instructables

Digital Car Horn

by TomHammond

This Instructable will help you build a digital horn for
your car! It will play up to 83 sound e ects/clip using a
small control pad of 11 buttons. Three of the buttons are
dedicated to "favorite" sounds, while the remaining
eight buttons represent sound "categories" that store 10
sounds each. Each press of these latter buttons will play
a random sound from that category.
This project requires 3D printing for the control pad and
ampli er enclosure. If you don't have a 3D printer, then
you can manually build these with other means; it's not
rocket science. :)
Thanks for Mark Rober's video build of his car horn that
inspired my project:

Note: This project isn't limited to car horns! It can be

added to toys, bicycles, motorcycles, kids' riding
vehicles, and anything else that needs sound e ects. The
//www.youtube.com/embed/lv8wqnk_TsA
Digital Car Horn: Page 1
control pad is relatively small and can t anywhere.

The heart of the system is the Adafruit Audio FX board.

There is no programming involved; simply connect the
board to your computer via a micro USB cable and it
turns into a ash drive. Copy OGG audio les to it (it's
//www.youtube.com/embed/smhMLsP5fsM
easy to convert to OGG from MP3 or WAV) with a
particular naming convention that will match the
buttons on the control pad. This is explained more later
on.

The Audio FX board is powered with a micro USB cable

and outputs sound via a 3.5mm jack. This is fed into an //www.youtube.com/embed/ 0durW2w58
inexpensive 120W ampli er that supports one or two
horns. The horns are 5" 15W PA-style horns, easy to t
into an engine compartment. One horn has decent
volume, but I installed two horns for a bit more loudness. Let's get started!

Step 1: Parts Needed

Digital Car Horn: Page 2

Adafruit Audio FX board You will use 11 of these buttons for the project. These
are 12mm buttons. There is a colored cap that snap onto
Note there are four variations of this board. Get the a yellow stalk on the button. Look at the photo in this
board with 16MB of memory, a 3.5mm audio jack on one Instructable. Buy this exact style so that they t the 3D
end, and a micro USB connector on the other. printed control pad properly!

Pyle PSP8 5" PA-style horn 83mm x 33.75mm perf board

This 15W speaker is decently loud enough for use as a
car horn and small enough to t into an engine
compartment. I installed two horns for best overall
loudness. These speakers are weather resistant, too. Note
these are PA-style horns with no bass. Simple sound
e ects will sound good, but rich music will not.
TPA3116 D2 120W+120W Dual-Channel Stereo Digital
Audio Power Ampli er 12V-24V
The buttons will mount to this. Any kind of perf board
will do, provided that it has the standard 2.54mm (0.1")
hole spacing. Perf. board with or without individual
copper pads are ne, though make sure that the holes
are not electrically connected via metal traces! If you buy
a board larger than the above size, you can score & snap
it to the size you need.
Right-angle 3.5mm audio cable (1-foot)

This is a stereo ampli er, meaning that it can drive one
or two horns. I connected two horns to mine for
adequate (in my option) loudness. Be sure to look at the
photo in this step of the Instructable to be sure you buy
the same style as the one in the photo.
Adafruit Colorful Round Tactile Button Switch
Assortment - 15 pack
This will connect the audio output from the Audio FX
board to the ampli er. Only one end needs to be right
angled to t into the control pad enclosure. The other
end can be male or female.
Left-angle micro USB extension cable (1-foot)
This will provide power to the Audio FX board. The micro
USB end is left angled to t into the control pad

enclosure, while the USB-A end will connect to the 5V

power source (see below).

12V to 5V USB power adapter

This allows the 12V lighter port in your car to be

converted to 5V to power the Audio FX board. The board
needs very few amps, so a cheap, low-amp car charger
should work ne.

12V car cigarette lighter splitter

This provides 5V power (via the USB car charger above)

to the Audio FX board and 12V power to the ampli er
above. Buy two of these; cut-o the male connector on
the second splitter to build a custom cable that will
connect to the ampli er. You can use this modi ed cable
to disconnect power to the ampli er at-will via the
splitter.

7-pin female JST connectors

Digital Car Horn: Page 3

You'll need two of these. These connectors make it easy
to connect the 11 buttons to the Audio FX board.

Ground loop noise isolator

It is likely that you will hear a hum in the horn when not
in-use. This is coming from your car's electrical system.
This isolator goes between the Audio FX 3.5mm output
and the ampli er to remove the hum.

Micro USB to USB A cable

This connects the left-angle micro USB adapter cable

(above) to the USB car charger (above). It's important to
purchase both this cable and the left-angle cable so that
you can disconnect the cable easily to upload new
sound e ects with a laptop near the car.

Solid wire

Not much is needed, just a foot or so. Make sure that it is

very thin and solid core (not stranded). This is used to
solder & connect the buttons' ground terminals to each
other. You can also use leftover wire from the 7-pin JST
connectors above, but this wire is stranded and will be
harder to solder with the buttons' close placement and
tiny legs.

Digital Car Horn: Page 4

Digital Car Horn: Page 5
Step 2: Wiring Overview

Digital Car Horn: Page 6

Please refer to the attached picture that outlines the car
wiring for the project.
Car lighter socket or relay for power?
The car horn system gets its power from your car's 12V
cigarette lighter / accessory socket. This socket only
provides power when the car is running or the car key is
turned to "accessory". This way the car horn does not
drain your car's battery when the car isn't running. I run
an extension cable from the lighter socket to under my
car seat, keeping all of the wiring out-of-view.
If your car does not have an accessory port or the port is
not conveniently located to provide power to the horn,
you can skip using the accessory port. Instead, connect
an automotive relay to the car battery, then tap into the
fusebox to provide power to the car horn only when the
car is running. If you prefer this power solution instead,
message me and I will provide wiring advice.
With the lighter/accessory socket approach, the
overview is below. Details are provided later in the
Instructable.
Wiring details
Insert a socket splitter into the lighter socket. Insert a
12V to 5V USB power adapter into one of the splitter's
output sockets, then connect a micro USB cable into the
adapter. This will provide power to the Audio FX board.
All of these steps are explained in detail in further steps.
Build a custom cable that has a male 12V
Let's get started with building the control pad!
lighter/accessory plug on one end and bare wires on the
other. Connect the male plug to the splitter's output
sockets. This will provide 12V power to the ampli er.
Step 3: Build the Control Pad
Digital Car Horn: Page 7
Sound output from the Audio FX board is sent to a
ground loop isolator via a 3.5mm cable. This removes
noise generated from your car's dirty power output.
Build a custom cable with a 3.5mm plug on one end (this
cable comes with the ground loop isolator) and a 3-pin
white JST plug on the other end (a cable with this plug
comes with the ampli er). This connects the isolator to
the ampli er, providing a clean audio signal to it.
The horn(s) connect to the ampli er. Each horn comes
with a long cable with a 3.5mm mono plug. Mount the
horn in the engine compartment, cut-o the plug, then
sh the cable through the car's rewall into the cabin.
Once inside the cabin, connect the horn's cable to the
(+) and (-) terminals on the ampli er. Repeat if you want
to install a second horn (the ampli er has two sets of
terminals to support two horns).
Lastly, build the control pad. This involves mounting 11
buttons on a perf. board and soldering wires between
each of them to provide a common ground. Connect this
ground wire to the GND pin on the Audio FX board.
Then connect each buttons' non-grounded legs to pins
0-10 on the board.
It all sounds like a lot of work, but most of it is easy.
Soldering the control pad is tricky as it is tiny wiring
work.
3D print the control pad
The buttons and Audio FX board t inside a 3D printed
control pad. You can download the STL and print it here:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4886367
Print the control pad with the button hole facing down.
Print with ABS lament so that the heat of the sun inside
the car doesn't melt the control pad (do not use PLA).
Print with 15% in ll and no supports.
on the perf. board so that it ts into the control pad
properly.
Modify button caps
The button spacing is very tight. The colored button
caps will rub against each other as a result. When you
look at the caps, each has a collar. Use a Dremel tool to
shave-o some of the collar so that the button collars
will not touch each other when mounted to the button
switches on the perf. board.

Mount buttons Attach the colored caps onto each button, then test- t
Once printed, push the legs of the 11 button switches the buttons by inserting the perf board into the control
into the perf. board so that they align with the holes in pad. The buttons should travel freely without sticking.
the control pad. Once you are satis ed with the t, ip the board over,
push on each switch to seat it rmly on the board, then
Note that the buttons switches are not symmetrical, bend each switch's legs 45 degrees to keep the switch
even though they look it. There are tiny letters stamped from moving while soldering in the next step.
into the bottom of each one. Make sure that the lettering
faces the same direction for each switch that you press Paint button caps (optional)
into the perf board. This is important so that the button The button caps come in a kit of ve colors. If you want
caps align into the control pad's holes properly. to paint the caps so that each is a di erent color, Testor's
model paint (enamel) works well. Do not paint thickly,
The eight button switches on the right of the control pad paint the caps with a few thin layers as possible to avoid
face the same direction in the perf. board. Of the three friction with the control pad's holes.
left-side switches arranged in a triangle shape on the left
side of the pad, the top switch needs rotated 90 degrees

Digital Car Horn: Page 8

Step 4: Wire the Control Pad

The control pad will have 12 wires connecting it to the can connect wires to when daisy chaining the buttons
Audio FX board. 11 wires for the buttons and the 12th together for the common ground wire.
wire for ground.
Solder the thin wire onto the legs between buttons. It is
Instead of running individual ground wires from each tiny, delicate work. I nd it helpful to bend each end of
button to the Audio FX board, daisy chain a ground wire the wire into a hook shape with needle-nose pliers, then
between each button. On the nal button, a single wire pinch the hook onto the buttons' legs before soldering.
can then connect to the board.
Once you have connected all of the buttons with a
To determine which pins to connect the ground wires to, common ground wire, test continuity between the rst
use a voltmeter, setting it to continuity mode. Each and last buttons in the chain. You should have continuity
button has four legs. Three legs will complete a circuit with no buttons pressed.
when the button is not pressed. These are the legs you

Step 5: Build Control Pad Connectors

Digital Car Horn: Page 9

Attach the 14-pin male header Shorten the wires on the JST connector, leaving about 3"
The Audio FX board should have included a 14-pin male length. Conservatively strip the ends of the wires, then
header. Insert this header into the top of the board, solder wires 2-12 to a leg on each button. Make sure the
carefully ip over the board, then prop the board so that button leg that you choose does not short to the
it sits level. Then solder the header pins from the bottom ground wire for that button. In other words, be sure to
of the board. solder to the 4th leg that is not a common ground. To
determine which leg is the correct one, use a voltmeter
Prepare two 7-pin female plugs
in continuity mode. The leg that shorts to one of the
The two 7-pin JST connectors have white plugs. These
ground legs when the button is pressed is the leg that
will attach to the 14-pin male header that you soldered
you want to solder the wire to.
to the Audio FX board. These JST connectors have lips
that prevent them from being ush against each other.
As for the order of the wires on the buttons, use the
Use a Dremel tool to trim-o these lips.
attached picture as a reference.
Solder connector wires to Audio FX board
Attach plugs and cables to the Audio FX board
The next step is soldering the JST connector wires to the
Attach the Left-angle micro USB extension cable to the
button pad. On the Audio FX board, there are 14 pins.
Audio FX board. Attach the right-angle plug of the
However, you will not use the rst pin (RST) nor the 13th
3.5mm cable to the Audio FX board.
pin (ACT). Instead, the buttons will connect to pins 2-12
(when counting from the left), marked as 0-10 on the
Connect the two 7-connectors to the Audio FX board,
board. The buttons' common ground will connect to pin
making sure that the button wires align with pins 0-10
14 on the board, marked as GND.
and the ground wire gets to GND on the board. Finally,

attach the board to the control pad using three screws control pad!
(or bolts) that pass through the holes on the board but
are large enough to grip into the receiving holes on the
3D printed control panel. You're done building the

Step 6: Prepare Sound Files

Choosing sound le format

Digital Car Horn: Page 10
The Audio FX board accepts sound les in OGG or WAV format. You'll want to use OGG as the le sizes are smaller,
allowing you to load over 80 sound les onto the board. WAV les can take around 10 times more space.

Note: A great place to nd sound e ects is https://www.zedge.net/ nd/sound%20e ects. You don't to create an
account, the les are free, and download as MP3 (you need to convert these to OGG).

Trimming sound le length (timewise)

Sound les should be relatively short when used as a car horn. My sounds e ects are between 7 and 18 seconds. You can
use the free Audacity program here to shorten sound les that are too long (time wise). You can nd lots of Audacity
tutorials on YouTube here to learn how to do this.

Adjust sound le volume

If you are downloading sound les from the Internet, it is likely that the volume will be di erent among the les. Use the
free MP3Gain program here to set all of your sound les to 100.0 db. Click here for tutorials how to use MP3Gain.

Convert sound les to OGG format

Most sounds e ects that you nd on the Internet will be in MP3 or WAV format. To convert them to OGG format,
download this free program VSDC Audio Converter here. After installing the program, here is how to convert a le to
OGG

1. Click Files > Open Files in the top menu, then nd/choose the MP3 le that you wish to convert

2. Click Formats from the top menu, then choose [To OGG] button in the top bar
3. Click Edit Pro les on the right side of the screen
4. At the bottom of the window, choose "160 kbps" for the Audio bitrate and "Mono" for the Channels
1. Tip: If, after converting all of your sounds les to OGG, the total size of all of the les is
greater than 16 megabytes, reconvert the MP3 les to 128 kbps to reduce the total size to
less than 16 megabytes.

5. Click [Apply pro le] button at the bottom-right corner of the screen
6. Click the [Convert Files] button in the top bar
7. The converted le will be placed in your computer's Music folder

Naming the sound les

The sound e ect les need to have particular lenames in order for the Audio FX board to assign them to particular
buttons. For sounds assigned to the three "favorite" buttons on the left side of the control pad (the triangle shaped area),
name the les:

T00.OGG
T01.OGG
T02.OGG

Note that the control pad has 11 buttons, but the Audio FX board assigns the rst button "00" and the 11th button "10".

Each of the remaining eight buttons on the control pad (the two rows of four) can have up to 10 sound les each. When
one of these buttons is pressed, the Audio FX board will play a random le of the 10 associated with that button.

Digital Car Horn: Page 11

For the rst of the eight buttons, name up to 10 sound les:

T03RAND0.OGG
T03RAND1.OGG
T03RAND2.OGG
T03RAND3.OGG
T03RAND4.OGG
T03RAND5.OGG
T03RAND6.OGG
T03RAND7.OGG
T03RAND8.OGG
T03RAND9.OGG

For the second of the eight buttons, name the 10 sound les:

T04RAND0.OGG
T04RAND1.OGG
T04RAND2.OGG
T04RAND3.OGG
T04RAND4.OGG
T04RAND5.OGG
T04RAND6.OGG
T04RAND7.OGG
T04RAND8.OGG
T04RAND9.OGG

...and so on. You don't need to have 10 sound les for each button, but you get the idea how to name them.

To nish, here is how to name the sound les on the eighth button:

T10RAND0.OGG
T10RAND1.OGG
T10RAND2.OGG
T10RAND3.OGG
T10RAND4.OGG
T10RAND5.OGG
T10RAND6.OGG
T10RAND7.OGG
T10RAND8.OGG
T10RAND9.OGG

For a detailed description on naming the sound les for the Audio FX board to use, click here.

Upload the sound les to the Audio FX board

To upload the sound les to the Audio FX board, connect it to your computer via a micro USB cable. It will appear as a
ash drive. Simply copy the les as you would with any ash drive. The transfer process is slow, but it will work. That's it!

Digital Car Horn: Page 12

Step 7: Test the Audio FX Board

At this point, your Audio FX board should be connected to the control pad buttons via the two 7-pin JST connectors.
These wires tell the board which button that you pressed as well as provide a common ground to all of them. You also
have the left-angle micro USB cable and right-angle 3.5mm cable attached to the board.

To test the board, connect a pair of PC speakers to the 3.5mm cable. Provide power to the board with a phone charger
that has a micro USB plug. Do not power the board with a USB port from the computer as this puts the board into " ash
drive mode" where the buttons will be unresponsive.

When you apply board to the board, the speakers may make a soft "pop". This is a good sign. When you press a button, a
red light will appear on the board as the sound is played on the speakers. Note that you need to wait for the red light to
go out (wait for the current sound to nish playing) before you can play a di erent sound.

Troubleshooting
If the red light is not coming on when you press a button, then the button wiring on the control pad may
be incorrect. Make sure that each button has a leg that connects to the ground pin on the board. Check
that another pin on that button completes a circuit to the 0-10 pin on the board only when the button is
pressed.
Another idea is to remove the two JST connectors from the board then connect two female-to-male
cables to the board manually. One cable goes to pin 0-10 and the other goes to ground. When you touch
the two wires together, a sound should play.
Also check that the lenames are named properly as explained in the previous step.

Digital Car Horn: Page 13

Step 8: Powering the Control Pad and Amplifier

Using a a lighter/accessory socket for power

Your car should have a cigarette lighter power socket (also called an accessory power port) which will be used to power
the control pad and the ampli er. The horn(s) will receive power from the ampli er.

Note: Some car's lighter/power socket is not in convenient location; you may see unsightly cables for your car horn
project when you nish building it. One option is to build an extension cable for the socket splitter cable so that you can
hide the splitter and its cables under the car seat.

Using an automotive relay instead

Another option is to skip using the lighter socket altogether. Instead, wire an automotive relay to the 12V car battery,
connecting the "switch" portion of the relay to a fuse in your fusebox that activates the relay only when the car is
running. If you are interested in this latter option, send a message to me at tominohio@gmail.com and I'll provide advice.

Important Note: Most cars do not provide power to the cigarette lighter / accessory socket when the engine is not
running. This is good so that the ampli er does not slowly drain the car's battery when the car isn't running! Use a
voltmeter on the power socket to ensure that your car works this way! If your car provides power to the power socket if
the car is o , you'll need not use the socket method below and wire a relay to the battery instead.

Wire the lighter power socket

For the lighter power socket solution, follow these instructions:

1. To power the control pad:

1. Insert the socket splitter into you car's lighter power socket.
2. Insert the 12V to 5V USB power adapter into one of the sockets of the splitter
3. Connect the USB A to Micro USB cable to the above adapter
4. Fish the above cable to where you will install the control pad
5. Connect the above USB cable to the female micro USB connector on the control pad

2. To power the ampli er

Digital Car Horn: Page 14
 1. The power cable will be a custom cable with a male car lighter plug on one end and bare
wires on the other end. This cable should have two conductors for positive and negative
(ground) signals coming from the plug. Use a voltmeter to visually mark the conductors'
polarity; the tips of the plug is positive and the metal clips on the side of the plug are
negative.
2. Connect the male plug of this cable to one of the splitter's female sockets.
3. Fish the cable to where you will mount the ampli er (should be near the control pad)
4. On the ampli er, the green terminal on the same side of the white connector is the power
input. Connect the positive and negative conductors of the cable to the respective sockets
of this terminal.
1. Tip: To make the ampli er easy to disconnect in case of future problems, solder
a 2-wire male/female removable connector to this cable.

3. You're done!

Step 9: Prepare the Amplifier

The ampli er receives the audio signal from the Audio FX board, ampli es it, then sends it to 1-2 car horns. While the
Audio FX board requires roughly 5V to operate, the ampli er requires 12V. This is the native voltage of a car battery (in
gas cars, at least).

Build enclosure
To begin download and 3D print an enclosure for the ampli er here. Print the lid facing down and the enclosure with
supports enabled. As with the control pad, print with ABS plastic to ensure the heat of a hot car. The lid is supposed to be
snug- t, but if your printer is perfectly calibrated, the lid may not stay on the enclosure. If that happens, print the lid at
1% or more larger scale or simply tape the lid on.

As with the control pad, nd screws that are small enough to pass through the holes on the ampli er, but large enough
to grip the enclosure's mounted when gently tightened.

Attach cables

Digital Car Horn: Page 15

 Note with cables: Instead of attaching the horn(s) signal cable and power cable directly to the ampli er, I chose to add
a 2-pin male/female connectors to these cables, before they connect to the ampli er. This way I could easily
disconnect the ampli er in the future if needed.

On one side of the ampli er are two green terminals. These are for the horn(s). It doesn't matter which horn attaches to
which block, but what does matter is the polarity. If you purchased the horns recommended in this Instructable, there are
two connectors in it's black cable. The conductor marked in white is the positive signal, the all-black conductor is
negative. The circuit board is marked positive & negative near the terminal blocks, so attach the horn's cable
appropriately.

The power input on the ampli er is another green terminal on the same side of the board as the white connector. With
the cable that you created in the previous steps (a male car lighter plug on one end and bare cables on the other),
connect this to the green power terminal. The conductor that goes to the lighter plug's top is positive and the other
conductor that goes to the plug's metal side ears is negative.

It is likely that the 12V power provided by your car is "dirty"; it could introduce a hum into the sound going to the horn.
To easily x, this, connect the straight, male end of the 3.5mm cable coming from the control pad to the ground loop
isolator.

The isolator should have come with a short 3.5mm cable with straight plugs on both ends. Cut-o one of the plugs. Strip
the exposed end to show the wire colors. There are three conductors in this cable. If you look at the 3.5mm plug, there
are three metal sections. The conductor that connectors to the tip of the plug is the positive audio signal, the middle
metal section of the plug is the negative signal, and the metal band at the base of the plug (closest to the cable) is the
ground.

The ampli er should have come with a gray cable with white connectors on each end. Cut one of the connectors o , then
strip the exposed end to reveal three conductors: white, red, and black. Solder the three conductors on your 3.5mm cable
to this gray cable like this:

Positive signal (3.5mm plug tip) to red conductor on gray cable

Negative signal (middle metal band on 3.5mm plug) to white conductor on gray cable
Ground (lower metal band on 3.5mm plug) to black conductor on gray cable.

Connect the white plug on the gray cable to the white socket on the ampli er.

Adjust ampli er volume

The ampli er is rated at 100-120 watts per horn, but the horn itself is rated 15-25W. There are two white knobs on the
ampli er. If these volume knobs are turned all of the way up, you will hear distortion in the horn(s) as it plays sound,
especially with rich sound like songs.

For the optimal volume level, use a small at blade screw driver to turn turn both white knobs clockwise until they stop.
Then turn them counter-clockwise 1/2 turn on both knobs.

Digital Car Horn: Page 16

Step 10: Install the Car Horn(s)

Digital Car Horn: Page 17

Mount horn(s)
One of the tricky parts of this project is nding room in
your engine compartment for the horn(s). Although the
horns are relatively small, they may present a challenge.
Open the hood and take a look. Keep the horn away
from hot engine components and away from open
exposure to the road from rain, snow, etc., if possible.
These are water resistant horns, but keep them
protected if you can. Also place the horns in a way that
won't make the engine di cult to access by mechanics.
You can use zip ties to secure the horn(s) or bolt the
horns to existing bolt holes in the engine compartment.
On some cars, you can mount the horn(s) to the frame
behind the radiator, avoiding the engine compartment
altogether.
Fish horn cable(s)
The Pyle horn suggested in this Instructable come with
an attached, long two-conductor cable with a 3.5mm
plug. You need to nd a way to pass this cable from the
engine compartment to inside the car's cabin. This can
be tricky!
Here is one idea that worked for me. If you look near the
Step 11: Connect Car Horn to Amplifier
Digital Car Horn: Page 18
steering wheel area from inside the engine
compartment, you may see a bundle of wires with a
large rubber grommet around it. Then look in the cavity
where the gas pedal is (inside the cabin), to see where
the other side of the grommet is.
Take a coat hangar or a heavy-gauge house electrical
wire that is di cult to bend. Cut the end at 45 degrees to
make a sharp point. CAREFULLY push it into the collar of
the grommet from inside the engine compartment,
keeping it away from the car's bundle of wires using that
grommet. Be very carefully not to damage any of these
wires! With enough force, the sharp point will pierce the
grommet and you can push the sharp wire/coat hanger
through to the cabin.
Cut-o the 3.5mm plug on the horn(s). Attach the cable
to the end of the sharp wire/coat hanger with masking
tape, wrapping the tape around both wires in a spiral so
that both are butted against each other, making the
assembly as thin as possible. From inside the cabin, pull
the sharp wire/coat hanger into the cabin so that the
horn cable will follow in. Repeat for the second horn if
needed.
Lastly, visually mark the car horn cables (now in the
cabin) for polarity. On this black cable, the conductor
marked with white is positive and the pure black
conductor is negative.
Tip: If you wish the horn cables to be disconnectable
from the ampli er, solder a male/female removable
connector to the horn cables.
On the ampli er, there are two green terminals on the
same side of the board. These are for the horn(s).
Connect the positive and negative leads on the car
horn(s) to the respective green terminals on the
ampli er. If you are only using one horn, it doesn't
matter which of these green terminals that you attach it
to.

Step 12: Test the Car Horn!

Testing
Your car's cigarette lighter / accessory socket should not provide power while your engine is not running. So when the
engine key is not inserted, the control pad and horn is not usable.

To test the horn, either start the car or turn the key to the "accessory position". You may hear a slight pop from the horn,
indicating that the control pad and ampli er are getting power. Press a button on the control pad; you should hear a
sound e ect on the horn! If not, consider these troubleshooting tips:

Troubleshooting
No sound

Make sure the control pad is getting power. Disconnect the micro USB cable from the control pad's
female connector. Plug the male end into your phone; it should show a "charging status" if the cable is
providing power. If not, make sure the connections between this cable, the 12V to 5V adapter, the splitter
cable, and the car lighter socket are all secure.
Digital Car Horn: Page 19
 Make sure that the ampli er is getting power. I think the ampli er has a power light. If there is no light,
make sure the connections between the ampli er's cable, the splitter cable, and the car lighter socket are
all secure.
Check the lenames of the OGG les on the Audio FX board. They may be named incorrectly. At the very
least, name 11 les T00.OGG, T01.OGG to T10.OGG. To check the les while the control pad is in the car,
disconnect the female micro USB connector on the back of the control pad, then use a separate micro
USB cable to connect the control pad to a laptop.
Make sure the white volume knobs on the ampli er are turned clockwise enough to reach volume.

Some buttons do not work

The button hats may be rubbing against the control pad's front holes. You may need to shave the holes a
bit larger or reposition the circuit board where the buttons are attached.
The button wiring may be incorrect. Each button needs to have a ground wire to the Audio FX board (all
of the buttons can share the same ground wire). Perhaps some button's legs are not wired to the signal
pins on the Audio FX board properly and are shorting straight to ground instead. To determine which
pins to connect the ground wires to, use a voltmeter, setting it to continuity mode. Each button has four
legs. Three legs will complete a circuit even if the button is not pressed. These are the legs you can
connect wires to when daisy chaining the buttons together for the common ground wire.

Distorted sound

The two white volume knobs on the ampli er are turned to maximum. Use a small at-blade screwdriver
to turn them clockwise to maximum, then turn them both a half-turn counter clockwise to reach an
optimal volume for the horns.

Digital Car Horn: Page 20