Air horns installed. Pictures and tips.

[Folkus]

DidHeFocus, Thank you for the excellent step-by-step instructions. And your decision to add these horns makes PERFECT sense to me.

With people listening to loud music with windows rolled up, they'll never hear the stock Focus horn...until a tragedy has unfolded.

One thing I'm wondering -- if you lightly tap the horn, does just the OEM horn make a sound, or do the air horns kick in? (It would be perfect if only the OEM horn is activated by a quick tap, because sometimes that's all you really want or need to do, is alert somebody in a not-overly-loud "tap-tap" way. But at other times when you KNOW somebody doesn't see you and they have their windows rolled up, you want to lean on it and blast it really loud!).

It's also great that by accident it works out so that the air horns aren't activated by the alarm's quick "beep-beep" confirmation. Again, you don't need/want that to be loud!

But my main problem is, this looks like too complicated an installation for me. I don't understand too many things in your explanation. Like, did you take the bumper off? I don't totally get it.

For clueless people like me, isn't there a non-air-horn MUCH LOUDER replacement for the OEM horn, that wouldn't require a relay, nor any additional wiring, nor any new mounting?

[Vassili95]

Just look under your car more often...and never hesitate to modify. Plus, this is a non-risky modification.

Peace.....

[DidHeFocus?]

Originally posted by Folkus
One thing I'm wondering -- if you lightly tap the horn, does just the OEM horn make a sound, or do the air horns kick in?

But my main problem is, this looks like too complicated an installation for me. I don't understand too many things in your explanation. Like, did you take the bumper off? I don't totally get it.

For clueless people like me, isn't there a non-air-horn MUCH LOUDER replacement for the OEM horn, that wouldn't require a relay, nor any additional wiring, nor any new mounting?

Lightly tapping the horn does activate the air horns depending on the duration of the tap. The factory horn always honks as before except it is a bit more anemic from the compressor trying to start and hogging most of the power. The alarm chirp is extremely short and doesn't allow the compressor to get any air flowing. I couldn't tap the horn manually that quickly as to NOT sound the air horns. I could tap the wheel fast enough to where the horns don't get to full volume though.

As far as the complexity of using the relay:
My other car has the same horns and I didn't remember how I did the wiring so I checked it again. I have the old horn removed and the power lead is hooked up directly to the compressor! It works fine and never had a problem in over a year so far. The directions show a 20 amp fuse after the battery connection. It turns out that the fuse for the Focus factory horn is 20 amp so it is possible that the relay isn't really necessary! I used it because I had the leftover wiring harness from the fog light kit which made it very easy for me to use the relay.

No I didn't remove the bumper at all. I did, unnecessarily remove the fog light grill because I thought I was going to use the space behind it at one point.

Please point out exactly what doesn't make sense.

[Folkus]

Originally posted by DidHeFocus?
Please point out exactly what doesn't make sense.

First I want to make sure you understood that I think the confusion is due to my ultra-beginner status, not your tutorial. Your tutorial is plenty detailed for anybody who has done electrical car projects before. But when I look at your tutorial as a total car electrical newbie, I can't make sense of it. I'm sorry, I don't even know where to begin to explain all the ways it's over my head. Pretty much each of your photos and illustrations makes assumptions about my level of understanding that I don't deserve. Just for example, what tab did Ford provide, and where is it in the photo? In that photo, what was original wiring, and which wires did you add? Which part of the photo shows your fog lighting kit and which is the horn kit? And so forth. No need to answer these particular questions because they're just examples of why I look at the whole thing and say "Nope. Don't want to scratch my head for half a day. I've got to find a truly plug-and-play OEM replacement horn that's 130+db, and requires NO new bolting, hoses, or wiring. " (Vassili makes a Nike-like suggestion that I "just do it", but I have to pick what I spend my car time on carefully. I find as a newbie that car mods can take me 10 times longer than I predict they will.)

By the way, DHF, why didn't you install the fog light kit on your Focus? Anything wrong with it?

Best,

Folkus

P.S. Off-topic: It's work that's kept me away from the list lately, not pleasure, unfortunately. I still haven't hooked up my sub amp! :-( But the install is totally done...

[bacosta]

WTF^^

[DidHeFocus?]

Originally posted by Folkus


By the way, DHF, why didn't you install the fog light kit on your Focus? Anything wrong with it?

My wagon didn't come with fog lights so I got the kit from the dealer. It came with a wiring kit, light switch and the grill/lights. I discovered that the car was already wired for fogs and didn't need the wiring kit at all. I just had to change the light switch, change the grill assy and put a relay in the empty spot in the relay box. The wiring harness was included only for a focus that wasn't pre-wired like mine. I used the wires and connectors and fuse holders just as raw parts and made my own harness for the horns.

If I post the wiring diagram that came with the horns would that help?

[S2]

Someone has some road rage issues.......

[Folkus]

Originally posted by S2
Someone has some road rage issues.......

That's ridiculous, S2. Judging from his other thoughtful posts on the FF, I highly doubt DidHeFocus is an aggressive driver. I know I'm not. For example: I've never given a driver the finger or yelled or shaken my fist at them. Not once in my 20 years of driving.

Seems to me the interest in louder horns is about safety, not about hostility.

Just this week I was in a parking lot and an elderly guy in his Oldsmobile began backing up into my parking space. He had his windows rolled up. I leaned on the horn but he didn't hear me. He hit me! The bumper is scratched up but I didn't feel like hassling him about it. Does that sound like a road rage problem to you?

Yes, I would have loved to have air horns at that moment. But not to intimidate or humiliate the old guy. Just to get noticed!

I drive the interstates a lot. Why do you think all the big rigs have air horns? Why do you think emergency vehicle sirens are so much louder than OEM car horns? Hmmm... maybe they figured out that a loud horn can make the life/death difference of getting noticed quickly -- especially by somebody with their windows rolled up and radio cranked. Ya think?

[DidHeFocus?]

This horn looks exactly like the stock focus horn(below), but claims to be 130db. They even are both marked AM-80 so they may be exactly the same. If so, I don't believe the decibel spec at all. We all know what the factory horn sounds like! I did see this horn at the store and it will fit with no modifications.
You could try it, but you may get the same thing you already have!

[radicalblu]

nice idea... ive had a couple of close calls, no thanks to dumb drivers and the weak horn... sounds like a mod worth doing... great job!