high & low tones that I wanted to hear.
Good post topic. These are quite effective at a price that is hard to improve upon.
thats it my man, two junked car car horns and a good flasher and you have a nice set up as well as using the cars oem horn for some extra fun