Don’t do a train horn. As someone with ptsd and a heart condition, those things are an absolute menace.
And likely illegal
Find one that plays “La Cucaracha”!
The cars that I’ve owned with loud horns in order of loudest:
1970 Chevrolet Impala / 1969 Chevelle. I think any late 60’s to 70’s GM car will have a loud horn.
2003 Acura TL. This car’s horn actually surprised me. It was very nearly as loud as Chevys’.
2019 Toyota Camry XLE Hybrid: My current car and it has a surprisingly effective horn. It’s a lot louder than my previous car which was a 2014 Camry LE.
Find one that goes like
AWOOOGA!
I want a horn here, here, and here. You can never find a horn when you’re mad.
Look for a large luxury car or a full size truck. Crown Vic/Grand Marquis. F150. As mentioned elsewhere, decibels are limited by power, so look for something with a lower pitch. Lower pitch carries farther, so it will sound louder even if it isn’t louder, if that makes any sense. Low pitch also means “big vehicle” so there’s that mental effect at play.
Take both horns, the semi-dissonance will also help.
Not to be a bummer, but the loudness of the horn will be limited by the max amperage of the relays. If the horn relay maxes out at 15 amps for 12 volts, you get about 180 watts of energy to the horn. Most horns are just a coil that vibrates at a set frequency to move the rubber or vinyl diaphragm inside the horn. That’s the noise.
Short version, you can put really any horn in there, but the total amount of watts will be the limiting factor. A more efficient horn (aka a new one) will make more sound for equal input wattage.
The other option is to make an array of junkyard horns and set them up with more relays to lift the limit. You’d need to have multiple fused connections unless you just want to be a hillbilly and run them right off the battery with a giant ass relay.
You might start a fire but it will be loud as shit for a few minutes before it burns down.
giant ass relay
It’s a bunch of really tall dudes all having butt sex, but that’s not important right now.
Here I was hoping it was a normal race but Everyone’s sporting an absolute dump truck.
Not to be a bummer, …
You might start a fire but it will be loud as shit for a few minutes before it burns down.
Nice.
We’re not looking for absolute max volume, just a good loud horn from any common junker…
and older american made full size sedan or pickup, perhaps. those had ‘real’ horns and not little ‘beep beep’ like my old datsun and toyota had.
I’ve seen a hidden camera clip where they installed first a truck horn, and later a large train’s horn on the underside of a very small car, something like Mercedes A class or Smart.
Two innocent looking Japanese ladies drove that car, creeped up behind a car stopping at a traffic light, and HOOOOOOONK!!! all while looking completely unconcerned.
Train horn ? 😂
For $3?
Sure, I’ll meet you behind the Waffle House…
Nah, its 6000 miles from here
I hear you can just get teleported to Waffle Houses now.
OK,Scotty two to beam up !
piano intro
Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass and I’m homebound
Ask at the desk if they have any train horns.
The next person that cuts you off is gonna pee their pants.
Deaf drivers: 😎
Amateur. Install an air tank system so you can sound like a big rig, scare the shit outta people, get them looking around frantically for the source, and ultimately cause accidents. That’s where the fun’s at!
They all about the same, but I like your energy.
If you can find one from the same make and model, (or even just the same make and a similar year) that would make the wiring much easier, though.
It would save a lot of trouble to just be able to plug it right in to the OEM connector, rather than needing to splice it into the wiring manually … likely in a cramped location with poor access.
That’s the thing, the wiring absolutely doesn’t matter. Every typical horn uses 12~14 battery voltage. This truck currently doesn’t have a horn, so I’m open to options…
Edit: Aw shit, you think this thing has OEM connectors? 😂🤣
Aw shit, you think this thing has OEM connectors?
I mean … most cars do. And I don’t know anything about yours.
Our truck used to belong to a meth head, numerous wires have been cut, bodged, rigged up, etc, including the wires that originally went to the horn. Its a clusterfuck that I’m still reverse engineering to get things wired back up the way they’re supposed to be, or at least as close as I can get it.
Whatever horn I end up getting, I’m cutting that part of the wire harness from the donor vehicle too so I can have proper wires and a plug to splice into our truck.
