Adding Hella Supertone Horns - Need additional relay or not?

[Mad Hatter]

Now that my MOPAR Hood Lock Kit has arrived after FIFTY WEEKS on backorder, I plan to finally install a pair of Hella Supertone Horns while the grill is off. These are diaphragm type, aftermarket horns, not air horns with a compressor.

The Hella Kit came with a relay, which I'm sure would be needed for older cars without horn relays. However, I see from our great forum resource Wrangler wiring diagrams that the Wrangler has a PCB-mounted relay for the two horns. Should I add the additional relay into the circuit to drive the two Hella horns? That would result in the Wrangler horn circuit activating the relay, but I would also have to find an unswitched 12v source under the hood to provide power to the relay. Obviously, it would be much, much simpler to unplug and remove the existing horns and connect the wires to the new horns.

Any advice from the forum?

Thanks!

MH

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[JoeValkIS]

If you are willing to do a little testing and have the tool to do it, you can answer that question. Hook your multi-meter in series with the horn and the wire going to the horn. Turn your meter to amps and plug the leads into the correct ports. Now test it. See how many amps your stock horns pulls compared to the number of amps the Hellas draw. If the same or less, you are good to go with the stock relay. If more, add the relay.

 

[cmbezln]

in most every application of these horns I've ever heard about, the relays are necessary and you won't get nearly the same output without them.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Thanks for the advice. Googling after I asked our forum showed lots of people who were satisfied with direct wiring but also many people who realized that this reduced output somewhat. I didn't spend the money to buy substandard performance, I bought the horns to enhance performance. So relay it is.

Again, thanks!

MH

 

[jigamanz]

Thanks for the advice. Googling after I asked our forum showed lots of people who were satisfied with direct wiring but also many people who realized that this reduced output somewhat. I didn't spend the money to buy substandard performance, I bought the horns to enhance performance. So relay it is.

Again, thanks!

MH

Hi, I'm looking at adding these horns. Can we please hear what happened with the final install and all? Any Pictures?

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