I have a cousin that I would like to surprise with a ‘Train Doorbell’, she has train stuff all over her house and would love a train horn too. I would like it to sound like a real train horn (I am thinking the Nathan P5 P3) with <100db.
Is this possible?
John
Welcome to the forums.
How permanent do you want it to be? It would be pretty easy to disconnect the doorbell transformer and rig a $10 - 12volt power supply instead. Then use a plain ol’ solenoid valve from Hornblasters.
I assume you would just hook it up to a shop air compressor.
Any Nathan horn will sound authentic - since it is an actual trainhorn. Plenty capable of causing hearing damage at point blank range.
Thank you ear2ear for your quick reply.
Yes, I would like this to be a permanent ‘doorbell’, but I am concerned about using pneumatics and keeping below 100db, I am not sure that is possible. I was also thinking about other options that might work as well.
Just use less air pressure… that would keep the sound down. Also you could use an electric horn where you download a sound and use it… http://horntones.com/… something like that
Twist,
You know that less pressure will only alter the loudness and not the sound?
Do you have any idea how much pressure would be used to get sound to less than 100db?
Not off the top of my head, if you used a pressure regulator you would be able to fine tune it. basically not enough psi wont sound the horns, and the more you add the louder they get, to a certain extent. same concept as if you honked continuously on a smaller tank the first x seconds are loud and after time passes the sound dies out until there isnt any air left. If they were still too loud, you could either put a debris guard or bell covers on the bells, from my understanding that muffles the sound as well. Or use smaller air line. you just want to restrict the air flow and pressure to the point where it sounds how you like and to the loudness you want. It sounds like a neat project.
Welcome to the forum! It sounds like an interesting project.