I lurked around your site for several weeks decide how I wanted to do this project, so here is the write up on how it turned out
Joe
I just complete the next addition to the Dodge After doing a month of research on the internet I decided I wanted to add a Nathan P3 train horn. I picked this horn because I liked it’s deep sound, but more importantly it uses less air that most horns which is important since I don’t have a train load of compressed air.
The hard part was finding the right horn. I had to derail three trains before I found a Horn that I liked … ( just kidding )
Here is the list of part I used
Nathan P3 train horn
400C ViAir 12volt Compressor
5 gallon air tank
175 pound pop off
½ air line
½ Solenoid valve
Pressure switch with relay
Painless wiring fuse block
Mounting the P3 turned out to be the easy part. I had a piece of scrap Aluminum channel that I bolted down to my Kayak rack. The P3 horn weights about 15 pounds so it needs a pretty solid place to bolt it down to.
I mounted the switches in the roof console, I decided to us different switches so I could find the switch I wanted in the dark. This is a really easy place to mount switches compared to putting them in the dash. Getting thru the firewall is the hardest part of the whole deal.
Wiring was way more complicated than I expected . I used 4 in 1 - 10 gauge underground wire to go from the battery to the tool boxes . In order to get lots of power to the tool box I used three of the ten gauge wires to and one for the negative plus a ground wire to the frame, I figure this is a lot of overkill, but overkill is what a Cummins is all about.
Then I used relay for fuse block, compressor and solenoid valve. I hid most of the wiring in an inch space under the plate the compressor is mounted too.
While I was wiring I wanted to add a inverter and it helped cover up the relays and help makes things look a little neater
The end result is once I turn on the compressor it takes 3 minutes to pump up the 5 gallon tank to 150 PSI. And that give me about a 20 second blast, which does not sound like much but trust me it is plenty at this volume.
I don’t have anything worth stealing, but I remember a time when we didn’t have worry about that. Unfortunately that isn’t true today. It’s terrible to see what’s happened to this country in the last 50 years.
Thanks for the nice comments. I am a little afraid of having my horns stolen. At home I have a very large dog so no one every stay long if not invited. I am working on a way to fasten them down better, right now I am using 1/2 allen head bolts so at least you need more than a cresent wrench to take them off.
I think the horn are new cast they say “pat.pend.” on them.
Hey Joe, welcome to the forum by the way and VERY nice install. Wish I had a truck so I could mount my horns up like that.
Have you thought about using one of those trailer master locks that can’t be cut? You could take one bolt out of the mounting foot and stick the lock through one of the holes.
very nice install. You have allen head bolts, now get nuts with the nylon locker in them, and red loctite them all. It will detere anyone with hand tools.
exactly oh nooooo they have a lock on it that dosent stop me from useing lock pics… and master locks are the easiest piece of crap to open with out a key
wow i’ll just break the manifold and buy a new manifold and tada i got a whole set of horns for the price of a manifold…
Wow you have the best lock installed on your house!!! i’ll go around back and break a window…
I have to agree it sucks having to worry about people stealing things. I haul whitewater Kayaks on my rack which run about 1000 dollars a piece and make very tempting targets, so I am always looking for ways to make it harder to be riped off. I have been luck so far…
I want to put a two tone paint job on the horns so I down want to lock them down so it will be too hard for me to get them off.
I may need to ask for some painting advise once I decide to start that project.