Humvee voltage/Iraq

[ucdavis]

I have a request from an outfit doing an interesting job in Iraq, reported below. I need to confirm that the military Humvee is 12V. Somebody here must know for sure. Thanks for any help. I want to send him a dozen or so airhorn "kits" and want to assure compatibility, cuz its a long way to Iraq to be sending useless stuff. So ideas on a simple, effective airhorn kit would also be appreciated.
"Our mission is rather unique. We have a sector that is approximately 20 square kilometers and we patrol this area daily. Our patrols consist primarily of police force activities, but a day doesn't go by when we don't provide some civil duty for the community as well. While most other units stay in rather large FOB's (Forward Operating Bases), Echo has been tasked to supervise the security of Iraq's largest oil refinery. In doing so, we are required to live on site thus creating our own fire base...
Sir, what we could really use is an air horn or a siren/PA system for one or a couple of our Hum-v's. The Army HWMMV is a massive machine weighing over
6 tons when armored. It can scale some very rough terrain, and it stands out as being a very aggressive machine on the Baghdad streets. What amazes me is the fact that the horn on these manly machines is nothing short of a VW beetle "girly-man" horn. It is bare audible over the noise of the
engine, & traffic doesn't take us seriously when we try to pass through. Our job forces us at times to have to move through traffic like fire engines; very quickly and boldly. With the threat of car bombs, we like civilian vehicles to stay as far away from us as possible, but our passive horns are not doing the job."
Thanks for your ideas.

[Dvldog 8793]

Howdy
The military vehicles were all 24volt as of 1993. This includes all the chevy pickups and hummers. I agree with the person you are talking to about the lack of a proper horn. an electric air horn would work the best. 12 volts can be found by just using (1) of the batteries for a power source and wiring it direct with a separate switch. Trying to tap it into the existing system could problematic as the entire electrical system is sealed pretty good and can be hard to figure out in the field. Another system would be to use a relay off the standard horn and switching the grnd to run the relay and then supply power from (1) 12volt battery. It's hard to do in my head but if I had the machine sitting in front of me it would only take a minute with a multi meter to figure it out. what kind of resources does your soldier/Marine have?
If you want more help in purchasing/sending stuff let me know....
the_janssens@earthlink.net

L8r
Conley

[NH2112]

You (they) could always run 2 12V horns in series. I take it you haven't been able to find the horn you're looking for in 24V?

[ucdavis]

Tough to get 24V accessories as suspected.

I'm assuming for now the platoon leader can make use of motor pool mechanics to do the install, but I don't know about mounting location (which means I'll send extra air tube & connectors till we dial in a "standard"), & I can't count on his ability to rewire to the standard horn button which may be inaccessible, so I'll send an after market one till he says he's got that covered. I'll get confirmation on his resources over a series of emails. They only get access to computers every few days, and then it is limited, so communication comes in periodic chunks; stuff gets left out; repeat, etc.

I did this last year w/an army mechanic squad posted west of Baghdad. They all bought their own Mechanix brand gloves before shipping out. Of course, they wore them out in about a year & can't get such stuff in Iraq even thru channels. We (my office) sent 85 pairs of new Mechanix gloves, along w/enough crunchy Cheetos & car magazines to keep 75 mechanic troopers entertained for a while (Cheetos make great packaging for international packages; light, fairly uncompressible in the unopened bag, and oh so cheezy, and they are a great reminder of home).

Thanks for the info & suggestions. A self contained horn that is loud, small, and electric only would be best, so if anybody knows of one, give a shout.

[ 07-07-2005, 04:27 PM: Message edited by: ucdavis ]

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

Please let us know if we can contribute to this effort. I can't help much, but I'd still like to help. If lots of us helped a little...

Might I suggest a notice on the BB? I know it's not getting used much anymore, but would reach ALL DP members, whereas within this topic would only reach those who happened to look.

Blessings!

[ucdavis]

MoonPooch-
Conley offered similarly. I will be assembling (either myself or thru others) kits to send to the troops. I will be buying about $1G worth of the kits & shipping (mail isn't super cheap, but will probably be in the 10-20cents on the dollar range for this stuff). I got this soldier's APO address thru OparationAC.com (great outfit, worth a look), and it isn't for broadcast purposes or I'd just post it and have everybody send an airhorn. The Mechanix glove shipment was also to an OperationAC.com-adopted soldier who has since returned state-side.

If others would like to contribute, you can PayPal me the loot via my email address & I'll add it to my contribution- mike at fleming dot cc (not dot com, just dot cc). And if you have ideas on the airhorn kit, shoot 'em to me. Or you can adopt a soldier who needs an interim issue of boots, an air conditioner, etc. through OperationAC.com and ask him/her how else the American public can support our troops. You'll probably have to suggest things as I did. Most of our military won't ask for much unless prodded a bit. Like 1LT Mike, who asked for air horns for one or maybe two HMMV's (I've lost track, thank goodness, of how much I've thrown away on my 6.5TD, so a buncha air horns don't amount to a burden). Very humble folks, w/their lives on the line. I choke up every time I read the correspondence. You can also contribute to OpAC.com w/PayPal and they send mass shipments of boots, air conditioners, holiday stuff, toys the soldiers give to Iraqi and Afgan kids, etc...

BTW, last time I logged on to OpAC.com they had a film clip of a Humvee avoiding an IED explosion. WOW!

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

I'm not sure how I will contribute (directly through you or one of the other ways you've suggested), but I will. Thanks for what you're doing.

Blessings!

[ucdavis]

No thanks to me, my contribution is minimal. I'm fat, dumb and happy, and I owe it all to the long line of honorable men and women who laid it all on the line for what is right, giving us the freedom we have today.

Thanks to all who have served to make us free. Truly.