Power sorce for a Train Horn

Main Train Horns
1

Hi guys.

I have a portable train horn we use for our High School football games and I am trying to figure out what size of a Battery to get.

I know I need a Deep Cycle Marine or RV and I’m leaning towards the Optima brands but I’m confused on what I need when it comes to Cold Cranking Amps. I would like to get one whole season out of it then put it on a trickle charger on the off season. All of these range from around 450CCA to 900 and higher. Here are the specs of our compressor…

[ul]
[li]Max Pressure:200psi[/li]
[li]Max Amperage:23A[/li]
[li]Flow Rate 0psi: 45L/M[/li]
[li]Flow Rate 5 Gal to 120psi: 4min[/li]
[li]100% duty cycle at 100psi[/li][/ul]
I just want to do it right and not have to buy a new battery every year. Any help would be great.

Thanks.

2

Don’t look at CCA. Look at amp hours (Ah).

You can read about the difference on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_battery#Terms_and_ratings

You mentioned up to 6 touchdowns and up to 5 minutes to fill the tank.
That’s 30 minutes of runtime or .5 hour.
.5 hour x 23 amps = 11.5 Ah

Your average size battery is way over that. I thing the smallest Optima is 38Ah.

You could also try to find the Ah rating on your jumper/starter box. You already know that 2 of those get you through a night.

3

Thank you very much!!!

4

I am currently building a set for our football team and I will be using a 20lb CO2 bottle to power the horns. Very compact and should work like a champ. I will have 14gal of storage that the CO2 bottle keeps at 175psi and then regulate that down to 120psi for the horns. I am also going to have a EMD bell attached to the unit. The CO2 tank will cost $20 for the 20lbs and should give me quite a bit of honk time for the games. No compressor, no genset, no nothing to fool with. The CO2 tank will be from 800 to 1200 psi and should have about 174 cubic feet of gas in the tank.

5

haha I honked my shockers at a Football game a while back, Some guy came out and yelled “Thats really not Necessary!”. I did it again anyway, didn’t see him anywhere, The epic loudness must have been too awesome. lol

6

^^^Hey repeatman, you used to run a compressor off a battery…

How big was the battery & how long did it last??

7

Not very long, lol. But my York 210 last’s a long time! btw I might add a car Alternator.