A friend of mine has left town for a week, so another friend and I decided to install air horns in his car as a Christmas present/practical joke. We wired the horns to his existing horn button and it seemed to have worked for a short time. Then it stopped. We assume the problem is a blown fuse and we're going back in to check/work on it more soon. My question is what should be done after replacing the fuse to assure no further failure? Obviously the horns are drawing too much power, but will any electrical components solve the issue? Possibly a higher gauge wire?
You'd have to wire the switch to a relay, which in turn would power the air horn. The wiring between the battery, the relay, and the horn would have to be a lower-gauge-number (i.e., thicker) wire and would have to be protected by a suitable fuse or breaker.
When you say it worked for a short time just how much time are you speaking of? Also dod you just unhook the factory horn and plug the airhorns into the factory harness or did you run new wires all the way back to under the dash? I would suggest changing the fuse it if is in fact blownsometimes a fuse will get old and not hold the draw that it is rated to hold so that may cure the problem. It could also be the actual airhorn causing the problem, it may have a different current rating than the factory horn. I.e. If the factory horn requires more amps to run that the aftermarket air horn then you may have overpowered the airhorn therfore damaging it. Also i would check to make sure no wires are grounding out anywherethis will most def. cause a fuse to blow. Good Luck
If there is an amperage rating on the horn or whatever runs the horn, Times that amperage by 125% OR (1.25) and that is the size of fuse to use. Hope this helps you some.
Wire a relay into the circuit. A relay is basically a switch that is turned on by an electric current. So you wire the relay into the circuit just like you have the horn wired now, and then run a wire from the battery to the secondary side of the relay and from the relay to the horn.
