DIY Horn Upgrade Mod - Updated Jan 12

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OrientExpress said:
I'm in the process of working on the DIY for horn upgrades for the 2018 LEAF.

It is a bit more difficult this year, as the front radiator is completely surrounded by ductwork to funnel outside air through the engine compartment and back over the traction battery now. Getting to this area to work will require the entire front bumper cover to be removed.

The horn is in the lower righthand side of the front bumper cover, and it is quite tight in there, so I am working on a rig that will put the horn in the motor compartment and run a power/ground line back to where the original horn is at. To get at this to connect the wires, It will best be done by removing the right front wheel and the wheel well liner.

I have other things in the queue to finish first, but the wiring will be the same as the older car, with just the packaging being new.

Any updates on this OrientExpress ?
 
Just thinking here...
Could we just add another horn somewhere, anywhere under the hood and wire it together with existing one?
Find what relay (if any) turns on the horn and just tap into it and either leave both horns to work together or disconnect the original at the relay.

Sorry if anything similar was already suggested I didn't bother to read through all pages.

Mike
 
mike99ca said:
Just thinking here...
Could we just add another horn somewhere, anywhere under the hood and wire it together with existing one?
Find what relay (if any) turns on the horn and just tap into it and either leave both horns to work together or disconnect the original at the relay.

Sorry if anything similar was already suggested I didn't bother to read through all pages.

Mike

Sure, there is really no reason that a horn could be someplace in the engine compartment. This what I did for the 2018 LEAF horn installation.

For the LEAF horn on there does not appear to be a relay, just a fused line from the 12v services buss.
 
mike99ca said:
Just thinking here...
Could we just add another horn somewhere, anywhere under the hood and wire it together with existing one?
Find what relay (if any) turns on the horn and just tap into it and either leave both horns to work together or disconnect the original at the relay.

Sorry if anything similar was already suggested I didn't bother to read through all pages.

Mike

Before putting both horns in parallel I'd measure their loads and make sure the total is well below the circuit rating. If I recall, horn is a 10A circuit. Don't want to be blowing a fuse in an emergency.
 
Just finished upgrading my 2015 SV mip-mip horn. I went with "PIAA 85110 115db 400HZ + 500HZ Sports Horn" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00067BWBI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Only made simple wire harness for positive and negative terminals and reused original horn mount bracket after enlarging horn mounting hole on the bracket, so M8x16 bolt with spacer and lock washer fits and arranged both horns on the sides like a tree and original bracket as tree trunk, so when it is installed the original mount is vertical (it was horizontal with OEM horn) with horns hanging out off its top on both sides (kind of a triangular arrangement). this arrangement almost the same foot print as original horn as one of the horn is in front of the vertical radiator support, so air flow impact is minimal and the horn are almost symmetrical. The PIAA horns have integrated deflector so sound is pushed away to the openings in the bumper cover. Those horns are loud but only take 2.7A each, so no need for extra relay and they are very light.
 
Leaf15 said:
Just finished upgrading my 2015 SV mip-mip horn. I went with "PIAA 85110 115db 400HZ + 500HZ Sports Horn" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00067BWBI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Only made simple wire harness for positive and negative terminals and reused original horn mount bracket after enlarging horn mounting hole on the bracket, so M8x16 bolt with spacer and lock washer fits and arranged both horns on the sides like a tree and original bracket as tree trunk, so when it is installed the original mount is vertical (it was horizontal with OEM horn) with horns hanging out off its top on both sides (kind of a triangular arrangement). this arrangement almost the same foot print as original horn as one of the horn is in front of the vertical radiator support, so air flow impact is minimal and the horn are almost symmetrical. The PIAA horns have integrated deflector so sound is pushed away to the openings in the bumper cover. Those horns are loud but only take 2.7A each, so no need for extra relay and they are very light.


I might do this on my 2015, have any photos of the wiring harness and bracket you used?
 
UBUYGAS said:
Every time I blow my upgraded horn I Love it. It's so nice and loud and makes the cars in front of me move quickly.

In July they will be in my LEAF 4 years.

PIAA 85110 115db 400HZ + 500HZ Sports Horn https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00067BWBI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_B9MTyb6WVA3SJ

But I do want to get some Truck horns with a compressor. Sometimes you just need some Truck horns.


What year Leaf do you have?

Is this an easier way to go rather than using the El Grande two horns?
 
MY 2012 had only one wire, It depended on the car chassis for ground. On my 2013 there was two wires a ground and power. I assume that all cars made in America are wired the same. In any event a fifteen dollar pair of horns from the auto parts store worked fine with a small custom harness to add terminals for the second horn. I can not imagine spending $55. I could care less that they were made in China instead of Itality. Both horns draw well under the fuse value. (Less than half). I assume the fuse is there to protect the wiring in case of a short circuit.
 
COEV said:
I just picked up my 2017 LEAF SV a couple of weeks ago ... first thing I did was research how to replace the "meep meep" with something a little more suited to highway travel. As others have posted about the 2015+ models, getting at it from the bottom of the car was easy and straightforward. Here's some pics I took of the "El Grande" install.

New "Get outta my way" horns next to the OEM "meep meep".
1.jpg


Only takes 5 bolts and a 10mm socket to get access from the bottom of the car. Jack from one side and put a jack stand under for safety.
2.jpg


What the stock setup looks like. One 12mm bolt to remove it from the support.
3.jpg


The two connections to the stock horn. The longer cable with the black connector is the ground wire that connects to the bracket. The shorter yellow connector goes to the pigtail male connection.
4.jpg


The new horn all bolted up to the stock bracket, horns angled down and a single ground connector attached to the brackets.
5.jpg


That was easy! Like others have said, the pigtail cable you need to create only really needs to be 8 inches long at the most. There's plenty of wire on the stock harness. The whole job took like 30 minutes, mostly because I read through this thread before attempting. Thanks for the help!

I just installed the EL Grande Fiamm horns. There were a couple of minor differences. I have a 2015 SV.

There were more than 5 bolts needed to be removed and a few plastic plugs.

The horns had 2 connectors instead of the one shown in your photo. I made a couple wires with a circle connector on one end and a female spade connector on the other. I plugged them into the spade on the right and ran it through the bolt in the center of the horns.

I wish I made a 4 inch wire for the power side, 8 inches is way too large.

On the factory harness, the long wire was the ground (with a black connector) and the short wire was power (with a red connector). Both connectors were covered in some grease like stuff I had to wipe off.

Im all done, I have a much better sounding horn now.
 
Those 2 individual support bars for each horn will not hold and sag over time... A better strategy is to use one bad, and each horn at opposite ends...
 
powersurge said:
Those 2 individual support bars for each horn will not hold and sag over time... A better strategy is to use one bad, and each horn at opposite ends...


I just did this, but I moved the horns next to each other. The bars are more like an inverted V shape in my install.
 
My latest install of Air Horns is all I use.

I installed two compressors, two horns, two relays & Two Buttons. So I can blow each one separately or both at a time.

Lots of fun.


Here's a Video: https://www.instagram.com/p/BlwI5XGDIDA/?taken-by=ubuygas


And an Install slide-show with links: http://www.salsleaf.com/truck_horns/index.htm

IMG_2485.jpg
 
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