Just finished the install on my NB2. Thank you for the video. It made life easier. However, I wish the horn sound direction coming out of the pipes will be facing forward, not backwards towards the radiator.
Have to say that this is one of the best process videos I've ever seen on youtube for an installation under the hood of a car, in tight quarters. Though it may be a relatively easy process to replace a car horn, it's still one that on modern cars, where the horn isn't in as easy to reach place, and in replacing a simple single note electric with an air-compressor-equipped horn, can be a bit of a challenge to do as easily as this shows.
Glen, I find that my "stop" fuse in the 96NA is a 10, not a 15a. So I am going to put in a 15A not a 20 at this point. I assume that the previous owner may have changed the 15 to a 10 for some reason and that 15A is the correct one. I am reluctant to move from a 10 to a 20A fuse when I am not sure why I have that 10A.
Hi Vicki. Double-check the printed guide on the fust cover to make sure you've got the correct fuse. But it's not unheard of (although not a good idea) for a PO to have popped a fuse and simply stuck in whatever they had laying around. You *should* be OK with the 15 but you can test it. Sit in the car with the motor running and press the brakes and then the horn for 2-3 seconds. If the 15a fuse holds, that will have represented the maximum load in the circuit and you should be fine. If the 15 pops, then move to the 20.
Have a 2002 NB. As I went to swap the Fuse, noticed my box is different and has a 'Horn' relay, just beside the 15amp fuse (toward the fender) it shows blank on yours. It is marked 12V10A.. is it going to cause a problem?
No, Mazda used that same relay for a bunch of devices throughout the car which varies based on AT/MT and some other options. Confusingly, Mazda refers to them all as 'horn'. The actual horn relay isn't in that fuse box at all. It's on a bracket over on the driver's side. You should be fine.
Just for your information (2021 update). I installled this for my 99 nb and a few days ago the fuse blew. I really wouldnt do this again if I got the chance. AND definantly dont switch the "STOP" fuse from the 15 to 20 Amp. It will blow your cables instead.
A little different in terms of access but the same basic steps. We have the NC install video here: ruclips.net/video/YSc1t0oVbF8/видео.html And yes, in stock.
Will this work on other vehicles? I'm driving an '87 Toyota Pickup with a wimpy horn. I'm installing a pair of Miata seats in it and came across your products.
I did that to my car instal the horn withot a relay and l push the horn 3 times and the fuse buntout l change the fuse and relay and ..... right now the original horn does not work.
The mounting location is different and some additional fasteners are used, but it's about the same installation effort. We include full color instructions for all years with the kit.
Really? A 20A fuse in a 15A circuit gives you a SAFETY margin? You must think that fuses are freely interchangeable with any value you like. Nay nay, fuses are matched to the wire gauge and load of the circuit they are designed to protect. Who'll pay for repairs if the stop light/horn circuit overheats and fries the insulation or damages the wiring harness while following the example in the video? It's easy to overheat a wire with the wrong fuse installed and it can happen in split second. Since this is an air horn, think locked/frozen/stuck compressor, which will instantly overload the circuit. I'd like to think that anyone would rather take a few seconds to replace a blown fuse with a spare from the glove compartment than pull new wires or replace the harness. Nice video, if it weren't for the less than intelligent advice to change the fuse's amperage to a higher value -- for safety reasons..... You're not really an auto electrician, are you?
I think you may have misunderstood the 'safety' reference and you don't know the specifics of this product in this application. Of course we're not suggesting that anyone should simply change just any fuse to another value, but in *this* application we have, in fact, determined there isn't an issue. The additional current load from the airhorn is only slightly more than the stock horn so the larger fuse size isn't an issue for either the wiring or the relay in the car. Actually, many users report the original 15a fuse is fine, but some users do blow the 15a fuse on occasion so we provide them with the 20 amp fuse. The 'safety' reference has to do with not blowing a fuse rendering important car systems like the horn inoperative when needed. Thousands of Miata owners have been making this fuse change for 10+ years without issue.
I think I understood correctly - however, instead of "safety margin" a better phrase would be "convenience of not checking into an overloaded circuit". You even mention that some users do blow the fuse. If a fuse blows -- something is wrong -- period. We certainly have completely different views of the subject and hope you don't take any of this personally. Let me explain. Replacing a 15A with a 20A fuse may at first not seem drastic to you --- in a working circuit -- but it's always wrong. Automotive engineers design these circuits to their loads and will select wiring, relays, circuit breakers, and fuses to match. Due to manufacturing cost there will be no redundancy -- meaning they will not use any lower gauge (thicker) wire than absolutely necessary to reduce cost. Generally horns are used briefly and only put a momentary load on the circuit. Honk a little longer with your foot on the brake and the wire might get warm if the amperage of the new horn is within or just slightly above spec of the circuit - most likely there will be no harm done. Now let's introduce a failure - not today or tomorrow but some time down the road. Stuck horn button, frozen air compressor. The sudden overload from a locked up compressor (broken compressor blade, frozen bearing, no oil) can even weld the relay shut. At this point, instead of the 15A fuse blowing and protecting the other, even more important component of the circuit - the stop light -- the wire overheats, since it is now the weakest link of the circuit and, in essence, has now become the fuse. The 20A fuse might open before the wire does but not before allowing the rest of the circuit to be severely damaged by heat. Even if the wire doesn't create an open circuit, its insulation will be shot since its properties will change when overheated. The horn circuit and perhaps some neighboring wires in the harness will become brittle and there is now a chance for a short in another circuit down the line as the brittle insulation cracks and falls off. All of this can happen in a fraction of a second. So, I'm not knocking the horn, I'm not saying not to install the horn if the current draw is similar to the specs of the replaced one, and I am not knocking the installation video -- but what I am knocking was the advice to just install a higher value fuse for convenience. It's never a good idea and should never be advertised as having anything to do with safety. I began as an apprentice in this field back in 1973 and have seen many similar scenarios over the past 40+ years, however, most overload/overheat issues were caused by owners who just didn't have the correct spare on hand at the time, substituted a fuse with a higher value, and never went back to put in the correct one. The most expensive damage was probably to a harness on a BMW 850i V12 to the tune of $3600 just for the harness alone. Needless to say the owner was not happy. Things do go wrong and if a fuse blows, it is an indication that the circuit it protects has either shorted in one or more locations or it is overloaded -- and the correct way to deal with this is to fix the short and/or remove the overload condition -- definitely not installing a higher value fuse. End of story!
+netgrappler ....thank you. my mechanic (!!!) did the same thing & I have not been feeling comfortable since over the replacing of the 10amp fuse with a 20amp one. Now I'm assured its actually extremely damaging. Thanks again mate. And thanks to the video also...well organised installation....errr except for the fuse bit. sorry. Cheers.
The original fuse in the NA and NB is 15 amp, not 10. And again, netgrappler was talking about fuse theory and the video is talking about specifics. In the NA and NB Miata *only*, the oem relay and wiring doesn't present any problem with the use of a 20 amp fuse for the horn circuit. We wouldn't make the suggestion for other fuses and for other vehicles.
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Just finished the install on my NB2. Thank you for the video. It made life easier. However, I wish the horn sound direction coming out of the pipes will be facing forward, not backwards towards the radiator.
Have to say that this is one of the best process videos I've ever seen on youtube for an installation under the hood of a car, in tight quarters. Though it may be a relatively easy process to replace a car horn, it's still one that on modern cars, where the horn isn't in as easy to reach place, and in replacing a simple single note electric with an air-compressor-equipped horn, can be a bit of a challenge to do as easily as this shows.
Glen, I find that my "stop" fuse in the 96NA is a 10, not a 15a. So I am going to put in a 15A not a 20 at this point. I assume that the previous owner may have changed the 15 to a 10 for some reason and that 15A is the correct one. I am reluctant to move from a 10 to a 20A fuse when I am not sure why I have that 10A.
Hi Vicki. Double-check the printed guide on the fust cover to make sure you've got the correct fuse. But it's not unheard of (although not a good idea) for a PO to have popped a fuse and simply stuck in whatever they had laying around. You *should* be OK with the 15 but you can test it. Sit in the car with the motor running and press the brakes and then the horn for 2-3 seconds. If the 15a fuse holds, that will have represented the maximum load in the circuit and you should be fine. If the 15 pops, then move to the 20.
Have a 2002 NB. As I went to swap the Fuse, noticed my box is different and has a 'Horn' relay, just beside the 15amp fuse (toward the fender) it shows blank on yours. It is marked 12V10A.. is it going to cause a problem?
No, Mazda used that same relay for a bunch of devices throughout the car which varies based on AT/MT and some other options. Confusingly, Mazda refers to them all as 'horn'. The actual horn relay isn't in that fuse box at all. It's on a bracket over on the driver's side. You should be fine.
Just for your information (2021 update). I installled this for my 99 nb and a few days ago the fuse blew. I really wouldnt do this again if I got the chance. AND definantly dont switch the "STOP" fuse from the 15 to 20 Amp. It will blow your cables instead.
If you blew the 20amp fuse supplied with our kit, you have some other problem in your horn/brake circuit that you want to track down.
I order the kit from Amazon but I didn’t get the hardware. So I found it and ordered, no need to use the relay? Nb Miata.
We don't sell our kit (or any of our products) on Amazon. It is only available on our factory website: 3maudio.com
@@3rdMillennium really cause it was a Marco brand
Marco makes just the horn. We make all the pieces for the installation kit.
Is the install pretty much the same on the NC2? And do you guys have the kits in stock ready to ship? Thanks!
A little different in terms of access but the same basic steps. We have the NC install video here: ruclips.net/video/YSc1t0oVbF8/видео.html And yes, in stock.
Will this work on other vehicles? I'm driving an '87 Toyota Pickup with a wimpy horn. I'm installing a pair of Miata seats in it and came across your products.
As long as your pickup has a 20-amp horn relay, you should be able to use this horn. Same goes for pretty much any 12-volt vehicle.
I did that to my car instal the horn withot a relay and l push the horn 3 times and the fuse buntout l change the fuse and relay and ..... right now the original horn does not work.
Are there any major differences between this and installing on an NA?
The mounting location is different and some additional fasteners are used, but it's about the same installation effort. We include full color instructions for all years with the kit.
@@3rdMillennium So this works with the NA aswell i have a 92
@@curtfox91 yes, 1990 - current model year
So when installing in a Miata, there is no need to use the relay that's included with the horn?
Correct. The oem relay in the Miata is a 20-amp relay already.
Hope you replaced your radiator since this video, it looks a bit brownish-greenish.
That's actually the color of the plastic top on the A/T model - at least for the 2004 model year.
Really? A 20A fuse in a 15A circuit gives you a SAFETY margin? You must think that fuses are freely interchangeable with any value you like. Nay nay, fuses are matched to the wire gauge and load of the circuit they are designed to protect. Who'll pay for repairs if the stop light/horn circuit overheats and fries the insulation or damages the wiring harness while following the example in the video? It's easy to overheat a wire with the wrong fuse installed and it can happen in split second. Since this is an air horn, think locked/frozen/stuck compressor, which will instantly overload the circuit. I'd like to think that anyone would rather take a few seconds to replace a blown fuse with a spare from the glove compartment than pull new wires or replace the harness. Nice video, if it weren't for the less than intelligent advice to change the fuse's amperage to a higher value -- for safety reasons..... You're not really an auto electrician, are you?
I think you may have misunderstood the 'safety' reference and you don't know the specifics of this product in this application. Of course we're not suggesting that anyone should simply change just any fuse to another value, but in *this* application we have, in fact, determined there isn't an issue. The additional current load from the airhorn is only slightly more than the stock horn so the larger fuse size isn't an issue for either the wiring or the relay in the car. Actually, many users report the original 15a fuse is fine, but some users do blow the 15a fuse on occasion so we provide them with the 20 amp fuse. The 'safety' reference has to do with not blowing a fuse rendering important car systems like the horn inoperative when needed.
Thousands of Miata owners have been making this fuse change for 10+ years without issue.
I think I understood correctly - however, instead of "safety margin" a better phrase would be "convenience of not checking into an overloaded circuit". You even mention that some users do blow the fuse. If a fuse blows -- something is wrong -- period. We certainly have completely different views of the subject and hope you don't take any of this personally.
Let me explain. Replacing a 15A with a 20A fuse may at first not seem drastic to you --- in a working circuit -- but it's always wrong. Automotive engineers design these circuits to their loads and will select wiring, relays, circuit breakers, and fuses to match. Due to manufacturing cost there will be no redundancy -- meaning they will not use any lower gauge (thicker) wire than absolutely necessary to reduce cost. Generally horns are used briefly and only put a momentary load on the circuit. Honk a little longer with your foot on the brake and the wire might get warm if the amperage of the new horn is within or just slightly above spec of the circuit - most likely there will be no harm done.
Now let's introduce a failure - not today or tomorrow but some time down the road. Stuck horn button, frozen air compressor. The sudden overload from a locked up compressor (broken compressor blade, frozen bearing, no oil) can even weld the relay shut. At this point, instead of the 15A fuse blowing and protecting the other, even more important component of the circuit - the stop light -- the wire overheats, since it is now the weakest link of the circuit and, in essence, has now become the fuse. The 20A fuse might open before the wire does but not before allowing the rest of the circuit to be severely damaged by heat. Even if the wire doesn't create an open circuit, its insulation will be shot since its properties will change when overheated. The horn circuit and perhaps some neighboring wires in the harness will become brittle and there is now a chance for a short in another circuit down the line as the brittle insulation cracks and falls off. All of this can happen in a fraction of a second. So, I'm not knocking the horn, I'm not saying not to install the horn if the current draw is similar to the specs of the replaced one, and I am not knocking the installation video -- but what I am knocking was the advice to just install a higher value fuse for convenience. It's never a good idea and should never be advertised as having anything to do with safety.
I began as an apprentice in this field back in 1973 and have seen many similar scenarios over the past 40+ years, however, most overload/overheat issues were caused by owners who just didn't have the correct spare on hand at the time, substituted a fuse with a higher value, and never went back to put in the correct one. The most expensive damage was probably to a harness on a BMW 850i V12 to the tune of $3600 just for the harness alone. Needless to say the owner was not happy. Things do go wrong and if a fuse blows, it is an indication that the circuit it protects has either shorted in one or more locations or it is overloaded -- and the correct way to deal with this is to fix the short and/or remove the overload condition -- definitely not installing a higher value fuse. End of story!
+netgrappler ....thank you. my mechanic (!!!) did the same thing & I have not been feeling comfortable since over the replacing of the 10amp fuse with a 20amp one. Now I'm assured its actually extremely damaging. Thanks again mate.
And thanks to the video also...well organised installation....errr except for the fuse bit. sorry. Cheers.
The original fuse in the NA and NB is 15 amp, not 10. And again, netgrappler was talking about fuse theory and the video is talking about specifics. In the NA and NB Miata *only*, the oem relay and wiring doesn't present any problem with the use of a 20 amp fuse for the horn circuit. We wouldn't make the suggestion for other fuses and for other vehicles.
Yep. Got that earlier. Thank you.
I’m a bit late to the party here. I’d love to grab one of these horns. Are you still in business?
Absolutely, 3maudio.com