Can an air horn be too loud?

[A Traveler]

Originally Posted by richard5933

Why?
There are many times a gentle nudge is all that's required, especially when I'm just trying to get the attention of someone in a campground. It's not always necessary to be heard in the next county.

If that's the case, just a quick tap on the horn does the trick. It's a split second sound and not that loud. Being a rather deep-pitched air horn, it won't be mistaken for a nearby car or some other smaller vehicle.

The city horn on our coach sounded like a tiny European import. Very high pitched and weak.

[HJLowell]

Originally Posted by Tha_Rooster

To loud? A buddy has real train horns on his f350 that’s loud.

YIPPPEEEE [emoji106]

[FatChance]

Originally Posted by richard5933

I understand and agree with you about situations like this. But, not every situation is like this.

It only has to happen once. What do they say? Better to have it and not need it than to need it and and not have it. Your choice.

[chuckftboy]

Horns are there for a reason and are never to loud. They aren't intended as a means of saying hello but more like saying "stay in your lane, I have this one occupied"

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

I want my horns to be as loud as possible. I'll worry about state laws if and when the time comes!

I once had a woman in a small car cut in front of our MH, and side-swiped the RF corner. She did not stop, I laid on the air horn, she still continued to drive on. That did however get the attention of everyone else in the backed-up I 75 traffic. She then pulled out and sped away in the break-down lane- to somewhere.
Wouldn't you know it, my dash cam had blown a fuse, or I would've asked DW to take a picture of her plate.

[richard5933]

Originally Posted by chuckftboy

Horns are there for a reason and are never to loud. They aren't intended as a means of saying hello but more like saying "stay in your lane, I have this one occupied"

Yes, horns are there for a reason. Actually for many reasons.

Again, I agree wholeheartedly that when a horn needs to be loud it needs to be really loud. Really loud.

But, there are times when it is used in places/manners which don't require full volume. That's why city horns are installed.

The city horn has a totally different use than the air horn. Just like high beams and low beams are both installed on a car and are designed for different applications which require a different amount of like, air horns and city horns are for times when a different amount of volume is required.

Vehicle manufacturers aren't prone to spending money for things which are not required. If they continued to install both air horns and city horns in vehicles for decades you can be sure that they serve a different function. Bean counters would have done away with one of them otherwise if they were duplicative.

Guess I don't understand the need to be excessively loud at times when it's not necessary.

[UTTransplant]

I guess I never use my horn unless I need to get someone’s attention in a dangerous situation. I don’t use it for a “hey you” at all. That being said, my rig has a switch for what I guess would be called a “city horn” and a air horn. I leave it on air horn. However my cat walks across the switches and occasionally turns it off (I really should get a cover for the switches). Yesterday I was in the middle lane passing a semi in the right lane. A car pulled off the shoulder way too close to the semi, and he started swerving into my lane. A car was on my left so no lane change was possible. I hit my brakes HARD and hit the horn too. Durn cat had turned the air horn off! Luckily the semi went back into his lane and nobody died. I still would have felt better with the air horn.