I have sent this to a resident expert. I hope he doesn’t mind me posting here for all. I’m hoping it helps someone else down the road. (Hoping even more it hasn’t been covered already… I swear I looked/searched) _______________________________________________________________
I have searched for an answer to my issue and although I have found some that were close, I was unable to find an answer to mine.
I’m like many here I'm sure, new to the forum and asking for help so I will get right to it. (I do like BSing.. just do not want to waste anymore of your time than needed)
2010 Chevy Silverado 1500 CC LTZ
–Have read the OEM horn wire from the OEM horn switch is a tan wire (-) (Whatever (-) means/works). I’m pretty sure I finally found the correct tan wire (there was more than one in the steering column area)(I cut it and no OEM horn)
–I cut the tan wire (-) and ran the OEM horn switch side of it to a SPDT middle prong.
–I ran the other side of that tan wire (-) to an outer prong of the SPDT switch. (OEM HORN)
–I ran a wire from the last remaining outer prong out to my air solenoid. (I have 12V at that wire when switched to it)
–I flip the SPDT one direction I get OEM horns. (no 12v at air solenoid)
–I flip the SPDT switch the other way and I do get 12v at the air solenoid. (no air for the horns yet)
My issue is when I try and hook the second (last) wire for the air solenoid to a battery ground, the OEM horns sound, without the OEM horn button being pushed. (nothing from the air horns but they are not completely installed yet….as I’m trying to keep from filling my pants by having them sound when I’m not ready.)
If I’m switched to the OEM side of the SPDT, I can then ground the air solenoid and get no OEM horns blaring.
I hope I have painted a well enough picture. I’m an electrical dummy and figure it is an easy fix (I hope).
I have been fighting this for four days. I’m about ready to just keep OEM horns only!
I have searched and read many topics and although unable to find my exact issue.
Firstly welcome. Where you’ve gone wrong the way I read it is that you’ve hooked into a negative trigger (i.e the tan horn wire) but you’re lining a positive into it on your SPDT switch.
Tan wire (-) will be an earth trigger from the stock horn solenoid which means as you press the steering wheel horn it closes the path to ground. So when you say “when I try and hook the second (last) wire for the air solenoid to a battery ground, the OEM horns sound” it’s because you’re closing the path to ground, which is what the horn button would do.
Instead of feeding a 12v wire to your SPDT switch you need to run the inactive ( ground wire) from the solenoid to the switch and then run the other wire from your solenoid to 12v positive. Essentially it’s a reversal of what you’ve done.
Hope that’s clear as mud. If it isn’t let me know and I’ll do up some schematics for ya.
I figured it had something to do with the tan wire being (-) but wasn’t real sure how all that worked and came into play.
It seems like a quick and easy fix. Just to make sure my thinking is correct…
–I can leave the SPDT hooked up as it is.
–one wire from the OEM horn button (tan wire (-)) to the center prong
–the other side of the tan wire (-) on an outer prong to the OEM horns
–a wire from the last unused prong out to one of the wires on the air solenoid
Now instead of running the last remaining wire from the air solenoid to ground, run it to a power source (say the battery (+)). So when I flip the SPDT to the air horn side, the air solenoid will actually be grounded via the OEM horn button… therefore actuating the air horns.
If this is all true. Do you suggest a better power source other than the battery and should I put a fuse inline from that power source to the solenoid (what amp?)
Now I’m confused as to why the OEM horn sounds when I attach that last air horn solenoid to ground. (the way I have it currently set up, no changes from my first post, and air horn selected at the SPDT)
Does the OEM horn sound when I ground out the air horn solenoid because they are all connected to the same SPDT switch? (even when the air horn is selected on the SPDT)
Is the air horn going to sound when I have OEM horn selected at the SPDT?
My goal is the use the SPDT switch to select which horn to use. One side of the switch sounds only OEM while to other side of the switch sounds only the air horn.
I’m so confused… lol and anything beyond very basic electronics baffles me…as you may have guessed.
Sorry, I think I may have misunderstood your wiring and given some dud advice (apologies). Have you got a multimeter? You should just confirm what wire you actually tapped into.
Check for continuity on the tan(-) to ground
If the wire isn’t grounded and does not carry a voltage until you press the horn button, then forget my previous post (…well, kind of)
So… here’s how I think you’ve wired it:
You can see that the tan wire acts as the path to ground for the vehicle horn solenoid. See that if you switch your SPDT switch over that you’ll be supplying 12V to the horn solenoid and hence triggering the stock horn.
–I can leave the SPDT hooked up as it is.
–one wire from the OEM horn button (tan wire (-)) to the center prong
–the other side of the tan wire (-) on an outer prong to the OEM horns
–a wire from the last unused prong out to one of the wires on the air solenoid
I think that part is all OK. If the above tests on the wire came back as described, then the remaining wire of the solenoid can just be put to ground (not 12V). Like this:
What will happen here is:
You press the horn button > Tan wire is energized > then flows to ground either through the vehicle horn relay or your air solenoid.
Although the air solenoid doesn’t draw many amps, I’m not a fan of running any load device on trigger wires. You should ideally run an SPST relay for your air horns if you’re using the tan wire. Like this:
I will study your reply but here is what I have for voltage. (The below voltage readings are WITHOUT the OEM horn button being pushed.)
–SPDT middle prong is tan wire (-) from the OEM horn switch. It has 12v
–SPDT outer prong has the other side of the tan wire (-) and only has 12v when the OEM horn is selected. (the other outer prong with the wire going to the air solenoid has no voltage)
–SPDT last outer prong has the wire going to the air solenoid and only has 12v when the air horn is selected. (the other outer prong with the tan wire (-) going to the OEM horns has no voltage)
–When I measure voltage at the air solenoid, the wire that is coming from the air horn side of the SPDT has 12v. I try and hook the last wire up at the air solenoid and the OEM horn sounds (even though the SPDT is in the air horn position)
I will look over you diagrams and see if I messed something up.
The OEM horn worked until I cut the tan wire (-) from the steering column. Didn’t work again until I attached the two wires to the SPDT. I’m guessing this is the correct wire. (everything I could find on the internet also said it was a tan wire (-).)
>>>I will add that with the SPDT switch in the OEM horn position, there is a -.22 volts (whatever that tells you) at the air solenoid wire that is coming from the SPDT switch air horn side. (it has 12v when SPDT is in the air horn position)
With that -.22 volts, I can ground the air horn solenoid and the OEM horn does not sound. (SPDT switch is in the OEM horn position.<<<
>>> I looked at your diagrams and the second one down is how I’m trying to wire everything (just can’t attach to a battery ground when the SPDT switch is in the air horn position because it sounds the OEM horn) I will look at adding a relay once I (we) get it all working correctly.<<<
I can add that with the SPDT switch in the OEM horn position, there is a -22 volts (whatever that tells you) at the air solenoid. (has 12v when SPDT is in the air horn position)
With that -22 volts, I can ground the air horn solenoid and the OEM horn does not sound.
I think the tan wire (-) acting as a path to ground is correct. I’m guessing that because it does have 12v without the horn button being pushed and providing 12v to the wire from the air horn side of the SPDT switch out to the air solenoid. So when I ground the air solenoid, it acts like the other side of the tan wire (-) and grounds out sounding the OEM horn. Just doing it though the air horn side/wires?
I’m I correct? (even though in your above diagram I’m not sure about the 12v at the bottom right of the SPDT switch. I do not have the separate 12v wire… my actual 12v supply is the tan wire (-)?)
HAHAHA… Oooo-K. Don’t worry we’ll get to the bottom of it.
I think I’ve got it now. Your current wiring would be like this then:
So the tan wire is carrying 12V constant to the SPDT switch. In stock horn mode, it grounds out when the horn is pressed… OR - when you throw the switch to your air solenoid side (just follow the path in the diagram).
If you look closely at the diagram, you should see that in such a configuration it’s impossible to do what you want because you’re essentially bypassing the horn button when in the air horn mode.
If your tan is carrying 12V all the time, then the common (center pin) should be the path to ground, NOT the 12V constant. Both outer pins will be the 12V actives. One side from stock horn and the other side of the outer pin coming from the air solenoid (also carrying 12V). By toggling the switch you essentially choose which 12V source (i.e. horn solenoid) to let through to the horn button (which grounds out the circuit). Like this:
I’m tracking that the current method wont work. (as I have tested and verified…lol)
Ok… I’m kind of getting the idea now…
But still confused on how to wire the SPDT. Will it be:
–The center will be my ground? So the center prong will stay the tan wire (-) coming from the OEM horn button. It will become the common ground when the OEM horn button is pressed?
–One of the outer SPDT prongs will be the other side of that tan wire (-) going to the OEM horns.
–The remaining SPDT prong will be a 12v constant from the air solenoid.
Is that correct?
How do I get a 12v constant from the air solenoid? Run a wire from a constant 12v source (like the battery, adding a fuse) to one of the wires at the air solenoid. Then run the other wire from the air solenoid back up to the appropriate SPDT outer prong? Not using any of the air solenoid wires as a ground…as the air solenoid will get its ground from the SPDT switch’s center prong when the OEM horn button it pushed?!
And flipping the SPDT switch from one outer prong to the other will sound either the OEM horn or the air horns (as appropriate) when the OEM horn button is pressed because it causes a ground?
I really appreciate your assistance. I have been sitting at this computer trying to search and make rhyme or reason of it all (After all my reading, I was thinking maybe I needed to use a relay for polarity reasons?)
Correct. Confirm it though by doing the following check.
You’ve cut your tan wire right? so one end of the tan is 12V and other will be nothin (no ground or voltage). On that dead end, if you do a continuity test, the horn button will ground out that wire.
If all of that’s true, then put that wire to the centre pin.
–One of the outer SPDT prongs will be the other side of that tan wire (-) going to the OEM horns.
Yes.That’ll be the tan wire end carrying the 12V constant.
–The remaining SPDT prong will be a 12v constant from the air solenoid.
Is that correct?
Correct
How do I get a 12v constant from the air solenoid? Run a wire from a constant 12v source (like the battery, adding a fuse) to one of the wires at the air solenoid. Then run the other wire from the air solenoid back up to the appropriate SPDT outer prong? Not using any of the air solenoid wires as a ground…as the air solenoid will get its ground from the SPDT switch’s center prong when the OEM horn button it pushed?!
And flipping the SPDT switch from one outer prong to the other will sound either the OEM horn or the air horns (as appropriate)?
Correct.
When I cut the tan wire (-) one side has 12v the other had nothing.
–I took a jumper wire and touched the side of the tan wire (-) that had 12v and went to a ground, the OEM horn activated.
–I took a jumper wire and touched the other side of the tan wire (-) (no 12v) and went to a ground, the OEM horn DID NOT activate.
I had the constant 12v in the center and may have prolonged this troubleshooting?? Sorry:( In my frustration, I just realized that! (and do not / did not completely understand the prongs and their importance in positioning. Even with your very thorough diagrams and explanations. I thought I had it wired correctly.)
Right now my center prong has the constant 12v tan wire (-) going to it. I will flip flop it with the tan wire (-) that is on the outer prong (the one that does not have the constant 12v unless it is selected via the switch).
Then run those 12v constant wires to the solenoid up to the appropriate outer prong on the SPDT switch.
This should give me the 12v on both outer prongs and the ground in the center.!!
I think you cracked the code for me…lol .
I will not be able to get to it due to the wife and kids bugging me to leave the truck alone…LOL… and work of course. I will get to it in the next day or two and get back to you to let you know the out come. (or ask questions sooner if I have any)
I wish I would have found this sooner. Was having the same problem on a 2002 F250. I guess with so many different makes and models it’s impossible for one way works for them all. Thanks for the help
