That’s what I was told when I had problems A year ago. If your valve is to far away from the inlet on the manifold it will not be so responsive.Mine is 10 inches form the manifold and when I hit the horn it’s barks right now NO lag.I also in checking my system put A pressure gauge on the manifold and I only saw A slight pressure drop while honking the horns.Barely 8 PSI due to very short lines compared to locomotives. This takes two guys and plenty of hearing protection. It was A brutal test on the ears and the other shops around us but well worth it to make sure things are correct.
Mine too. It’s like it comes on instantly, not like some of the horns I hear on this site. If the back window on my cab is open, it hurts my right ear to the point that it itches inside. So loud.
You have A very good Asco valve. I use the same but in 1/2 inch. They flow A ton of air. I roll up my windows before I honk my horns now as I had the same happen to me itchy ear and Bad ringing. These are signs of damaging inner ear.LOL Funny for now but it will catch you later if you aren’t careful. Sounds like your system works well. I went through alot of research to get mine working tops and it all paid off.
Cheers and Happy Honking !!
I might go to the 1/2" valve eventually, but I reall think it’s loud enough right now. If I add a K3 under the bed, I will put another 3/8" Asco valve on my tank and run the 1/2" ID Goodyear line to that horn as well. That was my original plan, which was the reason for doing the 3/8" valve in the first place.
Where are your horns? That was a good thing mentioned earlier, about not having the horn use more air that you are pushing to it. Seems like if the opening to the horn is 1/2", then you need to have 5/8" ID hose. NOT 1/2".
My K3 is in the grille. With the windows up, if I honk, It will drown out a conversation inside the truck. It will also drown out the stereo, but if Im cranking the box, you can still hear and feel the horn. Its funny how quiet those compressors are until you mount them to something.
My horns are under the driver side floorboard about 2 feet behind me.(check sig for pic)I even reinforced the floorboard ! If you have ever looked inside A K3 or K5 manifold the air feed holes are as I measured 7/16 hole diameter(below the horns not the neck) and then the holes get progressive smaller as they approach the inlet feed holes of the horns. This is why they want A large inlet feed hose for minimum pressure drop.
When I installed my manifold, I couldn’t feed air through the standard inlet mounting so I plugged it with A 1/2 pipe flat plug and drilled the existing 3/8 side plug open to 1/2 and feed the air in that way. This is just another way of feeding the manifold with plenty of volume of air. To answer your question about air line size. The manufacture recommends A given size 1/2 or measured .500 I.D. So I say why exceed this as they have done all the testing for us.
The way I see it, IF your horns are working and sound properly with the proper tone and or note don’t try to re-invent the wheel. They ( NATHAN Manufacturing) have done all the home work for you ! Just my 2 cents, LOL
Sweet. So thats why your darn ears are ringing. Those suckers are practically right under neath you. My ears ring whenever Im not closed up with all windows and doors closed. I wish I could hear a comparison with the 5/8 air line like me and this so, called 1/2" ID air line. Wile-e said that the ID on the 5/8 is smaller than 1/2" so I dunno. I agree with you though, if they sound fine, dont re-invent the wheel. All I know is I want to get the most I can out of the horn. After playing around with it, I know I want a bigger tank. The 5 gallons is nice, but I find myself, saving air for a time when I need it. If I look at the guage and its at 180, I save it. Cause I know my next long blast will turn my comps on. If its at 170, I find a reason to hit it so I can charge back to 200. If I had a bigger tank, I wouldnt have to worry about it as much.
Don’t confuse 5/8" rubber air hose which has an ID of 5/8" with 5/8" tubing that has an ID slightly less than 1/2". If you read all my posts carefully it should be clear. You want the actual ID of your air line to be as large as possible, at least one size larger than the actual ID of the horn inlet according to Nathan. So if your K3 horns have a 1/2" NPT inlet then you should use 5/8" rubber air hose or larger and keep all the fittings to 5/8" ID as well, or as close as you can get to it. The 5/8" vinyl or nylon tubing is not even 1/2" ID and the compression fittings choke it down even further so you are getting less air volume through the line. But if you like the way your 1/4" or 3/8" tubing setup sounds then more power to you. I used to be content with 1/4" ID rubber air hose and now I know better after upgrading twice when I could have just done it right from the start, if I had only known…
I know man. But right now, I dont know where to get the hose or the fittings. I had to chase down the Sh*t I have now. lol. I asked you for a suggestion. Im gonna go google, 1/2" barb high flow fittings.
Where can I find the raw hose and fittings? Im ready to upgrade. Im thinking that, this might be the missing link. I feel like my horn should be louder.
I don’t know where you live but you should be able to find that hose on line or
at A supply house or hose and fittings supply house. Aero Quip supply store,Maybe an auto parts store or some place like that. Big air hose shouldn’t be that hard to find. Then you need the BIG fittings.
I bought my 1/2" Goodyear air hose at Harbor Freight. Unfortunately, I had to buy a 50’ roll with NPT fittings already on the ends just to get the 2’ that I needed. I plan on making a hose to air up my tires with the other 48’.
The ones you have would be the push-on hose barb. Thats the only one I found in a 1/2 to 1/2. The other barb fittings start @ 1".
All of the following are available at Lowes, Home Depot, or any plumbing supply place. I got mine at Lowes:
1/2" NPT brass hex pipe nipple - two male connectors - comes out of the tank and into the first pipe tee
1/2" NPT brass pipe tees - three female connectors - use instead of manifolds to ensure 1/2" ID on all ports
1/2" ID Goodyear rubber air hose - sold by the foot
1/2" NPT high-flow brass hose barbs - two male connectors or one male / one female depending on your air line configuration
Stainless Steel hose clamps
This was the hardest part for me to find but I have since found it at National Tool Warehouse and Amazon. See photos, part #s, and link to Amazon in my previous post:
1/2" NPT Milton high-flow quick disconnects - one male and female pair - optional but used to allow quick install or removal of the tank, compressors, or both
Sounds good man. I appreciate it.
I had 2.5 days into the install. I have the 540 xl shockers allmoste $600.00. and about $100.00 in hardware all stainless steel.
ive got 2 days in the install and about 300 in the setup i got the the p3 for 50 bucks and got a deal on everything else
How did you get a P3 for $50 and does he have any more available at that price?