SO, This is my first Horn Kit. I got a Shocker XL Kit but only with a 2 Gallon Tank to fit in my Truck. I have a new 2016 Toyota 4Runner and found that underneath and inside were impossible to get this thing mounted, but in front of the Radiator behind the Grill is plenty of room for all of it. So now that I have everything installed I need some help. I can fix mechanical things, take stuff apart and such, but I suck at electrical.
I know it says you must mount the valve with the arrows going to the horns… well this valve had no arrows so hopefully its right.
Not sure where to hook the system to the battery. DO i just pull a red wire near the battery? How do I know its going to the battery or is there a simpler way to power the thing.
The instructions show the toggle wired to the horn on the steering wheel. How the hell do I know which wire to splice under the dash to hook it to the steering wheel horn?
Any help with the last bit of wiring and I can have it all wrapped up. Thanks for any help I can get!
Electric air solenoid valves generally have a single flow direction because they partly rely on the supply pressure to fully seal. There should be some kind of marking on it. Depending on the valve, if you hook up the pressure onto the outflow side you may have air leaking through.
Not sure where to hook the system to the battery. DO i just pull a red wire near the battery? How do I know its going to the battery or is there a simpler way to power the thing.
Which kit do you have (i.e. is it the one with the blue pressure switch/relay, or the one with just a pressure sensor on the tank?) Your main compressor power wire should run via a fuse direct to your battery because of the high current draw.
The instructions show the toggle wired to the horn on the steering wheel. How the hell do I know which wire to splice under the dash to hook it to the steering wheel horn?
Easiest way is to splice into the wire near the horn because that way you can see the line in question. To find the wire behind the dash is a lot more difficult and you’d need a multi-meter with pin-probes.
That air solenoid should have a marking on the body somewhere. If the fittings were already on the body of the solenoid then leave them as is. Anyway, wiring - for the solenoid, to open up (i.e. when honking the horn) it just wants ground on one wire and 12v power to the other wire (doesn’t matter which way around that is since it only energizes a coil). The ground is easy; the power you can just find near your stock horn (i.e. tap into the line supplying power to your horn when the button is pressed).
That grey blob on the tank is your combined pressure switch and power relay for your compressor. The connections will be a main power (which will be from your battery and then going to the compressor) and a trigger line (12v power to energize the circuit), plus the corresponding earth wires - they should be all labelled. Here’s a basic internal view of what is inside:
Don’t go taking off your steering wheel or airbag - not required.
Did they not give you an install guide? They are usually quite straight forward to follow.
OK, in the dropbox link is screenshot of the exact solenoid from Hornblasters website. It has no markings on it for Air flow. I had the fittings in the kit I purchased but not a single item was installed in the solenoid, air tank or compressor. I had to figure it out, still don’t know if its right. Their “Manual” was a set of written instructions for someone that obviously understands electrical schematics well. That person is not me!
So I get the ground wire vs positive wire. Thats easy. Ground goes to something metal bolted to frame or otherwise, positive goes to hot wire.
Here is where you lose me,
“The ground is easy; the power you can just find near your stock horn (i.e. tap into the line supplying power to your horn when the button is pressed).”…
The power I can just find Near the horn??? Are you saying the actual horn that sound emits from or the “horn” as in the center of the steering wheel that i push while driving to “beep”???
I think this is where I’m getting screwed up, the Hornblasters manual shows a schematic for a wire going from the solenoid to the “on/off” toggle swtich then to a picture of a steering wheel.
If I need to hook into somewhere near the steering wheel I am totally lost, there are hundreds of wires under the dash , how would I find the right one?
Your stock horn will be electric, right? … so - find that and you should see at least one wire going to that stock horn mounted on the front of the car somewhere. That wire will most likely carry 12V when you press the horn button on your steering wheel - so therefore you have the power you need to set off your solenoid air valve. You just need a multi-meter or a test light to confirm that the wire is as expected. In some vehicles the switch is on the negative line (and not the positive; check here for an explanation https://www.trainhornforums.com/showpost.php?p=67986&postcount=13)
The SPDT (Single-pole, Dual-Throw) switch that is illustrated, is there so you can select between your stock horn and your Shockers. It basically sends that 12V power either to the normal electric horn or to your solenoid.
Ah! Wiring! My Specialty! ^^^ seems like DBO Posted a good schematic, as to finding your horn wire, either look in a shop manual or simply have someone beep the horn until you find it, might have a small headache but hey, it works Your Horn (Being a Toyota) is either going to be a disc “Meep” or a snail “honk” depending on those noises should help you locate the stock horn, you will need to tap into the + wire that goes to the horn " should be just a single wire if not, probe them with a multimeter to see which one it is," You will run this to a toggle switch or if you are crazy, just unhook the stock horn and run it straight to your solenoid! J/K! anything else, give me a PM
I thought I had everything set and ready to go after the last bit of instructions from DBO and Repeatman. Unfortunately… Compressor never kicks on. So I’m not sure where I went wrong.
I got the 12V hooked straight to battery and to the plug labeled for “fused power source”
I have a blue wire and a red wire that go to the toggle switch in the dash. There were only 2 wires coming from my toggle that came with the system. Otherwise that 3 prong switch DBO mentioned would have worked great. The blue wire I have running from one of the toggle leads to the grey switch mounted on the tank labeled “connect to trigger / switch positive”. I then cut this wire and the wire that went to the stock horns and completed the circuit.
Not sure where to go from here. Maybe I just need to switch the horn wires from Blue to red? Or should I reverse the red/blue going to the toggle? Still don’t know why I get no power to the compressor…
I appreciate all the help and the patience. I’m obviously green when it comes to running electrical so thanks again! Check the photos I posted on the Dropbox link and see if maybe you can make heads or tails of my problem…
Oh and the forum won’t allow me to PM, possibly because I’m so new. Not sure.
That part seems fine to me. Just make sure you put a fuse on that line. The other end of that (i.e. where it emerges back out of the grey switch box is the white wire) needs to go to your compressor positive wire. The other wire from the compressor obviously needs to be earthed.
I have a blue wire and a red wire that go to the toggle switch in the dash. There were only 2 wires coming from my toggle that came with the system. Otherwise that 3 prong switch DBO mentioned would have worked great.
This is where you’re having a slight disconnect. The SPDT switch shown in the diagram from E2E is used purely to select between a stock horn and the train horn (see last paragraph in my post below). The two wire switch you’re referring to is used purely to enable the compressor relay/pressure switch (that big grey thing on the tank) to become active, so you can selectively turn off the compressor circuit when you need to. It doesn’t become active until it has power flowing through the small red wire and grounding trough the black wire. When the tank pressure is low this activates the relay and sends power (from the big red wire) through to the white wire (which should be going to your compressor)
The blue wire I have running from one of the toggle leads to the grey switch mounted on the tank labeled “connect to trigger / switch positive”.
That’s OK as well
I then cut this wire and the wire that went to the stock horns and completed the circuit.
Yea - No, that’s where you’ve gone completely wrong. What you need to do is have the small red wire from the toggle switch go to a 12V power source when your ignition or accessory circuit is live (e.g. your cigarette lighter or similar).
The horn solenoid air valve is what was covered in the drawing from E2E. If you don’t have a 3-pole toggle switch, go and buy one from any electronic or hardware store (ask for an SPDT switch), then wire it exactly has per the diagram.
Here’s another basic diagram to hopefully make the sense…
Connect your big red wire to the positive on the battery,
Run the big red wire via a fuse to the relay/switch on the tank
Run 12V accessory power via a toggle switch to the Trigger input wire on the relay
Wire the white thick wire to the compressor positive
Make sure the black from the compressor and the black wire from the pressure switch relay are both properly earthed.
Turn on your accessory power and you should have the compressor kick in. Use the switch to toggle that circuit on/off if you need to. The compressor will shut off automatically when the pressure switch reaches the nominated cut-out pressure.
You may want to reconsider the location in which you are mounting the tank and compressor, you will likely run into a warmer running engine because it is blocking the flow of air in front of the radiator.
^^^ seems like DBO Posted a good schematic, as to finding your horn wire, either look in a shop manual or simply have someone beep the horn until you find it, might have a small headache but hey, it works 
Maybe I just need to switch the horn wires from Blue to red? Or should I reverse the red/blue going to the toggle? Still don’t know why I get no power to the compressor…