Louder Horn on my weird bus.

[FawnaFox]

My bus is probably one of the stranger spec'd busses out there, it uses hydraulic brakes, but has airbag suspension and air ride seat. I was in a situation where the bus's stock car horn caused more confusion then safety, I was driving my bus down a 2 lane (with middle turn lane) highway, at around 55 miles per hour. A minivan pulled out but didn't make it quite into the turn lane, I of course started braking and wailing on the horn, but the person driving either did not hear the bus's horn or thought it was some impatient person telling her to go. Long story short, I had to veer off the road to not hit them.

TLDR: I want to put either an air horn or some other kind of louder warning device. What is everyone's consensus on that for my bus? It does have air, but I don't think big enough for an air horn. I do want it to be a serious "get out of the way" horn, so I'd prefer an air horn that isn't goofy. Any advice is helpful.

 

[ewo1]

Put an air horn on it!
Let yourself be heard!

Kind of like riding a motorcycle, LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES!

 

[FawnaFox]

Put an air horn on it!
Let yourself be heard!

Kind of like riding a motorcycle, LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES!

What's a good model of 12v air horn? Are they viable? Or should I go through the hassle of tapping off of the seat air line to put in a "real" air horn?

 

[ewo1]

12v...nah...

You got air tanks so grab one from an old truck, dual air horns!

 

[FawnaFox]

Should I pull the air from the line that supplies the seat? Is it enough pressure? I have no experience with pneumatic systems.

 

[s2mikon]

Do you have an engine driven air compressor? If so you will have plenty of air for a real truck horn. Mine has a 3/8" line running to it. I have a caboose whistle thats going on the next time I'm working on it. Make noise raise ****!

 

[FawnaFox]

Do you have an engine driven air compressor? If so you will have plenty of air for a real truck horn. Mine has a 3/8" line running to it. I have a caboose whistle thats going on the next time I'm working on it. Make noise raise ****!

I don't think so, What I thought was it was actually the VP44, Whenever you turn the bus on, the air takes a few seconds to come up, but it is always nothing and then full blast, which makes me believe that it's an electronic air compressor, and I never hear any of the telltale signs of an air compressor.

 

[nikitis]

I didn't even think about my horn until last week. I had to use it for the first time cause some moron was just sitting there blocking traffic going sideways. I realized how weak sounding my horn was and now desire something like a train horn or slightly quieter.

 

[FawnaFox]

It's a thing, you never realize these things about a bus until you own one. For me, it's special because I rode this bus at my school, I have history with my bus. Fond memories of my friends and I riding to Busch gardens with no interest in filling out the educational paper they gave us. Never then did I ever think I own the bus, and yet here I am. I've probably seen parts of this bus that haven't been seen in decades, I was the first to see the bus's factory floor since it was covered in the ski lodge floor in 1998-99 era.

 

[djdalfaro]

My bus doesn't have air, so I bought a pair of 12vdc WOLO horns which work well.

 

[AlphaHare]

Nathan Airchime K series. There is a fun subculture around train horns..... Cheaper ones are probably the way to go - lots of options on Amazon, truck stores....

 

[ewo1]

Should I pull the air from the line that supplies the seat? Is it enough pressure? I have no experience with pneumatic systems.

Follow the air line from your seat back to the tank. Take a pic and show us what you got. simply. a new "T" fitting splitting the port where the driver seat air line is at the tank so that it feed the seat and air horn.

 

[skydawg]

Some air ride seats come with integrated compressors... are you sure the air is coming from somewhere external to the seat? It would seem strange to have a separate compressor just for a seat when you do not have air brakes or an air horn. Disregard this; I overlooked your mention of air ride suspension.

Also, I know exactly what you mean with the weak horn. I have hydraulic brakes and a very sad horn as well and have had similar experiences where people didn't realize I was the one honking at them

 

[FawnaFox]

Some air ride seats come with integrated compressors... are you sure the air is coming from somewhere external to the seat? It would seem strange to have a separate compressor just for a seat when you do not have air brakes or an air horn. Disregard this; I overlooked your mention of air ride suspension.

Also, I know exactly what you mean with the weak horn. I have hydraulic brakes and a very sad horn as well and have had similar experiences where people didn't realize I was the one honking at them

People don't expect the big bus to have a tiny little horn! Apparently most busses have regular car horns.

 

[Mr. Beefy]

My wife bought me nautical air horns as a birthday present you can probably see in my pic here mounted over the driver's window. They're absolutely awesome (as in, 'make me giggle' just thinking of them), but honestly they're more about fun than practicality, at least any other place than the freeway. They're simply too loud for most situations. Depending on where you're at, firing them off may even be considered illegal.

If I were you I'd skip the air, and look for a loud electric horn that mounts under the hood / bumper (maybe look for models popular in the first-responder sector). Adding an electric circuit, if necessary, is (to me) easier than adding an air circuit. Depending on the amp draw and your horn wiring, it may just be a matter of swapping out new for old. As a matter of fact, doing the exact same thing is on my 'to-do' list.

Most people in a time-critical situation that requires a horn will instinctively push on the center of the steering wheel. I think that's another good argument for upgrading your stock horn while keeping the actuation the same.

 

[s2mikon]

Here is what I installed on my 1 ton 4x4. They will almost wake the dead. HELLA – Supertone Horn – B133 Series - My HELLA Lights

 

[Mr. Beefy]

Here is what I installed on my 1 ton 4x4. They will almost wake the dead. HELLA – Supertone Horn – B133 Series - My HELLA Lights

Well, crap... looks like you just made my wallet lighter

 

[desrtdog]

Well, crap... looks like you just made my wallet lighter

Not at all…. Only $26 on Amazon - cheaper than a couple of Starbucks …

 

[OscarLaVista]

Here is what I installed on my 1 ton 4x4. They will almost wake the dead. HELLA – Supertone Horn – B133 Series - My HELLA Lights

I've had these on a couple of motorcycles and they're on my car now. The sound is piercing, and when I first used them many years ago, I thought they were super crazy loud. Now I don't think they're super crazy loud. I don't perceive them to be a ton louder than my stock horns, though I realize my perception doesn't mean much.

Some old Cadillacs and Buicks iirc had 4-note horns, in other words, there are 4 horns instead of the usual 2. I think the lowest one isn't available new anymore and they're getting hard to find in junkyards. Anyway, I had them on my last truck.

But you have air for your seat and suspension. Is that a real truck-style airbag setup, or the add-on things like AirLift makes? I'm sure there's a way for you to run air horns. Just follow your air hoses and see where they go.

 

[SkyMaster]

Forget the truck horn... Train Horn