Get attention from the BIG BOYS

[LB_3]

Back to the topic of horns:

The Hella horns are a nice improvement in tone but don't expect a radical improvement in volume. It's more of a modest gain.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by LB_3

Back to the topic of horns:

The Hella horns are a nice improvement in tone but don't expect a radical improvement in volume. It's more of a modest gain.

Based on the logarithmic decibel scale, it only takes a 3dB increase to double the sound volume. So, working backwards, if you added a second OEM "neep, neep" horn, you'd see exactly a 3dB increase, double the sound volume of one horn.

I suspect that a dual Hella high-low horn package will do a lot better than double the volume; you're not only adding a second horn, but each horn produces more decibels than the OEM horn. You should be able to see at least a 10dB increase (ten times the volume) if not more.

Sound works on the inverse-square law; for each doubling of the distance, the sound volume is quartered. Working the inverse-square law in reverse, for each fourfold increase in sound volume, the distance at which your horn can be heard doubles. That means each 6dB increase doubles the distance at which you can be heard. If you can get a 12dB increase with the Hella horns, you can be heard from four times as far away as with the OEM horn.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Horn replacement moved to the top of our priority list yesterday afternoon. Circumstances and logistics have made me hell-bent on taking our Interstate into some of the most challenging urban areas here in America's fourth largest city, which has no zoning, and which has attempted to compensate for obsolete mobility assets by squeezing in substandard travel lanes where they were never intended to fit, and then running commuter trains straight down the middle of the resulting mess.

This pic was taken of my side camera monitor using my cell phone as I was waiting to turn left at an intersection in the Texas Medical Center yesterday afternoon. See where the yellow line falls relative to the side of my Interstate? I was actually lane-centered when I took this. I keep encountering impossibly tight urban scenarios and I need a better horn so that I can issue gentle reminders that, unlike the Smart Cars and Audis that surround me, I'm just barely fitting through, and folks better be mindful of where I am. Houstonians are fairly polite with their horns but they do tap them quite a bit for informational purposes. So it helps tremendously if the horn is actually audible.

Hi, so from what you stated, If you had louder horns, it would instantly make Texas Highway lanes wider to fit your Interstate. I know this isn't a trailer thread, but my trailer is quite a bit wider than your Van. I towed my trailer through down town San Francisco with very narrow lanes and tons of traffic. Never had to use my horn once.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

I know this isn't a trailer thread, but my trailer is quite a bit wider than your Van.

The narrowest traffic lanes will be 9 feet wide in many residential areas and some urban highways; optimum is 12 feet wide on rural highways, and 10 feet is pretty common on urban highways where they took slices out of each lane and the shoulders to squeeze in an extra traffic lane. In general, the narrower the traffic lanes, the slower the speed limit will be, based on an esoteric formula promulgated by the Federal Highway Administration.

I've driven my Interstate on 9-foot-wide roads in the New Orleans metro area, and never felt like I was in danger of being sideswiped by traffic in an adjacent lane. On the other hand, I've also driven on 12-foot-wide lanes on I-12 where passing semis scared the bejezus out of me because of high crosswinds that made their (probably empty) box trailers swing toward me and threaten to swat me like a bug.

It's all a matter of perception. When you're towing a trailer, your total vehicle size is rather larger than when you're driving a glorified delivery van— as you so rightly pointed out— and other drivers will make more allowances for trailers because even someone who doesn't tow a trailer expects that a trailer needs more room. Sometimes, it seems that a Sprinter van might as well be invisible, considering the way other drivers leave you exactly as much space— no more, no less— than they would leave any other (smaller) passenger car. In particular, other drivers seem to have no clue how much turning radius a Sprinter van needs.

[LB_3]

I've driven a van in Manhattan and I don't think I could have figured it out without the helpful horn taps from the locals and cabbies. Interblog did a better job putting her desire for a better horn in context on her blog but here are a couple pics from that post:

[m.hony]

Driven everywhere- seldom, if ever, have used the horn-
Sometimes horn blowing has nothing to do with clear and present danger, but has plenty to do with road rage-


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[Ron_CA]

I have only used my horn a couple of times.

Once in Las Cruces New Mexico in the downtown area I pulled up at a 3 way or T intersection. Left lane turns left, right lane turns right, except the semi truck in the left lane decided he was going to turn left. Some how, some way, he heard the meep meep of my feable horn, otherwise our Interstate would have been scrunged. It was close, but again he somehow heard the horn.

[jerhofer]

Taking the advice of some in this thread, I bought a pair of Hella horns and installed them today. The stock horn is behind the grill on the right side near the headlight. To gain access the grill must be removed. There are four torx screws across the top of the grill. Remove those and pull the grill straight up to release it. There are five tabs on the bottom which fit into an obvious place. Less obvious are the two hooks on the back of the grill about halfway up that fit over the metal tabs. See below.







I removed the stock horn and its bracket.





There wasn't enough room to mount both horns on the right side. I mounted one there using the original bolt. To mount the other horn, I drilled a hole in the plastic above the radiator and used the original horn mount to mount the second Hella unit. I used a thick nut to space the horn down to clear the grill.





I cut the original horn wiring and soldered two leads onto the harness. To get the power to the second horn, I used a couple piggyback clips on the right side horn. On one side I attached the leads from the original wiring. I then made up a harness to run to the other horn and clipped them onto the other side of the piggyback clip.







They are not air-horn loud, but are a big improvement over the stock horn.