Would applying less than 12 volts hurt the electric valve? Or would it damage it?
I don’t think too low of voltage can hurt a solenoid.
It will either have enough force to move the valve or it wont.
Cool! Cause I think I just might have invented something.
does it have to do with having a switch that you can manual control the voltage to the valve so you can make it act like a manual valve??
Not sure where you’re going with this, but a solenoid valve is either open or shut…no in between.
Curious what you got cooking.
yes! lol. I experimented with it today but did not get much results. I was using a Delco Remy Instrument panel dimmer switch. The horns were either all the way on or off. hmm. Any Ideas?
I was gonna try to do an In between but failed. The horns were either all on or off. oh well, Didn’t hurt to try.
Yes, here is my idea…but I haven’t tested it yet.
http://www.trainhornforums.com/showthread.php?t=5785
Can’t see why it won’t work.
hahah lol funny i was going to try the exact same thing in a few days.
What if you had an remotely activated-electrical restrictor, that opened or closed- So you modify the air going into the horns at say 50psi and not hear anything really to the full blow at 140 or 200 depending on horn setup…
I saw another install where the guy used multiple valves to provide more air but the horns were still limited to half or full volume.
Has anyone ever experienced a solenoid failure (i.e. from closed to open or leaking)?
Only with frozen water in the winter (for me)
I’ve never seen one leak but I have seen them fail from too much heat.
OK… cheers.
With two of these monsters parked in the garage at night now, I sometimes wonder what chaos the neighbourhood would break into if a solenoid failed at 2 a.m. I’d probably be the first die of a heart attack :eek: (wouldn’t that be ironic justice!)
Guess the chances are pretty slim, but I’ve considered putting an in-line manual shut-off on the main pressure line to the solenoid. Anyone else done that in their rig?
The solenoid moves the valve to the open position & a spring returns the valve home/shut.
It will not spontaneously open.
A failure would be stuck open, stuck shut, or leaking.
A little horn troll would have to break into your garage and apply 12 volts to the solenoid.
Well… spring based switches and electrical failure gremlins abound on cars. The horn switch being a good candidate. I’ve seen a few of them fail to the on position in my time (admittedly mostly due to heat).
I remember one poor bugger from work years ago… he was driving a pretty beat up old car and we were all sitting inside hearing some car blaring its horn for about 10 minutes straight. More and more folks started getting annoyed. This guy even said “Bloody idiots… what are they doing out there?”. By the time we all go outside, there’s a bunch of folks looking angry… only to find it was his car all along. Lots of laughs and one very embarrassed guy frantically trying to bash the battery cables off!:o
Hahahaha!! Wow! Well Mine was worse. At NIGHT! about 12:30 am my stupid stock horn on my Chevy Silverado Got stuck on. Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo… And so on! lol I pulled the fuse for the horn but my parking lights turned off at the same time so I had to drive with the horn stuck on. I drove passed the Police station and I got stuck behind a car at a red light while my horn was going. The guy flipped me a birdie and continued going. I Finally got to a lighted Parking lot to find my stock horns and Un Hook them (One behind the drivers side headlight and one behind the grill.) I just cut the wires off. I later Removed my Horn pad and found out I had a Bare wire that was grounding out making my stock horns go off, btw this was before I had any air horns on my truck. I soldered a new wire in there and hooked the horns back up and Presto!! Fixed it!