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Old 03-17-2015, 11:31 AM   #1
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Get attention from the BIG BOYS

I would like to change or add to my safety by having a horn that sounds like an 18 wheeler to get the attention of the drivers that can't hear, are concentrating on their phones, listening to tunes with their earbuds , or drive in their own fog. Any suggestions for this improvement????
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Old 03-17-2015, 11:36 AM   #2
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Been thinking the same thing. I suspect you might find what you want here:

Train Horns - From Air Horns of Texas | Air Horns of Texas, Train Horns, Train Air Horns
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Old 03-17-2015, 11:58 AM   #3
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My coach has a pair of them on top , just to the port side of the spotlight.
They sure do make an impression when blasted. Well in keeping with the somewhat train like look of the long airstream motorhome.

Cheers Richard
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Old 03-17-2015, 11:59 AM   #4
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You don't need to go to that extreme. A more prosaic dual-tone horn under the hood in place of the anemic OEM single-tone "neep, neep" horn will do just as well. And without scaring the other driver half to death so that he does something even dumber due to startlement. Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Hella-SuperTon...+electric+horn

While as a driver I hate wimpy horns, at the other extreme I also hate extremely loud horns that wake me up at weird-thirty in the morning from three blocks away (which is how far my apartment complex is from I-10) with several walls between me and the horn in question.

A nice Goldilocks middle ground, loud enough to get the other driver's attention if he's close enough to cause you an accident, but not loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood, seems about right.
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Old 03-17-2015, 12:31 PM   #5
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I put a set of air horns on my TV. Bought them at an Auto Parts Store. ( Canadian Tire) but available throughout the States. It has it's own compressor and two trumpet horns. It gives a satisfying sound that can be heard over the loud stereo and gets the attention of whomever I am honking at. It didn't work for the darn deer I hit last March but I know it knew what was going to hit it.
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Old 03-17-2015, 01:02 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by unifreck View Post
I would like to change or add to my safety by having a horn that sounds like an 18 wheeler to get the attention of the drivers that can't hear, are concentrating on their phones, listening to tunes with their earbuds , or drive in their own fog. Any suggestions for this improvement????
T1N owners are united in this desire... I laughed out loud when I read this. I don't usually experience road rage, but that changes when I have to sound my own horn. My resulting rage is directed NOT at the offending driver but rather at anonymous German engineers who in their infinite stupidity put THAT horn into MY Interstate. Were they on drugs?! What excuse could they possibly have?! My husband and I have discussed the possibility of installing the train horn, but Protag has a point about not scaring the bejeepers out of people...
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Old 03-17-2015, 01:17 PM   #7
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My resulting rage is directed NOT at the offending driver but rather at anonymous German engineers who in their infinite stupidity put THAT horn into MY Interstate. Were they on drugs?! What excuse could they possibly have?!
The best excuse of all. Germany, home of the Autobahn, is also the home of drivers who pay attention to what's going on around them!
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Old 03-17-2015, 01:18 PM   #8
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Grover, Emergency horn ....


90psi pump, 1gal tank all mounted under the hood.
Wired to the flash to pass switch with a stand alone on/off thru relay.

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Old 03-17-2015, 01:39 PM   #9
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Sounds like the sprinter airstream coach is a little underguned in the horn department.
While the twin air horns on the bigger coaches is a bit in the other end of the spectrum to me.
And I am about as horn adverse as a driver can be.
When I do blast these as a salute, it usually gets a big smile and wave in return.
Or is that single finger wave not a greeting in return?

Cheers Richard
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Old 03-17-2015, 02:28 PM   #10
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One of the first things I did was replace the stock wimpy horn with some Hella horns; I think it was this or something like it.

http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-00742480...rds=hella+horn

Back in the 80's I drove a Honda Civic. I got tired of getting run off the road so I went to a local auto store and said give me the loudest horns you have. Installed them and later I was behind a guy in a van waiting for a train to pass. The car in front of the guy in a van in front of me stalled, so after the train passed, the guy in the van in front of me started backing up to go around the guy in front of him and I realize he couldn't see me in his mirror so I blast him with the horns. He keeps coming..I blast again and again. He finally rams into me hard. I asked him why he kept coming as he had to hear me honk, I mean it was 100 decibels or more.

He said he thought it was the train.

You can't win.
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Old 03-17-2015, 02:31 PM   #11
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Try hornblasters.com
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Old 03-17-2015, 02:56 PM   #12
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Hornblasters, thats sick, funny , but sick!
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Old 03-17-2015, 04:03 PM   #13
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You need this when your behind someone texting.

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Old 03-17-2015, 09:24 PM   #14
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I got a couple of horns from JC Whitney that were almost direct replacements for the stock ones in my Toyota PU, except for the volume. Semi drivers can now hear me and quickly return to their lane when they wander across the line.
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Old 03-17-2015, 09:31 PM   #15
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This site is great for information on solutions and suggestions on equipping our airstream interstates. After our cross country trip from ca to mi , it was inevitable not to be cut off by truckers and my personal favorite a teenager in a fiat that almost clipped our front bumper at 65mph. After honking ( laying on the horn) pure reflex . Nothing but embarrassment over the sound of the wimpy horn and the middle finger from the fiat of course! Our awesome airstream dealer installed a Wolo bad boy horn , highly recommend this horn it's loud and worthy of a rig like airstream. The best part was our dealer installed this in addition to the wimpy horn along with a switch in an empty slot on the dash to switch back and forth when you need just a polite honk. Btw months later was cut off again by someone crossing 4 lanes of traffic to get off freeway honk the horn and they dropped their cell phone as they gave us the finger, took it as a sign of respect! Lol
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Old 03-17-2015, 09:40 PM   #16
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Installed a pair of the 'Hella' dual tone horns on my HD years ago... no room for a compressor or tank for the air version. Very capable.

A friend had a set installed in his truck a month ago. It cost $850. Why? Well, he was in the 'Austin' area, in a parking lot (Austin is now 'hands free' zone)... and just so happens, this 'lady' is doing something on her phone..in her car... like talking... while in a parking lot. She proceeded to back up without looking behind her.. My friend was trapped by cars ahead and behind. She backed up into his truck while he was full on the horn....

He had the 'switch' for it located in an accessible place. It only engages when he flips the switch..

Reports are he has had to use it a couple times a week.. and the results were astonishing and satisfying.
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Old 03-18-2015, 06:51 AM   #17
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The best excuse of all. Germany, home of the Autobahn, is also the home of drivers who pay attention to what's going on around them!
It's funny you should say that, because my very first ride in a Sprinter was actually in Bavaria some years ago. It was a people-mover hired by my client to shuttle a half-dozen of us back to the Munich airport and my first reaction was, "What the hell is this contraption?!" followed by a sudden attack of agoraphobia no doubt exacerbated by the previous week's many travels on roads that lacked speed limits.

What I found about Germany is less that they pay attention and more that they simply DON'T HAVE TIME to sound the horn, so why bother having a good one? Because if your driver is going 126 mph and the lorry in the lane next to you screws up a maneuver at 65 mph, your driver has more important things to worry about than hitting the horn.
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Old 03-18-2015, 07:31 AM   #18
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A couple of folks mentioned the freeway... what I have found so far is that my biggest Interstate horn-use scenario is right-on-red drivers who violate left-turn primacy on divided arterials (sorry - can't find a useful diagram on the internet).

In other words, I've got the green arrow and I'm turning left in the Interstate across a very wide divided intersection, and the dufus who is opposing me in the oncoming decides that the exact best time for him to take his right turn on red is when I'm bearing down on him at maximum left turn velocity. Because he checks his own left and sees that cross traffic is stopped but then he neglects to consider that the REASON why his cross traffic is stopped is that his oncoming left-turners are the ones who have the right of way. So without checking his forward field of view (because he is turning right, after all), he jack-rabbits into the intersection, right under my wheels.

This type of moving violation is a huge problem in Houston, which is replete with arterials that are configured this way (they aren't as common in older areas of the country). I've heard cops say that they will never let anyone off without a ticket in those scenarios. Because if drivers are too stupid to check their cross-intersection oncoming, there's no way they deserve a warning.

That being the case, we may get a powerful horn for this reason alone. I need something that conveys the message in an immediately-convincing manner, "Dude, I'm eight thousand pounds, I'm coming straight at you while accelerating because I have the right of way, and you're cutting me off at the worst possible moment."

I've not yet had to slam on the Interstate's brakes while turning. I've had to do it while straight-lining and I've been impressed by the way the T1N handles - it holds the road. But with that whole CG issue... I'd be more hesitant to try evasive action while in a turn. Better to try more moderate deceleration while horn-blasting a wayward driver instead, is what I think.
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Old 03-18-2015, 01:16 PM   #19
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Or - - treat that right-turner like a trucker treats a deer that appears in his headlights at oh-dark-thirty: Don't flinch, drive through it and keep going. How many times have I wished ! was driving a WWII-vintage Dodge Power Wagon, with a railroad tie for a front bumper? Nail the guy in the left front wheel, push him in the ditch or drive right over his hood, and keep right on going . . .
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Old 03-18-2015, 10:25 PM   #20
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+1000 for the Hella SuperTone.
We (as well as almost every other driver i know) use these on our rally cars.
and one in my street car.
and my other sprinter.
and my FJ cruiser.

This is, no exaggeration, the best horn ever.
(i have the one going in my GT sitting on the bench right now)
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