northflguy

OK, so first off, I did do a search on this topic, but could not find what I needed.

I bought an aftermarket horn for my 14 F150. It actually is 2 horns (just like the stock ones); the make/model is Hella Super Tone Horn Set B133. The horns appear similar to the stock, but the connections are different. The new horns simply have two copper push-on connectors on both horns. On the stock ones, one horn has ONE connector plug, and I'm not quite sure what the other one has, because I haven't disassembled it yet. The new horn set also has a small relay unit, and it did not come with any wires or connectors.

Obviously, the directions are a bit confusing, hence, that is why I am posting here.

Any & all help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

northflguy

Hmm....so 3 days have passed and not one reply? Guess no one has ever replaced their stock horn with aftermarket units (not counting air horns)?

Or maybe not enough people are seeing this, and I should have posted it in the "General Discussion" subforum, even though this really is the proper place for it. Looking at that General forum though, I notice that there are MANY threads there which are "in the wrong place." Whatever......

Martian

Then let's find out. Moved to General.

Suzuki14258

On mine I cut the connectors off the oem horn and spliced them onto the new horn so they would plug into the oem Horn

elricfate

You're going to want to use that relay. Those Hellas pull more amperage than the OEM horn and the wiring won't handle it.

DBL Boost

Wrong post aorry

Cowpig

agreed, without knowing what amps the stock horns pull - i'd go ahead and use the relay

the connectors on the new hella horns are probably one positive, one neutral/ground. the stock horns probably ground through the mount which is why only one wire.

for wiring the new horns you can use the positive OEM/power for the stock horns to 'switch' the relay. You can ground the relay and the new horns to the same place (ie; the mounting location - crimp a round terminal connector to both ground wires and put the bolt through those when you mount the horns/done). for power to the horns you'll run a wire (12-14 ga would be safe) from the battery, through a fuse (inline), to one terminal of the relay - then continue the wiring to the horns from the other terminal

i'd guess you may not be familiar with using relays so here's one of a billion online diagrams for how to use them / what each terminal does.


basically a relay allows a very small gauge wire/minimal power (ie; tap the accessory socket relay inside the cab and run an 18 ga or smaller wire from a switch to under the hood) so that you aren't drawing many amps on the stock circuit to switch accessories - the full power/amps are then allowed to go from the battery through the relay to the accessory (in this case the horns). Also in this case, the 'switch' in your cab is the existing horn circuit - you're using the horn on the steering wheel to switch the relay allowing the power to go (completing the circuit).

I use fuses all over the place when I wire stuff - they're cheap and easy to use ... fried electric circuits are a pain in the rear and dangerous. I was wiring brand new KC lights onto my f150 - the fuse kept blowing no matter how big I put in even 20 amp. I broke my rule and rather than using a multi-meter to troubleshoot I hooked them directly to the battery - in about 1 second one of the KC ground wires started smoking. luckily nothing got damaged and I had only touched the positive to the battery so just let go - replaced that wire and problem was solved. things like that can happen anytime - so if you install something and it works for days, months, years ... someday it may not - rather a fuse pop than burn your truck up!

hth, i'm in no way an electrical expert - so anyone else who knows this stuff please chime in. My first wiring job on a car consisted of me running 12 gauge direct from the battery into the cab of my bronco II and jumpering it across a bunch of terminals on a block as a 'power bus' of sorts. just bare copper wire for the last 3" as I wound it around the terminals ... no fuses ... and this was all mounted inside a wooden center console I had built. haha, what a clown - lucky I didn't burn that one down to the tires!