Power source suggestions? I'm all ears

[AdamIsAdam]

Howdy all. Last night I read an old thread about the Stebel Nautilus air horns and by the grace of Amazon, it arrives tomorrow. And with COVID on the brain (ie, I'm bored), last night I started wiring.

Before I ask this question, you should know that I didn't build the car, so I'm not sure exactly what wires were used and not, but the builder did do a phenomenal job notating right on the wiring diagrams, so i'm pretty confident.

Question: I'm thinking I'll put the horn relay at the horn to minimize wiring.
(this vid shows the horn I ordered and wiring necessary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK9lB1hH-8w )

So since the horn DK Green and Black wires get plugged into the relay, if I run a 14ga wire off a power source capable of delivering 18 amps, this seems to be the simplest way to wire the thing up with the least amount of wiring. So last night I ran one power wire from the horn, inside the factory harness, all the way inside the car.

GET TO THE QUESTION ALREADY!

I'm debating tapping into the unused heater BRN-HEATER wire coming off of the 20amp fuse in the panel which is switched power, or tapping the heavy battery wire coming up on the passenger side from the battery, which is constant of course. I will put an in-line 20amp fuse. (I think there are two red power wires coming in on the passenger side. I think one feeds the fuse block and looks like 8ga or something very thick, and one is thinner which I assume feeds toe ignition switch. Am I OK tapping the thinner one?)

Is it better to have constant power to the horn at the risk of having an always hot power wire, or is it better to have switched power to the horn and know that wire is dead when the key is off.
(I located that heater wire above drivers right knee, verified it's the right wire by pulling the fuse, and I don't THINK it's used for anything else.)

I'm inclined to go with the constant power, ALSO ASSUMING that tapping into the main feed wire is not a problem.

Thoughts? Other suggestions on pulling power from? I'm all ears.

[Unique427]

If you want the horn to remain "hot" even with key off, there's the option of
adding a battery cut-off switch in trunk next to the battery. This way there's always
the ability for full battery isolation where all circuits are cold. It's also a nice safeguard
against any known/unknown parasitic draw that can kill a battery during storage. It
also allows for less reliance on a battery tender.


Just remember that the cut-off needs to handle peak current demand so get a good one.
Flaming River's "Big Switch" is $125. Pricey but hey, buy once cry once.

Here's a link to said good one:

https://www.flamingriver.com/index.p...0006/FR1044LED

[AdamIsAdam]

That was fun! I decided to run it hot and of course I have an easily accessible in-line fuse if I needed to pull it. The power wire is totally inside the factory harness anyway. Nice and safe.

https://youtu.be/ebneUuevMI8

And for your listening pleasure I thought I'd see if you can hear the horn over the engine...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wy5qgf77i9...ormal.m4a?dl=0

Hey, that sounds much better on the recording. Not even too loud! LOL

I used my cell phone's native recording app and just placed the phone on the center console.

[patrickt]

You really don't need a fancy isolating switch. In fact, the simpler the better. An old fashioned big copper knife switch handles hundreds of amps and is really easy to visually check. And it pretty much never breaks.

[AdamIsAdam]

Originally Posted by patrickt

You really don't need a fancy isolating switch. In fact, the simpler the better. An old fashioned big copper knife switch handles hundreds of amps and is really easy to visually check. And it pretty much never breaks.

That strikes me as very dangerous since it's pretty easy to drop a tool or somehow make electrical contact.

In my jeep I installed this HD circuit breaker for the winch so that power is off whenever not in use.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/modi...nstall-260339/

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by AdamIsAdam

That strikes me as very dangerous since it's pretty easy to drop a tool or somehow make electrical contact.

...

Ehhh, I don't know... calling out dangerous on a Cobra is like calling out stink on a pig.

[AdamIsAdam]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Ehhh, I don't know... calling out dangerous on a Cobra is like calling out stink on a pig.

LOL. Fair enough.

[spdbrake]

If you're using the Knife switch you may want to pick one of these Lucas Harness Smoke Replacement tools. Great for the originality crowd.

Lucas - Prince of Darkness - Lucas Electrical Humor Jokes