HOW TO INSTALL TRAIN HORNS ON BUILDINGS/STADIUMS

Overview

We've gone over a million different ways to install our horns onto cars, trucks, SUV's, and even smart cars. Did you know that horns can also be used in stadiums and other buildings? In this article we'll go over different use cases and best practices for installing horns on any building.

Our horns are currently used within the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Here the Atlanta Falcons NFL Football team use not one but three of our Nathan Airchime K5 train horns. Working in unison, these horns provide the ultimate hype for the crowd with the tone and power of three locomotives!

How?

There are quite a few ways you could set this up. We typically recommend purchasing an air compressor from a local hardware store for convenience. Compressors found at Home Depot or Lowe's can be run off the power in your building (110-volt), whereas the compressors in our kits are designed to operate off the vehicle's electrical (12-24 volts). You won't need anything fancy and there are quite a few inexpensive options that will work for the application.

Husky 8-Gallon Hot Dog Air Compressor

Husky offers an 8-gallon compressor at Home Depot for $129.00 at the time of writing. You won't find another 8-gallon tank with a compressor at this price. If you are on a budget, this compressor would make a great match to most of our horns. To make the horns work with this air compressor, you will need to remove and replace the quick disconnect fitting on the air tank. Check out the image below:

This compressor (and most you can buy) will come with a quick disconnect pre-installed to serve as an air outlet. This fitting can be removed from the tank and replaced with an air line fitting to adapt to our horns. Using an adjustable wrench, line the wrench up over the hex-shaped portion of this fitting, and turn the fitting counter-clockwise. It will come out of the tank. With that removed, the new fitting can be installed.

The fitting pictured above will adaptthe tank to the air line for the horn.

Activation

How do you plan to honk your horns? You can setup a big button to press, use a wireless remote, or both.

The horns are setup with an air valve in between the air tank and the horns themselves. When power is supplied, the air valve will open and the horns will honk. We do offer a 110-volt air valve that can be used with the power supplied in your building.

As it turns out, the valve can be wired to a switch or button just like a light bulb. If you are not familiar with 110v electricity, an electrician can help you in setting this up properly. When the switch or button is pressed, the air valve will open and your horns will honk. You could make this wireless as well using a 110v wireless remote.

Compressor Recommendations

Should you opt to purchase a different compressor than what we have listed above, you will need to keep a few things in mind.

• Our horns sound their best at 150 PSI. Running 200 PSI will not make them louder!
  • Look for a compressor with an operating pressure of 150 PSI. Anything as low as 120 PSI will work, but 150 PSI will give you the best effect.
• Tank size matters.
  • The bigger the tank, the longer you can blast the horns. The 8-gallon tank above is capable of honking our Shocker XL horns for ~16 seconds continuous. A good rule of thumb is 2-seconds per gallon of air.
• Port Sizes
  • If you have the option of purchasing a compressor/tank with ports on the tank instead of a pre-installed coupler, try to find a tank with a 1/2" NPT port. This is the size we typically use on our automotive tanks. The larger port will allow you to flow more air to our horns and in turn, get more output from them.

Husky 20-Gallon Vertical Air Compressor

This compressor operates much quieter than it's counterparts, rated at ~73 dba. This tank may be one of the best options for an arena or stadium given it's size, noise level and cost. At the time of writing this unit only costs $349.00.