aaooogga horn question

my friend has this old aaooogga horn that he wants to hook up for him...  It has one power wire coming from it and it grounds simply by bolting it to the chassis.  My question is...would the best way to make this function properly be to wire it to a push button?  This way he can press the button whenever he wants it to go off?  and here are some other questions as well...

1.  What would be the complete procedure for this...after i bolt it on somewhere, where do i tap the power wire into besides the battery of course?

2. how do i test how much current is being drawn when it is on to see what qauge wire to use?

3. if i do wire it to the battery, how can i hook anything else to the battery if this is already on it?  is there some kind of splitter that you can connect multiple accessories ALL to the battery?

If anyone can help, please answer all questions this way i can complete the install successfully...thanks guys!

Most multimeters can test up to 10A of current without damaging them, but a lot of times for higher current draws you need to get a clamp-on ammeter.

To hook it up to the battery, you'll just unscrew the little nut that tightens the factory battery clamp, the place the horn's wire with a ring terminal attached to the end, onto the bolt and put the little nut back on.

If it just has two wires--power and ground--then you'll want to hook up a momentary power switch to it and put the switch inside the vehicle in a location that's easy to reach.  It doesn't really have to be a momentary switch but using one of those as opposed to a standard on-off switch just seems to make more sense.

Just make sure the switch you use is rated for the amount of current that this thing draws, or use a relay if necessary;  also, you'll want one that's normally open, so that when you press the button it completes the circuit and lets power pass through it and out to the horn.

Once you figure out what the current draw is you should also put an inline fuse on the wire as well.

[QUOTE=Insanez24kid]how can i test it out before hooking it up in the car.  I want to test the current and i have a clamp on ammeter.  so do i ground the horn and connect the power to the battery and while the horn is blasting i just clamp on the meter and read the current?  Is this correct?  Im just learning relays now so im not sure what to connect to each pin.  What goes to 86, 87, 30, 87a, and 85...im not really sure how to figure out what wire connects to what pins...HELP!@!@!@![/QUOTE]

Read the part about relays it will explain how to use one and your going to have to use one you don't want to trigger it with 12v positive. you better off with a negtive.

You can always use the horn switch to toot your horn and the factory horn as well.

30-87a and 87 are the part of a switch of a relay 85 and 86 are the contacts that make the switch turn on or back to rest.

At rest 87a and 30 compleat a circut when the switch is on then 87 and 30 let current flow. use 85 and 86 as the switch.

So a way for you to hook this up to the horn switch might be......

Take 85 to 12v positive fused no less then 3 inches from its scorce also tie 30 to it as well past the fuse. now 87a will rest without a conection.

take 87 to the horn you adding. now all you have to do provided its a neg output from the sterring wheel most cars are for the horn wire tie it into 86 to trip the relay.

You can also make an alarm run this as well but you either need a flasher past the relay and use a positive output or some alarms will let you use the domelight circut to honk the horn as well as drive the domelamp with relays. its kind of complacted if you don't know relays so don't ask. a flashing parking lamp can also trigger it as well but the horn would toot ever time you armed or disarmed.

You better learn how to use relays,and diodes if your going to do anything with alarms! And car stereo's and amps.

Read the relay section you have to know this stuff. You also should learn how to use the tools you have or what good are they?