Son's 1993 245 has always had an anemic horn ( to quote Gov. Jerry Brown" It's not even a burp, it's hardly a fart"). I thought about running full 12V from the battery through a relay, but the signal from the horn switch inside the steering wheel is GROUND, not POWER. Has anybody fixed this problem? Is it better to take the steering wheel apart and clean the ground contacts? or 'jury-rig' a series of relays to allow full 12V to flow to the horns (similar to how the lights can be rigged up)?
Thanks,
el Raidman
Mount 4 horns (see picture below)
Use relay, with 10 ga wiring (but include fuse) direct to junction box near battery.
splice original horn wires to relay's solenoid contacts (thus, original wiring operates horn with little amperage through steering wheel's contacts).
Very, very loud!!!
You may have already figured out what horn you want...
I never liked the high pitched tin sounding stock horns so I swapped in a pair of Fiamm high & low trumpets. They give a nice strong European sound, like a Mercedes or BMW. Didn't have to change any wiring to get a decent sound.
Augmented them with a repro Klaxon style "ahooga" horn hooked up to a button on the dash. The unusual sound of the Klaxon horn really gets attention when needed.
I apologize for not reading through all the posts before commenting but are you sure it's a bad connection at the Steering wheel and not just a couple of tired horns?
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.lyse.net/brox/TonyPage4.html http://cleanflametrap.com/tony/
MOOOOOCHAS GRASSY ASS, Bricksters. Whomever suggested the Mercedes horns was the winner! The early BMW horns were blown out, but the 90's model Mercedes have this high penetrating pitch that really cuts through traffic noise. Hopefully it will wake up the idiot in front who is texting while going at 75mph.
Wired up the Mercedes horns similar to the Volvo and VOILA! loud BEEP!
el Raidman
Get a set of four Delco-Remy four note horns. They are notes A, C, D, and F. They were an option on Buicks and Cadillacs for many years. They are LOUD, and put the Hella Supertones to shame.
See this post of my installation on a 940.
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john
In the good old days we could buy a set of 6v horns off an old Chrysler or Caddy for two bucks. They were LOUD, but did not last more than a couple of years.
Bring a jumper wire and test the horn on your battery before you leave the pick n pull. Wear safety goggles in case you make sparks.
I bought a pair of Cadillac horns, but they ground to the frame and will not work with the Volvo 245 wiring. It looks like it will mean going to the PNP early tomorrow and looking for horns from a 325 Beemer.
I just set up with thick 12 gauge wires one Volvo OEM relay so that I can fire 12V directly to the horns from the battery. The horn switch in the steering wheel will ground out the relay and it will then send 12v to the horns. YAY!
Will post the results tomorrow.
el Raidman
The Volvo horns are not grounded via their case - there are 2 separate wires going to each. Current flows through them into the intermittent contact (horn button) to ground. Fairly common arrangement.
The only way to adapt the horns with grounded cases is to electrically isolate their mounts from chassis ground, then run a wire from the case to the ground-side (horn button) wire in the existing harness. Not difficult, just an extra step, and your electrical isolation has to be good - horns draw a fair amount of current.
The Volvo horns are not grounded via their case - there are 2 separate wires going to each. Current flows through them into the intermittent contact (horn button) to ground.
I know how the Volvo horns work.
The only way to adapt the horns with grounded cases is to electrically isolate their mounts from chassis ground, then run a wire from the case to the ground-side (horn button) wire in the existing harness.
That is not the only way to adapt a horn with a grounded case. What you have stated would work but why would anyone go to the trouble? When using the case grounded horn it should not be isolated from the chassis. That's why you use the normally open relay.
Why wouldn't they work with the 240 wiring? The way I listed the relay wiring above, we are now switching the hot side through the relay; grounding the horns through the frame would be great.
http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/1543071/740/760/780/upgrade_meepmeep_roadrunner_horn_faq_maybe.html
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Post Back. That's whats makes this forum work.
Our son had an older bmw 325i. Anyway, it had a real loud horn and I mean loud! Realizing our 1989 Volvo 245 wagon also had a weak horn, I opted to get a horn off a junked out 325i, found one, removed the originals off our wagon, hooked up the bmw ones and now it's loud, and as i said earlier, I mean l-o-u-d! Easy set up..
off to the PNP (The Man's Mall) tomorrow morning. There are several early 80's 300 series BMW's there. I also have 2 horns off a Cadillac, but the 245's voltage is not strong enough. BMW!!!!
Just make the relay switch the ground then. It's easier than you're making it out to be.
But even full battery voltage will not help that '93 horn a great deal. There is only one, as opposed to two (high tone and low tone) in earlier 240s. Why did they change it? Who knows? Maybe they ran out of parts when they were slapping the last of the '93 model year together. Either way, it came from the factory with the pathetic duck-call of a horn, and I'd advise replacing it. Junk yard time.
Ken C has posted many times over the years of his setup with four horns, IIRC. Might search the board for that.
posted by
someone claiming to be scorron
on
Fri Aug 16 13:31 CST 2013 [RELATED]
I thought about it a bit, and you aren't using the relay to switch ground, you are using the horn to ground the relay. Sorry. Wasn't thinking straight. In any case, you only need one relay, and a new hot wire from the battery to make it work. I could come up with my exact wiring scheme if you need it. Very simple, employing one the of the waterproof relays from a parted-out 240.
PLEASE post the wiring diagram for your set up. I have relays, etc that I have left over after doing the direct 12V to the headlights in son's car already. Also have installed a 100 amp alternator.
Will go to PNP tomorrow morning and look for early 300 series BMW's.
Thanks!
el Raidman
I'm not in a mood to draw it out, but I believe this is how I wired mine:
Relay terminal:
85 - run a new wire from the battery, 10ga stranded should be more than enough.
86 - connect to the wire that used to be ground for horn. As you noticed, this runs to the horn pad button, which then makes the ground.
30 - connect to the same power wire you just ran from the battery.
87 - connect to positive side of horn.
So when you hit the horn pad, it grounds the relays coil, closing terminal 30 to terminal 87, sending power to the horns, which are directly grounded to the frame somewhere.
You can also use the original hot wire for the horn on terminal 85, effectively turning the original horn wiring into nothing more than the circuit to close the relay.
PERFECT!! This is exactly what I needed. We don't need no stinkin' drawing!!
Thanks and I'm sure it will help many other 240 owners with the pathetic OEM horns.
Hasta luego!
el Raidman
Agreed with relay use. I'd not ever though of using the relay to connect to -0VDC ground versus the usual +VDC 12V through the haute tension side controlled by the horn switch on the low current/activation relay side (forgetting the pin position numbers now). So the horn +12VDC wire connects to the battery + directly or at the junction on the driver side inner fender in front of the strut tower, then.
If you reside in a rust free place, your can find some really cool ultra low-note horns from an owlder Mercedes at the yunkyard. Like well below 333 Hz. You can find big diameter horns by looking under the front fender as Mercedes, like BMW and some others, points the horns facing down, I guess to reflect back up from the road bed. Each of my 240s has three, and usually four. It is a melodic, of off harmony, horn. Though I've yet to connect a relay to these.
Hella and Bosch both make horns, so if you want to preserve that Euro import horn sound quality.
If you collect several horns, use a screwdriver handle and rap the horn edge whole holding the horn from the metal strip so the horn resonates freely and you can get a notion of the tone.
Just be sure to test the horn. Some can be rusted inside and not work so well.
The horns on the older 240s and earlier were not so anemic.
Else, you can try the JC Whitney or other retail vendors for ultra loud horns of a massive db sound level pressure. They may not have the Euro metal ringing quality. You may want to check the Hella and Bosch catalogs or contact your discount import auto parts store. Avoid anything made in China or is made of plastic. Stick to made in USA and Europa for more OEM quality like hornage.
Some off the shelf air and electromagnetic (like the stock OEM on your 240) horns will have a metal body housing the diaphragm, yet a plastic bell to amplify and disperse the sound.
Maybe a bell like steam trains have can help! =^)
Good luck. Very safe to be noticed and horns can help in a road full of distracted motorists.
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