There should be a forum for noise

Something like DBF (DeciBel Forums).

I just received a dozen buzzers that use very little wattage, and I'm hoping to try out my 135dB air horn today. It's 12V/40A, so I'm just a bit worried, but I think I can get it to work.

Members would discuss pitch, clarity, tone, and volume, among others aspects of sound or noise.

Loud noise might be good for emergency or tactical use, or just for fun, which also describes flashlight usage. I can't think of a reason for an ordinary person to EDC a noise device, but that's not too big of a con, I think.

Re: There should be a forum for sound

Wow, I never expected such an intense response!

I'll just pretend someone's interested.

I assembled my 135dB air horn tonight at a friend's house. It consists of a compressor, tubing, a splitter, and two horns. I hooked it up to a 12V SLA, and this thing is INCREDIBLE. It sounds like a truck horn. The horns were just lying on a table during the first powerup, and the noise made them rattle and jump.

It's a nice dual-tone sound, too - the compressor goes to a splitter, which puts air through tubing to a long horn and a short horn.

My buzzers are amazing, too - one has a listed 90dB at just 12VDC/0.01A! It sounds like a smoke alarm, emitting a continuous beep tone. The other has a range of 3-16VDC and 85-99dB. The product description says that it can be controlled with a vane volume control - this sounds like a simple voltage vane. I think I've heard of that, and it shouldn't be too expensive, but I can't find one. Perhaps a rheostat is what I'm looking for?

I got the buzzers at www.hosfelt.com for a couple bucks each, and the horn from www.harborfreight.com for $15.

Re: There should be a forum for sound

:huh2: :lolsign:

No buzzers for me... Pink Floyd and lasers are all I need...

Re: There should be a forum for sound

Cool. A sonic weapons thread..
A while ago I had the idea of replacing a flaslight's reflector asy with a real loud piezo horn to fend off stray dogs.

Re: There should be a forum for sound

No buzzers for me, my PA system is all i need

Four 15" and four horns with 1" drivers in four boxes

Re: There should be a forum for sound

Hella air horns mod in my CRX Si, little sports car, big bark!


There are some hilarious you-tube videos of a car with massive air horns honking unsuspecting pedestrians.

Re: There should be a forum for sound

Tiger: so the HF horn is actually pretty good? Cool. I want a train horn, but that's a lot of weight. Something a little more practical like the HF one would be good when some punk not paying attention with too loud of a stereo is about to back into me!

I've thought about a really loud peizo set to some weird oscillating tone coming from my modded mag lite would be really cool for effect along with strobe. If someone wasn't stunned by all that, they at least would be startled!

yeah search for hornblasters. Very funny. I'd get arrested in no time if I had that!

Re: There should be a forum for sound

I want to get one of these sound producers:

http://www.victorysiren.com/x/main.htm

Re: There should be a forum for sound

I haven't done a side-by-side comparison of my stock horn and the HF air horn. Usually, I hear my car's horn when I'm sitting inside the car, but I tested the HF by hooking it up to an SLA and letting it rip.

Here's a pic:

Re: There should be a forum for sound

The only flashlight designed with a built-in self-powered noisemaker I've gotten my hands on is this one, which includes a fairly loud siren.

Re: There should be a forum for sound

My horn I can only hear if I'm not on the highway, not playing the stereo, and not getting on the loud pedal. It sucks, but not as bad as some horns on some cars which sound like a muffled mouse squeak.

Is the horn an instant sound? Or does it take a while to get going?

Re: There should be a forum for sound

On one Halloween night, we had a Hunted House event and another fellow bought in a truck two-horn set with an air tank . He told me this horn is what the 18-wheeler trucks used. Boy, it was LOUD. The air would vibrated heavily. It was an old brick building with wooden floor so that made the horn sound ungodly huge! So we put the horn in an empty room, and when the costumers walk into the darken room, somebody would suddenly turn on two very bright lights and the horn at the same time, heheh. I forget what lights we used were but they lit up the room brightly and that person could see costumers's reactions to this particular room. It was a lot of funs scaring the costumers with that horn but the best part was when the hunted house was over and everybody was assigned into group to clean up each room; being mischievous, (how could I not with a set of horn like that) a buddy of mine and I went around the building, giving each room a blast of the horn. It was... lol, interesting to see how far people jumps at that sound.

Lightmania

Re: There should be a forum for sound

Back in the early-1980s, I rigged up a very loud truck horn to a fairly high current 12 volt NiCd battery pack (it was constructed of ten D cells) , and a few seconds before midnight on December 31, I set it off at Skateland (an indoor roller skating rink in the Super Bear mall in Juneau), and a lot of skaters fell down at the moment I set it off - yes - it was that loud.

Re: There should be a forum for sound

--------
Originally posted by IsaacHayes

My horn I can only hear if I'm not on the highway, not playing the stereo, and not getting on the loud pedal. It sucks, but not as bad as some horns on some cars which sound like a muffled mouse squeak.


Is the horn an instant sound? Or does it take a while to get going?
--------

The following has happened to me twice:
The light turns green.
The "driver" in front of me doesn't move.
I honk.
They still don't move.
I lean on the horn.
The "driver" happens to look up, notices the green, and we move.

It isn't nearly as bad as what you describe, though.

The HF horn is instant. I flip the switch, the air shakes, I flip the switch, silence.

I haven't tried installing it in a car because the manual says to have a professional do it, and it mentions drilling and relays and such.

I just read in the manual that the horn is actually 12VDC and 10 watts, which is around 0.85A. It's the "4-pole, 2-way" relay that's 40A. I actually feel better now, because working with 40A made me a lot more nervous than working with 0.85A.

Re: There should be a forum for sound

I've had some odd ideas.

Keep an eye (ear) out for some peculiar Mag mods.

Re: There should be a forum for sound

haha yeah 40amps would mean you'd need like some heavy gauge stereo wiring. I saw it and the relay and knew something wasn't right! lol.

uh-oh. Mag mods eh? Good luck fitting that in a 6D! lol

Wiring that up though to your car isn't that hard, but do it right if you don't know what youre doing read up or have someone help you.

Re: There should be a forum for sound

I hang out on www.airraidsirens.com/forums as often as CPF; my user name is "Soundoff" on that board.

We mostly discuss tornado and air raid sirens but there are sections for other warning devices (both audible and visual) as well as vehicular sirens (Fire truck, police, and other emergency vehicles) and a few other noisemakers.


Speaking of sirens, I have an old flashlight that belonged to my aunt which has a very loud siren/alarm on the back. It's not an electronic siren like most "emergency" flashlights would have today but rather, it looks like a small squirrel cage blower with vanes on the side which spins past openings to create the sound.

The same principle is used by old air raid sirens that you may sometimes hear in movies. http://www.airraidsirens.com/mp3/carterallclear.mp3

Yes, my flashlight does sound like a small "air raid" siren itself when I operate the alarm.

Re: There should be a forum for sound

I was using 12AWG wire and a 12V/50A switch, so I think I was OK. After all, that's what I used in my 28V/22A LarryK12, and my house is still standing. :laughing:

No, I don't plan on fitting the air horn into a Mag! That would be quite a squeeze. I've been trying to think of a way to make it shoulder-fired, actually.

The Mag mods would have buzzers, not air horns. Buzzers are nice and small!

Re: There should be a forum for sound

I thought this thread was about audio equipment.

Air horns huh. Just so you know when a normal horn is stuck on it sucks when these suckers are stuck on it REALLY sucks (or blows if you like). I had a triple setup on my old Suzuki 4WD and the buggers got shorted and were stuck on for about 10-15mins until I found the right wire under the dash and a set of pliers. Man I had sore ears for a day or two.

Re: There should be a forum for sound

Louder horns for your car is a very recommended mod. Air horns are not hard to wire in.
The extra dB's could save your car and life.
These days, you are sharing the road with meat popcicles on their cellphones and loud kilowatt stereo systems.