How do I wire my train horns to the alarm?

Okay took things apart a little. Found the relay and discovered how everything is wired. Im gonna upload pics and info right now....

 

Oooookay Gents (anthony in particular) I have some pictures from my wiring setup that I took today. I obtained these pictures from videos I took of everything. I sound like a complete noob on these videos and waste a lot of time I think so I just took stills from them. I will upload the vids to youtube though in case it helps, for now here's the pics:

HOW THE SWITCH AND RELAY ARE SETUP:

SWITCH:
The off and on switch (which allows activation of the horns through the steering wheel horn) has one wire going to the relay, and one wire going to a connector in the fuse box behind the coin tray

THE RELAY:
The relay (like anthony described) has 5 ports on it with some numbers I couldn't read. Based on the picture, this is where the wires lead to....

870 (bottom) : goes to pressure switch that allows airflow to the horns
87 (top): goes to the stock horn #1 (on the left still mounted)
86 (left): goes to switch in cab
85 (right): goes to ground (attached to frame)
middle wire (#?): is going to the horn the relay is attached to (stock horn #2 that is unmounted)



(SORRY FOR THE QUALITY)

This is the fuse box the off and on switch go to. The blue wires with the red connecting sleeves are what go to the actual switch. The back left wire goes to relay, The front right wire splices into the blue wire with a yellow stripe going into that connector (of which I have no idea what it does)



These are the stock horns (stock horn #1 is on the left and #2 with the relay attached to it is on the right)


Here's the relay attached to stock horn #2


Aaaaand for extra credit here's a couple more pics, one of theair regulator switch that #870 goes to...



and the ground that #85 goes to:

 

P.S. I think 870 might be the number for the middle wire, and the number for the bottom wire is blocked and therefore unknown.

 

I need some time to look at a relay and figure out from your pictures which wire goes to exactly which pin. Those 85 85 etc I need to be sure in order to do this right. It seems as though they did this the hard way but give me a little bit I'll see what I can do.

 

OK here we go. First of all, in the quote above I have corrected your wiring info so that it is accurate. Hopefully this helps us better understand whats going on. There is an easy solution and a hard solution. The hard solution requires rewiring the entire setup the right way, because what they did makes NO sense at all to me at all, but the way I see it is as long as its working, lets just leave it for now ok. If you knew more about relays and electrical I would give you a correct wire diagram and you could do it, but well just go with the easy fix for now since you have limited knowledge about this stuff.

Below is a standard relay as used in your setup. Hopefully this helps you better understand how this all works:



Now, according to the information you provided, this is how your current setup is wired:



You can see that 85 is grounded at all times, this is good. In order to activate/deactivate the relay, you must apply/remove 12v power to pin 86. That is why 86 goes to the switch, which then goes to the BLUE/YELLOW wire in the fuse box. (This is the problem!) Wiring labeled in green for pins 30, 87, and 87a make no sense to me whatsoever, BUT, if it works with the car on, then what I am about to have you do SHOULD fix the problem.

That BLUE/YELLOW wire is IGNITION 2 in your truck, meaning that it is ONLY powered when the key is in the ON position. This is why when your key is off, the switch has no power to activate the relay and make it work. The solution is to connect your switch to a constant 12v power source, that way even when the truck is off, your switch/relay setup SHOULD still work, therefore if you leave the switch on and hit panic, your train horn should sound instead. Note that if you dont leave the switch on, then your panic will still work as it does now with the stock horns.

So, in this picture:



REMOVE the FRONT RIGHT BLUE wire that comes from the SWITCH and connects to the OEM BLUE/YELLOW wire (leave it connected to the switch, just disconnect from the oem blue/yellow wire) DO NOT CUT THE BLUE/YELLOW WIRE - IT MAY NEED TO BE TAPED UP AFTER REMOVING THE QUICK CONNECT TO HIDE ANY EXPOSED COPPER!

Now, you need to locate a constant 12v power source and reconnect your blue switch wire to it. The best options are either:
A) find the large WHITE/BLUE or WHITE/RED wires (YOU ONLY NEED 1 OF THESE, NOT BOTH. Not sure if they can be found in the same area with the fuse box, if not, they can be found under the steering column at the ignition. Both are constant 12v ignition wires that go to the battery)
B) run it through the firewall and connect directly to the battery if you cant locate one of the wires listed above.

Although I do not understand how your system is wired, in theory the direction listed above should work. All we are doing is powering the relay with a constant wire instead of ignition only wire which allows your relay to work anytime, without the key. Remember, you must leave the switch in the on position in order for this to work.

I tried to make this as fail proof an easy to understand as possible. Hope this helps. As long as it works, I really wouldnt worry about the rest of it. If you ever want to redo everything the correct way though, let me know and I will make a diagram like I did above but with more details to show you what to do.

Good Luck!

 

Thank you! Wonderful right up I understand it completely and that is really a milestone for me lol. I'm gonna give it a try today first by just connecting the switch to a constant 12v supply and testing it out. If it the new wiring works I will make it more permanent and tick the wires away. I'll let you know how it goes... Thank you very much for making such an awesome diagram

 

Many many MANY thanks to Anthony for helping me get this setup. I can't believe it was so simple! Well I now understand the wiring and how relays work a lot better AND my train horns are successfully rigged to the panic alarm. I took a video and It's uploading to youtube right now. As soon as it's up I'll post it on here I think you guys will like it

 

Here is the video we took of it working. The mic cannot do the horns enough justice.

Originally I didn't cut the ignition wire to the switch after attaching a power wire which caused my clicker not to work at all. Once I disconnected it everything worked and that's what I was testing in the first part of the video. Totally caught us all of guard because we didn't think it would work before I cut that wire. Haha. THANKS PROFORCE

http://youtu.be/Wh-qOJCpsT4

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Wh-qOJCpsT4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

BeeRad, question for you... why is your second stock horn not mounted to the truck?? Does it just dangle around in there

 

Whatchya talkin aboout bud? Both stock horns are bolted in tight and secure. I only took it off to show the relay better. I put it back on right after

 

Oh OK gotcha. That's what I was confused about

 

Thanks again for all your help bud, I don't think I'll make a separate thread for this as my wiring is a little funny. I really appreciate it and I love that it works with my panic now....I'm always tempted when walking back to the truck to set em off now

 

nice set up man! and if you want to get some one. have a buddy park a few spots down from you. sit in his car/truck, and wait for someone to walk/get close to your truck and set them off. i have always wanted to do that.

 

I have a PA/Siren that I use for work purposes. It has built in air horn (electronic) that I have been trying to figure out a way to connect that to my alarm but unless I get into some serious modifications of the control unit I dont think it will work. And speaking if messing with your buddies, I also wish I had a way to remotely control the PA, that way I could watch from a distance and wait for just the right moment, but that doesnt seem possible either without purchasing a lot more equipment that I really wouldnt use. Would be awesome though.

Keep in mind this is a 100w PA sytem, it is an actual Police/Fire/Medical Siren/PA setup so it loud AF! not as loud as the train horn im sure, but still loud!

Hey BeeRad, now that I have most of the info for your wiring, can I get a few more details when you get a chance?? You said that 1 pin of the relay goes to stock horn 1 and another pin of the relay goes to stock horn 2... Can you look at it a little closer and tell me exactly which oem horm wire the relay is connected to and how your stock horns are wired. For example, when you say its connected to stock horn 1, is it connected to a brown wire, blur wire, etc (just example i really havent checked which wires are in there) and is the OEM wire cut completely and your relay is connected to only one side or is it just tapped onto the wire?? If its cut, which side is the relay connected to.. horn side or truck side?? What wires connect the 2 horns together, and which stock horn has wire/s that lead into the truck?? pictures and as many details as possible would really help. Im trying to figure out how they wired your relay just for my own personal benefit and learning experience. I was thinking and it may not be wired as wrong as I originally thought, thats why i want to figure it out. Obviously it cant be that wrong if it works haha but im just curious. Thanks. And I got your PM... ill respond now.

 

i want a PA bad. but i know i may piss someone off and have them call the cops on me for it. i would be yelling at people all the time. but it’s not illegal to have in TN

 

*Fixed you said it not Illegal, im guessing you meant it is illegal or not legal right?

Check THIS out, it is a 100w police/fire/ems PA and air horn WITHOUT any siren capabilities... much easier to justify to the cops, especially since you have a truck. Just say its for "offroad purposes only" now it you get caught using it on the street, thats a different story. But atleast they cant get you on Felony impersonation since it doesnt have a siren

And THIS would be 1 of many different speakers to go with it. make sure it is a 100w speaker, no more no less. This is the one I run and it LOUD!! The slim or cube ones are WAY easier to mount and sound just as good, but to me not worth the money.

Heres a picture of mine. Its an older model control box, but same speaker:

 

Yeah man Absolutely! If it would work easier for you I could record a video :not sure:
Might be easier to explain how things are wired/show where they are going. Either way I'll get you more information on how it's wired from the switch in the cab to the relay behind the grille.
Gimme a day or two and I'll have that for ya

 

no problem. A video is fine, as long as it shows specific connections to the stock horns and wire colors. I got the switch and relay part figured out that part I dont need. Thanks!

 

no. what i meant was that is not illegal. meaning i CAN have it and not get in any trouble for it.

now idk about using it on the road. but i don’t care i will anyways. i know a cop that has one in his truck. told me he plays with it all the time.

i was going to go with a CB setup for it. i’m going to put a CB in anyways.

 

I don't have train horns, but 2 little air horns on a small compressor hooked up to my Viper 791V alarm. The problem I have is the relay's don't last long, I'd say maybe 4 or 5 months then they quit. I'll post pics and the wiring diagram soon. any ideas would be helpful