^ great info H5. Thanks for sharing.
Yes sir, thank you very much for the insight.
A good & informative post!:D:D:D
Alright guys, life events change things from time to time and unfortunately the covered wagon was put off until next season. I decided to go with a 5 gallon tank (all 1/2" piping and hose) with a recharge capability. It is all housed in a metal yard cart style wagon for the time being.
It works pretty good, but it seems 1 of the horns is in and out from time to time. While I had the horns apart for coating I noticed it’s a dual diaphragm setup but there were none of the (excuse my terminology) rubber buffers I think they are called with the retainer spring around them. I’ve seen these on almost every YouTube video I’ve watched about these chimes.
Arent these needed? I’M wondering if this could be part of the reason 1 horn seems to cut in and out.
I’ll get a pic of our little setup soon and post it up. SORRY it’s been a while since my last post, but life has been busy with ups and some downs. THanks again for your time and information.
Well, after testing the power setup (12 volt deep cycle with inverter and pancake compressor to fill a 5 gallon “honk” tank) the gas set (gas powered wheelbarrow style to fill honk tank) I tested a nitrogen tank.
Regulated to 125 psi running into a 1/4" schrader valve into the honk tank, every time I pull the handle to blast, it automatically refills to 125 psi. So far I’ve blown 8 or 10 really decent pulls and the nitrogen tank hasn’t moved off the 2000psi mark.
So far so good. Think I’m going to run a 2 bottle system so i always have backup.
Having a surge tank is the way to go with high pressure gas like that. What’s the nitrogen tank cost?
Well, they run about 40$ up front to rent, and about 8 to 12$ to refill… but one of our alumni group is in refrigerator so the cost to us us nothing.
Oh wow that’s cheap. Wish we had pricing like that here. Cool setup. Other people I’ve seen who try nitrogen or CO2 don’t run an extra tank like you have which is a mistake IMO. You should post some pics or a vid.
I’m not a forum guru, I don’t really know how, but I have both videos and pictures. I’ll try and get someone to help me post up.
Thanks again for the past information.
There is really no way to achieve the volume of air needed directly from a high pressure tank. I’M running a 5 gallon (might bump up to 10 later) portable air tank with a 125 psi cutoff.
Okay, so here is my basic setup. I still have some cleanup to do and it’s crude I know but it’s all just in test run phase right now.
I’ll get some better pics and hopefully a video uploaded sooon.
Basically though I have 2 schrader valves for filling the mid tank (honk tank). 1 is for the nitrogen and 1 is for a compressor fitting (just in case we need it or run out of nitrogen.
All piped from the mid tank 1/2" pipe and braded hose through a hornblasters graham white style valve (not the real deal but the blasters copy).
DBO, I watched one of your videos and I believe it said you were running 200psi to your horns? Why can you run so much pressure and STINKYPETE says I shouldn’t run over 125psi?
Is it the style of horns I’m running? Or is it that you just don’t care 
There’s always going to be split opinion about running over pressure. For a start I’m running a K-Series but that doesn’t really matter. Both the P series and the K-Series are rated for an operating pressure of 100-150psi (source: Airchime Inc. Maintenance Guides) . Now - keep in mind this is railway use, where air supply is never a concern. In a vehicle system you’re generally very constrained about your air supply. If you have a 200psi system, you’ll probably only have 5 gallon tanks since that is the max. rating for most 200psi compressors (unless you have an Oasis).
With a 5 gallon supply, the time it takes for air pressure to drop from 200psi to 150psi is probably around 2 seconds or less… and that’s under the assumption the tank is at full pressure (which it often isn’t due to the 160-200 range of the pressure switch). Anyway, having the horns exposed to over-pressure for such a short time will not damage them in my opinion. Sure it probably shortens their expected diaphragm lifetime just a little but overall you’re splitting hairs here. Now if you could somehow maintain high pressure (i.e. >150) for extended time, then I’m sure something will eventually let go.
IMO the Airchimes sound best when at around 110psi. They just tend to have less harshness in their tone. In my setup I have both options - the GW valve is regulated down to ~100 and the solenoid is straight through at tank pressure. My GW is also the metered version so has two stage low/high flow indents. I love the sound on the low valve setting the best of all (which is probably only flowing 80psi or less) . My horn button on the steering wheel is obviously linked to tank pressure and at those times when some idiot deserves a full blast there’s audio dynamite in-store. It doesn’t sound like a train anymore at that stage though but they do settle into their normal rhythm quite quickly due to that fast pressure drop.
To be honest I didn’t really go out of my way to have 200psi blaster. I started with a 150 kit, then went to 200 psi to maximize the air volume I could carry, then I put in a GW which meant a separate line and then I added the regulator to that. So it was kind of an evolution of bits and the old solenoid line just stayed in original form (hence the 200psi channel).
With your gas setup, you’ve got a rapid refill and hence if you oversupply at high pressure I would say you run the risk of damaging your diaphragms. Keep it regulated to below 150 and you’ll be fine, plus ensure you keep that genuine railroad sound.
I’m running max of 125 psi right now. I appreciate you taking the time to explain your setup.
IF I could buy rebuild kits easily I’d run higher pressures, but I’ve already found it almost impossible to find 1. In fact I haven’t found 1. I believe I’ll just keep her around 125psi.