Chrome 3/8" valve

Automotive Reviews
1

being a real cheapskate, I decided to buy the chrome valve from HB as an “upgrade” to my three chime semi horn.

here’s a pic of the original valve:

the original valve has an orifice measuring a whopping 3mm!!! :eek: (I measured it) so if my horns wanted more air, this is the bottleneck.

so now I bought the Chrome 3/8" valve from HB. the valve is a bit heavy and bigger than I was expecting. but luckily, it fits. and there is barely enough room.

A habit of mine is to open things when I get them. no more warranty, but for the price, it is much cheaper to buy a new one than send this back if it breaks. so I looked around inside the valve. orifice measured 5mm. the coil is not potted so it could be rewound if needed. there is a generous amount of iron and copper inside so 2amps at 10V is enough to open the valve. (the same voltage and current rating supplied to my previous valve wasn’t enough to open it even without air pressure) haven’t really noticed what material the base (where the fittings go in) is made of. probably cast brass since it is a bit heavy to be cast aluminum. the coil cover is steel (and there are more iron inside for concentrating the magnetic field of the solenoid) and the screws holding the cover are stainless steel.

here’s a few pics of the chrome 3/8" horn installed:

as for performance, I have a gauge in the dash and observed that it takes even less time to drain my massive 2 gal tank. :smiley: haven’t used it that much so I can’t really say for sure that it is louder. but it does seem to be louder and the tone changed a bit. pressure tested was up to 125psi and it opens easily and quickly. short honks are no problem and there is no delay from the push of the button to the sound coming out of the horns.

2

I got a friend here with the same setup but he was upset when i pulled on the scene and let him have " a burst of air ". So now he wants to upgrade…lol… I am guessing you will want to soon if u are a real noise junkie.

3

we all know I will get tired of these. but they still get the job done for now (get traffic out of my way :smiley: ) still saving up for the shockers. I still have to pay other stuff besides horns you know. :wink:

4

It’s definitely louder. had a few people cussing/shouting at me when I honked at a slow poke holding us back when the lights turned green. when I heard the shouting and cussing, I then gave them another long honk. then I got even more shouting. :smiley:

also, my car had a dive into a flooded road at about 30Mph. it was night and was raining the whole day and I didn’t see the large pool of water. when I honked all I got was a moaning sound from the horns. hehehe, a few more short blasts and it eventually cleared and worked fine again.

5

After 6 years, the chrome valve is leaking and losing a bit of air.

So, I bought some very high quality SMC valves from HB.

Old chrome one in the horn

Old and new

Barely enough room but it fit.

6

after 6 years heck you must not live where they dump salt like here!!