Got everything mounted under truck bed… I have no idea in the entire world what I’m doing when it comes to electrical… And I’ll be damned if I’m gonna hire someone to do it for me, that’s why I’m here asking questions… I’ve electrocuted myself twice and it wasn’t fun, so I’ve learned to turn off power or unplug black ground battery wire first…
I’ve run RED thick wire from the ‘blue pressure switch’ to fuse (haven’t put fuse in yet and won’t until I’m done) and run thin BLUE wire [pressure switch] and another BLACK wire [Air Valve] (I bought from Napa, same size as thin blue wire that came with kit, conductor’s special shocker 232xl) to inside my truck thru front fire wall hole…
I have a PUSH button (not going thru truck steering wheel horn)… It has two ‘male’ plugs… one to AIR VALVE and one to 12Volt power source… (I was told cig lighter is good, but that is my MAIN Question…) see my pictures…
Questions…
Do I even need a ‘Toggle Switch’ since I’m doing Push Button instead of going thru my steering wheel???
(I want the compressor to turn OFF when my truck turns off so it doesn’t drain my battery)
Which Wire do I need to connect to my cig lighter!!! (I was told that the cig lighter is the simplest way to connect to a power source so it doesn’t drain battery… Do I need to do this TWICE (one for pressure switch and one for push button?!) I have 3 cig plugs in my '03 Toyota Tacoma (one is an actual cig lighter, the other two are power outlets)
The REAL cig Lighter has 4 or 5 wires… the other two power outlets have 3 wires (2 white, 1 red)
If I DO need ‘Toggle Switch’, where do I run it?!!
I bought lots of connectors, couplings, male/female wire plugs from Radio Shack, but not sure which wires to plug into…
Sorry if I sound retarded, but I’m looking at this mess of wires under my dash and I have no idea where to start and I’d really like to NOT start my truck on fire because of a screwed up electrical connection…
Okay, not even sure if this will help, but here’s some pics of my fuse panel under my steering wheel… one actually says IGN 7.5A (so I’m guessing that would be the ‘Ignition wire’ that I’m looking for, but it’s actually a fuse…)
I’ve installed two subs, a PA system, fog lights, HID headlights and I’ve never been so confused as I am right now…
Does someone out there have a Visual Diagram of what I’m suppose to do and what wires go where…??
There’s some force that’s not wanting me to install this on my truck, but I’m not giving into it and I Definitely want this BEFORE New Years 2012!!!
Any and All Help, tips, tricks, etc. are Very Much Appreciated!!!
my plan was to put my momentary push button switch just above those two cig power outlets…
if you have a better place, please let me know… I’m open to suggestions, comments, criticism…
Above is a link to Hornblaster’s install diagram and instructions. Looks like it doesn’t matter what 12v source you use to power your push button. If you want your button to work without the key on , you have to power it with continuous 12v power(hot all the time). If you want it only to work with the key on, power it with a 12v source that only comes on with the ignition being turned on(cig lighter, etc.). If you need to find out which wire is the hot on your cig lighter, use a test light and find it. Make sure the ignition is on when you are checking with a test light. Sometimes the hot is a red wire but not always. Once you find the cig 12v wire, connect it to your push button and you should be good to go. Hope this helps.
And to answer your question about needing a toggle switch for the compressor pressure switch, it is NOT necessary for operation of the compressor AS LONG AS you connect the 12v power source for the pressure switch to an ignition power source(hot only when the key is turned on). This way the compressor will not run with the key off.
yes, this helps a lot! I’m going to Advance to get a test light and then hopefully by the end of the day, my Hornblasters Conductor’s Special will be LIVE!!!
Does it matter if I connect the thin blue pressure switch wire and thin black Air Valve wire to the same cig lighter wire when I find out which one is the Live wire?!!
Yeah…pick up a fuse tap at Advance and find a socket in your fusebox that comes on with the ignition. Either way will work great. And i think you can use the cig lighter connection for both but it may be too much load for the cig lighter fuse.
okay, fuse tap it is… will a 7.5 amp will be good enough for BOTH the pressure switch wire and air valve wire or do I need two fuse taps from Advance?!! Just wondering if I can plug both into the same tap… this sounds a lot easier than buying a test light and taking apart my dash again… I already messed up my fog lights and I gotta figure out how to get those working again today… Thanks for the help!
Bought this switch from Radio Shack… It’s just a simple On/Off toggle switch, but with a cool plastic flip protector… Not sure what the ACC goes to tho… The BLUE wire goes to the Pressure Switch… Black goes to Fuse Tap… Then tried Grounding it, but still No Power…
Here’s where I put my Momentary Push Button… It says to take it from Air Valve to button then to 12v power (fuse tap, right?!)
Nothing is plugged into power in this pic, but I definitely tried…
I tried turning the actual plug around as well as unplugged the fuse and turning it the other direction…
Plugged in Red Wire from Pressure Switch to Fused Battery…
Tried turning this fuse around too… Still No Power…
I’m going to get some Thinner Wire tomorrow… I was testing with 12 gauge thick wire and perhaps that’s the problem…
If I plug the pressure switch in first and not the valve, will I hear the compressor turn on??!
And to top it off, after plugging in that fuse tap, I guess I plugged it in the wrong way, so when I tried to start my truck, it would only crank and not turn over which scared the crap outa me cuz I thought I had blown a fuse… I had to turn the fuse and plug around a couple times to get my truck to start…
Not sure where to go from here… Like I said, I’m going to buy some thinner wire tomorrow…
Do I have the wrong type of toggle switch for the pressure switch blue wire?!!
Do I need to Ground this switch…?
Do I need to ground the push button or does it just go from Air Valve to button to ignition fuse tap…??!
soooo confused and just want this to work already…
What i did in my truck was use the cig lighter as my toggle switch for the horn, it has a power already, all i did was just disconnect the ground from the cig lighter and run it towards the horn valve and then grounded the valve. Nobody can figure out how to fire my horns lol.
I put a regular on / off switch for my compressor. ofcourse when i dont have my key in my truck the horn does not fire.
Did the fuse tap come with directions?
Note that it has 2 spots for fuses. I only see 1 fuse in your picture.
1 is for the original fuse that you are removing to make room for the fuse tap.
1 is for your new fuse for your new circuit.
Make sure the right fuse is in the right spot if they are different sizes.
It also makes a difference which way you insert the fuse tap.
Your toggle switch has a ground because it probably has a light in it.
The momentary button has 2 tabs. Connect 1 to the solenoid valve. The other to any 12v source. It doesn’t have to be an ignition source. In fact I wanted mine hot all the time.
Wow Baxd… So you’re saying that whenever you push in your cig lighter, it blows your horn?!! If so, that’s pretty sneaky and I like it! But I already drilled the hole for my momentary button… Plus, the cig lighter had a ton of wires (5 to be exact) so I wouldn’t know which one to tap into… but thanks for the idea! pretty cool!
Yea, I like the idea of making the momentary button ‘Hot All The Time’… Do I take it straight to my battery for that?!! All my cig lighters only run when my truck is on and Did You See how much crap I have plugged directly into my battery already in the pictures above!!! LOL Not exactly sure how much more my crappy Walmart battery can withstand… haha
The kit came with two fuses, so that is most likely my problem (not having a fuse in the other slot of the fuse tap)…
So, just to ‘recap’…
For Toggle Switch…
BLUE pressure switch wire TO Toggle Switch ACC Plug
Fuse Tap (with 2 fuses plugged in) TO Toggle Switch POWER Plug
Ground Toggle Switch (it does have a red light)
For Air Valve Momentary Button…
Air Valve Black Wire TO Momentary Button Plug
Momentary Button TO 12V Power (what do you suggest for this??!) Is there anything in my Fuse Box that is ‘HOT All The Time’??! I can go to Advance and buy another Fuse Tap… But the only thing I can think of that can work without my truck ON is the interior lights maybe…??! Maybe I should just Run another wire out of my fire wall to my battery… My Battery is over 2 years old, it’s probably due for another one anyway and I’ll just spend the extra few bucks for a Die Hard or some other NON Walmart brand… Plus, once I get this horn working, I was going to Rewire my alternator with thicker gauge wire like one of the Installation posts on this forum said… After turning on my truck, every time I turn on my Lights, Radio, etc… my idle RPM’s go down a little which I guess is putting strain on my alternator…??!
Thanks for the help! I’m off to my warehouse to take apart my truck again and get this working…
The toggle wiring sounds/looks right - it’s just missing a fuse.
Yeah what ever you have to do for the 12v constant source. Another fuse tap or straight from the battery.
If there is a red wire on the solenoid, use that one for the momentary button & ground the black. If they’re both black it doen’t matter. It probably doesn’t matter technically, but I like to keep all the positives red.
Thanks, I just popped my hood… Hope this goes well and I’ll look into buying those battery connectors on ebay after the new year… Just picked up more thin black wire from NAPA… I’ll let ya know how this turns out…
