Hella Supertone Horn Help... (1 Viewer)

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I have a set in the garage, somewhere :dunno:. Someday soon I'll get around to putting them in - will let you know then. I know a few on the 80's list have them.
 
Doschev,
First, I do not have the Hellas. I do not want to insult your intelligence, but I will jabber a bit and maybe something will help you. The Hellas come with a relay so one wire would come from a 12v source (battery or large 12v source) to the relay then to the horns. Next you need to pull in the relay. You can use a button switch or use the stock horn wiring. For a button switch you would need 12v to the switch, then from the switch to one side of the coil on the relay. The other side of the relay coil would go to ground. If you use the stock wiring: a 97 has a small green wire with white stripe going to the horns which are grounded by being bolted to the support in front of the radiator. You can tie in to this wire and use the regular horn switch on the steering wheel to activate the horns. Your tie in would go from the small green wire to one side of the relay coil - the other side to ground. I don't know where your planning to mount your horns or if your planning to keep the stock horns. Either way there is room where the stock horns are mounted (at least on a 97). It sounds confusing but is really very simple. I'm sure they will come with instructions. I'm not trying to talk down to you but I don't know where your coming from. Hope this helps.
Bill
 
Hey Photo - if you don't have the Hellas what gives? You seem to know a lot about them ("green and white wire" etc :D ) - you just have too much spare time so you're memorizing your elect manual? :D .... or you got something else under there? 8)
 
Junk,
No, it wasn't like that. Mines apart in the garage with the hood up so I just went and looked at the wire hanging there. I did a test with my horns that are off by hitting them with 12v to verify what they were lookin for. Went to the link he posted and saw the relay with the horns so just did a deduction like the IRS. All the old US car horns ran off a relay so they could really hit them with the juice. Don't tell me you don't trust me. :G
Bill
 
Bill,

He just thinks that you have too much idle time on your hands.........like me ::)

Junk, the hood that was open is a 53301-60250 8)
 
Photoman,

I was hoping that these horns were "Plug and Play" but apparently not! What you wrote up helped me get in the right frame of mind to read the diagram's instructions, make some wires and get busy.

Thanks :ugh:
 
Doschev,
Actually, you probably could just cut/cut into the stock wire and run that to the horns and they would work. The problem is the Toyota wire is like a number 16 or 18 wire; not enough to get the full potential from the horns. (like the headlights if you read the threads on uggrading the wiring). By using a relay this allows a small wire to power the electromagnet (coil) of the relay to pull in the contacts which just close the circuit of a much larger wire. Then the larger wire can supply lots of juice (amps) to the horns and get someones attention. Just make sure the horns are well grounded as it doesn't do any good to have large wires with a bad ground.
Bill
 
Bill,

  He just thinks that you have too much idle time on your hands.........like me ::)

 Junk, the hood that was open is a 53301-60250 8)
Yup. :D .... Nah Photo - was just wondering if you're filling your brain with all the wire colors cause you got nothing better to do :D kidding.

Yeah Cdan - you know what you can do with that hood. :eek: :D Got me UPS delivery today - thanks ...
new-u_small.jpg
 
Junk,

You mean turn it upside down and ride it down the snow hill? :G
 
the Hella Supertones will plug right into the stock wiring(and fit in stock location), no cutting at all, they each need a seperate ground however....to the mounting bolt for the horn works fine.

I had mine at first wired with a relay and they were no louder and for some bizzare reason sometimes they wouldn't work......like when I needed them.

Yes I know how to wire crap and yes I was suprised they were no louder when the relay was used and I have no clue(and I screwed with them for a month) why they sometimes didn't work.

But they are a nice horn.....

John
 
Sheet, now we have guys like Pimp in here? WTF? Now it's going downhill fast :flipoff2: Wassup Holmaaaaaaaaaaas? :flipoff2: :D
 
FWIW a 97 Toyota has a 22A horn relay in the fuse box under the hood. There is about 6 feet of wire from the relay to the horns. It looks like the stock horn wire is about 18 gauge which will handle 8 amps for a max of 7 feet according the the wire chart I use. The stock horns are 4A and on an amp probe pulled 2.55A. I don't know how many amps the Hellas are, but if the are less than 8A the stock wire should work. Again just make sure of the ground. The bracket the horns are now bolted to is itself bolted on both sides. If you want to be sure of the ground, run a wire to something like the battery negative, frame, or a good spot on the body. If it were mine and I decided to use the Hella relay, I would eliminate the Toyota relay. Otherwise the Hella relay is being pulled in through the Toyota relay.
Bill
 
FWIW a 97 Toyota has a 22A horn relay in the fuse box under the hood. There is about 6 feet of wire from the relay to the horns. It looks like the stock horn wire is about 18 gauge which will handle 8 amps for a max of 7 feet according the the wire chart I use. The stock horns are 4A and on an amp probe pulled 2.55A. I don't know how many amps the Hellas are, but if the are less than 8A the stock wire should work. Again just make sure of the ground. The bracket the horns are now bolted to is itself bolted on both sides. If you want to be sure of the ground, run a wire to something like the battery negative, frame, or a good spot on the body. If it were mine and I decided to use the Hella relay, I would eliminate the Toyota relay. Otherwise the Hella relay is being pulled in through the Toyota relay.
Bill


Bill, I bet that was the problem, the Toyota relay AND the Hella relay.....oh well they work with the stock relay.

John
 
After digesting the considerable information above (Thanks) I installed the Hellas last night. I decided wire the horns up with the relay per instructions. After about an hour of making wires came the moment of truth - the horns are loud and strong!

Subjectively, while the horns are plenty loud, I would prefer a slightly deeper tone. The tone of the Hellas are slightly deeper than the stock horns but considerably more "urgent/loud".

If I have any issues with the horns not working ALL THE TIME with the relay, I'll post that here.

Thanks all
 
I installed the Hellas recently too and was unimpressed with the sound. They sound like a BMW, kind of high note, and aren't really very loud (but much better than stock). On my 60 I put on FIAMM Freeway Blasters, both Hi and Lo tones. Now those are a loud horn! Much more bass, like a Caddy. They're available at NAPA, and cost about half the Hella's, plus no relays! The only downside is they're shaped like a snail shell with an open end, which, it turns out, will fill with water if you point the open end up and drive through a water hole.
 

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