I have high and low tone 6V horns from a 50's American vehicle in the mercedes.
When yu apply 12V to these things they are VERY VERY loud.....
Comparable to train horns in tone slightly quieter than a fire engine horn...

I don't have them hooked up, I have yet to figure out how to make case grounded horns work on a switched ground circuit...any suggestions?
but I know they are LOUD

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RIP: 80 300SD
RIP: 79 450SEL
2002 E430 4matic (212,000km)
2002 ML500 'sport'

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FACEBOOK: PANZER450

Case-grounded, on a switched ground circuit? The original application applied switched power to a constantly grounded horn, right? Just making sure my brain is working-it is after working hours.

To make them work, electrically isolate the mounting from the rest of the chassis. Apply constant (but fused-more on this later) power to the power hookup, then connect a wire to the case and through the switched ground circuit.

Caveat: applying 12 volts to something intended for 6 can cause shortened component life, overheating, arcing, fire, and general bad stuff to happen, hence the importance of fused power. I personally wouldn't do this install. If you do it, it's probably better to use a key-switched hot instead of always-hot. That way, you won't be able to use the horn with the key off, but the horns won't self-destruct without you around.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

I love the tone of our original MB horns. My 18 year old son has the one from my parts car on his 2001 Nissan Frontier pickup! When he activates his alarm it makes the funniest semi-honk (sounds like gnat flatulence).....

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Well, I for one am a lover ov Relays and it would definately get it's own. How's about I make the relay the load on the switched ground circuit, and fuse both the relay side and the horn side just to be damned sure...?

Or better yet, why not give it it's own circuit -grounded on a momentary switch...(Duh, why didn't I think of that earlier!!)

I've got so many other projects on the go I havn't been able to allocate the brain power to set up the horns...

__________________
RIP: 80 300SD
RIP: 79 450SEL
2002 E430 4matic (212,000km)
2002 ML500 'sport'

____________________________
FACEBOOK: PANZER450

When I mounted mine in my VW I just used a piece of old rubber to isolate the horn from the frame.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

I think one of my horns doesnt work...roadside animals snicker when I blow at them.........I would like to have a loud one though....One that would rattle the eyeglasses off ones face....

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1993 300D 2.5L 240,000+ miles

hornblasters.com

Prepare to laugh. my na 95 e300d has plenty of room on the passenger side for such a set up. However, I am in a 12 step program to address my use of horn and hand signals (while driving) so, while very tempting, I will pass on the locomotive horn. Sure liked the way that cat jumped.

I do like the idea of a train or truck horn, wanted one for years. I have had plenty of opportunities to take some, so what has held me back? Well, I know a few people who did it, and they bragged about how they scared people off the road and such, one of them got sued fot it & lost his arse. How? Well, the horns well exceed the acceptable decibel emission levels for those type of vehicles, violating the noise emission law & "creating an unsafe vehicle for other motorists and the public" as this guy found out. That slowed me down a bit on the idea, not saying I still wouldn't think of stashing one out of sight somewhere for occasional fun, but just a heads up for anyone wanting to do it.
-Chris

BTW- A 6v horn will be loud, for a short time, it will burn out if held on for too long or after several short uses. Personally I think the factory horn is fine, but I kinda like the sound of my "ooga" horns on my '37 2 ton flatbed,lol.

Who needs horns when the correct finger will do.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012