oh boy we're gonna have a honking good
time with this video
you know those old-timey car horns the
ones that go
I've always wondered why exactly they
sound like that I mean it's a pretty
weird noise isn't it there's a strange
sort of modulation in the sound that I
could never really explain so I bought
one and we're gonna find out but first
some background and trivia because of
course that's like this whole channels
deal
car horns why have them well cars are
dangerous things and people are stupidly
dangerous nearly all the time and as a
means to hopefully quell the stupidity
your car comes with a noise making
device to serve as a warning signal to
other drivers and pedestrians you can
use it to announce your presence in
dangerous or ambiguous situations or you
can use it to scare loved ones as they
approach your car it also serves as a
way to project anger in fact that's
almost the primary reason we use the
horn these days isn't it anyway because
horns need to be loud and cheap the
automotive world has pretty much settled
on two basic designs for horns there's
these guys and there's these guys this
variety of horn the disk horn is
essentially just a robust loudspeaker
that's tuned to vibrate at a specific
frequency when 12 volts DC power is
applied across its terminals the disc
moves in and out just like the driver
cone of a loudspeaker and the result is
of cheam loud noise now in the u.s.
anyway your car only needs to have one
of these and you can tell if your car is
in the bare minimum camp because the
sound of the horn is a single tone like
this if your car's manufacturer has
decided to splurge on you and give you a
second horn it will usually be tuned a
minor third up or down from the other
like this when sounded together they
produce a minor chord which is perhaps
more noticeable across a wider variety
of situations or at least that's the
theory I think in any case it sounds
better the other style of horn is this
style which I will call Gary a Gary horn
also known as a trumpet horn is largely
the same thing as our disc horn
however the die
Framm sits inside this trumpet shaped
piece the horn directs the sound out and
projects it out the hole and the most
noticeable side effect of this is that
the sound of the horn becomes less harsh
take a listen here is a single tone disc
horn now a Gary horn and now a dual tone
disc and now Gary I think we can agree
that the Gary horn sounds a little more
pleasant at least I think it does
interesting note if you were to simply
alternate between a high tone horn and a
low tone horn you'd have a pretty good
analog for an emergency vehicle siren in
whichever countries you sirens that
sound like that I pick some out but I'm
sure there would be some nuance or a
complication I'm unaware of and that
would annoy enough of you to write
comments about it which would annoy me
so I won't so now what what is up with
these things well I suppose we should
set it up so it makes a noise I'm pretty
sure that use a fair bit of current so I
better use this car battery that I just
have like holy this thing is loud good
lord that is well that is something
isn't it now taking a look at this thing
reveals that there's a red plastic horn
coming down to some sort of diaphragm we
can shine a light down there and see
that there's well the diaphragm of some
sort huh now on the back this looks an
awful lot like a plain old motor and I
suppose that would make sense as after
all the way the horn sounds suggests
something gets up to speed and then
slows down a bit fun fact this sound
isn't just associated with old-timey
cars you take down to the soda fountain
and get yourself a nice cold
sarsaparilla imagine you're on a boat
but it's a special kind of boat suddenly
you hear the sound sorry
dive dive surprise you're on a submarine
all submarines are legally required to
have one of these to signal if they're
about to dive I know this because the
movies never lie okay so what makes the
diaphragm move the diaphragm needs to
move in and out to make a sound after
all that is how sound works and it
appears to be driven by a motor but how
is it moved and why does it sound so
distinctive well through the magic of
buying two of them
I have an already taken two part one
right here this joke is never gonna get
old and it's a lot simpler than at first
you might imagine this is in effect a
mechanical loudspeaker the diaphragm is
a stamped piece of metal and there's a
little metal nub sticking out on the
bottom that nub engages with these bumpy
teeth things on the shaft in the motor
when the motor spins it forces the
diaphragm to move in and out as the
bumps on the shaft push out on the bump
on the diaphragm in a sense the
diaphragm just goes for a bumpy ride and
that's it it's that simple now I still
don't know why exactly the sound is as
distinctive as it is I suspect it has to
do with the fact that the diaphragm is
flexing rather than simply moving in and
out and this gives it a unique tonality
or something probably kind of like the
clicking sound of a bottle cap that
click is still there even when the motor
turns slowly but once it reaches a fast
enough speed we start to hear the true
tone of the horn then as the motor slows
after you stop honking the pitch of the
horns tone Falls but that clicking noise
remains distinctive until it stops at
least that's my guess layered sounds can
be difficult to decipher and I'm not a
proctologist this device is sometimes
referred to as a klaxon this was
originally a trade name and comes from
the Greek clause Oh meaning to shriek I
think there just wasn't a Greek word for
to elude the horns didn't have to be
powered by motors in fact there could be
a hand crank maybe you'll have seen that
in an old movie or something but I'll
tell you one thing this is much much
louder than I thought it was going to be
this would certainly be an effective
horn should you put one on your vehicle
but should you put one on your vehicle I
mean I'm not gonna say no but also I am
NOT gonna say yes it's not quite so easy
as just slapping this in where your horn
was you'd probably mmm definitely damage
the horn circuit the best thing to do
would be to add another horn button and
run a new fused circuit through it to
the horn trust me you don't want this to
be your car's primary horn not only is
it tremendously silly but if you should
decide to replace your horns with a
relay
and run power through it to the horn so
that you have indeed replaced your
normal horn with one of these which you
should definitely consider not doing
you're gonna draw some major attention
to yourself when you lock your car and
your car alarm will be entirely useless
as in the event of a break-in any
would-be do-gooders will simply think
your car is diving below the surface but
I have better news these things are
stupid cheap this was a hole ten bucks
that's it this was literally the
cheapest horn of the three I featured in
this video now how well are these horns
gonna work in a year probably not at all
in fact this one doesn't even work all
the time out of the box granted its take
it apart right now but you know what I
mean are you gonna regret buying it
probably will you have a hard time
figuring out where to cram this bulky
fitting into your car no doubt but will
you enjoy it honestly if you do well
then you're my kind of weirdo happy
Hawking
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so this concludes no effort November
I'll be back for do things December but
it might be a little while I've been
procrastinating on finishing the CED
series so I still have to write
basically all of that video but I'll be
writing it soon and who knows maybe
December will start out with something
just as silly as this video was I mean
and I wanted to but when in doubt take
the silly option it almost always works
interesting note if you were to simply
alternate between a high tone horn and a
low torn hope don't use this car battery
that I have lying around yeah we need to
we need to set this up beforehand I
think they use a fair bit of current so
I better use this car battery that I
have lying damn it so now so so now what
is up with this thing okay so what makes
the diaphragm move the diaphragm knee no
that's not gonna work
that's way too loud
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