Horn Wiring

[HondaBoy]

i got a set of horns from a 98 accord. they use a chassis ground to complete the horn circuit and one power wire on each one. my 87 uses two power wires on each horn. i'm wondering how i could try and wire this up correctly to use the newer horns. both wires going into each horn have constant power so i'm stumped on how they work. i'm guessing one probably is connected to a relay of some sort inside the horn. cant figure out why it has two powers and no regular type of ground connecton. anyways, anyone know how i could make the new horns work without running different wires to them? heres a couple of pix of the newer horns.

[AccordB20A]

what you do is on your 87 find out what wire to your old horns has power all the time and what one goes to the horn button, you will need to hook up a relay to these so when u press the horn button the relay will click. for the contacts on the relay hook the common to the same power from the horns loom thats got 12v all the time and the normally open output on the relay goes to your new horn

[LX-incredible]

Our horns are switched through the ground. You will need to use a relay.

[3gmodifier]

actually, i beleive the 86-89 horn has only one power. the other wire on each one is a ground. that wire goes all the way to the steering wheel. when you press the horn button you ground the circuit and the horn sounds. i have had my steering wheel apart and touched one of the 4 horn button contact with the shaft that the steering wheel goes to and the horn sounded. our horns use a negitve ground as a trigger the horns you have are grounded full-time and use a positve 12v as a trigger. you can use a relay however you will need to wire it so that there is power going to the relaywhile useing the negitve horn out put as a trigger. i have directions for wiring a 12v relay in about 6 differant ways depending on the function and what type of trigger you use. i will look it up and let you know.

[Oldblueaccord]

Might be high and low horns you have. One is really loud the other is a lower toot sound like domestic cars do. Check that first.

wp

[HondaBoy]

actully yesterday i checked both wires on each horn, both wires that plug into the stock horns have 12 volts constantly until the fuse is pulled. thats why i'm stumped. neither one was a ground. i verified that by grounding each wires to the frame sparking each time, just to make sure my meter wasnt messed up or something. so lmk what y'all think with this bit of info. so what i'm saying is both wires, on each horn, is a power wire. not a ground, being that they all had 12 volts comming out of them.

[LX-incredible]

actully yesterday i checked both wires on each horn, both wires that plug into the stock horns have 12 volts constantly until the fuse is pulled. thats why i'm stumped. neither one was a ground. i verified that by grounding each wires to the frame sparking each time, just to make sure my meter wasnt messed up or something. so lmk what y'all think with this bit of info. so what i'm saying is both wires, on each horn, is a power wire. not a ground, being that they all had 12 volts comming out of them.

You need to have BOTH horns unplugged when you test. The 12 volts is going through one of the horns and into the ground that you're testing.

[HondaBoy]

ok, that makes sense. i'll try that and see what happens. probably not till tomorrow though. dont really feel like messing with the car right now.

[HondaBoy]

got a wiring schematic for the horn. from what my teacher said, i need have the horn mounted so it is isolated from the frame so i doesnt ground out on it. i will need to connect the white/yellow wire to the horns plug, then the blue/red wire will need to be connected somehow to the horn braket as a ground. said to try that, i guess i will. any other suggestions would be helpful. i'm guessing nobody on here has put different horns on their car?

[Oldblueaccord]

Yeah looks like Red/blue to ground to make them work. I looked at your picture of the horns again there booth 110 DB so there the same I'm assuming. Unless the tone is differant some how.


wp

[HondaBoy]

yes, one is a high tone and one a low tone. cant wait to get them on. i love how loud they are compared to my 3gee's horns. only thing is finding a way to mount them without grounding the horn braket on the frame. i could make some mounts out of plastic or plexiglass so they are still mounted fairly ridgedly. anyways, i may tinker with them later today or something. if so i'll let y'all know how it goes and give a little how to incase someone else wants different horns on thier 3gee.

[HondaBoy]

ok so today i'm making pretty basic mounts out of plexiglass. they will mount to the frame mount where the horns are supposed to attach, then i will have to mount to horn to the new plastic piece i've made so they wont ground out and i can just run a ground wire to the horn case. hopefully this will work, i'm not sure it will but i'll say wheather or not it does.

[HondaBoy]

well this turned out to be much easier than i thought it was going to be. i made some plastic brakets to attach where the horns do originally to the frame. measured them and drilled some holes. then for the wiring i just used some lengths of wire with male and female ends to plug into the cars horn wiring. yellow wire went to the new horn's + plug, blue wire went to the horn's frame using a "eye" type connection. all connections were crimp to small lenths of wire so there was no cutting into the original wiring so i can always go back to the stock horns with no problems. here's a few pix of what i did. there's the plastic braket, and the wire you see there is the ground wire. so now i have 6th gen accord horns on my 3gee. yeppy!

[MessyHonda]

no scooby doo sandals?

[HondaBoy]

nah, its too hot for those slippers. lol. i must say i love these horns, gives it a new touch.