[arjithin]

Love the idea, will try it one day in my car

https://youtu.be/lv8wqnk_TsA

[chncar]

Originally Posted by arjithin

Love the idea, will try it one day in my car

=====

I saw that video a couple of weeks back on my youtube feed and I loved the idea and the whole DIY skill, but felt that in India the only result of that horn will be to have people reaching for their phone to see if they got a chat message or a text

[M.R.Boruwa]

Recently got a new Horn fitted on my Car. Sounds really Good . Setup done with a 2 way switch for OEM horn to be intact. This will be only for special times when some extra loudness is required. Horn is placed below left side Headlight.

I had to run a a few shops in search of a person who could fit it. Most of the accessory shops denied to fit it and asked me to go to car electrical workshops. Some Garages who agreed to do it quoted between 1300 - 1700 INR. Finally found a guy near to my place on Hennur Road ( Bangalore ) he did it neatly and charge was also reasonable + 100 For Switch + and 60 for 4 Meter 1.5mm Wire.

Electricians contact: Maruthi electronics
271, Hennur Bagalur Rd, HRBR Layout, HBR Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560043
GPS = 13.0385612,77.6413421

[chncar]

The horn on my stock Baleno petrol is absolutely pathetic, and remained pathetic even after (with much back and forth) I had them replaced under warranty.

So I decided to go for an aftermarket horn, with the idea of fitting it in parallel to the existing horn, using a relay and a switch on the dashboard to change between the two. That was the setup on my old car. I also talked to a guy in the Maruti service station and he said that that setup would be best as it would not void the warranty.

Now, when I actually went to the accessory shop (Radio Warehouse, a well known installer in Chennai) he was absolutely adamant that the best thing would be to just do a straight swap of the stock horn with the new horns (Hella Chromes) fitting into the same place on the car. He said that the car came with the relay, that the new horns were within the specs of the stock horn, and that adding an additional relay or switch would in fact void the warranty as it would involve splicing of wires, whereas with this option, we literally unplug the lugs from the stock horn and plug them into the new horn and that is it, this being the case with newer cars that have dual horns and only single horn models need a relay.

The setup works well (touchwood) and no issues so far, but I am a bit worried whether it would void the warranty. Any ideas on that?

I have intentionally kept everything on my car stock (which is why I chose that particular model and variant as most of the stuff I wanted came with the car), and have only been forced to replace the horn as the stock horn was absolutely useless.

[R2D2]

One of my OEM horn spade connectors snapped off probably due to corrosion which resulted in the high tone unit not working. Factory horns are Roots. UGH! Thought they'd be Densos.

I went to my favourite car accessory store in Pune Camp and requested a repair. Normally one needs to take off the bumper to get at the horns, but these dudes just loosened some of the fasteners moved the bumper back an inch or two and began working on the connector. It was done in 5 minutes flat.

But then something caught my attention. It was a nice shiny pair of Hella Super Tone (Red Grille) horns being fitted on a brand new Fortuner. Well, I gave into temptation and thought I'd get these Hellas fitted as well.

Originally Posted by chncar

He said that the car came with the relay, that the new horns were within the specs of the stock horn, and that adding an additional relay or switch would in fact void the warranty as it would involve splicing of wires, whereas with this option, we literally unplug the lugs from the stock horn and plug them into the new horn and that is it, this being the case with newer cars that have dual horns and only single horn models need a relay.

That's exactly my experience. I wanted a method to switch between OEM and
the new Hellas. I was advised against it as it meant drawing additional lengths of wire/cable past the firewall and into the dash. Plus some of the switches were known to give problems in the long term. He also told me I would not need the Hella relay since all cars with twin horns (as most are nowadays) came with an OEM relay. So, it was literally plug-and-play. The Hellas were installed in another 5 minutes. And I was set to roll. They are LOUD!

Now that the excitement has worn off, my own words elsewhere on this thread are now coming back to haunt me:

a) Roots OEM horns are 3A each, Hella Super Tones 5.5A-6A each

b) The OEM wire is thin, Can it take 6A despite the made-for-3A rating?
I doubt it.

c) OEM relay is probably sized for 10-15A given the power draw of the factory fitted horns

d) OEM fuse is 10A. But even under the rated power draw of 11-12A, it has not blown..yet.

This is making me uncomfortable and I will probably get the wiring redone with 4 sq mm/14 AWG wire. I do not want to take risks with the OEM factory wiring or relays. They are expensive to replace.

The setup works well (touchwood) and no issues so far, but I am a bit worried whether it would void the warranty. Any ideas on that?

As mentioned the factory wiring is sized for specific loads. Aftermarket horns would probably void the wiring warranty. Use a custom made wiring harness to install the horns.

EDIT: I almost fell off my chair. The main engine harness which has a 'branch' that connects the horns costs nearly ₹2 lakhs as per Boodmo. Good grief! Enough said, I am getting the new auxiliary wiring & relay fitted ASAP.

This is what it looks like for those curious to know. They are the two puny wires/connectors to the left and right of the T badge/logo: https://toyota.7zap.com/en/gr/coroll.../8202/825913c/

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Good grief! Enough said, I am getting the new auxiliary wiring & relay fitted ASAP.

An update - an auxilary harness was fitted, not the Hella harness that I purchased off Amazon but a jugaad item that was constructed on the fly. Why didn't I take the Hella harness with me? Read on.

Some mistakes by the auto electrician:

a) They obviously don't understand the relationship between current and wire gauge. So this dude thought of using 1 sq. mm wire that I flatly refused and he sauntered off to a corner of the workshop and brought back a roll of 2.5 sq mm wire. Hmm, that's better I thought. Better, but not what I wanted i.e. 4 sq. mm. But 2.5 sq. mm/14 AWG will do in a pinch.

b) He constructed the harness using spade connectors and a pair of pliers. And squeezed the connector's wings flat onto the exposed strands. and then the wire grips. Not good.

c) He well and truly screwed up the Hella relay that came in the box. Used smaller female spade connectors, probably 5mm instead of the 6.3mm required. Tried to force the connectors onto the pins and when they didn't fit, pulled them off. The relay pins came loose having being literally ripped off their seats inside the assembly. He gave up and suggested I used a Minda relay rated at 70 A (probably overstated if one considers its construction quality) whereas the Hella is 30A.

d) Fitted the Minda relay with the 2.5 sq. mm wire. And when I asked him about the inline fuse for the wire leading from the battery's +ve terminal he proceeded to nod his head and concocted a fuse holder by chopping the wire attached two spade terminals and plugging a 20A ATO blade fuse in it. I couldn't believe my eyes!

e) Had my new Pioneer HU fitted & tested both the horn and the HU and proceeded to move on to my next destination and complete the rest of the day's work.

f) I will be fitting my brand new Hella relay harness myself. I saved it from the idiot. He'd have butchered the nicely made harness.

The horns are terrible and I mean that in a good way. Very loud and high pitched guaranteed to irritate anybody in range ( I think twice before using them) and get attention whether they're other cars, bikes, cyclists, rickshawallahs and best off all the huge lumbering trucks. LOL! They are pretty evil. The stock OEM horns sounded melodious by comparison.

Also bought a set of Hella Yellow Panther Sharptone horns & a harness for the Palio 1.6 GTX.

Lesson learnt? Keep an eye on these blokes when they work on your car's electricals. They will take shortcuts have nothing to lose & neither do they bear the consequences of a shabby job. You do.

[R2D2]

As some of us who have fitted aftermarket horns are aware, Hella horns come without instructions or an electrical schematic diagram.

Here's what I was able to pull off the 'net. In short:

1) For -ve switched systems (horn button controls path to ground/chassis) follow diagram 2a).

In case you've fitted a 2 way switch to retain factory horns follow diagram 1a)

2) For +ve switched systems (horn button controls +ve/live feed from the battery) follow diagram 2b)

In case you've fitted a 2 way switch to retain factory horns follow diagram 1b)

3) If your car came with a dual horns from the factory it probably has a relay and can take aftermarket horns upto and not exceeding the rating of the factory horns.

If for e.g. the factory horns are 3A and the aftermarket horns are 6A, you will need to bypass the OEM harness and fit an auxiliary harness with a relay AND a 15A/20A fuse to protect the wiring from overloads and/or short circuits. Do not compromise on safety.

A car that came with only 1 horn (the embarrassing beep-beep the roadrunner type ) will require an auxiliary harness with relay and a fuse.

4) The diagrams are applicable to other makes of horns as well.

[unk9ja]

Here is a comprehensive list of Bosch horns, relays and accessories from their August 2016 catalogue. Please ignore the MRP printed as this has undergone change post GST implementation.

Horns Relays Accessories.pdf

Please mention the 13 digit part number to the stockist/ Dealer when you ask for as it is easy to retrieve from the system

[straight6]

Fitted these hella chromes today and they sound superb. Ive used the mindas, roots and hellas black pearl earlier. Lets hope they last.

[GT3]

Originally Posted by straight6

Fitted these hella chromes today and they sound superb. Ive used the mindas, roots and hellas black pearl earlier. Lets hope they last.

I have been using Roots Windtone in my bike and car for 2 years. One thing I observed is that they are very reliable unless there is water ingress. It has gone kaput in my bike where as it is functioning like new in my car. They are also the cheapest trumpet horns, 375 rs a pair.

[treadmark]

Originally Posted by straight6

Fitted these hella chromes today and they sound superb. Ive used the mindas, roots and hellas black pearl earlier. Lets hope they last.

Yes, they will. We had in our Swift for two years until we sold and it worked like a charm.
Now we have it in our CiaZ for close to a year. These are made in Germany and bit higher on the price, these have a unique tone when compared to our Vento's dual tone horn.

I was hesitant initially to buy these for our Swift since these are made in Germany, a place where they hardly honks, hence thought the product life cycle will be relatively less. Looks like Hella had India in mind while designing and checked for long life cycles

Cheers!

[gururajrv]

I’ve been using Hella Chrome Trumphet for over 5 months now. I should say I’m pretty impressed with the tone. It’s quite sharp. I’ve been hearing mouthful from my wife to have another set of horns which is mild with switch to use interchangeably

Since my Brezza is just over 10 months old, I do not want to meddle with electricals yet. But I recommend this set of horns to those who have most of the travel on highways.

I got this from Amazon at a very reasonable price when the sale was on!

[straight6]

In fact im thinking of getting hellas 3 trumpet pressure horn for the highway with a switch to toggle .

[Vid6639]

A useful product for those who have cars with custom horn connectors. I couldn't change my Ecosport's horn to a twin tone skoda type horn as Ford uses a OE horn connector.

I ordered this connector for Ford and can change to any universal horn without touching the original wiring of the car.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Spec...258495052.html

[anthusiast]

Have been observing in Bangalore, almost all Ola/Uber cabs have the Skoda/VW type trumpet horns. Even two wheelers have joined the bandwagon. Irritates a lot when vehicles try to overtake from left with these intimidating horns.