Dual Horn mounting
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
Sorry I can not help with the horn mounting and I don't know why some body has given you a -1 on this minor easy to make mistake![]()
Send the moderator a message and he will delete the double post I expect.
I'm the idiot who downvoted myself, hoping to drop the duplicate off the front page at least. I'm not terribly savvy on these here message sticks, er.. boards.
I thought about that, but wanted the two-tone. I used to have a '66 Plymouth Fury, and this is as close as I'll get to that awesome horn.
Joined
·
1,417 Posts
Of course one of the things you have to watch out for with new horns is...
if they sound like a big car, then when you use them everyone will be looking for the car that just honked.
Your bike may not get noticed.
I believe the best idea is to get a loud horn that doesn't sound like anything else on the road. Then when you use it everyone is waking up and asking "What was that??"
Joined
·
10,664 Posts
Loud horns save lives.
![]()
Back in the olden days I had a SL100 cafe racer with a bored and stroked XL125 engine with magnesium head and cylinder and 6-speed trans. Once built, I needed a horn to pass inspection, and the only thing I had laying around the garage was an old set of brass air boat horns. I took an old CO2 hand-held horn and unscrewed it from the CO2 canister adapter, and rigged a 12V selenoid to the adapter, then ran a piece of air hose from there to the horn, which was mounted to the front downtube with hose clamps. The bike passed inspection with flying colors. On the way home, this old lady in a Cadillac began to pull out of a side road, so I hit the horn. Scared her so bad she threw the car into reverse and floored the gas pedal, smoking both tires on the back of that Sedan deVille, and solidly planting the rear bumper across the grille and headlights of the police car behind her.
![]()
Back in the olden days I had a SL100 cafe racer with a bored and stroked XL125 engine with magnesium head and cylinder and 6-speed trans. Once built, I needed a horn to pass inspection, and the only thing I had laying around the garage was an old set of brass air boat horns. I took an old CO2 hand-held horn and unscrewed it from the CO2 canister adapter, and rigged a 12V selenoid to the adapter, then ran a piece of air hose from there to the horn, which was mounted to the front downtube with hose clamps. The bike passed inspection with flying colors. On the way home, this old lady in a Cadillac began to pull out of a side road, so I hit the horn. Scared her so bad she threw the car into reverse and floored the gas pedal, smoking both tires on the back of that Sedan deVille, and solidly planting the rear bumper across the grille and headlights of the police car behind her.
Joined
·
1,050 Posts
Good Evening,
Hopefully this link works. These bad boys are LOUD. I bought the airhorn for a buddy's RZR and it's unbearable.....
Anyway, you could easily rig both horns up and EVERYONE will hear you.
By the way, for what it's worth, I'm for the loud horn. I'm looking for the instant 'jerk yer car back inta yer own lane dirtbag' reaction. He can look to see if it's a bike or car later, when I'm safely on my way!
Good Luck. I am mounting one each low tone on mine and Momma's TW's.
Bag
Horns
Hopefully this link works. These bad boys are LOUD. I bought the airhorn for a buddy's RZR and it's unbearable.....
Anyway, you could easily rig both horns up and EVERYONE will hear you.
By the way, for what it's worth, I'm for the loud horn. I'm looking for the instant 'jerk yer car back inta yer own lane dirtbag' reaction. He can look to see if it's a bike or car later, when I'm safely on my way!
Good Luck. I am mounting one each low tone on mine and Momma's TW's.
Bag
Horns
Joined
·
10,664 Posts
you'll definately want to use a horn really with those Fiamms. They WILL fry the horn button. I had a set on a street bike years ago and they are awesome.
Yep, just have one horn connected for now and the relay plus some other goodies are in the mail. Shipping from Eastern Beaver is slow and the shipping price seems extortionate for what amounts to a bundle of wires in a padded envelope, but I'm patiently waiting.
Joined
·
1,345 Posts
Coming from an extreme novice...what are the steps we need to take to make a fiamm freeway blaster horn?
Joined
·
7,369 Posts
IIRC those Fiamm's draw over 4 amps each, Brock. Your stock horn draws slightly less than 2, which is why what Qwerty's saying about your horn button frying is an absolute certainty. If you tried to operate 8 or 9 amps on a circuit intended for 2 either the wires or the contacts would fry.
The way around it is to add a relay so that the horns operate more or less directly from the battery. Your horn button then only operates the relay coil, which draws negigibly.
The relay is basically a low amp draw switch that operates a much higher amp draw switch.
Your starter works the same way. Two little tiny wires and the tiny contacts in your starter button are all that's needed to operate the relay, which then joins two huge wires from the battery together to operate the starter.
Joined
·
1,345 Posts
Joined
·
10,664 Posts
Horn relays are available through any auto parts store. Relays generally come with a wiring diagram.
Most relays have 4 terminals, numbered 85, 86, 87, and 30.
Terminal 85 goes to ground. The mounting bracket on some relays is terminal 85.
Terminal 86 goes to the switch that controls the relay.
Terminal 87 goes to the device the relay controls.
Terminal 30 is the fused wire from the battery that provides the power for the device the relay controls.
Normally.
Unfortunately, TWs are not normal. Actually, horn circuits in general are not normal. Horn buttons only have 1 wire? What? How does the electricity flow through a switch with only 1 wire? Simple. the other pole of the switch is grounded. Horn relay control circuits generally switch the ground, not the hot. Still, it's an easy fix.
Install the fused (15 amp), red 12-gauge wire from the battery to Terminal 30. When you attach the connector to hook up to Terminal 30, include the 12-gauge main wire and a 16-gauge wire about 3 inches long to which you affix a terminal on the other end to plug into Terminal 86. What you've done is jumped between Terminals 30 and 86, which saves having to run a separate lead to terminal 86. I recommend buying an inline fuse (10 amp) holder with pigtails and using it for the jumper, which will provide some measure of safety against a short in the switch and related wiring.
Unplug the stock pink wire from the horn and hook it to Terminal 85. This wire goes to the horn switch, and the other pole of the horn switch goes to ground, which, when pushed, will complete the control circuit of the relay and cause it to activate the controlled circuit.
Run a new 12-gauge red-with-white-stripe wire from the horn to Terminal 85.
Most relays have 4 terminals, numbered 85, 86, 87, and 30.
Terminal 85 goes to ground. The mounting bracket on some relays is terminal 85.
Terminal 86 goes to the switch that controls the relay.
Terminal 87 goes to the device the relay controls.
Terminal 30 is the fused wire from the battery that provides the power for the device the relay controls.
Normally.
Unfortunately, TWs are not normal. Actually, horn circuits in general are not normal. Horn buttons only have 1 wire? What? How does the electricity flow through a switch with only 1 wire? Simple. the other pole of the switch is grounded. Horn relay control circuits generally switch the ground, not the hot. Still, it's an easy fix.
Install the fused (15 amp), red 12-gauge wire from the battery to Terminal 30. When you attach the connector to hook up to Terminal 30, include the 12-gauge main wire and a 16-gauge wire about 3 inches long to which you affix a terminal on the other end to plug into Terminal 86. What you've done is jumped between Terminals 30 and 86, which saves having to run a separate lead to terminal 86. I recommend buying an inline fuse (10 amp) holder with pigtails and using it for the jumper, which will provide some measure of safety against a short in the switch and related wiring.
Unplug the stock pink wire from the horn and hook it to Terminal 85. This wire goes to the horn switch, and the other pole of the horn switch goes to ground, which, when pushed, will complete the control circuit of the relay and cause it to activate the controlled circuit.
Run a new 12-gauge red-with-white-stripe wire from the horn to Terminal 85.
Joined
·
7,369 Posts
Partial hijack, but for those of you whose heads are exploding from all this, there's hope.
Our horns are 1.5 amp, 100 decibels.
There are plenty of 2-2.5 amp, 105 decibel horns out there on other bikes. Our wiring/ charging arrangement should be able to deal with those intermittently, but don't get stoopit. The amp and DB ratings are clearly stamped on most Jap bike horns. Car horns typically start at 4 amps and go up from there, so don't go there without a relay.
Decibels are logarithmic (like the Richter scale, for you Cali types). A 105 dB horn isn't just SLIGHTLY louder, it's bunches louder.
Just for scale's sake, your ears can hang with 90 dB of direct racket for about 2 hours without suffering hearing damage. Step it up to 100 and you get 15 minutes. at 105dB it goes down to a bit over 3 minutes and by 115 dB you're at 30 seconds. 5 decibels is a bunch.
So if you want to improve your presence substantially without getting into things you'd rather not, go to the boneyard and find yourself a single 2-2.5A, 105 dB horn. It will usually be a bit larger diameter than ours and will often have a larger mounting stud on it, so try to get the mounting tab and grommet with the horn. The most common ones nowadays are Nikko horns and most midsize and above Jap bikes use a version of the 105dB Nikko. Purple's bike has an EX500 horn.
Our horns are 1.5 amp, 100 decibels.
There are plenty of 2-2.5 amp, 105 decibel horns out there on other bikes. Our wiring/ charging arrangement should be able to deal with those intermittently, but don't get stoopit. The amp and DB ratings are clearly stamped on most Jap bike horns. Car horns typically start at 4 amps and go up from there, so don't go there without a relay.
Decibels are logarithmic (like the Richter scale, for you Cali types). A 105 dB horn isn't just SLIGHTLY louder, it's bunches louder.
Just for scale's sake, your ears can hang with 90 dB of direct racket for about 2 hours without suffering hearing damage. Step it up to 100 and you get 15 minutes. at 105dB it goes down to a bit over 3 minutes and by 115 dB you're at 30 seconds. 5 decibels is a bunch.
So if you want to improve your presence substantially without getting into things you'd rather not, go to the boneyard and find yourself a single 2-2.5A, 105 dB horn. It will usually be a bit larger diameter than ours and will often have a larger mounting stud on it, so try to get the mounting tab and grommet with the horn. The most common ones nowadays are Nikko horns and most midsize and above Jap bikes use a version of the 105dB Nikko. Purple's bike has an EX500 horn.
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
Join the discussion
Join now to ask and comment!