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Silent horns

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by shaggist, Nov 25, 2018.

  1. shaggist

    shaggist New Member

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    Due to the Prius' horns being so alike the one on my pedal car when I was a young kid, I find the 'meep-meep' ineffective and embarrassing. It has no authority in its tone. So, I replaced them with some 'highway blaster' type loud ones that should get attention when used. They are totally quiet when I push the horn section of my steering wheel. No noise at all. Any thoughts as to why?

    The Prius horns are single connectors, with the ground connection through the mounting strap and the power being provided through the single wire plug (I think). The replacement horns have 2 spade connectors, not just one, so I connected one of them to the mounting post on the case and plugged the power wire to the other lug. Nothing happens when I push the button. What's up with this?
     
    #1 shaggist, Nov 25, 2018
  2. Pluggo

    Pluggo Senior Member

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    Where did you find room for the new horns and did you install a horn relay? The little Prius buzzer-horn draws little current and works fine without a relay, but any good, loud horn requires a relay and a separate 15-20 amp circuit to the horn. The horn button will then activate a the relay that connects the new horn to the new high-amperage circuit. Hopefully someone here can recommend a good power location for you. Don't do like I once did on an earlier car: I got my horn power from the brake light circuit, which worked fine until I tried to use the horn and brakes at the same time.
     
    #2 Pluggo, Nov 25, 2018
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2018
  3. Pluggo

    Pluggo Senior Member

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    Also, there's a very good reason why no one ever connects the horn button directly to a high-current horn: after a few good toots the load would begin to destroy the horn button, if the wires didn't melt first.
     
    #3 Pluggo, Nov 25, 2018
    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller likes this.
  4. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Get a salvation army bell-ringer under that hood. People will lose their minds trying to avoid you. Worst case they'll leave money.
     
    #4 Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Nov 25, 2018
    padroo, Johnny Cakes, kc5dlo and 2 others like this.
  5. shaggist

    shaggist New Member

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    Three
    Thanks for all the good advice. FInding room was no problem, as the new horns fit exactly where the old ones did. No modifications required. Are there any makes and models that are a louder plug and play replacement without having to add the relay circuitry to the mix? I saw a very short Youtube video where that seemed to be the case.
     
    #5 shaggist, Nov 25, 2018
  6. shaggist

    shaggist New Member

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    Three
    I understand the question about where I put them now. The new horns look like Hella Supertones, not the Freeway Blaster snail types. But they still don't HONK!
     
    #6 shaggist, Nov 25, 2018
  7. Johnny Cakes

    Johnny Cakes Senior Member

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    Since they aren't getting enough voltage without adding a relay, they are not going to honk. I think that's your problem.
     
    #7 Johnny Cakes, Nov 26, 2018
  8. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    I put the Hella horns on my Prius 2 weeks ago without a problem. I had to put the bolt in from the rear,
    which was a minor pain. And I made a short harness for each one to plug it in using the original wire to
    the horn, no relay. Both horns work.
    But I may reinstall the original horns and then add wiring and the relay for the Hella horns.
     
    #8 ASRDogman, Nov 26, 2018
  9. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    How about, checked the horn fuse?
     
    #9 Grit, Nov 27, 2018
    Raytheeagle likes this.
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