HHS3200 horn ring

May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
Question for folks who have installed the 3200 unit or if other siren units use the same general wiring theme:

I'm thinking this is a combination of the wiring and the software config, of which I'm still blindly trying to figure out. instructions were followed to use the default output 9, fuse in position 2 but when I try and use the horn I get nothing.

I also thought it kind of odd that when I push the PTT side button I don't hear the speakers key up even though the config says it should be activating the PA function.

could anyone list out how things should be configured, to use the default output 9 as horn ring?

I've attached the config I'm using.

Thank you
 

Attachments

  • NewHHS3200Config2.zip
    2.2 KB · Views: 25

NoLimitSquads

Member
Feb 11, 2021
330
Minnesota
Im not on my computer, so I cant see your config, but make sure that your PTT is above park kill in priorities. And Im not sure what vehicle this is in, or how you tapped into horn ring, but if you grabbed it inside the car, your horn ring input properties need to be set to a negative input.

edit- I haven’t done an HHS in awhile, I don’t think that my comment is right, this would be geared more towards a Core.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
I don’t have the park kill feature hooked at all so it shouldn’t matter about the gear.
i intercepted the horn ring wire pretty much right before the horn in the front of the truck. On the 2200 I swear it was on positive activation so that is what I matched for the 3200.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
ok so I have that right, but in comparison to the 2200, there was none of this connect #12 to input 4. I had the input from the horn going straight into the horn ring activation+. worked fine. For the 3200, it seems WHT/BLU receives the actual 12v+ to activate the horn, then passes it on to J8 pin 4 to activate the horn ring option? Makes me wonder if I could just connect it straight to the pin 4 like the 2200 had it.

If I can make sure the software portion is programmed right, then I can mess around with wiring options.

On the software side though, should this be configured so on ACM inputs - horn ring, output 9 be turned on? or even though it's considered output 9, it shouldn't be activated that way?
The way this new software is certainly is confusing.
 

NoLimitSquads

Member
Feb 11, 2021
330
Minnesota
The way this works, the internal relay is normally closed on the horn ring, so that your horn will work as it normally does. Turning on the horn ring switches the output from your horn relay(wht/blu) to the Output(wht/blk) that should be hooked up to the other horn ring input, which is also wht/blk(positive, blk/wht for negative). So yes, you could hook up the wire sending 12v from your horn relay directly to your blk/wht horn input, but your horn will not ever work anymore.
The horn ring that you need to turn on, will be an output, not an input. If you turn on an input, thats the same as holding your horn switch on.
 

NoLimitSquads

Member
Feb 11, 2021
330
Minnesota
If you don’t get it figured out, Ill check your file when I get to work Monday morning. Then at least I can tell you if its a programming issue.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
I'm actually fine with having the horn input tap receive input directly. I already have a switch in place to allow the the horn source to be switched between the whelen unit and regular vehicle horn.

for the config part, I think I get what you are saying but to clarify:
The only area I could see Horn ring was under the ACM inputs. So I was trying to understand if when that is selected, the tone is set to whatever and that is what will always happen when I tap the horn. I did notice that I could add a scenario under events, specifying when horn ring is on, then set whatever outputs or tones.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
But if you do have a minute to look at my config on Monday, that would be awesome.
I think the version I included is before I started messing around with much on the horn side, so it might be a better route instead of trying to understand what I possibly messed up!
If you could also see if anything looks odd with the PTT setup. The priority was second to the top but I think only park kill was above it, and without even having that functioned used I’m confused on why that wouldn’t key up.
 

NoLimitSquads

Member
Feb 11, 2021
330
Minnesota
I will take a look tomorrow, but two things to check; Im not sure how the hhs looks in command, but on the outputs, it will probably be listed as “dry contact relay.” Turn that on when you want the relay to switch from your horn to the horn ring input. And second, make absolutely sure that your siren speaker is hooked up correctly. Ive never had a PTT not work unless it was below park kill in priorities. If you aren’t using the park kill, just drop it really low on priorities. Priorities make a huge difference in how things work in Command. If all of that is correct, maybe try creating a new program from scratch. Just make sure that you don’t mess with any of the pre-programmed events or virtuals.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
The speakers are hooked up right since I can get the unit to produce tones I’ve signed to other buttons. So I know that’s working.
I’ll have to check the volume adjustment too. Never touched it yet but maybe it was accidentally turned down.
and I’ll check the outputs like you mentioned.
thanks
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
Another thought on this, if the horn 12v unit will go straight to the activation wire on J8, does that actually free up output 9 to be used as another regular output?
 

NoLimitSquads

Member
Feb 11, 2021
330
Minnesota
I looked at your config file. As far as the horn ring, if you had it wired using output 9 as an isolated relay, you need to turn on output 9 when you want horn ring to work. For the PTT, I have no idea why that isn’t working. Did you by any chance start a program, and then go back into hardware and change your control head? I would try dumping in a default program that you haven’t touched, just to see if it was something that you did that made the PTT not work.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
Thank you for looking at that.
i has started messing around with the output 9 after I sent the file but stopped since I didn’t know if I was even heading in the right direction. I’ll continue testing since it looks like I was heading in the right direction but if I can’t get the output 9 to work I’ll try it directly with the horn ring activation input.

for the ptt, I haven’t changed any control head option, but I did have open 2 different configurations. Never transferred the second one I was playing with but for all I know the Whelen software might have had a hiccup.
I’ll transfer a base generic setup back onto the unit and see if button works after that.

Side question, do you know if this particular unit supports having a delay for tones? As in doing a dual tone? I was poking around somewhere in the program and when I looked at the details of the tones I believe it was for let’s say yelp, I could see some of the things like delay, offset, phase (maybe)? listed but I didn’t really see any way to edit them. I know the old Carson units allowed that Mag option to do two different tones and I think the new Feniex units let you set that via software. Wasn’t sure if even though I can see the details listed, the option to change that is only supported on higher end units.
 

NoLimitSquads

Member
Feb 11, 2021
330
Minnesota
Ive never had to do a dual tone, so that I can’t answer for you. But Im sure that its possible. Whelen Command is great because you can do pretty much anything that you want. But it sucks because its pretty complicated compared to the other brands. Ive had to sit through hours of training, and I feel like it still wasn’t adequate to learn everything that Command can do.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
Complicated is an understatement!
As much as the 2200 has its issues the software was a lot easier to work with.
I’ll continue tinkering on this and reply back with what I find out.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
I was searching on the dual tone aspect and I discovered a post here by andrewsim. https://elightbars.org/forums/threa...-over-the-top-chief-vehicles-etc.85479/page-2
pretty much spells out that the main controller can only output one tone at a time. have to have a separate controller to output dual tones.
Was hoping whelen had progressed a bit on this like Feniex has for their setup, but guess not.
I got the 3200 not the 4200 so I don't even have the option for the Wecan port, so I suppose it's not worth really looking into it more.

As for the PTT, it started working. Not sure what exactly was going on with it. tried to key up a few times in a row then I heard it.
So I think this all leaves me to the point of just getting the horn ring to actually activate.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
Success!!!!
Hooked up the horn and put into the horn ring activation wire directly and bingo it works perfectly fine.
On a sidenote do you have a simpler translation of next state that the virtual inputs use, that is a little more straightforward and how whelen defines it? I’m having a hard time trying to understand exactly what that is really meaning.
 

NoLimitSquads

Member
Feb 11, 2021
330
Minnesota
Great that you got it all figured out!
I don’t think that I can simplify it. Honestly, I never do anything with the virtuals. It gets very confusing, and I never have any requests from customers that require me to use them. The only time that Ive used them is during Whelen training. I can follow along, and understand the whats and the whys, but I don’t understand them well enough to want to use them, lol. Most customers are already overwhelmed with all of the things that I program their cars to do.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
Got it.
I’ve watched a few of the trainings but not enough to really get a grasp of the functions yet. I’m one of those people who might watch it 100 times but until something else clicks to bring it together or apply it in a way that makes sense to me it will continue to be a vague concept.
i think at this point I’ve pretty much got the 3200 unit mirroring the function and setup of the 2200 unit, so whatever I figure out or want to do from this point on would just be a bonus.
 

NoLimitSquads

Member
Feb 11, 2021
330
Minnesota
Yea, Ive played around quite a bit. Ive done a few HHSs, but more of the Sapphires and Carbides. And the last 6 months has been all Core. Ive got another round of Whelen training later this summer, and I think that is a three day course. With everything that Core can do, it takes about an hour and a half for me to write a program, then another hour or two fine tuning, and getting everything to work right. I flash every lighthead individually, and make them flash differently depending on whether the vehicle is in park, or drive, or braking, or whether its in slide one, two, or three, and if its day or night. And all the patterns change between the combinations of those things. There are all sorts of other things that we automate as well. And of course every department is a little different, so I cant just make one program and have it work in all of the vehicles. But I still enjoy the programming, I still learn something new every time that I do it.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
It seems that even though the Command software includes the HHS line, it's so feature packed that it's almost overkill to program just the basics. But that's whelen so.............

My setup is nowhere near fleet level so as fun as it would be to tinker with those type of products I simply don't have the funds to do that.
Now that I have things mostly set, I'll probably leave it for a while until I think of some other option that may be useful to look into.

One thing you did just mention was setting things in various situations including day and night.
I did notice a few days ago that the default button lights on the handheld unit are super bright at night (in comparison to the 2200 hand held). In the Command software, under outputs, hand held, I think it was I did see the option to set backlight levels, but when I messed with that I didn't see any difference.

What would you say is the best way to work with this for night time?
 

NoLimitSquads

Member
Feb 11, 2021
330
Minnesota
As far as the backlight levels, you are in the right spot. Its different with every system, but I set the levels really low. Like 5% at night, and 15% in the day. On the systems that I install, the new lightbars have a light sensor that I use to determine night and day. If the lightbar doesn’t have that, I use the headlights as the trigger to determine day or night. In your case, since you dont have CanBus, I would use a trigger from the park lights as an input. When that input is on, it will tell the system that its night. Then I program an event. “When input x is night” Then go in and change your backlighting. And remember to set that input as a high priority.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
ah so maybe my 50% setting wasn't enough to really show a difference...
So what input are you referring to on the headlights? Right now I have both the backlight and the ignition activated like I had on the 2200. Although on the 2200 I don't think there was any option to dictate the brightness, either a all or nothing.
Are you saying that I should run the wiretap from the headlights/parking lights to that activation wire then set the overall intensity at 5-7%?

This setup is on a 2019 F150. Headlights are set to auto, but even though it supposedly has the DRL feature, I haven't see that always come on. So if I can rely on the headlights or parking lights I could do this.
 

NoLimitSquads

Member
Feb 11, 2021
330
Minnesota
I hook up ignition and backlight together just as you did. Tap into the park lights and hook that up to an auxiliary input. However, Im not sure how that would work with the DRLs. Otherwise if you have an extra button on your controller, you can make a backlight button, and use multi-presses for multiple different brightness, or just day and night. If you dont have an extra button, you could just add an auxiliary somewhere, and use that as an input.
Actually, nevermind on the auxiliary input, I didn’t realize that the HHS didn’t have any extra inputs to use.
I would have to look into this, but you might be able to make an event, where “if ignition is on, and backlight is off” it could be a certain brightness. And another event “if ignition is on and backlight is on” that would have a different brightness. And then you would hook the backlight wire to your headlights or auxiliary switch.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
I do have an extra button, maybe it would be easier to do that when mess around with more wiring.
But if I'm using the actual backlight activate wire, wouldn't I set it that way vs every button individually?
And if I do it that way, do the individual backlight options override the overall setting?
Just thinking for this one button, I don't want it blaring red just to say the backlight is dimmer. maybe put that one button at 2% and let the rest be whatever is set overall.

Am I making sense?
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
Also, if you happen to have my config file open, can you see if anything looks odd with the manual and airhorn buttons to lower left and lower right on the handheld unit? I don’t have my laptop handy at the moment. But when I was on the highway and this trying to cycle through things I pressed either button in the whole unit seems to freak out for about 20 to 30 seconds, can’t turn anything on, no tones, no nothing. But after about 30 seconds at restart itself and I’m able to use the horn and activate some of the other tones via buttons.
i’ll take a look when I get back home, but just figured I’d ask in case something jumps out at you right away.
 

NoLimitSquads

Member
Feb 11, 2021
330
Minnesota
Im already gone from work, so I wouldn’t be able to look until tomorrow.
For the backlight button, leave the backlight wire hooked up to ignition. Pick the button that you plan to use, click on it in programming. Then go to outputs, and turn off the indicator, then set an intensity. Add another state, and repeat the process with a different intensity. You can repeat this for as many clicks of brightness levels that you want.
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
No worries. I’ll take a look tonight and see if anything looks odd in my limited understanding. And I’ll try and mess around with the back lighting and see how far I get
 
May 5, 2011
49
US Mid-WI
another success. only thing I did was remove the T1 and T2 events. Even though when I looked through them it didn't make sense of what they were trying to do that would have made the 2 buttons act the way they did.
I have a feeling these buttons were also what was causing me to think the PTT wasn't working right. probably had hit them trying to test tones and couldn't hear the mic key up due to whatever 20-30 issue those were causing.

All should be good now. still tinkering with the backlight but that is quite minor.

thanks for all your help.
 

cabunty

Member
Sep 21, 2014
135
New England
Question for folks who have installed the 3200 unit or if other siren units use the same general wiring theme:

I'm thinking this is a combination of the wiring and the software config, of which I'm still blindly trying to figure out. instructions were followed to use the default output 9, fuse in position 2 but when I try and use the horn I get nothing.

I also thought it kind of odd that when I push the PTT side button I don't hear the speakers key up even though the config says it should be activating the PA function.

could anyone list out how things should be configured, to use the default output 9 as horn ring?

I've attached the config I'm using.

Thank you
Just to revive this old thread... I went through the same issue...and for me it was I hadn't hooked up relay power. I completely forgot since I wasn't using that portion when I was testing...
 

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