My horn stopped working. I checked the fuse and it's good. What else can it be? I checked the wiring to see if it was loose but it was connected. I tried to check the current at the horn when pressed and released but nothing, no current .

Does anyone know where or what color is the main power wire coming from the steering wheel to the horn?

 

What fuse did you check? There are 2 fuses one is in the ecu box and one in the box on the drivers side under the hood.

 

I checked the one under the hood that says horn, interior light, etc. and the fuses inside the car on the drivers side outer panel. All the fuses where good. I don't ever use it and now that I decide to hear how loud it was it doesn't work. Go figure.

 

Check #6 fuse in the box near the battery there's one in there for the horn.

 

That was it! I didn't even know there where fuses there. Never send a Plumber to do an electricians job. LOL!

Thanks alot Bro. That had me stumped.

 

Question is what caused the fuse to blow?? How does that fuse look?? Hairline crack or blackness inside?

 

It had like rust on the connectors? The guy at O'Rielly's asked if it was positive or negative ground? I have no idea. What does that mean?

 

I decided to resurect this old thread rather than start a new one . . .

In my quest for louder horns, I bought a pair of these Stebel Compact Nautilus Twin Air Horns

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331437931927?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
I expected them to be "plug and play" but, of course nothing turns out to be that easy. I hooked them up to the OEM horn wires and gave them a try. They sounded GREAT . . . one time and wouldn't work again. Doing my due diligence searching the form, I discovered that there are two fuses for the horn circuit . . . fuse #9 (10amp) in the driver's side primary fuse box easily found referenced in the owner's manual (that fuse was good) and another secret mystery fuse #6 (15amp) in the fuse box over by the battery (the forum helped me find this one). I replaced that blown 15amp fuse, hooked up the stock OEM horns and they work fine so everything is back to normal for the moment.

Looking at the Stebel air horn specs, they are rated at 12V 18amp. Obviously they draw more power than the OEM horns and that's why they blew the 15amp fuse in the horn circuit. I'm tempted to replace that 15amp fuse with a 20amp fuse but even I know that is not a recommended procedure . . .

Two questions . . . and in the spirit of full disclosure I graduated with honors but I did fail electricity in high school.

1) If the Stebel horn is rated as 12V 18amp and I have two of them hooked up in parallel (think that's right . . . whatever the stock OEM dual horn wiring is . . . parallel or series), do they actually draw up to 36amps or do they still draw only 18amps?

2) Any expert thoughts about whether I should try just replacing the (blowing) 15amp fuse with a 20amp fuse. My thinking is that the horns are only used for relatively short bursts so it's not like that circuit would be drawing more than 15 amps for any extended period of time.

3) Any other suggestions as to how to wire up the higher amp Stebel horns in a safe manner?

Thanks for sharing your expertise and experience.

 

Failed electricity? I bet you found this a shock.

This is a question for Sparkie or someone like him.

 

THANKS . . . I sent a PM to SparkieSRT6 asking if he would take a look at my post here and let me know his thoughts . . .

Update . . . I replaced that 15amp fuse with a 20 amp fuse and the new Stebel horns work awesome! At this point I'm happy with the new horns and comfortable having done this . . . Now I just need to fab up some kind of a mounting bracket!

 

Found this wiring diagram on the link you posted:



Because of the high amperage draw of the new horn, the manufacturer wants you to use a simple relay to switch a new independant circuit feed to the horn. The relay gets its switch signal from your existing horn circuit. This is really the best way to do the wiring and is what i would recommend. Raising the value of the over-current protection (fuse) on the existing circuit can compromise your wiring.

 

3) Any other suggestions as to how to wire up the higher amp Stebel horns in a safe manner?

You beat me to it Sparkie.. exactly what I was going to suggest..

 

What sparkie missed was to point out that pumping those extra amps through the horn relay on the RCM is gonna make it go belly-up pretty quick ....

Definitely go with a free standing heavy duty 12v SPST relay, at least 50 amp rating, 100 would be better.
I'd also run 12 or 14 gauge copper stranded wire to the relay from B+, then to the horns.

 

What is the amperage rating of the RCM mounted Horn relay?

 

I think they are 40 amp rated. That's the biggest fuse in the RCM and that is what the relays I specked out for replacements are.
But I know squat about sparky stuff.

 

Since many are throwing their two cents in, I thought I would contribute my penny's worth. If you draw a higher current through the circuit which was designed for x amps, you also run the risk of each and every connection/terminal (including grounds) degrading faster than if your circuit was operating as designed. Notwithstanding the fact you also may be STARVING (to what degree I have no idea, its food for thought though) necessary voltage/current levels for those components that are sensitive to such spikes and dips (and we all hear a lot about how our cars are electrical/electronic touchy). I would do as the instructions relayed (pun intended) and supported by those knowing and unknowing (but cautious) and wire in a controlling relay to the existing horn circuit (instead of the horns blowing, the relay acts as the load (horn) and which in turn drives the horns from a dedicated high current buss from under the hood).


Simply put, don't starve any circuit within or directly nearby the horn circuit to feed a high current device. Use a controlling relay and switch all available current closest to the source (battery) for those devices..

 

Sorry for the delayed thank you but I was out of town for a couple of days. I appreciate all the expert advise. Each of the Stebel horns did include a relay (to use if necessary) but since I couldn't find an existing horn relay (to replace?) I had no idea how to wire in the relay they provided (they did not offer any directions on that). I will order one of the horn wiring kits related to these Stebel horns and try to follow those directions. THANKS to everyone for their time and efforts in responding. Thats what makes this forum so great!

PS Ordered this wiring kit. I see that the wires hook up to the relay with spade connectors. I can do that!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Deluxe-Wirin...23995a&vxp=mtr

 

RedDog, its VERY EASY PEASY! Just take a set of the wires off of one horn to ACTIVATE the high current relay coil(s) that you wire to any high power buss. This is just like hitting your horn but instead of your horns blowing, the relay activates and the high power horns blow. No other splicing/wiring is needed (except to run the fused power line to the relay contacts then to horns) and to go back to OEM just plug the two horns back in and take all the other stuff back out. If your horns only have one wire going to it, one would feed one side of the relay coil(s) and the other would go to ground. Its about as simple as you can get without running all kinds of other wiring or splicing into anything. Makes it super easy to return back to OEM as well. This way, when you hit your horn the relay coil(s) engage and the horns get the high power they need. You can power anything the relay contacts can handle with this setup. A bonus is all the wiring is under the hood (or wherever you mount them monsters) and nothing else is cut/disturbed. It just cannot get any easier and non-intrusive as this my friend!

 

Yea, the SNWK wiring diagram that Sparkie posted should suffice ......
( you can buy the relays that have the plug-in harness included )