The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Dual Horns

From my understanding, if there is a horn relay, there would be dual horns. I have seen a used low tone 12v. I presume the other would be a high note? This is for a '54 Chevy that I converted to 12v. So far I have not seen any high not horns.

In 1954, a horn relay was needed/used with the standard one "sea shell style" 6v horn, and with the two "sea shell style" 6v horns (inside the grill - low).

In 1953, I think that no horn relay was needed with the single "old style" horn.
(maybe someone can confirm/correct this?)

However, I think that a 6v relay was needed with the 1953 optional "dual sea-shell style" 6v horns, which were mounted on a bracket on the manifold.

I have also seen these mounted on a bracket on the firewall.

I may settle with a single low tone 12v sea shell horn then (cheap, used on ebay). I'm not sure if I need a 12v relay. I'm sure my existing is 6v.

relays are all about the amp draw. and what wires you are running like up your steering column.
a relay draws maybe 1/4amp to activate the switch or less therefore you can run much smaller wires up the column.
Horns draw from a few amps up to 24 or more therefore you need much bigger wires.
Longer wire runs mean larger voltage drops. Not a big deal for a horn but other systems it becomes a issue.

Engineers put relays in for a reason not just to add more parts.
Look at your whole layout if the switches and wires are all large enough to hand the full loads through the circuit a relay may not be required.
But if that ground wire up to the horn switch is small then pull a new wire or run a relay.